Chapter 25 –Another Day (Jacquie’s POV)

“Honey time to get up,” my mum yelled to me cheerfully.
“Okay” I say.
I get up and rub my eyes and stretch.
I get my school clothes, walk to the bathroom and have a shower. When I finish I dry myself and get dressed Then I walk into the living room.

“I cooked you breakfast” mum says showing me a plate with a fried egg and two pieces of toast.
“Umm no thanks” I say.
“Honey you should eat” she says in a very whiney voice.
“And mummy I don’t wanna” I say in the same tone as hers.
She glares at me and puts the plate on the table and walks off.
“She was only trying to help” Mark says walking in.
“She knows I hate eating eggs” I say and slump onto the chair.
“Well maybe she forgot” he says backing her.
“Whatever” I say, “Can we go now?”
“Yeah I guess but you might be early” he says.
“Meh” I say.
“Okay” he says
“You coming baby?” he asks mum.
“Umm no I’m gonna be doing stuff around the house” she says.
We walk out to the car and we get in and drive off.

School…
“Okay see you at the mall” Mark says.
“Okay see ya,” I say getting out and walking into the school.
I’m early but not by a lot, Andrew runs up to me.
“Heya” he says.
“Hey” I say, “Is this considered as early?”
“Not really” he says “But if you come here when Micheal does it is”
“Okay what time does he come then?” I ask.
“When his mum is ready for work,” he says.
“Okay” I say.
We make our way to Andrews bag on the stairs.
“So” he says.
“Yeah so” I say
“By any chance are you…Goth?” he asks.
“Well yeah I am are you?” I ask
“Yeah” he says.
“Okay cool” I say with a smile.
He smiles back.
I pull out my phone from my bag and check the time.
“Anxious much?” he says.
“No” I say putting my phone back in my bag.
“Right” he says with a smirk.
“Shut up” I say jokingly.
“Never” he says and we both laugh.
Jared walks through the gates and comes over to us.
“Hey” he says.
“Hi” Andrew and I say at the time.
My phone rings.
I quickly pull it out. (Calling: Mum)

“Umm Hi” I say answering.
“Hey” she says
“What’s with the phone call?” I ask.
“Nothing just wanted to say sorry for giving you eggs Mark told me you didn’t like them” she says.
“Okay umm bye” I say and hang up on her before she can say anything.

“Oh my god she is so annoying” I say putting my phone away.
“Who?” Andrew asks.
“My mum” I say.
“Really?” he says.
“Yeah” I say.
“How?” he asks.
“She just annoying” I say.
“Okay, By the way do you want my number?” he asks.
“Umm sure” I say getting my phone out again.
I pass it to him and He puts in his number.
“Hey Jared can I put yours in here too?” he asks.
“Sure” Jared says.
He adds Jareds number too.
“Thanks” I say taking my phone back and putting it back in my bag.
“So have you seen Micheal yet?” Jared asks.
“Nope” I say.
“I have” Andrew says, “He isn’t in a good mood”.
“Why?” Jared and I ask.
“I dunno,” he says lying back “Probably another book problem”
“Yes actually” Micheal says from behind us.
Andrew jumps up.
“My brand new book I have bought is missing” Micheal says angrily.
“Sorry I um… didn’t know you were there” Andrew says.
“Whatever” Micheal says sitting down and taking out another book.
“Don’t tell me all you're gonna do is read all your life” Jared says.
“Well I do wanna be a writer” Micheal replies.
“What horror, sci-fi, action, comedy…” I say but am interrupted.
“A mixture” he says and goes back to his book.
“Oh okay” I say.
“Moody” Jared says under his breath obviously not quiet enough.
Micheal gets up.
“I don’t know why I bother trying to be friends with you guys, you are utter morons” he says and walks off.
Jared mimics him “You are utter morons”.
He makes me laugh.
“Cute laugh” he says.
I stop.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing” I say and sit down.
“You sure?” he asks.
“Yeah… Anyways do you guys have any brothers or sisters?” I say changing the topic.
“Yeah I got a sister” Jared says sitting down.
“Same with me” Andrew says joining us “Do you?”
“Nah” I say, “What’s there names?”
“Tahlia” Jared says “She is awesome seriously she can write really good stories”
“My sis is called Melissa, Mel for short, She is awesome too she is like an artist” Andrew says.
“Drawer or painter?” I ask.
“Umm painter but she is pretty good at drawing,” he says.
“Awesome, I’m … never mind” I say.
“No tell” Andrew says.
“Well I draw a fair bit but they're not that good,” I say.
“Aww come on show us,” Jared says.
“Okay fine” I say getting out one of my old New Jersey books, I only show a couple of pages.
“Whoa that’s awesome” Jared says.
“Hell yeah” Andrew adds.
“Don’t,” I say.
“Don’t what?” Jared asks.
“I hate being complimented,” I say.
“Oh fine its shit” Jared says jokingly.
I hit him jokingly back.
We all laugh.
“Umm anyways just wondering do you wanna meet my sister?” Jared asks.
“Sure I would like to meet both of your sisters” I say.
“Cool” Andrew and Jared say.
“When?” Jared asks.
“I dunno up to you” I say.
“Now?” he asks.
“Sure” I say.

