Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

Chapter Fourteen

I thought from the amount of studying I did when I lock myself away from the world I would be fine. I thought I would have studied enough to be confident when I walked into the library set up for the exams. I was wrong. Boy was I wrong.

As soon as the exam sheet was placed in front of me for the English exam, I knew I should have tried harder. My hands were clammy. Every five minutes I had to put my pen down to wipe them on my skirt. I felt sick to my stomach.

These feelings didn't stop with any of my exams. If I failed these, I wouldn't have the right ATAR score to get into uni. Not that I knew what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do something creative, I just didn't know which area to major in.

Exam weeks was long and draining. As soon as my last exam was over with all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep. That wasn't an option though because Grandma had banned me from the house once again.

"We are free!" Sky exclaims as she exists the exam room next to mine.

"At least until uni or jobs begin." Carter replies, as he pushes off the wall where he was waiting for us.

"Way to bring us all down again Greenie." Isaac comes through the door behind me, slinging his arm over my shoulders. Carter shrugs, he and Sky heading for their parents car. "Heading home?"

I shake my head.

"Been banned once again."

He chuckles, leading me towards the gate and the bus stop.

"Good thing you have a best friend who will never kick you out."

He gives me a lopsided grin as we get on the bus. The first part of the journey we sit in silence, the other students chatting making it difficult to hear each other. Once we reach the shopping centre and exchange busses, talk of the completed exams starts. I was worried about getting a low score, while Zac felt confident that he would get the ATAR score he needed for uni. The conversation slowly moved to other things, like Sky wanting to move away from home, something no one saw coming not even Carter.

"Did you hear that Lucas stopped talking to Kenzie?"

We reach his front door and I look to the ground. Now that exams are over I don't have anything to distract myself from everything that happened with Lucas and Kenzie. I have been hoping I could just avoid the situation and move on. Life and Isaac had other ideas.

"I guess. Kenzie mentioned it last time she talked to me."

"Wait, back up. You and Kenzie are talking?"

I shake my head.

"I mean, not really. More like she talks I kind of listen. I know she didn't want to hurt my feelings and kept trying to get him to tell me, but like, her not telling me still hurts." I rub my hands up and down my arms, despite it not being cold at all.

"Think you guys could ever be friends again?"

"Maybe. Never like we were, but maybe after some time we could be. I am never talking or seeing Lucas again though." The conviction and determination in my voice shocked Isaac.

"I guess finishing school helps with that but we still have valedictory yet."

I send him a look. Yes the only time I will have to see Lucas again was graduation, but that is for the whole of year 12 and there are a lot of students. I could by some miracle, not see him at all.

"I hate to admit it, but I kind of saw this coming." I freeze. How could Isaac have seen something like this coming. He wasn't even in this school or knew us when Luke and I started going out.

"What do you mean 'saw it coming'?"

"He always gave off a weird vibe, I don't know. But I do know I wasn't the only one. Sky felt the same."

"I knew Sky didn't like him for me. She has known him longer and I gave him the benefit of the doubt. But she was also very open about how she felt about us." I walk towards the door feeling the need to leave. "You are meant to be my best friend, we tell each other everything. Why couldn't you tell me this?"

"Would it have changed anything?"

I face the door pulling it open.

"Didn't think so."

With that I leave, faced with the long walk home to clear my head. I only make it to the end of the street when my phone rings with Grandma's name flashing with the caller ID.

"To celebrate the end of your exams I'm taking you out. All of you."

"All of us?" I ask.

"Yes all of you. The twins, Isaac, Luke, and Kenzie."

I gulp.

"Ah when?"

"Tonight. We are meeting at the Plaza in twenty." With that she hangs up.

I look up from my phone and stare in the direction of the Plaza. It was going to take me longer than twenty minutes to get there with how unreliable public transport was around here.

Sighing, I start walking in the direction of the bus stop. I'm about half a block away when a car horn sounds behind me and a silver CX5 pulls up next to me. The window rolls down and I see the head of Mrs. Stevens.

"Charlie, honey, get in we will give you a lift to the Plaza." I look to Isaac in the back seat as the passenger was full of random things. He gives me a blank look but nods nevertheless.

"Ah thanks Mrs. Stevens." I slid into the back with Isaac. The car full of a silence which to Isaac's mum probably doesn't seem off, but to me, I felt like I was suffocating from the uncomfortable silence between Isaac and I.

I Isaac's mum for the ride when we get there and see everyone already waiting. Grandma pulls me into a tight hug, congratulating me profusely for getting through my exams.

"Grandma, what's with the call out?" I ask pulling away.

"I thought I would do something nice for you all to celebrate the end of exams. I know you don't get your results for another few weeks but completing them is still a big achievement."

She looks between us all. Skylar, Carter, and Isaac sending Lucas death stares. Kenzie looking like she wish she was anywhere but here, and to be honest so did I.

"Plus you all have gone through something big, and it has nothing to do with school. It's something personal. And don't go lying to me, I can feel it. When you have been around for as long as I have you pick up on a few things. I want to use this dinner as a way for you to all try and fix whatever it was that have made everyone glare at each other."

I sigh, nodding along with everyone else. No matter what had happened between us, no one wants to put Grandma in a bad mood, the outcome of that is never pretty. She leads us to the reception of Groove Train and we are seated quickly.

Everyone knows that Grandma wants us all to talk, to get things out in the open. I don't know about anyone else, but I knew that if I opened my mouth I didn't know if I was going to cry or scream. So I stayed silent. Everyone was probably in the same mind set because no one spoke other than to place their order. Only the busy restaurant and other people dining at the surrounding tables filled the silence.

'Sorry Grandma but there are something's that can't be fixed in a public setting.'