**** This chapter is dedicated to the goregous @Scyrenne who made this amazing cover!! Thumbs up to her, it looks terrific!!****
Ouch, I groan to myself as I slowly roll into conciousness from my heavy sleep. Everything hurts. I feel worse than when I had tonsillitis, the pain everywhere ten times as bad as when my shin splints were as their worst. And I haven’t even opened my eyes yet.
Slowly the events of last night flood back into me. I remember seeing Emily, making out with James, and hanging out with Lachlan. But that’s about where the memories stop and I'm guessing where the heavy levels of alcoholic consumption escalated. Lesson of the day: alcohol is very bad for you.
Finally, I will myself to open my eyes, and blink a bit until the light stops being so blinding. Looking around, I see I’m in my bedroom dressed in my care bear pj’s, with the clock telling me its 2pm. Wow, I sure have slept a lot. But I couldn't say what time we got home. It might have been 4am or 9am I have no idea right now.
I drag myself out of bed, careful not to move to quickly or bump into anything, trying to get to the medicine cabinet in my adjacent bathroom as quick as my body allows me. Finally, 3 Advil’s and fifteen minutes later, the fog around my eyes starts to clear and I can think better.
How the hell did I get home? I’m assuming Bailee drove me and Braydon home, but why am I so sore and feeling really different? What the hell did I do last night? Do I even want to know?
Suddenly the smell of cooking pancakes fills my nose and I let my hunger get the better of me, following the sent into the kitchen. “Oh look, sleeping beauty is finally up,” says a clearly hung-over Amy. She is sprawled over the couch, watching and waiting for a shirtless and tired looking Braydon to throw her some pancakes.
“What are you lot doing in my house”” I mutter, yawning.
“Well you had a little too much fun last night and needed me to swarm in and save you,” exclaims Amy. Ignoring her stupid answer, I turn to Braydon for an explanation.
“She was as wasted as you, so I took you guys back here before things could get even more out of hand,” he says quietly, emphasising the word more and never taking his eyes off the pancakes. I look closely and se that he is holding the spatula so tightly it's shaking slightly.
“Looks like you guys have a lot to talk about. I’m just going to go and… uh… play Subway Surfers in the… bathroom,” Amy says awkwardly before quickly scurrying away.
Once she’s gone, silence falls over the room. Braydon stands at the bench quietly flipping pancakes and I fetch myself a drink of water. Suddenly, he places the spatula on the bench loudly and walks over to grab something out of a brown paper bag. “Thought you might need this,” he says chucking it at me, before going back to making pancakes.
Hesitantly, I open the bag, knowing that it holds within it a clue to whatever I have done last night that has made Braydon so pissed off. Inside is a small box of tablets with the label ‘The Emergency Contraceptive Pill’. “Oh no… no, no, no, this can’t be serious,” I freak. This means that I actually did ‘it’ last night. The problem though is that I can’t remember who it is and it must have been someone bad to make my best friend so mad.
And then it hits me. The Vodka Body Shots challenge. The kiss with James. The abandoned room. I actually did it. I had sex with James Monet. I succumbed to one of the black five. And Braydon, well, he clearly knew. He must be thinking that I broke his promise!
Realization must have shown on my face because he looks up and says, “I can’t believe you. Of all people you chose him to do it with! At a party. Drunk. I told you that you can’t get involved with any of those kinds of guys! I warned you what would have happened. God, I can’t believe I even let you go and start training with that squad!” he yells.
How dare he say that to me? He’s not my father, he can’t dictate my life. “Let me? Let me? You don’t ‘let’ me do anything. What do you think you own me; have control over me? Don’t you give me this shit about having sex because we all know you’ve done it. Maybe not quite as many times as the Black five but you’ve still gotten around. So don’t you give me this whole ‘I’m so disappointed in you’ thing because it was bound to happen someday. And there is nothing you can do about that, whether you think you’re all high and mighty or not!” I rage.
“That’s not the point! I clearly warned you not to get involved with them! You’ve only opened yourself up to get heartbroken, and I don't think you are in the right state of mind to be able to handle that, it's only been three years,” Braydon spits back.
I can’t actually believe what he is saying to me right now. After everything we have been through, how can still say this? “Who the hell says I’m going to fall in love with him? You, Braydon, out of all people should know that I don’t do that. And anyway, where were you when this happened? Better yet where were you the entire party?” I challenge. When he doesn’t reply I know that my suspicions are confirmed. “Yeah that’s right, you were off doing it with someone else. So why is it that when I want to do something at all, you have a problem with it?” I yell to him.
“It’s completely different with me,” he protests. Then his voice softens and he continues. “You’re so much younger, Char, you don’t know what I know about these guys.”
“I’m like, eleven months younger than you. You can hardly use that one. And I know enough about them thank-you very much.” I retort, crossing my arms over my chest like a stubborn little girl throwing a tantrum.
He does a little chuckle and comes over and pulls me into a hug. “Now listen up girly, I’m only going to say this one more time to get the message through your thick skull,” he teases. “There’s clearly no stopping you growing up and having the time of your life, but please God, pick someone better next time, hey? And don’t fall for this stupid James guy’s charm.”
“Yes dad,” I giggle.
“Take the tablet I got you now. I don’t want any little Charlie’s running around. Ew.”
For the rest of the day we just hang out with Amy, watching movies and sleeping off the rest of the alcohol in our systems. We finish season three of Revenge and move onto watching Friends. Mum comes home later at night and brings us food and leaves us be. I’m grateful that I have such a supportive mother who understands that I need space and doesn’t pry too much into my life.
Braydon leaves at about nine, and me and Amy crash early before training in the morning. Tomorrow the rest of the guys start to come back and it’s not only the coach’s favourites. This means that tomorrow could very well be the first time I see James sober since he took my virginity and I practically dread what everybody is going to say because after all, word travels fast around here.
Oh, and Monday mornings are always bitches of a session.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors Note
So much to come! How do you think it's all going? It would be great if I could get some feedback from my readers!
Vote and comment please :)
xoxo Kataa
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Rival Squad
Fiksi RemajaA girl to guy ratio of about 2:70 in a swim team can be defined as both heaven and hell. Charlie Lyons had been a swimmer her entire life. Until three years ago, when everything changed. She took up athletics and soared to all new places, whilst st...
