Chapter 2

Andy

Claire Lions is a pretentious, up herself snob who acts like she knows everything. Getting paired with her in chemistry is a living nightmare, one I'm going to be forced to suffer through until graduation, and it's not just chemistry either; she's in four out of my five classes. The only escape I get from her is in PEHPD.

How could I forget that Claire attends Brixton? It gets shoved in my face by my parents enough, all I've heard about for years is how Claire is top of her class at Brixton, Claire is aiming to get DUX of the school when she graduates, Claire is going to study medicine at university. I swear they believe the sun shines out of Clair's arse.

I was top of my classes too, I could have been DUX of Claremont last year if life hadn't fucked me over. I can pinpoint the moment it all went downhill, except I didn't realise it was happening until it was too late. Each time I tried to repair what was broken another crack would appear until there was nothing I could do to fix the mess.

Claire pretending like she doesn't know how I ended up at Brixton, trying to embarrass me in front of her friends, is just another reason why I can't stand her. Her fucking parents paid my tuition for the year, there's no way little miss perfect wasn't trying to rub that in. She won't be smiling when I steal DUX from her. I've just got to keep my head down and stay out of trouble, not that I think I'd find any at Brixton, the only fight these kids would get into is who's parents make the most money.

I don't fit in here; my second-hand, beat-up Mazda parked between the Porch and the BMW is proof of that, but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't fit in anywhere anymore. I was once so sure of who I was, Pia's boyfriend, that was the only title I needed, but now that's been stripped away.

When the final bell rang, I couldn't wait to get out of the classroom. As I was passing by the school bus stop, on my way to the car park, I was surprised when I saw Claire and her brother, Heath, seated in the bus shelter. I thought for sure that one of those high-end status symbols, clogging up the car park, would belong to little Miss Overachiever.

"Andy, we need to organise time to do the chemistry assignment together," Claire demands, running up to me and stopping me in my tracks. I'm sure she's used to people around here bowing down to her, but she's about to learn that I won't be one of them.

"You do half and I do half," I tell her, trying to move past her, but she won't allow it.

"That may have worked for you at Claremont, but that's not how we do things at Brixton." Her voice holds a tone of smugness when she mentions Claremont, almost like she's begging to be shown up.

"Are you afraid that your work won't be good enough and you need me to help you get across the line?" I ask her, laughing internally when I see how much it pissed her off.

"Me? Need you?" She asks through gritted teeth. "I don't want your poor workmanship to pull down my grade."

I had this urge now to prove to her that I could do the work, not because I felt like her belittling got to me, but because I wanted to rub in her face how much better than her I was.

"Fine, let's go." I realise the sooner I get this over with, I can get back to living my life without her.

"What? Now?" She asks, not liking being put on the spot.

"Yes, now," I tell her, getting irritated. "We'll get it started at your house."

"Ok, but Heath and I catch the bus home, and it takes about 40 minutes to get there." She says, looking over her shoulder at her brother, who is watching us intently, he's probably trying to figure out why I'm stuck talking to his sister when he knows we can't stand each other.

"Hey, Heath? Do you want to wait for the bus or would you rather I drive you home?" I call out to him, and he's on his feet faster than lightning. I have all the time in the world for Heath, unlike he's stuck-up sister, Heath is actually a decent person. He's 14 years old with a passion for combat video games and heavy metal music.

"If it means not sitting on the overcrowded, non-air-conditioned bus, then yes," Heath exclaims.

"It won't be up to the luxury standards that I'm sure your princess of a sister is accustomed to," I warn him, taking aim at Claire and watching her get even more frustrated with me. I love getting a rise out of her; it's just too easy.

"Claire doesn't even have her licence, let alone a car, so anything is an improvement on nothing." Heath chuckles, nudging his sister, who just scowls at him.

"I have my learner's permit," Claire says defensively, looking embarrassed about being called out by her younger brother.

"You just won't learn, though," Heath says.

"Whatever." Claire huffs, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and tagging along behind Heath and me towards the car park. When I walk up to my car, I turn and watch Claire, wanting to capture her facial expression when she realises what she will be riding in but to her credit she remains neutral and unaffected.

I open the car boot and we throw our backpacks in among the mess I've accumulated. Normally, I'd be ashamed of any girl seeing the state of my car, but Claire's opinion holds no weight with me whatsoever. The two siblings walk around the side of the car, and when I see Heath open the back door to get in, I almost want to scream at him 'take the front seat' but I hold myself back to spare Claire's feelings getting hurt. Getting a rise out of her is one thing, but I'm not going to intentionally hurt her.

As soon as I start the car up, music comes blaring through the stereo, and I watch in horror when Claire reaches for the volume control to turn it down. Who the hell does this girl think she is? She's in my car.

"Whoa there, Princess," I yell over the music, swiping her hand away from my stereo. The look she gives me is priceless; she's really not used to being told no, and it shows. "You don't get into a man's car and start changing things."

"It's way too loud and I can't hear myself think." She complains, pouting as if that will win me over.

"Well, I'm sure even your brain is sick of your own voice at this point just as much as the rest of us are." I fire back at her. "My car, my rules."

She crosses her arms across her chest and lets out an almighty huff, as if she's the one having to tolerate the annoyance. She spends the whole drive to her house staring out the window, occasionally shifting in her chair or throwing dirty looks my way whenever she catches an explicit word in a song. It amuses me to no end, really, but I keep the smile from forming on my face, giving nothing away.

