“Are you ok Chad?” Zoe asked, her voice barely above a whisper. I turned my head into the direction of Chad, who was reaching into his backpack. A perplexed expression had formed on his face as he reached deeper into his bag.
“Oh no,” Chad said to no one in particular. “Please no.”
Zoe took a step towards Chad, her tiny frame made to look even smaller as she hugged a text book across her chest. “Are you ok?” she repeated. Her voice fluttered off into the distance, like a butterfly flying for the first time. Chad gave Zoe a blank stare before bowing his head and looking into his backpack.I suddenly jumped as Chad let out a tormented howl.
“Nooooooooooo!”
Chapter 4: Koby
“Chad! Chad?” “Chad! Chad?” The voice repeated; an alarming shout united with a baffled uncertainty.
“Chad! Chad?”
The words were almost rhythmical. It sounded like something you would expect to hear at one of Hank’s rugby matches.
“Chad! Chad?”
I then realised the voice was coming from my own mouth. Chad’s startling wail had caught me by surprise and I was calling his name without even knowing it. No one else seemed to notice my perplexed hymn; it appeared Chad’s outcry had stunned everyone on an equal scale.
“Mum packed me peanut butter sandwiches,” Chad finally said, as a wry grin leisurely formed on his face.
“Huh?” Amber chortled.
“I said, mum packed me peanut butter sandwiches,” Chad repeated, his eyes glistening with merriment. “She knows I hate peanut butter.”
“You are such a jerk Chad!” Veronica said, giving Chad a playful shove to the chest.
“Haha gotcha! Gotcha all!” Chad replied.
Amber turned her head and looked at me for the first time that morning, giving me a quick smile as she rolled her eyes at Chad’s prank. I gave her a two fingered salute as Hank and Chad light-heartedly wrestled next to her.
“But seriously,” Chad continued, breaking away from Hank. “I really do have something that’s worth interest in this bag.”
“Haha give it a rest Chad,” Seth replied.
“No really, I do!’ Chad persisted.
“What, a white rabbit?” I joked.
“Even better,” Chad replied.
“Two white rabbits?” Amber asked, giving me a wink which sent me weak at the knees.
Chad ignored our jokes and pulled out a silver key from his back.
“Eureka!” Seth yelled, pumping a fist into the air.
“Yessss sirrrrr,” Hank followed, stretching the words out in delight.
“Chad, I could sooo kiss you right now,” Veronica purred. Her voice matched her looks; sultry and ever so satisfying to any teenage boy within earshot.
“Pucker up baby!” Chad replied with a smile.
“I said could, not would!” Veronica shot back with her flirtatious smile.
I let out a pleasing sigh as I stared at the silver piece of brass in Chad’s hand. A ray of sunlight reflected off its body, sparkling like a firecracker. We all knew what the key belonged to. Chad’s dad owned a beautiful lodge in the heart of Hollow Point Woods. The woods begun only a short walk from the main part of town and was a popular place for young lovers to park their car on a Friday or Saturday night. The lodge was one of the reasons Chad moved to Hollow Point four years ago. His dad is a high-profile architect and was specifically looking for a house with the perfect study for him to perform his work. By accident, Chad’s parents stumbled across the lodge on a real estate website, which had been for sale for many months. Because of Hollow Point’s coal mining history, real estate never exactly boomed in this town. The woods, despite its tranquility and ecological charm, had probably the most fables of all places in Hollow Point. There had been claims of supernatural sightings and all kinds of weird reports from people who had camped out there. Recently, I had even seen a missing person flyer stuck to the front window of Billy Beef, declaring that a young man had gone missing in the woods. I never bought into all this supernatural stuff and it appears Chad’s parents shared the same beliefs. In the end it turned out that Chad’s family could afford the lodge and a house in Hollow Point for way under their budget and a contract was quickly signed. In our first year of high school Chad presented the key to us on one particular lunch break. Chad’s dad was allowing his son and several close friends to access the lodge as a place to study on weekends. It was a good theory. The lodge really was a calm, serene place. In fact, the soothing atmosphere almost made it feel like you weren’t even in Hollow Point anymore. It had truly