DIFFERENT (Different Series Book 1) (8 page)

              ‘But why? How can you know all these things about me?’

              ‘I can’t tell you that; you just have to trust me, Celeste.’

              ‘How can I trust you when I don’t even know you?’

              ‘Then get to know me.’

              ‘I don’t have the time to do that. I don’t think I’ll be living around here for much longer.’ I looked at him as I spoke, feeling low about the whole thing. I really didn’t want to leave Oakwood, but if the Prestons didn’t want me anymore, then I didn’t want to wait around to be taken back into care. I’d rather brave the world on my own.

              ‘What’s happened?’

              ‘Me. I always mess things up.’

              ‘What’d you do? No one got hurt, did they?’ There was a concerned glint to his brown eyes.

              ‘No, no one got hurt.’

              ‘I know this is hard for you, Celeste, but you just have to put up with everyone for a bit longer. Just don’t do anything stupid, okay?’

              ‘I can’t, I need to leave. No one wants me around here anymore. Then you show up and tell me things from my past, things that no one should know and things that can’t be true.’

              ‘That’s not right; I want you around. I never meant to scare you. I just wanted you to listen to me. ’

              ‘You don’t even know who I am.’

              ‘Yes I do, Celeste. I know lots about you, and I know that I want to help you if you’ll just let me.’

              ‘You turn up out of nowhere claiming to know things about me, you won’t give me any answers, yet you expect me to trust you?’

              ‘You don’t have to trust me, Celeste, but if you don’t, who else have you got to help you? I will help you; you just have to hold out for a bit more time.’

              ‘What if I don’t have time?’ I sighed.

              ‘I’m sure you can figure out how to make some. You’re a smart girl.’

              ‘I’m smart enough to know that my mum is dead but not smart enough to pause time.’

              He took a biro out of his pocket and hovered it above my hand.

              ‘My number,’ he grinned before he scrawled the digits onto my skin. ‘And Celeste,’ he said, as he put the pen back in his pocket and he stood up. ‘Your mother is alive and she’s safe. Soon I will take you to her, but we just need a bit more time.’

              ‘I don’t understand,’ I blurted out. ‘I was told that she died. Why would they lie to me?’

              ‘I don’t know all the answers, Celeste. All I know is that sometimes people lie because they think they’re doing the right thing, even if it turns out to be wrong. Look, I’ve got to go. Text me, okay? And believe me when I say that soon everything will be sorted.’

              I wanted to stop him from walking away from me, I wanted answers, yet I just sat there and watched him walk up the path. I could have stopped him easily, but I didn’t. Instead, I found myself wanting to trust him, although I wasn’t sure why. How did he know about the pond and the fire, and why had I just let him walk away when I could have made him give me answers?

              As I looked up, I saw that the group of teenagers that’d been sitting down were now walking towards the path. I didn’t take much notice of them and found myself thinking about Finn and what he’d said. Right now it felt like he was my only hope, and this fact both intrigued and scared me.

              ‘If it isn’t Celeste Gough sitting in the park all on her own,’ someone giggled. I looked up to see that it was Veronica; she was one of the teenagers walking towards me. 

              ‘Veronica,’ I said as I rolled my eyes.

              ‘I’ve heard all about how Leo has traded you in for Megan. I’m surprised it took him so long.’ There were two boys and girls with her, including Rose, and they all chuckled behind her, which reminded me of the hyenas from
The Lion King
.

              ‘Just shut up, Veronica,’ I said as I stood up and was about to start walking up the path.

              ‘Don’t talk to me like that!’ She grabbed at my arm.

              I shoved her arm off me and carried on walking. I really wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation with Veronica and her stupid sidekicks.

              ‘Fine, walk away. No one likes you. Leo doesn’t want you, not when he can have Megan. You’re just a loser who can’t hold down a family.’

              I know that I should have ignored her and kept on walking, but she’d made me so angry, and when I spun around and saw the smirk on her face, I found myself looking straight at her. I caused her to lose her balance and tumble backwards, and as she lay on the ground looking confused, I found myself grinning back at her.

