Then, I didn’t see him for a month.
He just didn’t come back to school the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. It was all so confusing. Then, of course, the rumours started again. They said things like “He came back for a few days to find a new person to murder”, and “He just had to sell some drugs. That was it”. There was even one going around that I slit his throat. Yes, I, the girl who almost faints whenever she hears the word blood or even sees it, apparently slit Michael Clifford’s throat. Dumbest rumour I’ve ever heard.
I thought about all these rumours, for the 100th time in a row, as I sat down in the cafeteria. Darcy took a seat next to me, carrying a tray full of nothing but jelly. I frowned, because a tray full of jelly is really weird.
“What are you doing?” I asked, turning around to fully face her and her tray of jelly.
“I’m going on a jelly diet”, she stated, smiling cheesy at me as if I was mean to be proud of her accomplishment.
“But, jelly isn’t healthy. You’ll only gain weight”.
“No, silly”, she rolled her eyes at me. “It means my body won’t have to work that much to digest the food”. Darcy smiled again, the same way.
I almost snorted. “You mean, it’s going to run straight through you and you’ll have nothing but diarrhoea”. That shut her up completely, and after half a minute of silence, she left the table and went to get something else to eat. Just at that moment, I got a particular phone call.
I answered it after viewing the caller ID, which was mum. “November?” She said almost instantly with a certain tone in her voice that could make the hairs on your neck stand up. “Yes, mum?” I replied, getting up from my seat in the cafeteria and heading into the hallway where it was much quieter and private. “I need you to come home. Steph is over, and Alex just got home. He was in such a rush that he forgot to tell you. I’ll explain when you get here. Also, there’s a Calum guy and a Michael guy here who look extremely uncomfortable”.
Without even thinking it through, I ran down the hallway and through the front doors. My scooter, which was looking awfully small next to Arnold Johnson’s motorbike, took me home within a matter of 45 minutes because the roads were icy and I didn’t want to speed and die.
As soon as I pulled up into my driveway, I sprinted through the front door to be greeted with Michael Clifford and Calum Hood seated on my loungroom floor, drinking a milo and eating my mum’s banana cake.
“What going on?” I had yelled, not noticing the tone of panic in my voice. Michael, who’s hair was now blue, got up from the floor and grabbed a hold of my arm. “Your mum is upstairs”, he whispered. “So are Alex and Steph”.
“What do I do? Do I wait for them to come down?” I panicked.
“Hi November”, Calum said shyly from the floor, giving me a little wave. He looked thinner than usual. I nodded in his direction, as a brunette woman with a red face and pyjamas on, came walking down the stairs.
“Oh, good, you’re here”. My mum greeted me by pulling my arm and disappearing around the corner. “Steph is really upset. I’ll tell you why. You know the guy, Luke Hemmings?
“Yeah, he’s the one who committed suicide. We had a school assembly about it”.
“Do you know anything about his family?”
“He had a sister who was murdered. That’s all I know”.
“Well”, Mum took a deep breath. “He also had a dad who walked out on his family when he was slightly younger. His name was George”.
Mum looked at me silently as if I had already connected the dots.
“George remarried”, she continued. “He remarried to Steph’s mother”.
Then, I connected the dots. And I got the worst feeling I thought I had ever experienced, until now.
lol wtf this is so crap ugh. sorry for never updating.
