Chapter Two - Leah

Leah

            Two of my close friends live with me here at Rococoa, Gaea’s Forest. Three if you count Faye, Henna’s sister. Henna and I have been best friends since the day we were born. No kidding. We were side by side in our incubators, our mothers had laughed so hard when they’d noticed our hands were in each other’s. Henna was bawling her eyes out; it was my way of comforting her I guess.

            The musing of my mum’s voice creeps into my head and a heartstring slowly pulls and springs back. It acts like a kick in the stomach would. Tears spring to my eyes without my permission; I will them bitterly not to fall. I wasn’t a little girl anymore. I was thirteen now, a teenager and now was hardly the time to act like a baby.

            I hope deep inside that she’s ok and that, that slob isn’t walking his size twelve Doc Martins all over her. Don’t get me wrong, mum’s not a doormat, she can’t be if she’s not aware of what’s going on right?

            The slob I’m referring to is Mason, my pompous, self-obsessive stepfather. Just because he’s married to my mum though doesn’t mean that we have to have this sickly bond that normal, well deserving children have. I’ve never liked him for all the time that mum’s been with him. In mum’s eyes though it’s always my fault when something goes off between us. It’s just as well I don’t see her for the majority of the year.

            A teardrop falls down my right cheek and onto the graphite grey kitchen bench. I wipe my right hand over my left eye and reach underneath the sink for the dishcloth. At least she has somebody I guess. She has my gran too. If anything were to go off she would be able to turn to her. As for the four of us we only had each other. And the neighbours next door and over the road.

            Henna and I are the same age; Ellie is a couple of months older than us which gives her the right to order us around if we’re not pulling our weight in certain areas of the house. This morning we’d practically died of a heart attack as she’d chosen to wake us all with a megaphone in all of our ears. Faye had actually burst into tears which left it to Henna to provide comfort for her.

            The lukewarm, afternoon air hits me suddenly and then fades as the door slams. I toss my head over my shoulder and see Henna and Ellie standing there, a deviant smile painting both their faces. I dismiss them, throwing the dishcloth underneath the sink; I take off my red checkered apron and fold my arms.

            ‘What’s made you two so happy?’ I ask. Their eyes shift to each other’s faces and they burst out laughing. Briefly, I wonder where Faye is, she’s never usually absent. ‘Fine. Share the news between you. Dinner’s in the oven.’ I start to walk but they scramble to the entrance of the lounge to stop me from entering.

            ‘Wait. Seriously this is good news.’ Henna says as she grabs hold of my shoulders.

            ‘Fantastic news.’ Ellie corrects as she nudges her. ‘Don’t be so shy Henna; this is what you’ve been dreaming of for years.’ Henna grins, her hazel eyes are wide with excitement, her brilliant white teeth press down on her bottom lip. I can tell it’s big. She always looks like this when something amazing happens.

            ‘Ok.’ She gushes. ‘Huge.’

            ‘Well don’t keep me in suspense.’ I tell her.

            ‘Your brother, Steve.’

            ‘What about him?’

            ‘He has just asked me out.’ I feel my heart sink a thousand feet into my loafers. It was something I had never counted on becoming a reality. Steve and Henna hardly talked for one. And two, they were too different. They had no magnetic field. I’d never thought that Henna was Steve’s type. Sure, Henna was gorgeous but he was into bad ass girls like Simba Cummings or Alexa Ferguson. Why was this happening now? Henna’s smile fades as my face screws up into a frown. Her hands remove themselves from my shoulders. ‘Aren’t you happy for us?’

            ‘He’s my brother!’ I manage to say without choking.

            ‘So?’

            ‘So! Henna, this is so weird.’ She folds her arms as she shakes her strawberry blonde curls down to her back. Ellie places an arm round her and pulls her closer to her.

            ‘I kinda forgot to mention that Lawson’s outside. He wants to talk to you.’ My heart crawls out of my shoes and into my throat, it throbs with each beat and soon I can’t speak. What am I to say to him?

            ‘Any idea what he wants?’ Ellie and Henna walk to the other room.

            ‘Same thing as Steve if you’re lucky.’ She shouts coldly and I suddenly regret my reaction. There was fat chance of him wanting me the same way Steve wanted Henna. For one Lawson’s my stepbrother and two the Ministry would have me slain if I made any contact. I slip out of the door and let it slam behind me.

            I find Lawson slouching on the rusty old swing which had been around ever since I’d been here. I place my hands in my hands and force myself to walk towards him. I try to think of something cunning and sophisticated to say but my brain’s a fuzzy mess of what and if’s. I stand in front of him with a smile.

            At fifteen he’s a mammoth six foot two, he towers over me as he stands, his light brown, tanned face looks down at me and my heart accelerates at full speed.

            ‘Leah.’ His voice, like velvet whispers my name which forces me to swallow some saliva before running the risk of being dry mouthed.

            ‘Lawson.’ I greet back. ‘What brings you here?’ His small, emerald green eyes blink several times, his head tilts sideways to the left.

            ‘You mean you haven’t heard?’

            ‘Heard what?’ He scratches the back of his neck and murmurs something that I don’t catch.

            ‘Oh man, I am so relieved.’ He grabs hold of my hands; his lips pull apart and break into a massive grin that automatically reaches his eyes. Maybe Ellie was right after all. Maybe he was really going to ignore the Ministry and follow his heart.  I take my hands from his and wipe them on my brown tunic, why did I have to sweat so much at this present moment? I let his hands claim me once more. ‘I want you to be the first to know.’ I hold my breath.

            ‘Know what?’

            ‘I’ve done it. I asked Lauren to go out with me.’ My heart sinks deeper than my loafers; in fact I can barely feel it beating anymore. My whole body feels as if it’s had a brick thrown at it. He stares at me questioningly as the tears threaten to fall again. I shake my head and run into the house. The only place where I couldn’t get hurt anymore.