              Rose tried to help Veronica up, but she shunned her and got up herself, her jeans now covered in mud.

              ‘You’re a freak, Celeste,’ she spat out.

              ‘Says the girl who just fell on her ass and who’s now covered in mud,’ I said back, knowing that I needed to leave the park before I did anything else, but at the same time I was driven on by adrenaline.

              She charged at me like a bull would someone wearing red, and she managed to catch me off guard as she knocked me to the ground. Her friends cheered her on as she tried to pin my arms down. I had a flashback to the look on Brandon’s face as he grabbed onto my arms and I felt myself start to panic.

              ‘Help me,’ Veronica shouted to her friends, and suddenly I had more hands grabbing out at me.

              I tried to shove them off, but I was overpowered just by Veronica, let alone the other four of them. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down. I didn’t know what to do next: should I just let them hurt me, or should I stop them?

              ‘Look at me,’ Veronica said, as she leaned over me and grabbed my jaw. ‘I told you to look at me!’ With her other hand she yanked hard at my hair.

              I knew the dangers of opening my eyes, but she wouldn’t stop yanking at my hair. I couldn’t just lay here and take it, not anymore. I opened my eyes, I saw the smug look on Veronica’s face, and I focused hard on her.

              ‘Get off her,’ I heard someone shout.

              ‘Or what?’ one of the others said.

              ‘Just get out of here before I call the cops.’

              ‘Come on Ver, let’s get outta here,’ Rose said, as she pulled at her arm, eventually managing to get her off me.

              ‘This isn’t over, Celeste,’ Veronica said, as she pointed at me. ‘It’s just the start.’

              ‘Are you okay?’ The person who’d saved me pulled me up. It was then that I realised that it was Finn.

              ‘Thanks,’ I muttered out to him.

              ‘No problem.’

              ‘I thought you had to be somewhere.’

              ‘You’re more important.’

              ‘Do I look like I feel?’ I touched my cheek and then looked at my fingers, which were now speckled with blood.

              ‘Pretty much, but it’s okay. You still look pretty.’

              I blushed as I tried to hide my smile. My whole body ached, and I wasn’t looking forward to walking back to the Prestons and then having to explain to them why I looked a state.

              ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’ He gestured for me to get up, but I remanded where I was.

              ‘I can’t go back there, not looking like this.’ I felt tears form in my eyes, and I sniffed. I really didn’t want to cry in front Finn, but this day had just been too much for me. If he hadn’t shown up when he had, then who knows what I would have done.

              ‘It’s okay.’ He wrapped his arm around me, and I buried my face in his black zip-up top. ‘Things will be okay, Celeste, but right now you need to go home.’

              ‘It’s not my home.’ I lifted my head up as I wiped my tears away with my fingers. I could feel his heart beating through his chest, and I longed to just stay there with his arm around me. Now would be the perfect time to be able to pause time.

              ‘I know, but it’s somewhere safe. Come on, I’ll walk with you.’

              I nodded as he helped me to my feet, and he put his arm around my waist as we walked. This whole evening had seemed surreal, and now a boy I hardly knew was walking me home. We passed a man walking his dog and an older woman who was wheeling one of those trolley bag things. I wondered if they both presumed that we were a couple, and I weirdly seemed glad at this.

              I didn’t understand why, after everything that had happened, why I was worrying about a boy, but at least it took my mind off the fact that the rest of my world seemed to be falling apart.             

              We didn’t say much on the way home, and I kinda liked that. My head was fried enough without adding to it. Finn walked me to the top of my road, and then he stopped walking.

              ‘Text me, okay? We will meet up soon.’ He took his arm away from my waist, and I instantly felt as unsupported as jelly.

              ‘Will do, and thanks.’ I smiled at him before I reluctantly headed up the road.

              The thought of walking into the Pretons’ house was not a good one, but at the same time, I was looking forward to putting my pyjamas on and crawling into bed.

