“If you are at the bottom, I won't mind sinking. “ Jules Carson, a depressed washed up jock, thought he had given up on the whole concept of life, love, and trust, after a summer of regrets and heartache. All he wants to do is graduate and leave town along with all its memories. But then he meets abstruse and mysterious Venus Chambers. The girl he can't quite wrap his head around and the breath of life he's been searching for. She's the smartest, rudest and angriest person he's ever met but despite all the warnings, he can't withstand the irresistible pull of her deep waters.
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Jules was a having bad day.
He had stayed up all night binge-watching the last thirteen episodes of Attack on Titans. So he was asleep for the majority of his Math test. He submitted his sheet, already assured of his big fat F, and if that wasn't bad enough— he lost his phone.
He hadn't noticed when the bulge in his pocket disappeared until just before lunch when he attempted to pull it out and check the time. Safe to say, his heart accelerated before flatlining.
That was his second phone this month. His dad was going to kill him. Yeah, right. He scoffed internally.
All he wanted was to eat his tuna in peace and go home. It turned out he couldn't even do that. Why? It was because someone was sitting on his table. The cafeteria was, thankfully, still empty, so he took five strides to reach his table. He immediately realized it was a girl. Her back was turned to him, but he could see her slender shoulders even through the hoodie she wore.
He cleared his throat loudly and saw the girl's back go rigid. When she didn't turn around, he spoke.
"That's my seat." He tried, but failed, for his voice to not sound menacing. This had been his table for the duration of five months. It hadn't been that difficult to secure it. He was Jules. That was reason enough for people to stay away, so why—
The girl in question heaved a heavy sigh, before turning slowly. Jules tried not to stare, but that was impossible.
Her hood had slipped off her head, revealing her short white, hair that ended in the middle of her neck. Her skin was pale, bright blue eyes and under those eyes— purplish, bruiselike shadows. As if she was suffering from sleepless night. The reason why he couldn't look away wasn't just because she was so devastatingly beautiful. He stared because the eyes that gazed back at him made him feel like he was just hit by a bus. It was a nasty feeling. Painful and bizarre. He hated it; her and the expression she wore told him that the feeling was mutual. Hate at first sight.
Her ruby lips tilted up, and Jules felt like a painful open wound. When he blinked, he didn't open his eyes immediately.
He hadn't always been a sucker for pain.
The opening of the cafeteria doors distracted him a little, and when he looked back the smile was gone.
"Excuse me?" Her voice was small, but hostility was prominent.
Jules cleared his throat again, but more awkwardly this time—so much for being menacing— "you are on my seat."
His voice didn't waver but his heart certainly did. The intensity of her gaze made him want to look away. The last thing he needed was a confrontation with a girl half his size.
She surprised him by standing up. Jules had expected her to put up a fight, so he watched in relief as she packed up her books. His relief was however short-lived because instead of leaving the table altogether. She brushed past him and took a seat at the same table, his fucking table.
She sat down in the seat opposite of the one, she had just vacated pulling out a book again. She opened it and continued reading ignoring Jules completely.
If it were any other day, any other person, Jules would have probably let it go. But it was today and he was having a bad day. It was this girl, who wore a patronizing smile. He was sure that the reason for this smile wasn't because of the book she was reading. Quantum Physics. Instead of retreating, like he would have done normally, he snatched the book right out of her hands.
She was shocked, but then again so was he. Why did he just do that? Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape; her surprise was beginning to bother him. This girl didn't know him. For all she knew, he harassed girls on a daily basis.
Jules watched, albeit, nervously as a thought crossed her mind. Her eyes widened even farther, and she did a double take like she was suddenly seeing him for the first time. His mind went blank. Why was she looking at him like that? He stood there, and shock was still enraptured in her gaze. A hand landed on his shoulder snapping them both out of it.
"What's going on here?" David Bentley asked. Jules shrugged his hand off, just as the girl stood. She snatched her book from his hand and took off. Jules watched her exit the cafeteria without looking back.
━━━━━
Venus Chambers. That was her name.
The first person he asked was the right person to ask. "Venus Chambers," David Bentley said, "she's my sister."
Jules froze. Sister? The Bentley clan were all boys. He was sure he would have noticed a girl suddenly appearing, and not because he and David used to be best friends. It was because Venus was a girl you noticed.
"My stepsister," David continued, "my dad got remarried last summer. They moved all the way from New Jersey. Today is her first day."
Venus. Venus. Venus.
The girl with the pale hair, paler skin and red lips. Venus from New Jersey. Venus the stepsister.
"That's it?" Jules hadn't realized that he had been walking away until David stopped him. "You don't talk to me, for who knows how long, and then you ask about my sister and walk away?"
Jules tried to shrug David's hand off his shoulder, but this time it didn't budge. He cocked his head to the side, "What do you want me to say? That I want to be friends? I want to join the team again? I want to live?" The last word made David flinch and his hand fell away.
Jules turned away, but this time David didn't stop him, "Tell your sister to stay away from my table."
There was no one home when he arrived, but that wasn't new. Since the death of his mother, his father liked to play hide and seek. Jules hated that game. He was tired of always being the seeker.
Sometimes he wanted to hide too.