beautiful surroundings and Chad’s dad assumed the lodge would assist all of us in getting better grades. Plenty of study space, peace and quiet, the list went on. It even has a picturesque lake with the most amazing blues you can imagine. I don’t know much about feng shui but it was obvious the lodge had it in spades. As I said earlier, the whole study concept was a good theory. Heck, if I was a parent I would agree to it. The plan had one major fault though; the place was a teenager’s haven. Parent-free weekends had become a reality and deep down I think all the parents were quite happy to offload their kids so they could have some peace and quiet of their own. The alluring lake allowed for all kinds of water activities including swimming and kayaking. You could even throw in a line and hopefully catch a freshwater cod or even the odd striped bass if you got lucky. The lodge itself was decked out with everything we could ask for; a television, hammocks, fridge and even a telescope if we decided to stay the night. To us, most weekends had become a paradise. I stared once more at the key that continued to gleam in Chad’s hand. I think we were all a little shocked that we had managed to keep this arrangement going for as many years as we had. This was the year in which we all thought it would end. That was, until, Chad produced the key to us moments earlier.
“How the heck have you pulled this off again?” I ask Chad quizzingly.
“Yeah, what’s going on Chad?” chimed in Seth. “I thought your old man was going to pull the curtains this year?”
“Well,” Chad responded. “He was going to. In the end he made a deal with me. In order to get the key for another year, I had to average at least a B in all my subjects.”
“What did you get?” asked Amber.
“C minus,” Chad said with a big grin. “Let’s just say I’ve been doing the dishes for the past month.”
“Chad, you really are my brother from another mother,” Hank yelled. You could always tell when Hank got really excited. He would stretch his arms and place his hands on the back of his head. It was Hank’s call sign that he was very content at any particular point in time. Plus I swear he would use any excuse to flash those big biceps of his.
“It gets better,” Chad responded.
“Better? Is your dad going to send along some topless maids to make our lunch?” Seth asked, his buck teeth poking out as he gave a toothy smile.
Veronica rolled her eyes at Seth before asking Chad what we were all thinking, “How exactly is this year better?”
“Get this,” Chad said. “My dad is heading interstate for some new project he’s working on; a new supermarket or something. Anyway, he leaves this weekend and mum is going with him. They won’t be back for around a month.”
This was good news. In the past Chad’s dad had randomly checked up on us on more than one occasion. Just to be on the safe side we always had to have our notebooks close by.
“Can you imagine?” Chad said. “We won’t even have to tidy the lodge overnight! That can wait until just before my dad gets back.”
“Sounds good but there’s one thing I don’t quite understand,” Hank asked. “How on earth are you going to feed yourself without your mum for a month?” Zoe and Veronica let out a giggle as Chad said something back to Hank. I didn’t quite catch what he said because I noticed Amber had made her way next to me.
“So Koby, how was your summer break?” Amber asked.
Her question caught me off guard. “Umm, yeah, good. Just boy s
tuff really.” Boy stuff? What was I talking about? Why did I get so nervous around her?
“Boy stuff?” she replied as if asking herself the same questions.
“Yep, boy stuff”, Seth interrupted. “Eating pizza and looking at dirty magazines.” Seth was joking but I still felt my face going red.
Amber gave a small laugh. “Well, I’m glad to hear we have the lodge for another year. I’m looking forward to spending some weekends with you,” she said as her shoulder softly touched mine. It was the slightest of touches but I smiled as I followed the gang to the assembly hall for our first day introduction. It looked like this had the makings of a great year.
*****
“I’m sooooo looking forward to spending some weekends with you,” Seth mimicked as he slid into the vacant lunchroom seat beside me. For someone who had such a deep voice he actually put on quite a good girl’s voice.
“What can I say, maybe I have a better chance with Amber than I actually thought,” I replied. The notion had been running through my mind all morning.