              I lingered on the doorstep before I eventually gave in and opened the door. As soon as I walked into the hallway, Terry seemed to appear, an unimpressed look on his face.

              ‘So, you decided to come home then,’ he sighed.

              ‘Yeah, sorry. I just needed to go out and think.’

              ‘And fight, by the looks of things.’

              ‘That’s nothing, I just tripped.’

              ‘Louisa is still upset, and Gloria is distraught. That vase was a family heirloom, and it is irreplaceable.’

              ‘I am really sorry that I upset them both, but I didn’t touch the vase.’

              ‘Look, Celeste, it’s been a long day, and I’m tired. We will talk about this tomorrow, okay?’

              ‘Okay.’ I bit on my gum before I headed towards the stairs.

              I knew that they were all still mad at me, but at least they hadn’t chucked me out. That was the problem with not being part of a proper family. With every argument, I felt like they would have enough of me and send me back. Every argument and they might realise that I wasn’t like other teenagers and that I could do things, dangerous, weird things.

              I changed into my stripy blue pyjama bottoms and black hoodie and got into bed. I wanted to close my eyes and shut out the world, at least for the night, but I couldn’t seem to switch my mind off.

              Now, to add on top of everything else, I had Veronica to worry about. I was afraid, because if Finn hadn’t turned up when he had, then I knew that I would have done something to her. I didn’t want to harm anyone; if they just left me alone, then they wouldn’t be hurt. Now, the only one I had left to trust was Finn, a boy I hardly knew. I needed him to help me, and if he didn’t, I was really worried about what I would end up doing next. I knew that I couldn’t stay in Oakwood for much longer. I didn’t belong here; I didn’t belong anywhere.

              When I was little I used to imagine what it’d be like to have a proper mum who read me a bedtime story every night and who wrapped her arms around me like I was the most precious person in the world.

              I eventually fell asleep with one thought preoccupying my mind more than the others. Could it be possible that my mum was still alive?

Chapter Seven

As soon as I walked into the kitchen, Louisa picked up her half-eaten piece of toast and walked straight past me without so much as a glance. Gloria bent down by Terry, who was eating scrambled egg on toast, and she kissed his cheek before she followed Louisa out of the room.

              ‘I guess they’re still annoyed with me then?’ I asked as I headed over to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice.

              Even though I’d been here over a month, this was the first time that I’d ever opened the fridge, and I’d never been in the cupboards before. Gloria had claim to the kitchen, which had been fine when she’d actually been talking to me. Now I had no idea where everything was, and surely messing up the cupboards would just give Gloria another reason to send me back into care.

              ‘I’m sure they’ll come round. We’ll all have a good chat over dinner later and sort this out.’ He sighed before he put a heaped forkful of food into his mouth.

              ‘Okay,’ I said before taking a sip of my orange juice.

              ‘I owe you an apology. Gloria told me that you didn’t actually touch the vase, although she still seems adamant that you broke it. She will calm down eventually. She’s just very protective of Louisa.’

              ‘Thanks, but what I said to Louisa I didn’t mean,’ I replied, trying not to sound as annoyed as I felt.

              Yeah, I shouldn’t have said what I had to Louisa, but the way Gloria was acting was making me feel like a complete outsider, and then I’d gone and made it far worse by breaking the vase. Maybe my new family weren’t as perfect as I’d first thought.

              ‘I know, love. Come on, I’ll give you a lift to school.’ He finished his food and then pushed his chair back.

              I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed him out to his black BMW. It was weird not going to school with Louisa, and the drive with Terry was silent. I took my phone out of my bag and scrolled over Finn’s number, which I’d added last night.

              ‘Is there a problem?’ Terry asked.

              ‘Nah,’ I sighed, as I placed my phone back in my bag.

              Great, now I couldn’t even look at my phone without arousing suspicion. Who did Terry think I was texting? It wasn’t like I had that many people to text. I was really starting to dislike Oakwood and the people in it. So much for fitting in.