So Much to Learn (25 page)

"How
magnanimous of them," I said sarcastically before I could stop
myself. "Sorry." I pulled an apologetic face, but Simone wasn't
looking at me anymore. She had her head cocked to one side as if
listening to something and then she jumped to her feet, went to the
window and then looked back to me in puzzlement.

"What are Matt
and Jack doing here?" She asked.

"Huh?" I joined
her at the window and, looking down, saw that Jack's Ute was
pulling up outside the Coogan's house. Sitting in the cab was a
very grim Jack and Matt and, between them, was a bloodied and
dishevelled…

"Alex!" Simone
pulled away from the window and tore out of her room and I hastily
followed her.

Reaching the
bottom of the stairs I watched Simone race through the lounge room
without sparing even a glance at Sean and Holly who were sitting on
the couch watching TV.

"What's going
on?" Sean asked in alarm and I forced myself to stop and smile
reassuringly at the two of them.

"Oh nothing
important," I lied. "Just stay in here for a moment, OK you two?" I
looked specifically at Sean, trusting that his big brother
instincts would kick in and he would stay inside at least to look
after Holly.

I was right, he
glanced longingly towards the front door, which Simone had left
open in her mad rush to get to Alex, and then back at Holly who was
looking between us with big eyes. "Yeah, fine, we'll stay here," he
grunted and I smiled thankfully at him before following Simone
outside.

Closing the
front door behind me so that there was less chance of the kids
hearing what was going on, I hurried across the gravel parking area
to where Matt, Jack and Simone were gathered around the battered
Alex.

"It's alright,
Simone," I heard Jack say soothingly as I joined them. "I know it
looks bad, but it’s only a split lip and some swelling, nothing's
broken."

"What
happened?" I gasped. "Alex what's going on?"

He mumbled
something through his split and bleeding lips that I didn't quite
catch, but I would bet that it was something along the lines of
'whatever'. Obviously not going to get any information out of that
source, I looked instead at Matt and Jack for an explanation.

"We went into
town to get some oil for the tractor and on the way back we saw
Alex walking along the road trying to hitchhike," Matt said, his
expression solemn.

"I wasn't
trying
to hitchhike," Alex snarled, pausing to spit some blood out of
his mouth before continuing, "I
was
hitchhiking. I'd just flagged down a lift when you
two dickheads showed up and scared that guy off."

"Never mind
that for now, I want to know who beat you up." Simone reached out
tentatively towards Alex's face and he winced as she gently touched
some of the swelling around his mouth.

"No-one, it
doesn't matter," he muttered, looking as if he was about to bolt.
Simone cut off his opportunity by grabbing onto his arm and looking
up at him imploringly.

"Clearly it
was
someone and it
does
matter. Please tell me."

But he looked
determinedly away from her and kept his bruised mouth firmly
shut.

A thought
drifted to the front of my mind and I cleared my throat before
asking softly, "The family of the boy who, um, fell down the fire
escape, they live locally, do they?"

I knew I was
right when Alex looked at me quickly, his eyes wide with shock.
Matt and Jack were also looking at me in surprise, but I gestured
to them that I would explain later.

"You told her?"
Alex asked Simone angrily, but she didn't flinch from his fury,
rather looked at him sternly.

"Of course I
did," she told him firmly. "And I take it Talia was right? You ran
into some of that guy's family and they did this to you?" She
gestured towards his puffy and inflamed face.

"It's only a
punch in the mouth," Alex sighed, trying and failing to sound
nonchalant. "Don't make a big deal out of it."

Simone looked like she wasn't far off from giving him another
punch in the mouth herself, but she took a deep, calming breath and
let it out again slowly. "Well, I think it
is
a big deal so here's what we're
going to do. First off we're going inside to clean you up a bit,
then we're getting Sean and Holly and going to the
Davenport's."

"Why?" Alex
demanded. "Why can't we just stay here?"