We all get up and they take me into the school, All the way too the art block. There are two girls both dressed in black one is drawing and the other is reading.
“Hey sis” Andrew says walking up to the one drawing and giving her a hug.
“Hey, gah get off me” she says pushing him away and continues drawing “I’m busy”
“Geez” Andrew says, “That one there with the fangs is Melissa”
“Okay cool” I say.
The girl that was reading finally looks up from her book and walks over to Jared hugs him and sits back down while keeping an emotionless face.
“Well umm that’s Tahlia” Jared says, “What’s up Tahlia are you upset or something?”
“No, this is just shocking the stupid author of this book wrote an entire chapter about how a guy got shot in the back and he didn’t say anything about hoe severe or anything I mean you should write something about how severe it was GOSH” she says.
“Umm okay” Jared says pretending he knew what she said “she normally not like that” he whispers to me.
“Okay umm Hi Melissa and Tahlia” I say.
“Hey” they both say looking up and then looking back down.
They both look up again.
“We have got to stop doing that,” Tahlia says.
“True” Melissa says.
“Man you girls are bitches,” Jared says.
“So offensive” Tahlia joked.
I laughed.
The girls looked at me.
“Sorry but I found that funny” I say.
They both smile.
“Well as you know I am Tahlia and that is Mel, sorry about the whole ignoring you thing we thought Jared had gotten another girl friend” she says.
“Umm Hi” I say.
“I haven’t had that many girlfriends” Jared says “plus how do you know she isn’t”
I look at him and so does Andrew.
“It’s obvious, she laughed at our joke and not yours,” she says.
Jared sneers.
“So anyways how old are you?” I ask.
“I’m 12” Mel says.
“And I’m 13” Tahlia says.
“Cool, but aren’t you a bit young to be at high school Mel?” I ask.
“Umm nah I was skipped a year, too smart” she says and laughs.
“Smart my ass” Tahlia says
Mel sticks her tongue out at Tahlia.
We all laugh.
“Oh crap I’m suppose to be with Kristen” Jared says and then runs out the door.
Tahlia laughs, “He’s so fucken forgetful”.
“I wonder we you get it from NAMELESS,” Mel says.
“SHUT UP, YOU COULDN’T EVEN REMEMBER YOUR NAME EITHER” Tahlia says.
“Well at least I didn’t say…” Mel says but is pushed over by Tahlia.
“Well at least I didn’t stay quiet and look like a complete idiot,” Tahlia says.
“Well when you are trying to get someone to notice you and they ask what your name is, you don’t say there’s,” Mel says getting up.
Tahlia turns away.
“Aww Tahlia I’m sorry” Mel says.
“Nope” Tahlia says.
“Aww Serious I’m sorry” she says
“Disowned” Tahlia says.
Mel tackles her.
“Fine, Fine okay get over it we are friends” Tahlia says.
“Best friends?” Mel says.
“Sure whatever get off?” Tahlia says.
Mel finally jumps off.
“Hugs” Mel says hugging Tahlia.
Tahlia has a weird look on her face.
“Is that how they normally act?” I ask.
“Yep” Andrew says.
I sigh.
“What’s up?” Andrew asks.
“I’m just missing New Jersey,” I say.
“There’s no New Jersey in Australia” Mel says.
“Umm she’s from America” Andrew says.
“Oh, well that explains a lot” she says.
“So what’s America like?” Tahlia asks.
“It’s… Good” I say “But I really only liked New Jersey”
“Okay” Tahlia says, “Well me and Mel must be going”
She and Mel walk out the door, Mel nudges Andrew and says something quietly and walks out, Andrew goes a little red.
“Well we better get back to our bags” I say breaking the silence that had consumed the room.
“Yeah” Andrew says and goes less red.

