Paradox (Unearthly Paradox) (4 page)

“May as well get it over with,” I muttered then opened the math exam.

I picked up my stylus and began answering the questions with an ease that baffled me. I had always received decent marks in math, but that was because I studied my ass off to get them. And since I moved to the Coast, I had barely opened the textbook. All the countless study hours must’ve finally paid off.

Once I’d finished the practice exam, I emailed it back to the teacher then opened the email from my art teacher. She wanted us to draw whatever inspired us and bring it with us to our next class.

“Righty-O.” I put my tablet to the side and grabbed my sketchbook off the shelf. I sucked at drawing, but art was a mandatory subject at my new school. Picking up a pencil, I looked around the room for some inspiration. Nothing. Not one single thing spoke to me.

“Hmm.” I went out onto the balcony. Leaning my book against the balustrade, I began drawing the basic lines of the beach, the water, and the dusky sky. I then tried to fill in the details: waves, uneven sand, half moon shining down, and the boats floating in the distance. By the time I’d finished, I had one hell of a crappy masterpiece. A five-year-old would’ve done a better job.

“Ugh!” I threw the sketchbook down and hung my head over the balustrade. The air rippled down near the ground just as it had done at school that day. But I thought it was even stranger considering it was almost nighttime, and I’d always thought it had something to do with the heat and the sun. I almost considered jumping off my balcony so I could stick my hand in it, but then I’d have to get back up, and I
so
wasn’t going to scale the side of my house.

A few seconds later, the air stilled, leaving me wondering if I’d really seen the movement. What I needed was a doctor’s appointment and some sleep.

I picked up my book and went inside, closing and locking the door behind me. I put my art supplies away, turned off the light, then climbed into bed and pulled the sheet up to my chin. Grabbing the remote off the bedside table, I switched on my TV. With all the nights I’d spent alone, I had become accustomed to sleeping with it on. I also liked having background noise when the rest of the house was so quiet.

After turning it to a rerun of
Friends
, I settled down on my pillow and quickly drifted off to sleep.

“Restless” didn’t even begin to explain what I experienced. I felt as if I were half awake all night, and whenever I did slip into dreamland, all I dreamt about was my black eyes staring back at me. It was as if there was another piece to my soul that I had never known existed, and it was choosing to come to me while I was in a state of semiconsciousness.

The next morning, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and stumbled into the bathroom. I quickly had a shower, brushed my teeth, and changed into my school uniform, thrilled that I would only be wearing that stupid uniform five more days before I was free. One more week of putting up with exams, bitches, and rapists, then I would finally get to see my friends again when they came up for Schoolies Week. I couldn’t wait.

I gathered all my stuff and checked the clock—eight thirty. “Shit.” The school bell was going to go off in ten minutes. I ran to the car, praying there wasn’t any unexpected traffic.

Fortunately, the roads were relatively clear, and I parked the car just as the bell rang. I quickly looked at my schedule. My first class was… a free period. “Argh.” If only I’d checked my schedule earlier, I could’ve stayed home longer.

Someone knocked on my window, making me jump and almost hit my head on the roof. I turned and found Lilly standing there with a nervous expression that she desperately tried to hide with a smile. The sooner that girl finished school, the better off she would be. Scratch that. The sooner those girls and boys got what they deserved, the safer she would feel.

I lowered my window. “Hey there.”

“Um…” She stepped back and looked down at her hands. “Are you leaving?”

“Just getting out of here for my free period.”

“Oh.”

She looked as if I’d punched her in the guts. Was I really the only friend she had?
Friend?
God, we’d only spoken to each other on the beach for a few minutes. We were hardly friends. But by the look on her face, I was all she had, and I so didn’t want to be the heartless bitch I could feel myself turning into.

“You want to come?” I asked her.

Her eyes lit up, and her smile turned into a real one. “Yeah.”

“Get in,” I said, throwing my bag into the backseat.

Lilly quickly ran around the car, opened the door, and jumped in as if afraid I’d change my mind. “Where are we going?”

I shrugged. “You’ve lived here longer. You tell me.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Coffee shop?”

