Chapter Twenty-Four – Anna

From my earliest memories I can remember my mum loving to clean. She was one of those mothers that loved the idea of ‘Spring Cleaning’, only she thought that spring came every day. She would berate me for not cleaning my room, and our house had always been spotless.

I had only been living with Natalie and my dad for a few weeks, and already the place was beginning to fall into decay.

I didn’t like it being like this, it reminded my how things were no longer how they should be. That everything had changed. I didn’t want it to be like this, and I couldn’t let go of mum and living with her and dad how it used to be – when they were happy. When I had a normal family. Fat chance of that ever happening again.

I sighed as I came into the kitchen, stretching after my long sleep. I stared around at the mess that surrounded me in the kitchen. I wandered around to the fridge, pulling out the milk and drinking straight from the carton. I noticed a note fluttering on the table in the breeze from the slightly open window.

Gone to pick up Nat’s sister Julie from the airport

She lives in NY but is over here for a while, should be back soon

Love, Dad

I was surprised – I hadn’t heard anything about Nat’s family, and I didn’t even know that she had a sister.

I sat down at my desk in the room that was now my own upstairs, looking through my school books. I was supposed to go back to school on Monday, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t feel ready – I didn’t want to see all those people that just went on with their normal lives.

My phone buzzed suddenly, and I jumped at the sound. Picking it up from my bedside table, I opened the new text message.

We’re all missin ya babe!

Wen u comin back 2 school?

Cu l8er

3 Katie

Damn friends, I thought ruefully. I was all set up thinking that I could get away with not going to school for a while, and then I get reminded of why I should go back. Garr.

The front door creaked open and voices spilled into the house, shattering the silence of beforehand. I peered down the staircase and saw a unfamiliar woman standing next to Dad. I could see similarities between her and Nat, even from here, but as opposed to Nat’s skinny body with falsely blonde hair, Julie had softer light brown hair and a normal body weight – not large, but not completely skinny.

“Anna!” My dad called out from the hallway below, not having noticed me where I was standing on the landing.

I made my way down the stairs, slightly apprehensive of this newcomer. I was still feeling fragile and vulnerable – the thought of having to sit around for hours on end while the adults “chatted”, all the while putting on a brave face and pretending to be happy, quite frankly made me want to go bury my head in the sand.

Before Nat could try and do any formal introductions, Julie turned around and gave me a warm smile.

“Hey, you must be Anna! I’m Julie.” She grinned and stuck out her hand. I shook it, but could tell from the way her eyes twinkled that she was anything but a stickler for formality.

Maybe I could get used to her.

I picked up one of the suitcases and took it up to the guest room, placing it down. As I turned to leave, Julie stopped me.

“Hey, Anna, I just wanted to talk to you for a moment.”

I stepped back from the doorway, slightly confused.

“Uhh…ok?”

“I never was one to beat around the bush. So I’m just going to say this. I don’t want there to be any animosity between us because of what you feel for my sister. I know what she can be like, and believe me, you get used to it.” She winked, and I smiled weakly. “And also, I know what it’s like for you to have to have your parents divorce and all. It happened to me and Nat too, only we went to live with our Mum and her boyfriend after our parents split up. We never saw our Dad again.”

“Oh. I’m sorry…” I was unsure of what I was supposed to say, and what all of this meant.

“I know you’re wondering why I’m telling you this. Maybe I’m just rambling.” She grinned. “But I just want to get to know you alright? Show you that my family isn’t all bad, eh?”

Despite her forwardness, and despite she was kind of strange, I found myself take an instant liking to her. She was somebody you could approach and talk to. She was the type of person I needed at that moment.

I managed to get out of going to school for three more days before Dad put is foot down. Enough is enough, as he so aptly said. Not that I didn’t go down without a fight.

I cried the morning that I was going to school. I put on my uniform, looked in the mirror and I sobbed. When I wore my shirt with its short sleeves you could see the scars on my wrist. Ugly and ragged scars, disfiguring my arms. I wasn’t the person that I used to be. Nothing like her in fact. I felt completely isolated from all of my friends, as if I was no longer a part of them. I had spent the last few days getting to know Julie, and it was great. We had hung out and it felt as though I had a friend once more.

