Beneath the Void

Beneath the Void-1

Chapter 1

Summer holidays, the best part of the year, no contest. The warm three month break will always be my favourite. I go to a private school, so we finish two days into December, and return half-way through February. Warm, dry weather in our small country town is a blessing for the kids near the lake, and a curse for the farmers surrounding Beeree. Beeree was named for it's lake, actually. It means 'lagoon' in Aboriginal. Our small town is off on the very edge of the state, bordering New South Wales and South Australia. With a population of under a thousand, it's one of the smallest towns in the whole country.

Anyway, summer holidays; they rock. Summer is the best time of the year for all of us, especially. If you are wondering who 'us' is, then please, allow me to introduce you to the group of social rejects that I call friends. Callie Wright is my forever friend. I've known her since preschool. We met in the park, when I was siting in the sandpit crying my eyes out because some older jerks kicked my sandcastle over. Callie had come over and comforted me, and we built a new, bigger sandcastle. We'd been inseparable for the next 14 years. Callie is a pretty brunette, with light brown hair and big blue eyes. She's a skinny girl, the skinniest of all of us. She's the only one who can wear a size 8! Despite all this, she has no boyfriend, since her parents won't let her.

Callie is a bit of a cautious girl, and she doesn't know much about the big bad world. She doesn't even know what a prostitute is. Her parents have raised her in a world where there is no such thing as bad or evil. Callie is as innocent as a 6 yaer old girl. Sometimes her lack of street-wisdom is cute, but other times, I really do fear for her.

Jasmine Bell is my weird-out buddy. Jazz is the one person who I can talk to about the stranger feelings I get. I'm not talking about love and hate and that type of thing, I'm talking flat-out insane. Like seeing a cloud that looks like a pretzel and getting the urge to eat it, or discovering a pressure point in your nose and testing it out. Jazz is a guru of all things abnormal. Thick, golden-blond locks bounce playfully to her dainty waist, accompanied by a fringe that constantly falls in her chocolate-brown eyes. She's really pretty, but none of the guys are interested, since she is really very... scary sometimes. There is one exception to the rule, which is her boyfriend, Dylan Anderson.

Dylan is a weird one too, so they hit it off straight away. Dylan is a quiet boy with dark hair and glasses. He was bullied badly in year 9 and 10, but now people just ignore him. He's a funny boy, but Jazz cares about him, so he automatically get accepted into our rag-tag group. Jazz and Dylan have been together for 8 months now, and they still love each other. They plan to ship off to England and go to the Camberwell College of Arts at the end of Year 12, which unfortunately begins this year. Jazz is going to study to become a grapic designer, and Dylan wants to be a professional photographer.

The next members are the twins, Tessa and Jayden Brooks, my hang-out buddies. Tessa and Jayden are my neighbours, so if I need company, I just walk down Byndah Crescent and give a heavy knock on their door. They are very similar looking, since the both have creamy, slightly tanned skin, green eyes, and dark brown, nearly black hair. They moved to Beeree about 10 years ago, when we were in year 2. I was just 7, and when I saw all the moving boxes piled up around number 17, I let my natural curiousity take over, and snooped down to take a look. I saw Tessa, Jayden, their Mum and their Granny Beatrice moving carrying piles of stuff into the little brick house. So, naturally, I came over and offered to help. I got on really well with all of them, so we became fast friends.

A little-known fact is that Jayden is actually my ex. We went out for a bit around a year ago, but I broke it off since I found it too weird to be with someone you've known almost your whole life. We're still on good terms, but what he doesn't know is that I know that he still has feelings for me. I wish I could return them, but it just didn't feel right. I hope he keeps them to himself, I don't want to disappoint him too much... Anyway, the twins are great company. They have a wicked sense of humour, and are both really sporty. They probably would've been gobbled up by the Populars if they hadn't met me first.