We walk back to our bags.
And just sit there in silence.
His phone rings.
“Umm hey” he says answering it.
There is silence. And he looks up at the building at the windows.
“Aww man Mel, leave me alone” he says hanging up.
“Be right back” he says running off into the building, I look up at the window and see Mel and Tahlia. I keep looking and Andrew comes into view, I watch him as he is talking to them, then he looks out the window and sees me and waves and walks out of view. I wait a little while and finally he comes out the building and sits down.
“And that was about?” I ask.
“Umm never mind,” he says.
“Okay” I say sitting next to him.
He gets up almost immediately.
“What?” I ask.
“I umm gotta go check on Jared,” he says running off.
I laugh and get out my phone.
I watch the time.
Man I was bored.
I mean staring at a clock watching the time.
Obviously I was totally bored.
“Hey” Jared says making me jump.
“Whoa, umm hi” I say looking up.
“I thought you might like to meet my girlfriend Kristen,” he says.
“Hi” I say.
“Hey” she says.
“Oh by the way Andrew is looking for you,” I say.
“Okay” he says, “I better go find him you two can talk”
He walks off.
“So” I say.
“So” she replies.
“What do you like to do?” I ask.
“Jared” she says laughing.
What a blonde joke I thought to myself but laughed so I didn’t seem mean.
“Well I like to just hang out and shop” she says.
“Okay cool” I reply.
“So what do you like to do?” she asks.
“Umm draw and skateboard,” I say.
“Ooo rebel” she says jokingly.
“Yeah” I say.
Jared and Andrew walk back.
And the bell rings.
“What great timing” Jared moans.
We get our bags and walk to class.

Recess…
I go and sit with Andrew on the stairs.
“So where are Jared and Kristen?” I ask.
“I dunno probably being lovey dovey together” he jokes.
I laugh.
“What about your sister?” I ask.
“Probably with Tahlia somewhere” he says.
“Okay” I reply.
“So” he says.
“So” I reply pulling out a packet of chips and eating them.
He goes though his bag and pulls out a sandwich.
He looks at it and then moans.
“What?” I ask.
“I got my sisters lunch” he says getting up “wanna come find her?”
“Sure” I say joining him.
We walk around looking for them.
“Hey emo kid why don’t you cut yourself” Some guy yells from over behind the building.
I look at Andrew he looks at me and we look over to where we heard it. It’s Mel, Tahlia and some other people.
“Fuck off Dick” Mel yells.
“Aww run out of razor blades” the guy yells again.
“Come on Tahlia lets go to Art block” Mel says.
The boy blocks her way and pushes her back and she falls over.
Tahlia helps Mel up.
“Oh great its that fucker again” Andrew says.
He walks off and I quickly follow him.
“Leave my sis and her friend alone Glen” Andrew says finally reaching him.
“Oh I’m so sorry” Glen says sarcastically.
“Shut it” Andrew says “Leave them alone or else”
“I don’t think I will leave them alone,” Glen says.
“Fine” Andrew says and punches him in the gut.
“Oh f…” Glen says falling to the ground.
Mel and Tahlia come over to me.
Andrew joins us and we walk off.
“Andrew you idiot violence isn’t right you know your gonna get in trouble again” Mel says.
“So I don’t like people picking on my sis,” He says.

We walk off, Mel is talking to Andrew about his actions and how they were wrong. By the look on Andrew’s face he wasn’t listening and wasn’t planning to do so anytime soon.
When we got back to our bags we sat down.
“By the way Mel I have your lunch” Andrew says pulling out a sandwich.
“Oh oops I ate yours then” she said with a giggle.
“Man I don’t want just plain salad,” he says.
“Wait that means I had a salad and … ham sandwich, ewww” Mel says.
Andrew laughs.
“Why don’t you like ham?” he asks.
“I just don’t” she says “But it must have been like only a little cause I couldn’t taste it”
The bell goes
“That couldn’t have been all of recess,” Andrew says.
“Well it is” Tahlia says.
Tahlia and Mel walk off.
“So I’ll see you after school?” I ask.
“Sure, wanna come over my place?” he asks.
“Umm maybe I might have to ask my mum,” I say.
“Okay well I’m gonna be late for class see ya” he says walking off.
I quickly run off to class.

