Wait For Me Where The World Ends

The Kiss

I saw Fran on the bus again back from college. She was on her own and smiled at me as I went to sit with her.

"You getting on ok?" She asked in a friendly way.

"Yeah, college is going fine" I smiled at her still hoping we could be friends.

"Got any plans for the weekend?" She asked.

I hadn't, but I had thought about going to find Cam as I had spent a whole afternoon at college in the photography department developing my pictures from the beach.

"Not really, I wanted to show Cam some of the photos I took last week" I bit the inside of my mouth after telling her, unsure what she was going to say.

"What photos?" She asked seeming unfazed by me mentioning him unlike last time. I produced the folder of photos I had printed.

She flicked through pausing on the one of Cam smiling just before he had covered his face, I had caught just the right moment.

"I used to think he was so gorgeous" she said staring at the picture. I watched her closely,

"But when someone is ugly inside you can't ignore it can you" she added. I didn't know what she meant, but I thought maybe it was about the rabbit again.

"What do you mean?" I asked her quietly, he was gorgeous and hadn't I seen anything ugly about him.

"Oh" she paused closing my sketch book,

"Just the way he acts, like the world's out to get him, nothing's ever his fault, that's why he was kicked out of school, he lit a fire in an empty classroom to get out of a test" she explained.

I was surprised, he hadn't mentioned anything about that. But I suppose being an arsonist wasn't something to be proud of.

"I would stay away from him Clara" she said quietly "He is trouble"

I thought about what Fran said as I walked back along the beach path. Cam hadn't been anything but nice to me, I did think he seemed a bit of a loner but then so was I, but then I thought again it wasn't out of choice.

I started to walk along the sandy path towards his Aunt's house, hoping he would be there, feeling brave I ran up the steps and knocked on the door.

A woman answered, she was a little taller than me, brown flyaway hair pinned up with a clip, it had streaks of grey through it I noticed too.

"Can I help you?" She asked, smiling politely waiting for my answer.

"Hi, is Cam here? I'm a...friend" I had to think about it, I presumed we were friends.

"Oh, you must be Clara, yes he is here" she opened the door wider to let me in.

The hallway was big, similar to our new house but it had a rustic feel, polished wood floors and a shiny staircase.

"Cam's up in his room, it's the first one at the top of the stairs" she smiled again and I began to climb the staircase.

His room was easy to find, he had the door open and was sitting down on the floor by his bed playing a console. He glanced up as I stood in the doorway, then second took me,

"Oh! Clara!" He smiled a greeting, "I wasn't expecting you"

"Sorry" I said "I thought you would like to see the photos from last week"

He pushed the controller away and I entered the large room.

It was quite empty, just a bed, wardrobe and the small TV the console was plugged into. I took a seat on the floor next to him, feeling a little nervous for an unknown reason, producing my black bound book to show him.