“Ummm hey guys,” a familiar voice suddenly broke my thoughts. “Is this seat taken?” I turned to see Rohan, one of our biology classmates, beckoning to the spare seat next to Seth. Rohan was undoubtedly the smartest student in school, acing every subject and being captain of the Mathematics Club. He is a self-confessed computer geek and wasn’t really the most social person in the world. Don’t get me wrong, Rohan is a nice guy; he just doesn’t share much in common with our group. It looked like Rohan had gotten even whiter over the summer break, most likely from locking himself in his bedroom playing online computer games. Uneven sprouts of red hair covered his round head and a pair of very thick, round reading glasses covered his beady eyes. You could buy some pretty cool spectacles these days, why on earth did Rohan wear those horrendous things? He was also the shortest senior male at Hollow Point High. We often joked that if you popped a pointy hat on Rohan he would look like a garden gnome. I felt a bit sorry for the bloke really. It was obvious he didn’t have many friends and he usually sat by himself reading computer magazines in his lunch break. That’s why I was so surprised when he asked to sit next to us for lunch.
“Uh, yeah, sure mate. Knock yourself out,” I replied to Rohan, as Seth shuffled across to make sure there was enough room.
“If you’re saving it for someone else I don’t mind,” Rohan said.
“Rohan, it’s fine,” Seth replied.
“But where is Chad going to sit? And what about Hank? Hank’s a big guy, he needs plenty of space,” Rohan responded nervously.
“Rohan! Chad and Hank are big boys! I’m sure they won’t mind if they can’t sit directly next to us at lunch. Now sit down!” Seth answered, the words coming out a bit louder than he had meant.
Seth’s words worked as Rohan quickly sat down next to us and placed his brown paper bag on the lunch table. We sat in silence for the next few minutes as Seth and I snuck glances of Rohan nibbling on a carrot. Every few seconds his glasses would fall down past the bridge of his nose and Rohan would quickly return them to a higher position. It was actually starting to irritate me.
“Sooo Rohan,” I said, breaking the silence. “What did you get up to over summer?”
Rohan continued nibbling on his carrot before finally realising I was talking to him.
“Not much,” he answered. “I made an ant farm a few weekends back using one of those cheap kits you can buy.”
“Ant farm?” Seth replied, shooting me a painful look.
“Yeah, I know it’s kind of childish but it was actually quite fascinating studying the behavioural patterns of the Genus Oecophylla.”
“Genus what?” I asked, scratching my head.
“Oh, you know, the common green ant,” Rohan replied.
“Rigggghhhttt,” Seth said, stretching out the word. “Sounds like you kept yourself busy.”
“I guess,” replied Rohan. “I also…,” Rohan hesitated and looked at us for the first time since joining us at the table.
“Started a sea monkey farm?” Seth said trying not to giggle.
“Of course not, sea monkeys are simply brine shrimp. Not at all very enthralling,” said Rohan bluntly.
“Also…?” I asked, prompting Rohan to finish his sentence.
Rohan once again adjusted his glasses and then cleared his throat.
“I also killed someone.”
Chapter 5: Chad
“You what?” I recognised Koby’s voice as I approached the lunch table.
“Who did what?” I asked with a smile.
“I killed someone,” Rohan repeated.
“Huh?” I replied, hearing Rohan’s confession for the first time.
“Well, not just someone,” Rohan continued. “I actually killed a lot of people. Have you heard of that new computer game called Cold Sniper? Well I have a fantastic kill by death ratio; I’m ranked number three in the country actually.”
Once again an awkward silence fell over the lunch table as everyone searched for a reply to Rohan’s not-so-murderous confession.
“Well, uhh, you’re the man Rohan,” Seth finally responded.
“Yeah, you really showed those computer pixels who’s boss,” I added, letting out a small giggle.