After school…
I walk out of the school but wait at the gates for Andrew, Andrew finally comes up.
“Hey” he says out of breath.
“Umm hey” I say “You sound like you have been running for like hours”.
“Well I can tell you one thing I have been running,” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
“Glen, that guy I punched, his brother and his friends are after me,” he says still trying to get his breath back.
“Oh Andrew” A voiced yelled out.
We both jumped and looked to see who it was.
It was Mel and Tahlia.
“Hey” Andrew says relieved.
“So hows it going?” Mel nudged him.
Andrew glared at her for a minute but stopped and looked up.
He went as white as a sheet.
“Andrew?” I called to him.
“Oh god” he said and ran off.
I looked and saw Glen and some other boys walking our way.
“You two get home as fast as you can okay,” I said.
They nodded and ran off.

I ran off in the same direction as Andrew.
I keep running until I finally find Andrew sitting on a bench.
“You…Okay” I say out of breath.
“Yeah, did they follow you?” Andrew asks
“Yeah but I ran they walked but I think they may be here soon we must go” I say.
“Yeah, what about my sis” he said.
“I told her to get home as fast as she could” I say “But she went in the opposite direction”
“Yeah she is taking a long cut home, it involves a couple of fence jumps but that’s best” he says getting up “we should go, anyways you coming over mine?”
“I still must ask mum, wait I have an idea, follow me” I say.
We both run off to the mall.
I find Marks car and open the door. Mums in there with him.
“Hey mum can I go over my friend’s?” I beg.
“No” she says.
“Please” I beg.
“Why?” she asks.
“Cause he is my friend” I say.
“No boys” she says.
“Mum” I say.
Mark nudges her.
Mum sighs.
“Fine but you have to be home before dark,” she says.
“Okay thanks mum” I say and close to door.
“Yay I can come over yours” I say to Andrew.
“Oka…” he says but trails off when he turns his head to see Glen.
Glen stops and smiles at us and quickly pulls out his phone.
“Oh man,” he says looking at me.
“Walk normal till we can turn a corner okay” I say.
“Why?” he says as we walk.
“Cause if mum thinks I’m in any trouble she won’t ever let me see you” I reply.
“Okay” he says.

We keep walking, I check over my shoulder and see Marks car drive off, I keep looking and see Glen still on the phone but he looked quite angry, We finally turned the corner and we bolted.
“Okay now you gotta follow me,” he says with a small laugh.
“Does this involve fences?” I ask.
We turn another corner.
“Well not if you don’t wanna, it wont” he says.
“Nah I’m fine,” I say.
We run down a street and he stops.
“Damn” he says.
And turns and runs the other way.
“That was a stupid idea,” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
“Glen’s friend lives down there and he has a German Shepard” Andrew says.
“Eh all German Shepard’s have a soft spot” I say.
“Yeah but this one hasn’t got one” he says.
We continue running but slow down a little.
“Okay two fences coming up okay?” he asks.
“Okay” I say.
We come up to a fence, He jumps it easy, I jump it and I do pretty well. Normally I would stuff it up a bit but eventually get over.
The next one comes up.
He jumps over and then I do.
“Wooo I didn’t stack it,” I say
He laughs and starts walking.
I join him.
“So how much longer to yours?” I ask.
“Not much” he says.
We turn the corner and walk up a driveway of a house.
He opens the door and lets me in.
“So this is your place,” I say looking around
“Yeah” he says.
“MUM THEY ARE HOME” I hear a girl yell.
I woman walks into the room.
“Um hey mum” Andrew says.
“Hey Andy, who’s your friend?” she asks.
“Um this is Jacquie and could you please stop calling me Andy,” he says.
“Hi” she says to me “And no I can’t stop calling you Andy cause you're my little boy”
“I’m sixteen,” he says.
“And I’m 46 but still my sister calls me Teeney” she says walking off.
I look at Andrew.
“Heya Andy” I say jokingly.
“Shut up” he says joking too.
He walks over to a door and knocks.
The door opens and Mel pops her head out.
“You okay?” Andrew asks.
“Yeah” Mel says opening the door wide open.
“Hey Tahlia you okay?” Andrew says.
“I will eventually, ONCE MELISSA STOPS TRYING TO DO MY MAKE UP,” she says.
Andrew laughs and Melissa closes the door.
Andrew shakes his head and walks over to the couch and sits.
I join him.
“So” he says.
“So what are we doing?” I ask.
“I dunno, wanna watch TV?” he asks.
“Meh okay” I say.
He turns the TV on and we watch it.


