Deeper Than The Skin

Chapter 5- Phone Call

Grace

I sat on my bed, staring out the window at the moon.

As weird as it sounded, the moon looked better in Gordonvale.

I don't know how it's possible, but it seemed to just glow brighter back home.

Home.

I had to stop calling it that.

I flopped down on my bed, thoughts overrunning my mind. Boxes were still stacked up around the room, mainly filled with my books and CDs, since I had long ago decided I wanted to purchase all my music in the touchable form. I closed my eyes and let the day's events wash over me.

Calum rose to my mind almost instantly and a smile tugged at my thin lips. I remembered his cute grin, and his handsome eyes, and...

I shook my head. I'd said barely ten words to the guy! I didn't like him. Not like that.

A blush crept into my cheeks, though I was alone in my dark room at almost midnight. Don't lie to yourself, Grace a voice said in my head. I grasped my necklace and held onto it.

My phone began to ring.

I sat bolt upright. Who would be calling me at this hour?

My ringtone was set to Backseat Serenade by All Time Low. God, I loved that song. I loved it so much that I frequently missed calls because I knew it would end if I answered. I smiled, picked up the phone and checked the caller ID.

Zali?!

My heart skipped a beat in glee and I answered immediately.

"Zali?"

"Grace!" Her voice was music to my ears.

"Zali!" I shouted, forgetting it was past 12:00 in the morning. "I thought you lost your phone?"

"I found it in Damon's underwear drawer!"

"That's so- wait, what?" I asked, puzzled. "Why where you-?

Her laugh rang over the line and I grinned wider than I had in weeks. I was so unbelievably happy.

"Yeah, we were having a movie night and he went for a shower and I was up in his room and I saw it in his drawer," she explained. I laughed till tears tickled my eyes.

"Did he know?"

"Claimed not to, that little klepto."

"Oh, God, Zali, you have no idea how hard today was without you," I said, putting the phone on speaker and lying back on my stomach, swinging my legs in the air.

"Why today, particularly?" she questioned.

Oh. Of course she didn't know. I hadn't spoken to her since I left. "It was my first day at Norwest today."

Silence. "Oh, Grace, how was it?"

I inhaled and smiled a bit. "You know, better than I thought it would be," I answered, a determined smile on my face, even though she couldn't see me. And it was true - I'd expected the day to go so much worse.

"Oh?" Her voice beckoned more information. So I grinned and told her everything.

She "ooh"ed over Calum and my pre-school collision and laughed over Mr Rogers, and I could hear the smile in her voice when I told her about Luke overhearing me playing.

"You wrote a song?" she interrupted me. "What about?"

I fiddled with the rubber band I kept around my wrist. Technically, It wasn't my rubber band. Nor was it really my habit. It was Zali's. She gave it to me - Michael, she called it - when I left, saying it kept her sane, so it would help me too. She loved Michael, so at first I refused to take it. But Zali insisted. So I wore it daily. I hadn't taken it off once. Another little keepsake of my old life.

"Um, you guys," I confessed. "About home, and you, and Daz, and Dad and -" I stopped. She had gone silent on the other side. "Zali?"

"Sorry, it's just..." She sighed. "I don't want you getting caught up in the move. I mean, God, Damon and I miss you, and even Nick" - my stomach tightened at the mention of Nick - "has come up and asked if you and your mum and Ari and Dyl are doing okay, but I don't want you holding back because of us, okay, babe?"

I smiled. Typical Zali, wanting me to be happy. Then I laughed at how ridiculous that sounded in my head. Why wouldn't she? She and I have been inseparable practically since we crawled out of the womb. Born a day apart, and living next door to each other... It was practically fate for us to become friends. She'd alway been my sister, and that wasn't going to change now that I lived in a different part of the country.

"Of course," I answered. For a moment it was just me and her, on the phone, listening to the sound of each other breathing. "So, anyway, what have you been up to?"

Zali and I talked for a few hours at least. When we had fully caught up with each other, it was like another one of our conversations, except I couldn't see her dark, curly hair and her brown (though known to go a greeny colour) eyes. It hurt, but since her camera has shattered in her iPhone, it was the best we were going to get.

When we finally hung up, it was nearly four o'clock in the morning. I wasn't tired at all, but I had to sleep. I slid under my blankets and turned my lamp off. I had almost dozed off when my phone dinged, lighting up.

I groaned. It wasn't Zali's text-tone, nor was it Damon's. Who then?

The light vanished as the screen went back to black.

I didn't want to check - blue light, found in electronic devices, as well as the sun, has the opposite effect when it comes to sleeping, and I needed to sleep. But eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I pressed the home button.

Unknown number: hey gracie, its me luke, just texting to...

That was the end of the preview. I'd given Luke my number at the end of the day. I sighed and swiped the message, quickly entering my passcode (9254- surprise much) and reading the message 

Unknown number: hey gracie, its me luke, just texting to say good night and ill see you tomorrow at the band room before school.. or rather today, since its so late its now early. time is weird :) night x

I couldn't stop a gigantic grin from spreading across my face as I drifted into unconsciousness. First day at school, and I had a friend who texted me good night and organised morning plans.

My smile grew.

Friend.

~~~~~~~

Hiya!! Okay so this was kind of a filler and sorry but major writers block and no internet lately.

SORRY ITS BORING ITLL GET BETTER PROMISE.

I just want to say if you're moving away from your friends any time soon or if you have already, you have a whole army of people ready to bombard you with overwhelming support, and it'll get easier because you're AMAZINF and I love you!!! Xxx

Dedicated to snazzyjazzie no matter the distance, babe, you'll always be in my heart xx