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Chapter 3- When the time comes

For five years I existed in the suburbs of Sydney. I made friends, created memories. I lived there. On the the fourth year of my time in Sydney things changed. Half my family had left, gone to a place I had once called home. I had stayed, stayed in the place I vowed never to stay. As the clouds covered the sky like a blanket, I too wrapped myself and Luke up in a blanket. Neither of us were quite sure what we were doing sitting on a hill in the middle of July, but, I had more of an idea than he did.
"Do you remember the first time we met?" I laughed, turning to face him,
"How couldn't I." He laughed pulling me closer.

It was the 17th July. The day after Luke's 11th Birthday. "You know, I always felt bad about your first birthday that we knew each other." His face lay expressionless. I hadn't cared that much that on the 13th February, the first thing he had said to me was 'happy unlucky day!' As you can imagine I was pretty speechless. Being silent didn't help the situation, as he went on to say how any child born on the 13th of a month was very unlucky. It was moments after that, that his eyes caught sight of my large birthday badge. I knew he felt terrible. He had spent all his pocket money on buying me a present and baked me a cake to make up for it. The cake was disgusting. I never told him. I didn't have the heart. Moments after the so called 'cake' he presented me with a limited addition transformers buildable! I was over the moon! To be fair I think Luke was as well seeing as he helped me make it. I smiled to myself at the thought.
"If I could get into those thoughts Em." He chuckled, poking me,
"They are for me to know-" Luke interrupted me before I could finish, "And for me to find out." He knew me so well it was unbelievable. I simply couldn't imagine leaving him behind. I knew what I had to say. It needed to be done.

Getting up I paced the hill for a while, deciding on what I was going to say. I sat back down again and locked my eyes with his, starting the speech I had been dreading for weeks. "Lucas Hemmings you are my best friend. I love you to bits and I wouldn't do this unless I had to. You know I would never intentionally hurt you right?" I could see the panic in his eyes. "Em, of course I know that, but, what's this all abo-" I cut him off, i didn't want to hear anymore. I needed to tell him now. "I'm going back home." In his eyes I saw the mixture of confusion, then realisation. But last of all, he thought that this was my home. The thing was I didn't know. "That's great Em. That's all you've ever wanted." I knew he was hurt, I could see it in his eyes. They were clouding over the light blue sky that always shone. "That's not what I want!" I couldn't hold it in any longer, I burst into tears. I rarely ever cried in front of Luke, in front of anyone. I wasn't a crier. This was different. I was breaking down all over again. He held me, and I held him as we both cried. He never asked for an explanation as to why I had to leave. He had found out my thoughts just as I knew he would.
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The next weeks felt like torture; neither one of us wanting to admit to the inevitable. I wasn't aloud to spend August in Oz. Some sort of reacclimatising back in England in order to start the new school year in September. Late July came and we went to school as normal - well most of the time. It had become a habit for us to, well, skip school. Go on a Lu and Em's adventure. They were the best. One day on a Friday we decided that the Friday blues had got just too much and it would be best if we skipped school and went on an adventure. We got on the school bus like normal, however, before we got to school, we got off at a random stop and set off on our adventure. We walked around for a good 45 mins trying to find a bus station. When we eventually did, we got on a random bus. Clever I know. Paid to a random stop, then got off. Got on another bus and repeated the same thing over and over again. We did this for 3 hours. We talked, laughed and enjoyed ourselves. That was the thing about Luke and I. We didn't need to do anything to have fun. We had each other and that's all that mattered. We were having a great time. People always talk about getting on a bus, seeing where it takes them. In their heads it always sounds so 'adventurous' trust me it's not. All that happens is you get lost, and then get shouted at by bus drivers for getting off at different stops that you paid for etc... It's not the best thing to do. The thing is deep down, I think that both Luke and I wanted nothing more but to get lost. Find ourselves getting driven further and further away from what was going to happen. We wanted to out run away from the finishing line, when everyone else was running towards it. It was no longer about a sprint. It was a long distance race and we needed stamina.

To conclude on our little adventure; we got caught. No idea how, but we were spotted. Sent back to school and then our parents were called in. Unfortunately we avoided suspension, which if I'm honest seemed like the best thing in the world at the time. It wouldn't have been. I would have still been banned from seeing Luke. Bad move Emilia. bad move.
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We arrived at the finish line, but some how the race didn't seem over. I said my goodbyes, crying my eyes out. First I said goodbye to Lucy and Amy, then Liz, Andy, Jack and Ben and not to mention Molly. Finally I was left with the hardest goodbye I would ever have to make. The one I had been dreading the most. We both stared at each other, neither one of us saying a thing. Until he broke the silence, "Oh Emilia, you'll get frown lines!" He wiggled his eyebrows, throwing himself onto me. I embraced him so tightly, I swear he could have snapped. I looked around and noticed that everyone else had disappeared leaving us to ourselves. Sniffing and wiping my eyes I dragged his arm, taking him to a place where I wasn't sure when I was next going to see.

I glanced up at him to see his reaction once we arrived. It was hard or tell exactly what he was thinking as his eyes studied that same bench where we'd met. We sat down in silence. "Bus stop life is going to be very boring." I smiled with tears in my eyes. I loved this boy so much. He was my family. That was it. We were both gone. Tears poured out of us as we rocked back and fourth nursing each others injuries. "This isn't forever you know." He whispered in my ear, I nodded unable to speak.

As we headed back, neither of us said a word. When we arrived my dad said his last goodbyes and jumped in the taxi. Everyone else had gone inside or left. Luke and I hugged for what felt like a lifetime. "I'll miss you" he cried I replied with the same as I squeezed him. Just before I left I whispered in his ear, "Goodbye Luke Hemmings, I will always come home." I briskly walked off to the car before I could stop myself. I turned back to see the biggest, goofiest smile on his face. But, I knew my bestfriend, and behind the smile that I had created from what I just said, I saw the pain in his eyes, hidden behind the tears. We waved and waved as he ran down the street, until he stopped, giving me one last grin. He turned to leave, but I swear I could have seen him turned round and fall to the ground. I wanted to go back, hold him tight, tell him that everything was going to be alright. But, it it was too late. I was gone.
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Ahh Emilia's left!! This is an emotional chapter! The story is really setting itself up now for what's going to happen its so exiting! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this, you are amazing and I love you!