"Oh you want to
stay here now, do you?" She snapped. "I was under the impression
that you wanted out of here considering that the second I let you
out of my sight you went to try and scam some lifts off strangers.
Just get in the house, Alex," she rapped the last bit out with such
authority that, with only minimal grumbling, Alex obeyed.

As soon as the
door closed behind him Simone's shoulders slumped and her eyes
filled with tears. "Thanks, guys," she said to Jack and Matt. "God
knows where he was off to, if you hadn't seen him…" she trailed off
as if unable to bear to finish the thought.

"But we did see
him, so don't beat yourself up about it," Jack said kindly, giving
her shoulder a quick pat. "Do you want us to head off so you can
sort some things out with just your family?"

She looked at
him thankfully and blinked back her tears. "Yeah, thanks."

"What are you
going to do?" I couldn't resist asking.

"Oh," Simone
smiled feebly, "I think that's pretty obvious, don't you? I've got
to get Alex to Mum and Dad, they need to understand the seriousness
of what's going on. Do you think it would be alright with your
parents if I left Sean and Holly with them for a bit?"

"Of course it
would," Matt said, before I had time to reply. "I reckon they'll go
you one better too. I can't imagine Dad letting you take Alex up
there by yourself so expect to have him joining you."

"And I'll come
too," I said quickly. "I can't see myself being that useful, but
I’ll be there for whatever you need."

Simone nodded.
"Thanks, that’d be good. I'll see you in a bit." She stiffened her
spine again and began walking towards the house.

"Hey, Simone,"
Jack suddenly called and, when she turned, he threw the Ute keys
across to her. "It might be better if you have Alex strapped into a
moving vehicle when you make your way over to the Davenport's," he
explained. "We'll walk."

The three of us
turned and began down the drive. As soon as we were on the road
Jack and Matt both turned to me and demanded to know what was going
on. With a sigh I explained all about the trouble Alex was in and,
by the time I'd finished, they both looked in equal parts furious
and worried.

"But they have
no proof that he's done anything," Matt protested. "God, this town!
The slightest thing happens and everybody blames Alex."

Jack and I
nodded in agreement and we walked on, each of us deep in thought.
Just before we turned up our driveway something else suddenly
sprang to my mind and I stopped short.

"Hey, do you
think I'm judgemental?" I asked and my heart sank as I saw them
exchange looks.

"Well…" Jack
began cautiously, but Matt interrupted him.

"Look at it
this way," he said brusquely, "do you think it's a fluke that the
degree you're doing may lead to you becoming a 'judge'? Think about
it."

That night I
returned alone to our flat in the city and made a direct beeline
towards the couch where I flopped down in exhaustion. It had been
such a long day, it seemed about a week ago that Matt had suggested
I go and see Simone, but in reality, it was only about 11
hours.

The Coogan kids
had turned up about half an hour after Matt, Jack and I got home,
and, having already explained the situation to my parents, Alex,
Simone, dad and I were able to get on the road back to the city not
long after they arrived. We got to the building in which Simone's
parents worked at about 4 and I had sat outside whilst Dad, Simone
and Alex talked to Mr and Mrs Coogan, making them see that the
problem was beyond a bit of normal teenage angst, which I think
they had seen it as before.

After that, we
had all traipsed to the Coogan's city house where Simone lives
during the semester and settled Alex in as it had been decided it
was probably for the best if he stay out of Bridunna for a while.
Dad and I stayed until Mr and Mrs Coogan returned home and then
took our leave, Dad returning home, me going back to the flat.

I was tired and
emotionally sore. Why is it that life likes to point out when
things have been going too easy for you? Or, to put it another way,
when you're sure a problem is going to come out of one specific
area (people finding out about Jack and me), life has a habit of
blindsiding you by throwing a problem in from a different
quarter.

To be honest, I
hadn't really been thinking much about Simone over the last couple
of weeks, in fact I hadn't been thinking about anything or anyone
else except Jack. I felt selfish. I'd always promised myself I
wouldn't be one of those annoying people who develop a one track
mind once they have a thing going on with someone. This had never
been a problem for me in the past, obviously, but the last couple
of weeks had been strange and different. And, as they say, the only
person who likes change is a baby with a dirty nappy.