“The trick is all about stealth,” Rohan continued, not allowing the conversation to die. “You have to use the shadows. In fact, you have to become a shadow. And then, when the person is least expecting it……BAAAMMM!!!!” Rohan slammed both palms down on the lunch table, causing Koby’s yoghurt to topple over and spill onto the table. “Then,” Rohan continued, pausing to finish the last bite of his carrot. “They’re dead.”
*****
“Hey Veronica, can you pass the mustard please?” Hank asked.
“Hank, your hotdog is already covered in mustard,” Veronica replied, passing him the bottle anyway.
“You know Hank likes his hotdogs with extra mustard,” he replied.
“There he goes again, talking about himself in third person,” said Zoe, rolling her eyes.
“Haha, I can’t believe you’re on your third hotdog Hank,” said Amber.
Hank mumbled something back but his words were lost amidst the chewing of the mustard soaked kabana.
The first day of school had finished and we were sitting in our favourite booth at Billy Beef. We liked this table for a few reasons. Firstly, it was closest to the soft-drink machine which offered free refills. Secondly, a large glass window was directly alongside the booth so we would always observe people as they walked past the bistro. It was amazing how many hours we had wasted on simply staring at people outside. This booth also had a conveniently placed jukebox only a few steps away. I must admit, even though Billy Beef hadn’t changed it’s décor since, well, since it existed, it was a pretty cool hangout. It was a mix of retro and modern which at first seems kind of uncanny, however I think that’s what gives it its appeal. Random apparel littered the walls in no particular pattern. Old hubcabs, a rubber dartboard and an oversized boomerang were just some of the items which inundated the pastel walls. Not to mention my personal favourite, a painting of a monkey doing the hula-hoop. Yes, Billy Beef was quite unique.
“So Kobes, what did you think of Rohan’s lunch time confession,” Seth asked.
“To be honest, it kind of freaked me out,” Koby replied. “The way he thumped the table with his hands; there was something a bit odd about it.”
“You’re just angry that he spilt your Betty’s Blueberry Yoghurt,” I chimed in.
“Isn’t that a toddler’s yoghurt?” Seth said cheekily.
“What happened at lunch with Rohan?” Zoe asked quietly.
“Yeah, we missed all the action,” hummed Veronica as she twirled a layer of perfectly shiny hair in her fingers.
Koby huddled up close to Amber and began to tell them what happened with Rohan at recess. Poor Rohan. He was completely harmless but there was no wonder he didn’t have any friends. I actually agreed with Koby’s earlie
r statement, there was something weird about Rohan’s online-killing declaration. There was definitely a gleam in his eyes when he spoke about stalking his prey. It’s the first time I had ever heard Rohan speak passionately about something; besides physics examinations and the best way to use a Bunsen burner. Heck, maybe he was just starting to come out of his shell. For the last few years we had debated whether or not to invite Rohan to the lodge. I remember there was one particular day when Rohan hinted it would be nice to be invited. We were in English and Koby and I had been discussing a successful fishing session we had enjoyed at the lake. Rohan overheard and mentioned that he had never been fishing and it sounded like fun. Before we got a chance to respond Mrs. Ingleton had asked Koby to explain to the class the definition of a Haiku. That was several years ago and I still couldn’t picture Rohan baiting a hook.
“Hey, Reed,” Hank yelled out abruptly. “Over here mate!” My eyes darted across the polished black and white checkered floor before landing on a stylish pair of white joggers.
“Guys, this is Reed,” Hank said introducing us as the stranger approached the booth. “Reed is new to Hollow Point and just got picked for our rugby first string. He mightn’t have cannons as big as mine, but I tell ya this dude is tough!” Even without seeing Reed play any kind of sport before, I could tell Hank’s words were true. It was easy to see Reed was one fit guy. Tanned, toned arms poked from underneath his tight, black t-shirt. You could practically see his six-pack dancing under the cotton. To top it off, he had what could only be described as a Hollywood type face. His bronzed skin and chiseled features were accompanied by wavy dark hair and thin dark eyebrows that sat upon his ocean blue eyes. I smirked as I saw all three girls trying to hide their stares. Even Veronica looked slightly interested which was out of character for her.