Forever Young

Chapter Five - Mount Eliza

Mt. Eliza, Victoria

Saturday, September 24

The day after my conversation with Lauren, my family went to visit my cousin Callum at his house in Mt. Eliza. Callum is a year older then me, whereas I'm a fair bit taller then him. Then again, I'm pretty tall for my age.

Anyway, around the time that I broke my collarbone, Callum took a large chunk of bone out of his knee. He was a soccer player, and he hadn't played in ages. We were visiting for his birthday, and also to comfort him.

The whole way up, Lauren and I were inboxing each other, figuring out all of the things we had in common. It turns out we both have 2 cousins on Mum's side and two cousins on Dad's side. On Mum's side, both cousins are boys, and on Dad's side, both cousins are girls.

Also, I told Jake that I'd call him once I got there, to express how I felt about Lauren moving to Geelong. He didn't know what was going on, so I promised I'd tell him when I called him.

Anyway, we arrived at their house in Mt. Eliza. I absolutely love Auntie Sharon's house!

It has soccer goals out the front, a swimming pool and a tennis court that can be used for cricket and basketball. It's a sporty teenagers dream!

We arrived and I said Happy Birthday to Callum and a quick ‘Get Well Soon’ before grabbing a soccer ball and taking my little brother Ryan out into the front yard to kick the ball around.

"Over here, Ryan. Kick it to me!". I got the ball and booted it, curving it through the air and watching it the smash against the post and roll away.

"And Carter just can't convert. I bet the manager's thinking of pulling him off. Wait! What’s this? Carter has the ball again! He's stripped it off Zidane! He's charging forward, gaining momentum. He's completely faked out Cristiano Ronaldo. He's shooting, from outside the box. HE'S SCORED! LIVERPOOL LEAD IN THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL! THEY'RE UP 4-3 IN ADDED TIME!" I shouted in my English commentator voice from the FIFA games.

"Hmm"I thought to myself. "I'd better call Jake now".

I got out my phone, a Nokia E71 (a girl phone, as Jane calls it), and found Jake's name in Contacts. I pressed "Voice Call" and I heard the familiar dialing sound.

The dialing was then interrupted and I head Jake speak.

"Hey man" he said. "Hey, the worst thing happened last night" was my reply.

"What was it?" Jake said.

I thought for a moment on what to say. "Okay. I have good news, and I have bad news. Which one do you want first?"

Jake was silent for a few seconds. "I'll go bad news first".

"Okay" I said. "Good news first".

"No!" Jake said. "I said bad ne-"

"So last night I told Lauren I liked her" I interrupted. "And then she said that she liked me as well. But you see, she likes this guy called Cool Ridge as well".

Jake was shocked. "Cool Ridge?" he said. "That's not bad news. I know him. Don't worry, Michael. You got this in the bag".

Even though we were on the phone, I shrugged my shoulders. 'It doesn't matter, because there's the still the bad news".

"Wait a sec" Jake replied. "I thought Cool Ridge is the bad news?"

"Nope' I said to Jake. "That's not anywhere near as bad as the bad news".

"Well" Jake said a bit impatiently. "What's the bad news?"

"She's moving to Geelong"

There was a few moments of silence, then cut off by Jake.

"Are you serious, man?"

"Dead serious" was my reply.

"Oh my god man. I feel so sorry for you" he said.

"Yeah" I replied. 'I'm shattered".

We spent the next 10 minutes talking about Lauren and Sandie (Jake's girlfriend) and then I had to go.

Once I was off the phone, I went inside and saw a very,veryappetizing Black Forest Cake sitting on the table. We all sat down and i ate two pieces while Callum just sat on the couch alternating betweenCall of Duty: Black OpsandFIFA 11on PlayStation 3.

As soon as I was done, I took Ryan back outside and we started kicking the soccer ball again. I tried to call Jake again, but he was at the VFL (Victorian Football League) Grand Final.

Ryan and I just kicked the soccer ball around for a bit, and then we went back inside. I playedFIFA 11with Callum for a bit, and then went into the Games Room and watched the last quarter of the VFL Grand Final while simultaneously inboxing Lauren on Facebook.

Two hours later, we left and went home. It was a long car trip, and i was texting Lauren the whole time. I couldn't wait to get home and jump on Facebook.

When we did get home, I went to my room and got on the computer straight away. Unfortunately, Lauren wasn't on, so I talked to Jake for around 10 minutes before giving in to my tiredness and going to bed.