“Do we have time?”

She checked her watch. “Probably not.”

A motorbike pulled into the parking spot beside me. Even though I couldn’t see the rider’s face, I knew it was Jett. My heart began to flutter, and I wanted to stomp on the thing to get it back to a normal beat. Sure, I thought he was absolutely delicious, but that didn’t mean I wanted my heart doing crazy shit like that. I wasn’t that kind of girl.

He took off his helmet, revealing his god-like features. He brushed his hand through his dark-brown hair that barely looked as if he’d been wearing a helmet at all. When he turned his head and saw me gawking at him, a grin spread across his face, showing his perfect teeth.

He hopped off his bike and moved to stand in front of my window. “Zara.” He then turned around and walked through the school gates.

My eyebrows shot up. How the hell did he know my name?

“I thought you said you didn’t know him?” Lilly asked.

Still shocked, I turned to her. “I don’t.”

She grinned. “Well, he seems to know you.”

I would’ve loved to think my looks had captured his attention, but I knew it was something else. I decided to change the subject. “I thought you said he doesn’t go to our school anymore.” I pulled out onto the road.

“He doesn’t,” she replied. “Take a left at the next traffic light.”

I did as she said. “Then why is this the second time I’ve seen him there in two days?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“So if he doesn’t go to our school, then what does he do?”

“Nothing really. He doesn’t need to do anything. His father owns the Gold Coast.”

“What?”

Lilly shook her head. “You know, the mob.”

I started laughing, but Lilly looked dead serious, and not the type of serious in which they were about to break out into an “I had you there for a minute, didn’t I?” kind of way. I dropped my smile. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

She bit her lower lip and nodded. “About the mob part, yeah. I think Jett might look after one of his dad’s clubs, but he must not spend too much time there ’cause he’s usually seen out socialising.” Lilly pointed at a driveway on the other side of the street.

I slammed on my brakes, thankful that there was no one behind us because I almost had to do a U-turn to get into the lot. “What’s this place?”

“We’re not there yet,” she said as I parked in an available slot. “Come on.” She opened her door and got out.

We walked down a deserted lane that opened onto Broadbeach Mall. After ordering two lattes from a little Italian coffee shop, we sat at a vacant table.

“So what are you planning on doing after school finishes?” Lilly asked as she played nervously with the strap of her bag.

I sighed. “I’m hoping my grades will be good enough to get into business. What about you?”

“I haven’t decided yet, but that’s not what I meant.” She took a deep breath and blurted, “I was talking about Schoolies. Do you have any plans? Are you staying anywhere? With anyone?”

It took a moment, but it finally dawned on me that she wanted someone to celebrate Schoolies with. “Um, yeah, sorry. I haven’t been here for long, so I haven’t got anything planned for the Queensland one. I was going to celebrate it with the New South Wales Schoolies.” When she slumped in her chair, I added, “Or I could do both? That’s if you don’t mind me hanging around.”

Her face lit up. “Are you serious? Of course I don’t mind. I’ve got no one to celebrate it with until it’s my friends from Melbourne’s turn.”

Wow, she really was a loner. I would’ve thought she should have made some friends in the six months she’d been on the Coast, but I guess she could’ve been like me and didn’t really want to give anyone a chance after being friends with those three girls.

“Coffee’s ready,” the old Italian guy called to us.

We picked up our cups and made our way back to my car.

“Three Schoolies. This is going to be awesome,” she said then took a sip of her coffee.

I turned my head, trying to hide my eyes that were bugging out. I hadn’t realised I’d invited her to Schoolies with my friends. What the hell was wrong with me? I wanted to slap myself for being such a bitch. I was usually a nice person, caring about the happiness of others. But I was acting like a bitch, and no matter how much I wanted to deny it, my behaviour kind of reminded me of my father. And there was no way in hell I wanted to be like him.

Forcing a smile, I turned to her. “Have you organised anywhere to stay yet?”

She shuffled nervously. “Not since we just planned it.”

Of course she hadn’t. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll find something nice for us.”

Lilly looked at me sceptically. “Yeah, right. We’ll probably end up in some backpackers’ hell hole, leaving it this late.”