"I'm home," he said to the empty house, pulling off his shoes and leaving the door unlocked. He warmed up some spam and ate it in his room with the lights off. Sometimes he liked to play pretend. He'd pretend he was blind and flail his arms around his room looking for a book, his duvet or his harmonica.
Today, however, with the lights off and curtains closed. Shrouded by complete darkness, he could see.
He saw Venus Chambers.
The girl with the pale hair, paler skin and red lips.
Venus from New Jersey. Venus the stepsister.
She was looking at him. Almost as if she was saying, 'are you alive or just existing?'
He closed his eyes to get rid the image of Venus, but even with his eyes closed— he could still see her. Engraved on the inside of his eyelids. He buried his face in his pillow and something fell off his bed.
The sound echoed in his empty house, empty room and empty heart.
He buried his face deeper into the pillow, hoping it would suddenly grow hands to hold him and suffocate him.
Jules tied the laceson his shoes for the thirteenth time since they arrived. He can feel Lars's annoyance next to him like a suffocating fog."Do that again, and I'll knife you," he murmured.Jules visibly tensed before sitting up and pretending to straighten his tie. "I hate it when you go all gangster on me. You're my manager, not my dealer.""Old habits die hard," Lars replied with a wistful sigh.Jules glared at him completely forgetting the tightness in his chest for a second. "That's not funny.""Then stop acting so nervous. You have had book signings, interviews,fundraiserand much more. This isn't even your first book reading. You're used to this, so what's with all the nerves?"Confusion and heartache swirled suddenly inside his stomach. Twisting and dipping as he tried to find the words. "This is the first time I've been b
Jules didn't realizehis couch was alive. Until now, that is.Before now, he wouldn't have had any reason to notice. After all, he barely spent up till an hour sitting on it. Since he didn't watch tv. No, he watched anime. In his room, on his laptop in HD.But Jules was laying on his couch now, he didn't know long it had been, a millennial was it felt like. But in reality it was probably a few hours, he wasn't sure though since time seemed to have lost its meaning. And the longer he stayed like this. The more certain he was over the discovery that; yes, his couch was actually alive.When it was touched, it moaned.When it was poked, it moaned.When it was disturbed, it moaned.It didn't breathe though, it couldn't. But that's okay, Jules couldn't breathe either. It didn't make him any less alive.Jules couldn't breathe,
The whole family was in a cycle of perpetual happiness. That lasted for seven days, the time it took to prepare for the surgery.Jules had told Carrie first, and she cried and cried and cried. She held onto him so tight, kissing both his cheeks were also wet. Then he told Venus step-brothers and Merlin cried.And Jules was happy. Happy she wanted to live, try, stay and not just for him, but for her. It was something she had taught him. Months ago when the demons of his past hung around him like a dark shadow, a thick suffocating fog. When he felt responsible for two deaths and refused to die himself because he wanted to suffer.But things had changed and not just for him, for both of them. Jules and Venus had collided but they didn't destroy, they created.Even now, that's what they did."Are you okay?" Venus asked, but she wasn't really asking. She was just reading the words out of the pr
After a moment, Julescut through the heavy silence that crashed landed in the room. "What on earth, is he saying?"When Venus didn't say anything. He realized all of a sudden that she had stopped crying. And somehow her silence was worse than the sound of her sobbing."He's joking, right?" His throat felt horribly tight.Tell me he's joking."I'm tired," she whispered. Like it was the answer to all his questions. And in a way it was. In a way, everything was turning crystal clear.She was quiet but he was loud. His breathing was loud, his heartbeat was loud, even his voice was loud. "You can't be serious?"But she was and he couldn't breathe. "I'm tired." She repeated again like he didn't hear her the first time. "I'm tired, Jules.""You're giving up? You want to die?!" He must be shouting, his ears were ringing and his throat was hurti
Jules was screaming.This time he knew it was him. This time he knew that that horrible keening sound belonged to him. But even though he knew it, it didn't change that fact that he couldn't stop.It took him longer than it should to calm down. It took him longer than it should to stop breaking. It took him longer than it should to call 911. It took longer than it should for them to understand what he was saying. Because he was sure for a solid minute all he was saying wasmy planet is dying.God,bless the operator because she waited all past his ramblings. She must have realized that he sounded to broken for this to be a prank. So she waited calmly until he finally gave her actually facts other than;my planet is dying.Then Jules called Carrie as he held Venus. His hand on her chest taking tiny solace from the steady thumps of her heart. She was
"Drop it over there, please," Marie said, pointing to the spot beside the dresser.Jules dropped the box. He wiped off the sweat accumulating at the top of his forehead and stretched. "That's the last of it." He said to her."Thanks, sweetie." She said. "You've been a huge help." The moving truck had just left. He had spent the whole afternoon helping Marie move her stuff into their house."It's okay," he replied, then pulled out a folded photograph and handed it to her. "When I was taking some boxes to Kenya's room. I tipped over the trash can by accident and found this inside."Marie's smile disappeared as she gazed at the photo of Kenya and her father. "Oh dear," she whispered tracing her daughter's smile in the picture with her finger. "She's still so angry at him."Jules folded his arms. "It's not like she doesn't have a reason to be." His voice was angry. "He
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