Chapter 18
Til the end
It feels strange to be getting ready for school after what happened yesterday with my mum. What is an even more bizarre event is I woke up before my alarm went off. It’s funny I’ve barely been at Albert Secondary College a month but I feel like I’ve known everyone there for years. I guess I’ve been pretty lucky, I have a fantastic boyfriend who finally decided to ditch the super bitch, I have amazing friends who push me out of my comfort zone and my ex-boyfriend Dean is finally out of my life. I don’t know what could make it any better.
The only real downside in my life now is Nat and I barely get to hang out which means there’s no one else who says toast to cool things or who really understands what I do. Starting a new school is like discarding old clothes but it’s not clothes that I throw out but parts of my personality which no longer relate to the people I am surrounded by. I just wish that I could catch up with Nat and tell her all about these crazy people who decided to become my friend, she would laugh and tell me that I deserve it.
I walk over to my computer which is partially hidden by a top that a threw that way, I pull up my email account and start a message for her
Hey Nat,
How are you? How’s school going?
I really miss you, it feels strange not to hang out especially when a) I’m dating your brother which you so obviously set up (remind me to thank you later) and b) I live a few blocks from your place.
Are you free after school? If you are I will come over and we can gossip about your brother in front of him, which would be so toast to see his expression.
Love you girl,
KJ
I really hope that she’s free after school because we have so much to talk about. I quickly get dressed and make my way down the hallway towards the kitchen when it suddenly occurs to me that I haven’t used the stereo system for a week now because I’ve been in such a rush. I make my way into the lounge room and rifle through our music collection I pull out my Bruno Mars CD and play The Lazy Song. I just feel like a really happy carefree song to sing along to this morning.
I walk into the kitchen to find my dad sitting at the table bobbing his head to the music and reading the newspaper, for the first time in months he looks truly happy. I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his shoulder.
“Now what was that for Kayley?” My dad asks as I release him.
I look over my shoulder and smile at him, “No reason, just thought I’d give you a hug.”
Dad grins at me but then he frowns as he asks, “Have you seen your brother?”
Now that is a question I most definitely do not have an answer to. Poor dad he’s probably going crazy with worry and my idiot brother has probably just forgotten to tell dad he’s staying at Alex’s place. “No I haven’t seen him; he told me he was staying at Alex’s place til everything was settled with mum.” I tell my dad just as I see Mitch try to walk into the kitchen undetected, “Speak of the devil, it seems he answered your question for you dad.”
Mitch grins at me cheekily, “You haven’t changed at all KJ, you’re still dobbing me in.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment my dearest brother.” I grin back at him. “By the way mum said you don’t have to go to her place unless you want to, so just call her when you want to visit and she said she would make time for you.”
Mitch looks at me weirdly. If I didn’t know better I would say my nonchalant brother is actually shocked. “Yeah I’ll be sure to remember that.”
I finish getting ready, I do my hair the way that Ash showed me when I first started at ASC and I apply the make up the way that she showed me. Ash is right it’s not make up that makes a girl a skank or a tart it’s the way that she acts, just like it’s not a football outfit that makes a guy a jerk it’s the way he behaves towards others. It’s all about the attitude.
I leave the house for the bus stop, it’s funny now because that first day I got on the bus I watched and observed everyone around me but I wasn’t involved, it’s completely different now I laugh and chat with my friends on the bus and I catch others watching me instead. Most likely because I’m Josh’s girlfriend or it could be because I stood up to Ali, and I kind of stole the most popular girl at our school’s boyfriend.
The bus stops so I can get on and I walk up the back of the bus to my friends who are all in a fit of laughter. It all spells trouble, “So what are you laughing at?”
Ash looks at me seriously, “Well if you have to know we were laughing at Josh’s reaction to your ex-boyfriend. That was a damn good punch Josh threw at him.”
“You’re telling me, he managed to take down a guy at least twice his weight” I say pulling a face, “I just hope Dean got the message this time.”
Ash grins at me, “Oh I don’t think you will ever be hearing from him again.”
“Josh is enough to handle without Dean lending a helping hand to our issues.” I say honestly.
Flick leans over conspiratorially, “So I hear you’re going to hijack the P.A. system today to announce that you and Josh are a couple. That true?”
“Yeah it is, he kind of made a challenge with me a few weeks ago and now I have to come through with my side of the bargain.” I smile at them but inside I’m so worried about being caught and suspended.
“That’s so cool! Josh will think it’s so romantic.” Ash says dreamily.
Flick smiles tenderly at me, “He’s going to love hearing you announce your undying love to the school.”
“I didn’t know I was friends with such hopeless romantics.” I say mockingly, there’s no way I’m going to admit I love him to the entire school, all I’m admitting is he’s my boyfriend now.