She came into my room that morning, and saw me sitting in a little heap on the floor, tears running down my face and dampening my school skirt.

“Anna.” She let me know of her presence, and I looked up to where she stood in the doorway. “You’ve just got to face it. You have to go back.”

Her blunt words jolted me, but I still sat there, feeling sorry for myself.

“I can’t. Everything is just so screwed up.”

She sat down beside me, and looked me right in the eye.

“Anna. You can’t just sit here licking your wounds any longer. You’ve been off school for over a month, and you have to go back. The only way you can get used to life being the way it is now is if you find some sense of routine and normalcy.”

I sat there for a moment, gulping, trying to regain my composure.

“You’re right.”

Julie offered to take me to school, but I didn’t want anybody to do anything for me. I made my own way there, spending the time I had on the train thinking. I was completely apprehensive about what was going to be happening at school.

As the train pulled into the station, I picked up my bags. As I waited for the doors to open, I glanced down to where one hand was rubbing the scars on my opposite wrist.

Steeling myself, I forced my head to look back up.

I walked into school with my head held high.

It’s amazing how much a school can change. I had only been away about a month. Katie and Matt were so into PDA’s (Public Displays of Affection) that they sickeningly reminded me of Ryan and Marissa off the OC. And Pico and Sam were being the whole cute couple. As well as Izzy acting like a total loser like normal. Hah. We love her for it. Rose had gone to ‘the other side’ and was hanging out with the slutty group – she probably wasn’t accepted by anybody else. And then Sam’s friend Caleb was dating some new girl, Hannah.

Needless to say, despite my certainties that I would not be able to cope, and that I could never be the same again, I was proven wrong. That day was only the beginning, but it was a good beginning. Even if I thought I had changed, my friends hadn’t. As I sat there at lunch with them all surrounding me: Katie and Matt, Pico, Sam, Izzy and John. They made me feel as though I could keep on going.

The year was almost over, and it was all coming to a close. Everyone had gotten what they wanted that year, and even though I sound like a living cliché to say it, I was stronger because of my experience.

When I was younger I had had a Polish violin teacher, and she had told me a Yiddish proverb that proved to be the truth.

“You can’t measure the world with your own yardstick.”

I had been too pre-occupied with seeing the world immediately in front of me, without seeing the bigger picture. I was ready to move on in life and with my friends by my side I knew I could recover.

And I also knew that one of these days our lives would be perfect. We were young and we could believe that we were invincible. One of these days we would all be blissfully happy, because we had taken on what had been thrown at us during that turbulent year. We had survived kidnappings, abuse and gunshot wounds, not to mention attempted suicide. We could do it.

One of these days…

Before I do some review replies, I just want to say one thing. Well. More than one thing. grins

Ok.

One) I am SO SORRY it has taken me so long to finish this off. I am also SO sorry that this chapter sort of doesn’t tie in with the last one because I introduced a new character. Basically I just can’t write this any more…I’m not completely happy with it so I really don’t want to try and continue with it.

Which leads me to my next point.

Over a very long period of time I plan to re-write this whole thing. I may change aspects of it, not really sure, and I’m not one hundred percent sure if I will ever actually post up the revised edition, however I do want to try and re-write the whole thing, so it is going to take me a long time. Look out for it in the next few years! P

Sorry to everyone if I’ve disappointed you in any way by this chapter. I really do aim to re-do this. If I don’t manage to finish a revised edition or whatever, if I manage to do a little bit and you want to see it I’m happy to send it to you. (Vilverin I promise I’ll send you whatever I do D)

Oh yeah, one more thing. I’ve gotten a new account because..erm. Because. Yes. Anyway lol it’s “Bubble’s Webb”. Nothing is actually posted up as of yet (it will take me several years to explain why) but it will be ASAP, so check it out in a month or so I guess. If I do finish a revised edition of this I will probably post it on that account, I’m not sure.

Ok, REPLYS!!!

