Breaking Hope (Finding Sky edit)

Chapter 17 - Part 2

Sorry this took longer than expected to  get up, it took a bit of editing and more proofreading and then my internet crashed but here's part 2. Sorry, it's still quite a bit longer than Part 1... Also this is still dedicated for Lauren for getting into uni yeah you go girl! 

'Make yourself look like you're going to the Oscar's... ahh I see what I did there.' She started laughing. 'Oscars... Oscar. God. I deserve an Oscar for that joke. Only you can decide which Oscar I'm on about now.' I frowned at Lauren.

'How many glasses of champagne have you had?' I joked, but looked out across the view. It was beautiful and you could clearly see the road coming down from the mountains. At this time of night, the sun was behind the mountains but it still classed as daytime, but cast long and meaningful shadows across the floor outside, with individuals walking in playing in the shadows creating abstract patterns on the pavement, unwilling to surrender to the night. This would be the perfect environment for some sort of murder mystery.

I looked up the road, where I knew Ella and Oscar's family would come down to come here tonight – if they were still coming. 'Is Ella here yet?' I asked.

'By Ella, we know you mean Oscar, and no. We text her a while back and she said they'll be a few minutes late because it takes a lot more work than you'd think to get eight kids ready, apparently.'

'Eight kids, must have been an interesting upbringing, especially events like this!' I said, knowing my comment spans deeper than they think it did.

'Yeah, they're all nice too each other – and to us. Very civil. They've all been brought up like gentleman... including Ella.' We all laughed.

'So, who's who in the family?'

'Well,' Amy said, sitting on her leg. 'They go in alphabetical order, going from I down to O. Isaac is the oldest, like 26 or something now. There's near enough exactly ten years between him and Oscar. Ten years and eight kids. He's a cop in Denver, I believe. He's very cool and casual; nothing really bothers him too much. Jacob is second eldest, in college in Denver - not too sure what his major is though. He's the smallest of the boys, obviously not including Ella. He's very quiet and very academical and is like Ella in the way that they both just zone out a lot. Jac is lovely and sweet, always willing to help you out. He quite often gives me lifts if he's picking Ella up from school, but a bit spacey as well. Who's next?' She quietly sang the alphabet. 'I, J, K. Oh yeah, Kieran. He's odd. He is also in Denver, I think he's a cop as well but him and Ella don't get on well at all. She always blanks him for some reason. He seems nice but I wouldn't willingly have a conversation with him. He's the one, if you ever see the family, who looks like he is willing to kill someone and have no remorse. Liam is the middle kid, who is in his second year of his major doing psychology. Very laid back, very calm and casual and kind of a joker. Every "lad" in schools has gone for a drink with him at some dudes party, and most of the girls have had a crush on him at some point. He's not a big fan of dating, but yeah. Then you have Matt who is just a joker and doesn't care. You met him at the pool. Then of course Nathaniel and Ella. I always wondered why Ella's name didn't fit the pattern, but found out her birth name was Natalie-Eleanor but she's had it legally shortened and Oscar at the end as the youngest. Tada.' She did jazz hands, proud of her recall. 'And talking of the family, here they are.' She gestured to where three cars pulled into the parking lot diagonal from the building.

They had all got out the cars, waiting around for each other. All dressed formally for the event, I could see why everyone thought the family was trouble with a capital T – they looked like they were going to a funeral of someone they had killed. They looked like they were superheros out of a comic book. They looked fierce, but proper at the same time. I looked closely at Ella, Oscar, Nate and Matt who were all in the same car. Ella stood there, fidgeting when she was standing still. Matt, who crept up behind her, took off his dinner jacket at threw it over her head, hugging her and picking her up. Even though I couldn't hear it, I could tell she was laughing. She took off the jacket around her head and put it on, mockingly. Nate looked disappointed at the act, and Oscar said something which caused Ella to give him "the look". When all the family had disembarked from the car, they made their way inside. Oscar looked dangerous, in matching black trousers and shirt, with a dark grey tie.