When I pull into her driveway, she can't get out of the car fast enough, leaving behind the scent of her sweet perfume, which I really don't mind, actually, it's different from the type Pia wore, probably costs a shit ton more too. It reminds me of cupcakes, delicious chocolate frosting on top of a soft, vanilla sponge.

"You coming?" Claire calls out from the front door that she's holding open, pulling me from the thought of devouring the cupcake. I didn't even notice Heath had gotten out and gone inside; I was so lost in my fantasy.

I'd been to the Lions' house so many times throughout the years, considering how loaded they were, the house itself didn't reflect the wealth. It was a modest, four-bedroom, double-story house in the same street as my own. There was nothing fancy about it, no large gates out front to deter unwanted guests. At most, they had one of those security camera doorbells that alerts you when anyone's at the front door, but everyone has those, even my family.

I followed Claire into the kitchen, where the sound of Sam and Veronica's voices were floating through from. They were discussing what to have for dinner, but stopped abruptly when they saw me come in with Claire.

"Andy," Veronica said, trying to disguise the surprise in her tone, but I caught it, loud and clear, yep, I'm here with your daughter, you know, the one who hates me. "I didn't know you were coming over."

"Andy and I got saddled together for chemistry this year, and we have an assignment." Claire jumps in to explain before I even get a chance to open my mouth. She's acting like I'm the burden on her, not the other way around.

"I imagine you'd be a real scholar at chemistry, Andy, considering your Mum used to teach the subject, many years before you were born," Veronica says, and I watch this piece of information register on Claire's face; she can't hide that expression.

"It's my favourite subject too," I tell Veronica proudly. I may be the spitting image of my father, but I got my mother's intelligence, thankfully.

"How was the first day?" Sam asks both of us, but I can see he's mostly directing the question at me. I lower my head and stare at my shoes, the scuff marks stand out like dog balls, and at Claremont, that wouldn't have been an issue, but it seems at Brixton, uniform is just as important as education, as I was told many times throughout the day to get them polished.

"Pretty good, we're doing Shakespeare as a theme in English, which will be fun." Claire enthuses, lighting up at the thought of acting out Romeo and Juliet.

"And you, Andy?" Sam pushes. "Did you sign up for the soccer team?"

"I thought about it, but kind of want to just settle into the new school and concentrate on getting into university," I tell him. As my former coach when I played for Claremont High, I knew that this would be a burning question.

"You can do both, I did." He tells me, like I haven't already considered it, but my mind was made up when I decided to take the second chance at completing year 12.

"Dad, you didn't even finish high school." Claire giggles, and it's like music to my ears, a soft, sweet tone that I want to hear over and over.

"Because I got early acceptance into Cambridge University." Sam points out to his daughter, nudging her shoulder.

"Yeah, but you didn't complete that either, let's face it Dad, you're not a finisher," Claire says with a smile as she mocks her dad, it's kind of cute to watch really, gone is any thread of snobbishness, in it's place was just an ordinary teenage girl, making fun of her dad.

"I must have finished something if I created you, darling daughter." Sam teases her, and she cringes.

"Yuck, Dad, too much information." She laughs, shaking her head.

"Sam, stop it, we have company." Veronica reminds her husband, swatting his arm. "Andy, would you like to stay for dinner? We haven't decided what we're having yet, but you're more than welcome to join us."

"Thanks for the offer, but Mum might start to worry if I'm not home by dinner." I don't want to tell them that she'd probably worry about me even if I am home; it's just how things have become these days.

"Call her and tell her you're here then," Claire suggests, surprising me that she'd even want me to stay any longer than I have to.

"I can't, I don't have a phone." I sheepishly admit it because I know exactly what's coming next.

"You don't have a phone?" Claire interrogates me. "Why don't you have a phone? Everyone has a phone."

"I threw it away after..." I can't bring myself to explain to her that I disposed of my phone after I lost Pia.

"Claire, let it go." Sam throws out the warning shot to his daughter, and she backs down. Does she know about Pia? Did they tell her that's why I'm now at Brixton? Sam pulls his own phone from his pocket, unlocks it and hands it to me, his wallpaper lights up to reveal a picture of a baby that I assume is Claire. "Call from my phone, mate."

"Thanks, Sam," I tell him, taking the phone from him and dialling mum's number, it rings once, and when she picks up, I can hear the panic in her breathing.

"Sam, he still hasn't come home. School finished a half hour ago, and he's not home yet." Mum says, assuming it's Sam calling her to tell her something has happened at school.

"Mum, it's me, Andy," I tell her and hear the sigh of relief from her end. "I'm at the Lions' house because Clare and I have an assignment to work on together."

"You're working with Claire?" She asks me, unable to hide the delight in her voice. I swear Mum and Veronica started planning the wedding between Claire and me before we even hit preschool.

"It's just an assignment." I make it clear before she gets any ideas. "Anyway, I'm calling to ask if you're alright if I stay for dinner?"

"Of course you can, but Andy, I really wish you'd get a new phone, it would make all our lives a little easier," Mum says, this has been an ongoing argument for months now, I don't want a phone, I don't need to be checked up on every minute of every day but my parents don't get that.

"I'll consider it," I tell her, having no intention of following through with it. I'm content without a phone; you don't realise how much it consumes of your life until you're without one.

"Well, don't be too late home, remember you've got school tomorrow." She reminds me, like I could forget.