“Oh, ye of little faith.” I realised she didn’t know me at all. Lilly had no idea how persuasive I was—especially when I had my black credit card. Things had a way of falling into my lap—exactly the way my father liked and expected. “Don’t worry. I’ll get us something good.”

Jett’s bike was no longer parked where it had been. No matter how much I denied it, I had been hoping he would be there.

“I’ll see you for lunch?” Lilly asked when we got inside the gate.

“Yeah, sure,” I answered automatically. Then I realised I didn’t want to go anywhere near the cafeteria. “I’ll give you my number. Maybe we can go out for lunch?”

Lilly smiled as she took her phone out of her bag. I gave her my number, then she called it so that I had hers on my phone.

“See you,” she said, walking off in the opposite direction.

I headed to maths class, hoping I didn’t know anyone there and, more importantly, that no one knew me. I didn’t want to have to deal with any more bitches thinking I was trying to crack onto their boyfriends.

My wish came true, and surprisingly, no one seemed to be talking about me. I slid into a chair in the back row as a message came through on my phone. It was from Lilly.

Sorry but I forgot I have to go see the principal about something during lunch. See you after school?

I replied,
No worries. I’ll see you then.

I pulled out my tablet and checked my email while I waited for the teacher.

I had four emails: one from my math teacher, Mr. Harvey; two from a couple of close friends, Maddie and Cassidy; one from my best friend, Jessica, who was also my cousin.

Hey, Zara. I hope the reason you haven’t called or replied to my FB messages the last four days is because you’re busy lining up some hot guys for us for when I get up there in two weeks.

I can’t believe you’re not here anymore :( It sucks big time!!!!!

Josh has been asking about you. Don’t worry, I haven’t told him anything. He can go fuck himself after what he did to you.

Gotta go, Maddie just turned up.

Jess xxx

My eyes glazed over with threatened tears. I missed her so much, but at least she was coming up to the Coast in two weeks, and then we were going to work out which uni we wanted to go to together.

I was about to open my email from Maddie when Mr. Harvey entered the room.

“Sorry I’m late, class. We’ve got a lot of things to go over today, so I need everyone to take their seats so we can get started.” He dumped his bag on the desk at the front of the room. “Now, I’ve just sent everyone their marks from the practice exam. Some of you are going to be surprised, and some of you are going to be disappointed.” He stared pointedly at the blond-haired guy in the second row who was wearing earphones. “So, I want everyone to open your exam.” He sat down on the edge of his desk. “And if anyone has any questions or needs help with anything, come and see me. Otherwise, I want everyone to use this period to study for your exam next week.”

Great. I opened the email from Mr. Harvey, holding my breath as I looked for my result. One hundred percent. What the hell? There was no way I could’ve gotten such a high score. Something was definitely not right.

Mr. Harvey looked over at me, smiling as he gave me a quick nod.

Wow. I had no idea how the hell I’d managed to get that, but I sure hoped I’d be able to do it again on the actual test. I apparently didn’t need to study, so I opened my email and replied to Jess.

Hey, Jess.

Somehow this move has been good for my grades. I just got 100% on the prac maths test!!

It looks like I’m going to be having two Schoolies this year. A friend… I guess I can call her that… anyway, a friend has asked me to do Schoolies with her, too.

As for hot guys, there are plenty of them up here, but so far they’re all assholes!!

Seeya xxx

Oh, and thanks for telling Josh where to go. :)

Putting down my tablet, I leaned back in my chair and stared absently at the pen I was twirling around my fingers. I was happy to hear from Jess, but the mention of Josh made me feel sick. The memory of finding my boyfriend of almost a year with his hands on my slurry of a friend’s boobs still gnawed at my insides. And that he tried playing the “it’s not what you think” card was even more unbelievable. Not what I thought! How the hell could he say that when he had her naked ass straddling his naked body?

The snap of my pen brought me out of my tunnel-visioned anger. Feeling eyes on me, I looked over to see a freckly-nosed, red-headed girl with her mouth wide open, staring at the broken pen in my hand.