Nathan curls his arms around Ash and asks me, “So when are you going to do so I can make sure he’s near a speaker so he can hear every romantic word that comes out of your mouth.”
“ARE YOU ALL NUTS?” I shout at them, wow I had no idea they were crazy and hopeless romantics.
“Honey I think you have it the wrong way around, you’re the one who’s nuts because you’re announcing your feelings to the entire school.” Ash points out rather logically which is just plain creepy.
“We can’t help it that we think it’s all so romantic.” Flick mentions.
“I only wish that I came up with the idea before you so I could impress Flick that way.” Mike chimes in staring at her with a massive loving grin on his face.
Sam’s the only one who sits there staring at us all like we have suddenly all grown extra heads. I’m grateful that he decides to remain quiet because I’m pretty sure he’s the only rational person in our group now that we have all paired up.
The bus stops at our school’s stop and we all jump off and walk towards the gates, I think I spot Josh standing chatting to someone in the courtyard but I can’t see who it is exactly, as we get closer I notice that the person isn’t a stranger at all but my big brother. I have no idea what he’s telling Josh but usually that doesn’t bode so well for me.
Josh finally sees me coming and walks over and picks me up off the ground to twirl me around. “What took you so long? I feel like I’ve been waiting for you…” Josh then utters the most heart romantic words ever, “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for you!”
“What were you chatting about with my brother?” Ok so I will never be a superspy or ever get an award for subtlety.
“Oh well he told me to make you happy, that you deserve to have someone who makes you happy.” Josh frowns at me, “He said to tell you that he finally understands her now. I don’t know what that means but maybe you do?”
I can’t believe it, I think this is Mitch’s way of saying he understands how mum felt and isn’t going to hold it against her now; he just wants her to be happy.
The bell rings and we quickly make our way to homeroom together, for once we aren’t in trouble with Ms Thomson. The funny thing is Ms Thomson is a hopeless romantic which I found out when I approached her about usin
g the loudspeaker to announce to the school that I’m dating Josh.
After homeroom Josh, Nathan and I walk together to English with Mr Jones. We sit up the back chatting throughout the entire class and at one stage I reach across Josh and grab his pen right from his hand and throw it across the room, the entire class cheers when they see Josh finally pen less and instead of telling me off for throwing Josh’s pen across the room Mr Jones actually praises me for a plan well executed so I guess I’m not the only one who finds it annoying when Josh taps his pen on the table.
The three of us make our way to Mr Smith’s maths class which once again proves to be way more interesting than should be legally possible for maths. Josh sits next to me, I swear he pays more attention to my face than he does to his notes, he strokes my hair and when no one is looking he grabs my hand in his and briefly kisses it, the way he treats me makes me feel like a princess.
“God you’re beautiful.” Josh whispers in my ear.
“Get a room Josh.” Nathan says nudging him in the ribs as he grins over Josh’s shoulder at me.
I grin back mercilessly, “We have one, it’s not our fault you’re sharing it.”
Nathan groans before putting his head in his hand, “Thank god Ash isn’t here to hear you say that she doesn’t need any more encouragement in public settings.”
Yeah that one’s true, since they finally got together at Will’s party Ash hasn’t been able to keep her hands to herself and sometimes it can get pretty awkward with her all hot and heavy over Nathan.
Finally the bell rings and I quickly pick up my books and rush towards the office, Ms Thomson is going to distract the receptionist so I can get my hands on the loudspeaker. I walk in and find the seat behind the front desk empty and Ms Thomson waving at me to come inside.
“Ok this is how it works, you hold this button down while you’re talking,” she points to a small black button on the base of the loudspeaker, “and when you’re finished release the button and get out of here as quickly as possible. The principal is fine with you using it but the receptionist will go nuts, she has anger management issues.”
So I sit down in front of the microphone and think about what I have to say, then I press my finger down on the button and start talking, “Hey my name is Kaila and I’m in love with Josh Jamieson and if anyone sees him please remind him to fulfil his side of the deal.”
I quickly walk out of the reception before the crazy receptionist catches me. Only to walk right into…Josh! He looks down at me seriously cupping my cheeks in his hands, “I love you Kayley Daniela Jenson, I would do anything for you.” Josh peers into my eyes as if he’s looking directly at my soul, “I will wait for you Kaila forever, because having someone who loves you and who you love is worth being patient for.”
I don’t think there’s anywhere else I’d rather be at this moment as he takes me into his arms and thoroughly kisses me in front of all the teachers and students of our school. Because being with someone you love is worth waiting for.
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Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favourite retailer?
Thanks!
TJ McKinnon
About the author
TJ grew up in Australia as the second eldest of five children. From an early age TJ learnt first-hand what it meant to have divorced parents. Her writing is fuelled by her personal family experiences. TJ seeks to find the funny in every serious situation and apply it to her writing. She’s currently working on her next novel which is an adult chick lit.
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