DIFFERENT (Different Series Book 1) (9 page)

              ‘Have a nice day, Celeste.’ He pulled up by the school gate and gave me a half wave as I swung open the door and stepped out.

              I gave a wave back before heading through the open gates. I hadn’t arranged to meet Finn at the bike racks, but I still found myself heading over to them just to check that he wasn’t there, and it beat lingering around my locker. I really didn’t want to be in school today. It was bad enough that it’d taken me ages to cover up the scratch mark on my face that Veronica had caused, although I still looked like I’d been dragged through a thorn bush.

              Finn wasn’t there, and Leo was probably with Megan, so I knew that I’d just have to face Veronica and her friends alone. I guess that was the thing with people: they let you down. Maybe I was better off alone.

              Veronica was just walking away from her locker with Rose when I walked up the corridor. She shot me a disgusted look, and Rose let out a chuckle. They didn’t say anything, though; instead, they walked off. As I sorted out my locker, I was glad of the peace, although I knew that Veronica’s issues with me were far from over.

              I arrived to class on time and muttered ‘hi’ as I sat down next to Leo. He looked up and smiled at me before going back to looking over the notes he’d made in one of his books. He didn’t even seem to notice the scratches on my face. I may as well have been invisible. I was glad he was happy and everything, but sometimes people in love really could suck, especially when I could have done with his friendship right now.

              I found myself staring out of the window and thinking about Finn.

***

Louisa wasn’t waiting for me by the school gates; I even waited for ten minutes just in case she was running late. I knew it was daft because she obviously wasn’t coming, but I missed our walks back. I shouldn’t have freaked out at her about Brandon, as she wasn’t to know what he was like.

              Worse still, I’d had to endure lunch with Leo, Megan, and a bunch of her friends. Leo didn’t say as much as one word to me, and Megan was the only one of them who noticed my scratches, which I put down to falling over.

              ‘I don’t belong here,’ I said under my breath before I took my phone out of my bag and wrote out a message to Finn.

             
‘How long do I have to stay here? C’

              I stayed standing there, chewing on my lip as I watched groups of students walk past, chatting and laughing amongst themselves. Other people seemed to manage to fit in, but I stood out, and now I didn’t even have Leo or Louisa. My phone buzzed, and I read the message; it was from Finn.

             
‘Soon x’

              Nothing made sense. Who was I, and why was a boy like Finn so interested in me? I was no use to anyone. I just messed things up. I knew I had to get out of Oakwood soon. I just hoped that Finn would stick to his word and help me.

              I stared around the nearly empty yard and knew that now was the time to go back to the Prestons and try to sort things out with them. Even if it was nearly time for me to leave this place, I wanted to try and show them that I wasn’t a monster before I left. After all, out of all the families I’d stayed with, they were by far my favourite. They were good people, too good.

              Was I a good person, or had the bad things I’d done made me incapable of ever being truly good? Brandon would say that I was a bad person, as would Max. They both knew the monster that I could be. They both knew that I was different, dangerously so.

              I turned my back to the school and began to walk home. I couldn’t put this off anymore. I had to go back to the Prestons and try to fix things.

***

As soon as I arrived back at the Prestons’ I marched into the kitchen, where Gloria was preparing a tray of roast potatoes.

              ‘Darling, I said I’d bring you a drink in a minute,’ she said before turning around. ‘Oh, it’s you. I thought you were Louisa.’

              ‘Yeah, it’s me. Do you need any help?’

              ‘No, I can manage just fine.’ She turned her back to me.

              I wasn’t going to give in to Gloria’s attempts to be off with me, so I pulled out my usual chair and sat down on it.

              ‘Is Louisa okay?’

              ‘As well as she can be, considering.’ She wiped her hands on her frilly pale pink apron as she turned around to face me. ‘Look, Celeste, I’m trying to cook dinner here.’

              ‘I didn’t break your vase. I’m sorry that it got broken, and I agree with you that it was weird how it happened, but it wasn’t me.’

              ‘Yes, it was very odd,’ she muttered to herself as she took a bag of carrots out of the fridge and then began to chop them with a sharp knife.

