The Last Chance (Book 2 of the Cheer Series)

Six:

Melissa's pov

It was relatively simple. Steven came home every night, I'm sure. I could hear him some nights, I would stay up to hear him come home, and then, just before everyone in the house woke up, he was gone. He disappeared. I saw him at school. He wouldn't even look my way, he was too busy with a different girl every day. It broke my heart.

As it was the weekend, I'm seeing Cameron sometime. I haven't seen Cam in so long that it's like I've almost forgotten about him. It's been such a hectic past few months, and my boyfriend shouldn't have to also pay for Steven's bad choices. I've stopped calling him Steven actually. I mainly just call him, Him. This 'him' who has taken over Steven's body is most certainly not my Steven.

I dialled Cameron's number.

"Hey stranger." He says as he answers. I laugh.

"Hey fellow wanderer." I smile.

"I've missed hearing your voice." He says and I sigh softly. Finally, someone who wants to see me.

"I've missed you." I smile, remembering the amazing guy on the other end of the line.

"Good. Then it's settled. Are you free this afternoon?" He asks.

"Yes." My heart skips a beat. I'm so excited to see him.

"Good. Be ready in an hour and I'm coming to pick you up." He says and puts down the phone.

I put down the phone and skip over to my parents. "I'm going out with Cam, I hope that's okay." I say softly, crossing my fingers that they are okay with it.

"Of course it is. Enjoy it Mel." My father says and turns back toward the tv to watch the show my parents both enjoy.

The doorbell rings and I answer it. Cam is at the door, smiling widely at me. We don't say a thing, but I'm pulled into a hug. We stay like that for a while. He does know what's been happening with Steven, but he doesn't really know how bad it has been.

"Let's go shall we?" He holds out an arm, as if we are living in a past century. I link my arm through his. He opens the car door for me. Letting me get in and the. He closes it, and hops into the other side of the car.

"Tell me everything." He whispers, pitting his hand on my knee, giving me a sad smile and turns on the ignition.

~~~~~~~~

Cameron looks shocked to say the least.

"Just like that?" He says finally, after I've told him everything, he stayed silent as I was speaking. "He changes just like that?" I nod. He rubs my knee affectionately. "I swear, when I see that freakin idiot of a boy, I'm going to hit him so hard, he won't remember his name."

Cameron turns towards me. I can tell that he's angry. His breathing is more heavy and he runs his hands though his hair.

"I swear Melissa, he's hurting you, and I can't just let that happen. The next time I see him and I'm going to knock some sense into him okay?" He studies my facial expressions.

"That's fine, but, you have to promise me, that you will make sure he understands exactly why okay? I don't need an angry Steven, I just need my brother back okay?" Cameron smiles at me.

"Of course. I'll go looking for him tonight." Cameron nods and we arrive at our spot.

We have this coffee shop on the corner of a nearby street. It's quite small, and busy, but Cameron and I had our first date here and ever since, it's basically been our spot. We even have a specific table we like to sit at. The owner is an elderly woman who is so sweet.

"Morning Gilda." Cameron smiles as we walk into the cafe, the bell ringing as we enter.

"Good morning my favourite couple. Your table is open as usual." She hums, and we make our way over to the corner as usual, and sit down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our date lasted about four hours, but Cam had to go home to practice football. The deepest part of me wishes it was Steven who was going home to practice.

I look around my room. I sigh, and walk over to the door to Steven's room. I test to see if it's locked, and it's not. I almost shout in glee as I open it and walk inside.

I look around the room. He's cleaned it somewhat, but there is still a lot of unused clothes scattered around. My eyes search for his journal, and when I find it, I walk over and hold it to my chest. It's like my key to a lost treasure. I just need to find my way to the treasure and when I find it, I will use it, and I'm going to get my brother back. I will. I flip through the pages, and find an image that looks the most complicated. It's brilliant, but it's so sad and disturbing at the same time.

The image is of a man sitting in a corner. His head is leaning against the wall, and his mouth wide open, looking like he is screaming his lungs out. His hands are gripping what is clearly a football shirt, however, it seems to be laced with blood, which is dripping onto the floor. The blood, which is not red, but is actually black, is filling the floor around the man, however, it doesn't touch the man apart from his hands. It's like he killing the jersey, but hates himself for it.

I realise now exactly what it means. Steven is the man, the football jersey is who he used to be, and he is almost murdering the old him. I bite my lip. How can he kill a part that is such a big part of who he is? And then it hits me between the eyes. He can't play anymore, at least not for the next six to nine months, and so it's like he lost a part of himself. He feels worthless because he can't play football. I slam the journal shut, run out his room and climb into my car. I speed to the nearest art store, with a buzz of ideas inside my head. I'm going to get my brother back, and I'm going to attempt to do it through art, because it might actually get into his thick head.