Circles | Jody & Tyler | The Dumping Ground

School

Jody POV

Yawning, I gazed out the window acknowledging the many cars that passed us and the small street shops opening for the day ahead. It was way too early for this; Mike had somehow wrangled a bunch of us kids into the minivan for some 'top secret mission' he was taking us on. Despite being curious as to what he had planned for us, my mind kept replaying the events of the hour before.

Today Tyler was leaving for Vegas.

Everyone else had said their goodbyes the night before since it was an early flight, but I'd decided to wake up earlier to see him off. It was a pretty hefty journey; Tyler needed to take two planes which had a combined flight time of almost 11 hours. Since neither one of us had travelled overseas before, I had to admit that I was nervous about the journey... the number of documentaries I'd seen where planes would disappear in the Bermuda Triangle, never to be seen again.

I was worried sick.

And yet Tyler seemed almost relieved to be going. I didn't blame him. I hadn't been able to make him a separate Bon Voyage card, instead I'd resolved to sign in the big one with the others. Between Brandon and boxing, I'd hardly had any time to speak to him at all and I was ashamed to admit that I often avoided the topic altogether when I was with him.

The knowledge of his imminent departure ate me up inside as I tried to figure out how to tell him how I truly felt. I didn't want Tyler to leave without knowing how much he meant to me.

So that morning, I'd woken up and headed down to the kitchen where he'd been eating breakfast, trying to appear casual despite my own nerves.

"You don't need to worry about me Jodes..." he'd said, before I could explain myself, "It's not like I'm travelling alone - Mum and Kamal will be with me the whole way."

I swallowed anxiously. "But what if..."

"Nothing bad is going to happen!" he exclaimed, "My mum's getting married to the love of her life; it couldn't be more perfect."

I watched him as he munched on his toast hungrily; he needed the energy for the flight. Somehow he'd managed to convince me that things would be alright. I just had to hope for the best.

"Aren't you tired?" he grinned, as I sat at the table counting down the minutes. "You can go back to sleep if you want, I'll be leaving in a bit anyway."

"It's fine, I'm used to it," I replied, "I get up in about an hour for the gym anyway."

"Right..." Tyler replied, taking a long sip of his orange juice, "So you're seeing Brandon today."

I frowned; I might have been a little sleepy but I was sure that I'd heard a hint of envy in his voice just then. Surely not? But Tyler had suddenly withdrawn himself from the conversation and the silence in the room only continued to grow.

"Have you got a problem with Brandon?" I asked suddenly, "Cause if you have... you can just say, I mean, you are my mate after all."

Tyler glanced at me quickly before looking away. I gave him a look, he was hesitating. That wasn't good news.

"I don't! I just..." he stammered awkwardly, "I just don't get why he took you to that party."

I sighed exasperatedly. We'd already spoken about this during the argument we'd had a couple of nights ago. I thought he would've understood by now that none of it was Brandon's fault.

"It was all me. It was stupid, but Brandon never forced me to do anything," I insisted as Tyler sighed frustrated.

"How can you be so sure?" he probed, "I mean when Kingsley made you do up that flat..."