              I watched her slice with the knife, and I listened to the sharp, precise sound it made. I knew that I could have made her misjudge the knife; I knew that I could have caused her pain. I looked away and tried to block out the sound from my mind. I didn’t want to hurt Gloria. I just wanted her to forgive me.

              ‘It’s okay, I’m going.’ I pushed my chair back and headed across the room before I did anything stupid.

              I was really annoyed. I’d tried to fix things with Gloria, but she clearly didn’t want to know. She was meant to be the adult, yet she was acting like a spoilt kid.

              ‘Wait,’ she shouted after me, and I turned around to face her. She was still holding the knife. ‘I know that you didn’t touch the vase. It’s just hard because it meant a lot to me. Also, I really don’t like seeing Louisa upset. She’s my baby, and I just want to protect her.’

              ‘I know, and I’m really sorry that I upset her. I’m going to go sort things out with her now.’

              ‘I’m glad,’ she forced a smile. ‘I’ll see you at dinner,’ she said before she went back to her chopping.

              Deciding that this was Gloria’s way of saying she was okay with me now, I left the kitchen and headed upstairs. I glanced at the framed picture of Louisa that was on the stairs. She was about five or six in it, her hair tied into bunches, and she was wearing a bright pink dress. 

              ‘Some things never change,’ I said under my breath.

              The house was full of pictures of Louisa, but there wasn’t even one of Jake, which was odd. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t exist at all.

              I’d sort of fixed things with Gloria, so now I needed to do the same with Louisa. I stopped in front of her bedroom door and paused briefly before knocking on it.

              ‘Come in,’ she shouted from within her room, so I pushed the door open and stepped inside. ‘Oh, it’s you.’ She glared over her pink laptop at me.

              ‘Yeah, it’s me. Look Louisa, I didn’t mean what I said. You know that I think you’re great. You’re like a younger sister to me, and I never meant to upset you. I was an idiot, and I’m really sorry.’

              ‘Okay,’ she sighed.

              ‘Does this mean I’m forgiven?’

              ‘I guess so. I have kinda missed you,’ she smiled.

              ‘Missed you too. Anyway, I’ll catch you at dinner.’

              ‘Yeah, see you then.’

              I left her room and headed towards mine. Maybe I could stay in Oakwood after all. I’d managed to sort things out with Gloria and Louisa, so maybe I could sort everything else out too, although I didn’t really believe this.

              I sat on cross-legged on my bed and turned my laptop on. I decided to check my email before I did some major homework catch-up; most of it was rubbish, apart from one email from the address
JPrestonOakwood
. The heading read ‘
Celeste Gough, I know what you did.’

             
I found myself shaking as I opened the message and scanned my eyes over the short sentence written within, ‘
And I’m going to make you pay.’

             
I read the message at least a dozen times before I closed the page. An anger had built up inside of me, one I knew all too well, and I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down as I dug my thumb nails into my fingertips. J Preston, did this mean Jake had sent it? Why would a boy I hadn’t even seen so much as a picture of send me such a horrible email? What if it wasn’t Jake? Who despised me enough to want to ruin my life?

              ‘Max,’ I said under my breath. It had to have been Max.

              I wasn’t safe in Oakwood. I needed to leave before Max found me.

              I picked my phone up and typed out a message to Finn.

              ‘
I need to meet up later? x’

             
I stared at my phone for the whole five minutes that it took him to reply.

              ‘
7 in the park x’

             
I wasn’t going to just sit around and wait for Max to turn up, or for Brandon and Veronica to hurt me. I couldn’t stay around here. I couldn’t risk any more people finding out what a freak I was. I couldn’t let them all push me too far.

Power made people do vile and cruel things, but it was fear that could be far more dangerous. It was fear that left people with no other option.

***

Dinnertime should have been fantastic. Gloria and Louisa were back to acting normally around me, Gloria had cooked roast beef, and Alf had walked past me to harass Louisa for food without whining. The email was still playing on my mind, though, and I found myself moving the food around my plate with my fork as the others chatted away.