Botsie) HEY DARL! I am missing you so much! We have to talk sometime! How is Malaysiaaaa? I know this chappie prolli wasn’t what you were expecting. Sorry bud. Love you heaps! Please email us all soon and tell us how you are! Hope I’m in some of your classes this year as well….AHAHAHA. Dr. Thornley bursts out laughing Do you remember that lesson when I listened to the radio the whole time and you didn’t even realise? That was amusing….P

Pico) Well. I kind of talked to you for about an hour just recenelty so I don’t really know what to say. I’ll see you tomorrow! Hmm..maybe I should try and buy lollies? Mohahahah. Can’t wait to see lil Maverick, my darling kindred spirit. Give him a hug from me. Yeah…and replying to ur review is slightly redundant now, considering its HOLIDAYS AND AL!!!!! BOOOYAH!!!!

Saharian) Glad you like the story, because I am soo not happy with it. Hee. I also hope you forgive me for this chapter!!!

Cheezyromantic) I understand what you mean when you say that chapter was ‘ok’ ) Umm, well what happened with “The Tenth Floor…” is that I posted up the first chapter before I really knew where the story was heading, so then I realised I had no idea where it was going to go. So I took it down, and I might start up again once I’ve figured it all out. Again, if it is posted again it will most likely be under Bubble’s Webb.

The UGLY American) Lol, most Australians do know that it’s 911 in the US. I dunno…I think 000 is pretty good ) shrugs Yeah, I know random chapter…soz! Hope you don’t mind this one too much!!!

Little Precious) Sorry about leaving the whole Hannah thing in the air! It was whacked, I know. Anyway, thanks for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it!

Really bad egg) TIM TAMS! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TIM TAMS ARE? You are soooooo missing out girl. Like seriously, MISSING OUT! If you ever come to Australia you have to eat them! The best way to eat them is by “shotgunning” them. This involves biting off two opposite corners (the biscuits are rectangular) and then using it as though it is a straw. The best drinks (in my opinion) to drink through them are: milk, chocolate milk, milo, hot chocolate etc. etc. Things like that. And you have to perfect the art of it: you drink trhough them until the biscuit is completely saturated, and JUST before it falls apart because of all the liquid, you eat it. Mmmmm drools. There’s actually this pretty funny website called “Toxic Custard” – and it has this section about a “Guid to Australia” if you look under that on the home page you should be able to find a little section on shotgunning. Look it up! It’s pretty funny. Oh yeah, but anyway, Tim Tams are chocolate biscuit that are sort of biscuit coated in chocolate, with soft chocolate in the centre if you get what I mean. You can also get different variaties: Original, double coat, dark, choc fudge, caramel etc. choc fudge is my personal fave ) Wow….I just wrote a hell of a lot about tim tams…….

Coral Chimera) Aaah. Jamaica Sky. See, it’s supposed to be written with a lot of different friends who haven’t written anything, which is why it hasn’t been updating. But me and my friend blak-pearl are sort of thinking that we might just take over and write it ourselves. IGNORE MY CHARACTER IN CHAPTER THREE! My friend who wrote that was a cow and made Dani sound like a total idiot. Humph. Hehe. But yeah, hopefully we’ll update that ASAP!

SKACHICK) Woooot I love Ska. Do you know Reel Big Fish? Probably not..but they’re an Aussie Ska band and they are damn cool ) Check them out if you ever get the chance! Anyway, Yeah it is a high school. We often have schools called Colleges. Like, my school is P---- L------ College. And lots of other schools are like that too.

Crazy Azn Angel) Hell yeah Sydney rocks! D Hope you didn’t mind this chapter too much, and thanks so much for reading!!

Mags) Hey bud hows it going? Thanks for reading all of our stories lol. Hope we have lockers next to each other next year! Hope you enjoyed this!

Blond1w/whiskey) Lol yeah I love doing diff POV’s. I do practically everything that I write in the first person. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!!

Vilverin) ARE YOU HAPPY!!!! You can finally stop bugging me!!! But now you’re going to bug me to do a revised one aren’t you…and ILMTIS….and when I post up the new story you’ll bug me about that wont you. AAAAAAH dies Lol, well, hope you don’t kill me for this chapter! And I’m REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry about the wait! (I typed all those ‘really’s’ ) Ah well, love ya dude, please update Ice Cold Deciet and keep reviewing all Pico’s stories as well as any of mine that come out!!! Peace dude!