A couple hours later…
My phone goes off.
I answer it.
“Hi” I say.
“Where are you?” my mum yells on the other end of the phone.
“Umm Andrews” I say.
“HELLO I SAID BE HOME BEFORE DARK, WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS” She yells so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear but I can still hear her clearly.
I look out the window. All the streetlights are on and you can see the city but yep it was dark.
“Oh sorry I wasn’t looking out the window the whole time” I say.
“Come home now!” she yells.
“Okay see ya in a bit” I say and hang up.
“Sorry Andrew I gotta go, I was supposed to be home a while ago and mums really angry” I say.
“Okay I’ll walk ya there” he says.
“Sure” I reply.
“Mum, I’m taking Jacquie home” he yells to his mum.
“Fine” she says.
We walk out the door and begin walking to my place.


My place…
“Okay see ya,” I say
“See ya, by the way your house looks awesome” he says and walks off.
Mum opens the door. Uh-oh!
“Hey” I say.
She glares at me and walks off leaving the door open for me.
I walk into the house and close the door.
“Sorry I’m really late” I apologize to mum and Mark.
“It’s oka…” Mark says but is cut off by mum.
“You said you would be here before dark” Mum says, “Why weren’t you?”
“I was watching TV with Andrew” I say.
“That’s it not a better excuse” Mum says.
I shrug.
“That’s it to your room now” Mum says.
“What? I’m not 8 mum you can’t treat me like that,” I say.
“GO” she yells.
I walk to my room and slam the door.
I throw my bag across the room and flop on the bed.
“MAN I WISH I WAS BACK IN NEW JERESY” I yell.
“WELL YOUR NOT GET OVER IT” Mum yells back.
“FUCK YOU” I yell to her. I regret my words after saying them.
I quickly sit up as mum slams open the door.
“What did you say?” she questions me.
“Nothing mum” I say.
“I know what you said,” she says walking closer to me.
I jump off the bed.
“Mum I’m sorry I didn’t mean to say that” I say backing up against the wall.
“You better be” she says angrily and walks off to the door “Swear at me again and …” she walks off before saying anything.

I walk over to my bed and sit on it, I tucked my knees into my chest and lay my head onto of them and cry.
I hear someone come into my room.
“You okay?” Mark asks.
I don’t reply.
“Did she hurt you?” he asks.
I shake my head but my head is still buried in my knees.
“Okay, don’t worry this will eventually blow over” he says.
I look up and wipe my eyes and nod.
He smiles and walks out and closes the door.
I fall back on my bed.
My phones rings, I almost jump off my bed.

I run to my phone and answer it.
“Hi” I say.
“Hey” Gerard says.
“OMG HI” I say.
“How are you?” he asks.
“I’ve been better, seriously better” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
I walk over to my bed and sit.
“Well a guy at our school wants to bash Andrew and my mum just yelled at me,” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
“Cause the guy was gonna bash Andrew sis and so he punched…” I say.
“NO … I meant why did your mum yell at you,” he says cutting me off.
“Oh I was late getting home from Andrews and then I accidentally swore at her,” I say.
“What was you doing at Andrews for so long?” he asks.
“Umm I was watching TV” I say.
“Sure” he says.
“Do you not believe me or something?” I ask.
“Sorry got to go” he says and hangs up.

What the hell is going on?
Why is Gerard always doing that?
And why is he up so early is must be like 3am or something over there?
Aww I missed him terribly.
But what is up with him?
I mean arhhhhhh what else could go wrong?
I sit on my bed.
Mark walks in with a plate.
"Hungry?" he asks.
"Not really" I say.
"Well umm I cooked you something anyway,” he says passing me the plate.
I look at it.
"Thanks for the Nachos" I say.
"Welcome" he says and walks out.
I eat a couple of chips and place the plate on my side table.
I get my phone and decide to write a txt to Gerard:
Hey Gee, Are you okay? You’re acting kinda well weird.
I send it to him and continue eating the nachos.
When I finish I take my plate out and decide to finish some homework I had got today.
If a train was going at continuous speed of 60km/h and it was 30 minutes away from the station and another train was going at a continuous speed of 100km/h and was 2 hours away from the station, How long would it take for the two trains to meet?
Man why the hell would I wanna know about that?
I put away my homework, I didn't feel like doing homework.
I check my phone for a txt but nothing.
He was probably asleep.
I decided I might as well go to sleep too.