              ‘Is everything okay, Celeste? You’ve hardly touched your food.’ Gloria asked before she put her cutlery down and passed Terry the bowl of roast potatoes.

              ‘Yeah, everything’s fine,’ I smiled.

              ‘Well, that’s good then.’

              Terry was on his third portion of food, whilst Gloria had eaten even less than I had. She always had to be passing people something, she couldn’t just sit still. I wondered if she’d been like this back when Jake lived here.

              ‘Will Jake be coming for dinner sometime?’ I asked, desperate for answers.

              Gloria looked stunned as she coughed and diverted her gaze onto the bowl of carrots.

              ‘Would you like some more, sweetie?’ she held the bowl out to Louisa.

              Louisa shook her head before she glared at me.

              ‘Sorry, I was just wondering, that’s all. I’d love to meet him.’

              ‘He won’t be coming for dinner, Celeste, he’s too far away,’ Terry said sternly.

              ‘Oh, okay,’ I muttered out. ‘That’s a shame.’

              ‘Yes it is, we all miss him greatly,’ Terry said, and I noticed that Gloria gave him a fierce look.

              I ate the rest of my dinner in silence. The mood was now tense, and no one said very much. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t talk about their son. All I knew about Jake was his name. I had no idea what he looked like or how old he was. If Max had sent me the email, then that meant he knew that I was in Oakwood, and worse still, it meant that he knew about the Prestons’ enigma of a son.

***

I used to feel safe sitting on the bench in the park alone, but right then I felt anxious. I didn’t want another confrontation with Veronica. I didn’t want to have to speak to anyone but Finn.

              I tapped my fingers against the bench as I waited. The black paint was peeling off in places, and I felt the loose bits beneath my fingers.

              As soon as I saw him walk across the path towards me, his hands in the pockets of his grey top, I gave a relieved sigh.

              ‘What’s up?’ he said as he sat down next to me so close that our legs touched.

              ‘I can’t stay here; too many people know who I am.’

              ‘I’m not asking you to stay here, you know that. I know somewhere where you’ll be safe, and I will keep you safe, Celeste, I promise.’

              ‘I just want to be normal. I just want someone to want me.’

              ‘I want you.’ He took my hand as he looked at me.

              An electric jolt ran through my body, and I felt giddy, a good kind of giddy, as if I’d been on a rollercoaster or something.

              ‘What’s my mum like?’ I enquired.

              I wanted to trust him, but it didn’t mean that I believed him about my mum being alive. Maybe he’d mistaken her for being my mum when she wasn’t. None of it made sense, yet there was a large part of me that was curious.

              ‘I haven’t met her, Celeste, but I know people that have.’

              ‘Then how do you know that she’s my mum?’

              ‘I just know that she is. They say she always talks about you.’

              I didn’t understand any of this. If my mum was still alive, then why had she left me? This was all too painful, and I didn’t want to ask any more about her, not now.

              ‘I’m trusting you, Finn. You’re the only one I’ve got left.’

              ‘Tomorrow. I will take you out of this town tomorrow.’

              ‘Thank you.’ I gave a nervous smile.

              I knew that I had to leave this town, but I didn’t know if leaving with Finn was the right decision or not. My gut was telling me to trust him, but there was a part of me that was wary. I knew hardly anything about this boy who knew who I was and claimed that my mum was alive and that he could help me. I wanted to trust him, I really did, and without him what would I do? I needed Finn.

              ‘You’re doing the right thing, Celeste. I know people that can help you.’

              ‘Where will we be going?’

              ‘I can’t tell you that. You’ll just have to trust me.’

              I nodded, not knowing what to say. That was when he moved in closer to me and moved a loose strand of my hair, tucking it behind my ear. He kept his hand there as I looked into his eyes, neither of us as much as blinking. I could hear my heart beating, and I wondered if Finn could hear it too. He traced his fingers slowly down the back of my neck, which caused my skin to tingle, and he looked straight at me before he leaned in closer and put his lips against mine, gently moving my head closer to his. I closed my eyes, which intensified the feeling of his lips touching mine.