“Wake up, Avery.” Jude says for possibly the tenth time, following it up with a poke to my side.
I grumble, eyes still shut, and swat his hand away. “Stop,” I warn. I turn into my side, snuggling my face into my folded hands.
“Jo is sooo lazy,” Cole sing songs from my right.
I make a sound in my throat but otherwise ignore him. Can’t a girl get a little sleep around here?
“Tickle her,” a voice, belonging to my traitorous friend Nicki, comes from the spot right beside me.
I shoot up from my space against the wall immediately, and in time too because Jude is already reaching out. I glare at Nicki and flash her the middle finger.
Jude chuckles, chewing on his bottom lip. “Oh, so that’s the trick.”
“Don’t you ever dare, not even once,” I wa
It’s one a.m., Jude is in my room, and he is drunk.Panic shoots through me as sleep deserts me and the situation sinks in. I slept with my lights on so I can see exactly how much drunk he is.At first I can’t make sense of what he’s saying, but when I do, my blood runs cold.“Sorry, Jo…. Sssorrry… Your sister… Saw me…”The words come out disjointed, but I hear him fine alright.He drops on my bed, huffing as if the effort of making that sentence has taken all his energy.My heart is pounding so loud in my chest, I can’t hear my own thoughts.Maybe that’s because there’s none. I can’t think.I crawl onto my knee and shake him. “Jude? Are you sure?”He lets out a groan, turns his head to the
I can’t remember the last time I slept undisturbed all the way to morning. There’s always sleepless breaks in between, either due to waking up from dreams and nightmares, or as an effect of my irregular sleeping patterns.I wake up from the former, a dream that makes no sense at all. I don’t get to really think about it however, because my mind registers two things instantly.The lights are off and I’m on my bed.There’s warm breath hitting my face, breath that smells sweet.There are arms around me.Before I can despair, I hear Jude’s low voice. “Are you awake?”I try to move my hands that are trapped beneath his. He moves and I free them, but that’s all the movement he makes.“Sorry about the lights, couldn’t sleep with them on,” he explains, the same
True to Mum’s word and thanks to Sam’s need to celebrate his birthday twice a year, evening finds the entire Hansen family huddled in their warmest clothes, standing to the side as Trey and I get popcorn and soda for the movie. Sam is running around with Liam, there’s no sign of Willow. Maria is standing a few feet away from Mum and Dad, glaring into space and looking as if this is the last place she would like to be at the moment. She tried to deceive her way out of coming, but Mum wasn’t taking any excuses. I can only imagine where she wanted to get to instead.Trey keeps looking around.I nudge him in the side. “Expecting someone?”He shakes his head. “No.”“That girl wouldn’t stop stealing glances at you back at the restaurant,” I tease, referring to a girl who had been at one of the tables at the restaurant we went t
After my second and last paper of the day on Monday, my mind is finally set on one thing.Finding Jude and getting an explanation.I’m halfway towards his locker when I realise he’s not alone.Bethany Hill — his once upon a time girlfriend (the only one, too) — is with him, laughing, touching him as constantly as possible, and I can tell, even from a distance, flirting the hell out of him.I almost take a detour.Almost.Bethany’s presence is intimidating, and she has been throwing rude scorching glares my way any opportunity she gets. But she isn’t the one I want to talk to.I have exercised maximum patience waiting this long to confront Jude and I don’t think I can wait one more second, not with Maria practically breathing down my neck with all the self importance in the world.&nbs
“Why are you in a pissy mood?”“I’m not in a pissy mood.”“Yeah right, that’s why this pillow is lying in the doorway…” Simon pauses and bends to pick said pillow. “Flew here, I imagine?”“It has feathers, doesn’t it?” I offer drily. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”He closes the door behind him and approaches the bed. “I was with Trey. And I need to convince you.”I groan and throw another pillow, this time at him, which he catches in his hand. “I’m not sneaking out with you guys.”“Come on, Jo. You’ve sneaked Jude in and out of this room numerous times. You can do it for yourself. Besides, your brother does it all the time and he has never…” he grimaces and pauses. “I didn&rsqu
His eyes switch between us. “Henry? What are you doing with Jude’s girl? He’s going to kick your ass.”Isaac sighs. “Not doing anything.”“Not Jude’s girl,” I mumble, shifting my eyes away from the perfect specimen in front of me. He’s in fitting dark jeans and a dark shirt. I’m reminded once again how much he looks like Jude… And I’m once again wondering whether Jude’s someplace around.“Could have fooled me,” he muses.“She’s my friend,” Isaac offers, letting go of my hand. He runs his fingers through his curls.“Oh.”“Yeah.”“Of course.”I look between them. Jared looks as if he’s searching Isaac’s face for something, while Isaac’s eyes are fixed on
In the morning, I’m woken by knocks on my door. Heavy fast ones, that indicate that whoever is out there has been trying to rouse me for a while now. My heartbeat accelerates even before my mother’s voice breaks through the barrier.“Avery?”I shoot up from bed immediately.My mother never calls me Avery. It’s always Jo, and rarely Ava, but Avery?Synonymous to trouble.I reach for my phone, fumble, push it from the edge of the cabin and catch it just before it acquires its first series of cracks after one short week in my ownership. Fingers shaking, I unlock it.Ten o’clock.“Do not tell me she’s also not here!”My mother’s raised voice cracks like a whip and it has me hurrying to the door.“Coming!” I call, tur
Monday morning, walking through the school front doors feels like walking into hell.News have a way of getting around, and my incidence on Saturday night sure did. A couple of extra ears beyond the door in the hallway when Jude and Nicki came along took care of that.As if things aren’t bad enough, I see Cole walking purposely towards me. It’s the first time I’m seeing him after he acted all cool and unaffected after our friends walked in on us on Saturday night and I really don’t know what to say to him. If anything, I don’t want to be seen talking to him. The rumour mill in this school has the uncanny ability of spinning and twisting each little detail every possible way. I clutch onto my bag and walk faster. Any contact with Cole would not be a good idea, especially not before I’ve gotten a chance to clear things up with Nicki.I speed walk but then I hear running steps and a