Well it was
ending now, I was going to be there for Simone, no matter what.

With this in
mind, I forced myself off the couch and dug my mobile out of my bag
and checked to see that the home phone receiver was charging on its
base. I wasn't going to go to bed, if Simone needed me she could
get me on both phones and I would be all ready and fully dressed to
go and help her. I'm not sure what I thought I would be able to do,
or even what kind of crisis Simone would be in, but the weird day
had put me in a weird frame of mind.

As determined
as I was to stay on the alert in case there was a call to action,
it wasn't long before the long, hard day caught up with me and I
dozed off, still clutching my mobile tightly in my hands.

After what felt
like only a couple of seconds, but was probably more like an hour
or so, I felt myself being dragged up through the layers of sleep
towards consciousness. I fought against the pull because I was
really warm and comfortable, but my brain was mercilessly sending
messages to get awake and, reluctantly, I surrendered.

Blinking, I saw
nothing in my immediate eye line which would have hauled me so
unceremoniously out of my slumber, but then I heard the low hum of
Jack's voice from over in the kitchen. Still too sleepy to be
bothered to get up I nevertheless tipped my head slightly so both
my ears were unhindered and listened in to his conversation which
went like this, "I just got in." Pause. "Yeah she's here, she's
asleep on the couch." Pause, followed by a soft chuckle. "Something
like that. Right, well, I'll see you Monday night then, mate."
Another pause, slightly longer this time. "Nah, no sweat. I'll keep
a look out for those dwarves for you, though. Cheers, bye."

I heard the
beep as he hung up then the sound of the fridge opening and Jack
swigging some OJ straight from the carton.

For a moment I
wrestled between lying still and trying to get back to sleep or
satisfying my curiosity and asking what he was doing back in town.
Not surprisingly, curiosity won out and I sat up and threw a
cushion at Jack. He jerked in surprise as the square of padding hit
the back of his head, and orange juice splashed up over his face.
Pulling the carton away he wiped at the sticky mess on his face
then turned to look at me, his eyebrows raised.

"You know
normal people just say hello," he said, screwing the lid back on
the juice and putting it back into the fridge.

"Hello." I
smiled sheepishly, giving him my best cute, apologetic face. It
seemed to work as he simply shook his head in a long suffering sort
of way and gave his face a quick clean with some paper towel.

"Long day," he
stated after a moment or so and I nodded in agreement.

There was
another pause and then, rubbing sleep from my eyes and focusing, I
asked,” What are you doing here?"

"I live here,"
he replied with a smile, but I looked at him seriously and he
sighed and raised his hands in an 'alright, you win' kind of way.
Moving out of the kitchen he crossed the room and then joined me on
the couch. Twisting his body slightly so he could look at me, he
leant forwards slightly and said, “I saw your face before you left
Bridunna, you looked so miserable and guilty I thought maybe you'd
need some company back here."

"I'm fine," I
said quickly, feeling a little snake of irritation rise up at
Jack's insistent need to baby-sit me.

Jack looked
down at the phone cradled in my lap then looked back up at me and
raised his eyebrows a little. "Believe me, Tally, I know all the
signs that indicate misery and guilt and the refusing to go to
bed/phone holding scenario is pretty obvious. So let me guess, you
feel responsible for what is going on with Alex even though it is
in no way your fault?"

"I know Alex's
problems aren't anything to do with me!" I fired up at once at what
I imagined was condescension in his tone. "But I'm responsible for
Simone, or at least I think I am, and so…" I petered off as, much
to my frustration, I just couldn't find the words to express how I
felt. Avoiding Jack's sympathetic gaze I folded my arms
protectively across my chest. "Look, never mind, OK? I'm fine, I'm
just a bit tired."

"Tally, you
can't…" he tried to say, but I cut him off with a sharp,

"I'm going to
bed."