You, Me and the Sea

Chapter 3

The next day, I didn't see Nick at all, much to my excitement.

When I was walking along the boardwalk towards main street, about to buy a new book for maths, I stumbled over a crack in the timber and fell flat on my face. Groaning while I sat up, I saw a hand reach out to help me up.

It was like seeing a distorted version of Nick with ocean blue eyes and shorter hair. "Nick?"

Distorted Nick chuckled softly, almost sadly. "No, I'm Luke. You're Alex, right?"

"Yeah," I said, accepting his hand and brushing my hair back as I stood up. "Thanks."

"No problem," he replied. "Nick's told me a lot about you."

"He's your brother?" I asked, wondering if I was dealing with Nick's personality clone, and dreading it.

"Sadly, yes," Luke said. Thank God we were on the same page in thinking he was an idiot. "My twin."

There was an awkward silence.

"So you're at school, then?"

"Yeah, I've seen you around. No one's noticed me. Don't worry! It's alright, Nick'll always be more popular," he said when he saw my face.

"Oh, alright," I said.

"Were you heading to main?"

"Yeah... I need a new notebook," I said. He started walking and I followed.

"Nick's a pain in the ass. I'm sorry he keeps annoying you, he's not usually like that," Luke said as he walked.

"What d'you mean?"

"Most girls he's either fucking or telling to fuck off," Luke said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Right," I said. I didn't think Nick was one to sleep around. Obviously he was. "He's usually meaner?"

"Yeah. Honestly, he's a snake," Luke said – I was beginning to suspect this was a little more than playful brotherly bad-mouthing, and actual hatred. "He's put on this façade. Don't worry, he'll snap soon, he always does. Then it'll be fists for the boys and fucks for the girls. I'd stay out of his way, if I were you."

"I'm trying to," I said truthfully.

"Good. Don't let him force you into anything."

A feeling of foreboding was sent flowing through my body. Was he actually serious? Should I be making even more of an effort to get Nick off my back?

"Right," I said, seeing I'd reached the stationary store. "See you."

"Bye. I'll keep an eye out for you at school," he replied, saluting me and walking off, hands in his pockets.

I couldn't work either Townsend out.

***

Double biology on Thursday was weird. Nick was silent for pretty much the whole lesson. When we were asked to brainstorm ideas on what organisms were multicellular, he looked at me, eyes hard.

"Did you speak to Luke yesterday?"

"Yeah... But that's none of your business," I said, scribbling down the names of bacteria in my notebook.

He sighed. "It kind of is. That's wrong, by the way, Protozoa is unicellular."

"What? No, it's not," I said.

"Um, yeah, it is," he said in an annoyed voice that I wasn't used to. "Check the textbook if you like."

"I sure will," I scowled at him, flicking through the textbook chapter we had been set for homework. I traced the information on protozoa with my finger until I read Protozoa: Unicellular organism.