I decided to ask Grace and Ebony about coming out with myself and the rest of the gang tonight, and explained the situation with Ethan being there as briefly as I could.

“Oh, I can’t sorry” Ebony bit her lip “I’m sort of...going on a date?!”

“What!?” Grace and I exclaimed together completely taken aback.

“Well I didn’t want to say anything because I really like him and I didn’t want to Jinx it, but yeah I’m on a date...”

“Ebony!” I shouted “Who the hell with?”

She looked at me suspiciously and then said “I... I don’t really want to say Ava”

“You have got to be kidding me?”

“No, it’s private. I want to see how it all goes first”

“I can’t believe you Ebs” Grace butted in “this is so unlike you, you are usually the first to brag about a new date, what’s so special about this guy?”

“Nothing, he’s just a normal guy I swear, I just want to do things differently this time. Stop hounding me, we’ve cut Ava some slack, cut me some please”

“What do you mean you’ve cut me some slack?” I asked defensively whilst Grace shot her a nervous look.

“Oh Ava we aren’t stupid, we know you’re hiding something from us about Ethan, fair enough we believed it the other night because we were pretty drunk, but come on... we know you better than that. But like the good friends we are, we decided that if it was something you wanted to share with us then you would, you don’t hide things from us, so if keeping it quiet was really important to you, then it is to us too”

“I er, don’t really know what you are talking about but, thank you for the thought regardless. I’m sorry, Grace and I will keep our nose out of your business from now on too until you are ready to tell us”

“Thank you” she grinned sweetly “now, I’m gonna head off to the bus station, my last lessons been cancelled, and I want to catch some Z’s before the big date. Have fun wherever you’re chilling tonight you guys”

We waved goodbye and continued with the previous conversation,

“So how about you then Grace?” I asked hopefully “you fancy coming along tonight?”

“Sure why not?” she beamed, “Can’t be letting Ebs have all of the fun eh? Besides, you’ll need someone to have your back”

“Thanks” I smiled genuinely, “come round to mine for about half past six yeah?”

“Sure thing, it’s a date” she winked, climbing out of her chair heading towards the door to her next lesson.

The rest of the day was pretty boring in all honesty so it was a relief to get home and go hang with my friends. Grace came round to my house for about quarter past 6 and we set off walking to the skate park, my mum offered us a lift but we said no, the walk down there was only 20 minutes.

“So, are you a bit nervous?” Grace asked.

“No” I lied, biting my lip.

“I hope it’s not gonna be too awkward”

“Me too, I’m sure it won’t be – Oliver’s got my back and so have you, I’ll just avoid Ethan, it’ll be fine”

“OK” she sighed, clearly not convinced.

Twenty minutes later we’d arrived and I was surprised to see six people already there, Oliver came over and greeted us and chauffeured us to the rest of the gang. I recognised Hayley, Ryan, Carl, Lucas Morley and of course Ethan. One guy I didn’t recognise though;

“Um, well you clearly all know one another already, but for those of you who don’t know him – this is my good friend and half cousin – James Cook” he beckoned over in the direction of the tall skinny guy with long messy dark curly hair, a thin cloth head band tied around the back keeping his hair from getting in his eyes. He looked very stereotypically ‘skatey’.

Again I must have been staring a while because Oliver coughed loudly and I looked down to find James’ outstretched hand towards me.

“Oh” I laughed flustered “Nice to meet you James”

“Likewise” he smiled politely.

“So Oliver” Hayley asked “We’re all here, what do we do now?”

Oliver let out a funny laugh “I love that you all treat me as the leader, but hey I’m not complaining, uh we can do whatever you wanna do”

“Teach us how to skate!” Grace dived in the air as if she’d just come up with the best idea in the world.

“WHAT?” Hayley and I asked at the same time. “Are you mad?”

“No come on, skateboarding always looks so effortless and cool, it can’t be that hard – I wanna learn”

“Awesome!” Oliver looked surprised “Come with me Grace, I’ll teach you the basics”

Grace looked mighty pleased with herself; she followed Oliver over to the other side of the skate park where the mini ramps were. We all laughed as we watched her hold on to Oliver for support, slipping and sliding all over the place.

“Not as easy as it looks girls, that’s why it’s a guy thing” Ryan grinned smugly.

Hayley gasped and slapped his arm “sexist pig!”

“Well I’m just saying, you’re not physically strong enough”

“You wanna bet on that Goldsmith?” she joked. “Right come on, teach me”

“Hayles, you’ll only hurt yourself” he mocked.

She shot up from her seat and whipped Ryan’s skateboard from beneath his feet.

“Teach me, now.” She demanded.

“OK, OK, but don’t blame me when...” his voice trailed off as Hayley was angrily pulling him along the skate park to join Oli and Grace.

I looked around, great - all my so called friends had left me unprotected without backup.

“I don’t suppose you wanna learn, Ava?” Lucas smiled.

“No, not really” I laughed.

“Oh good, because I can’t skate anyway, more of a BMX person myself”

We all laughed as James’ eyed me and Ethan up suspiciously.

“How come I’ve never seen you two before?” he asked curiously.

“I uh, just moved here” Ethan spoke “I was out every day last week with Oli actually, not seen you about though”

“Yeah, I’ve been on holiday with my Gran, cool eh?” James laughed “Well it’s good to meet you man, sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now. What about you?” he glanced in my direction.

“Basically I was randomly asked to come by Oliver, and that’s about it” I said, feeling pretty stupid.

“Sweet, it’s always good to have new members” he smiled warmly then furrowing his brow “Yo, Carl, Luke – where you heading guys?”

We all spun round, none of us realised Lucas and Carl had vanished.

“Going home to get my BMX” Lucas shouted “I fancy a ride”

“Wait up dude” James called “I’ll come with you, I wanna call at the shops and get myself some food, I’m starving”

I gulped. Great, being left here alone with Ethan. Just what I needed.

The pair of us watched until Lucas, Carl and James were out of sight. Then proceeded to feign interest in what was going on with the others at the far end of the skate park- anything to avoid the awkwardness. To my dismay, Ethan broke the peaceful silence.

“Ava, I haven’t had chance to speak to you since, well... you know. I just wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened”

“Ethan I thought we weren’t going to talk?” I snapped viciously. Why could he never stick to his word?

“I know, it’s just hard – we’re friends with the same people, it’s going to be impossible to avoid each other forever”

“We were managing perfectly well before” I hissed, still staring straight ahead not once daring to look him in the eye.

“You might have been ‘managing’ but I wasn’t. I feel awful about how nasty I was with you at the party Ava; please know it’s for your own good. Not mine.”

I laughed dramatically “I can’t know anything Ethan. You won’t tell me. All I know is that you’re a... well you...”

“A murderer, a killer, a criminal. Yes” he sighed.

“So tell me what happened, I know the main secret now, why can’t I know the rest?”

“Because Ava, you have to stay safe. If I start telling you things, you’re more at risk.”

“At risk? From who? You? Are you gonna kill me Ethan? Is that it?” I turned to face him and cracked out laughing, mocking him to the extreme, even in my own head the way I said those words were harsh.

He stiffened his jaw and I saw the same fear appear in his eyes once more.

“No”

“So what? What’s the risk? Why are you being so secretive? You’re nothing but a coward are you?” I mocked again, my voice filled with malice.

Before I had chance to even start my next sentence, Ethan jumped into the air and slammed his skateboard angrily to the ground, and it hit the floor with a deafening thud.

“DO NOT. Do not ever call me that again” he hissed through clenched teeth.

I actually felt my heart pop out of my chest, the way he was glaring at me scared me to death. It was a strange feeling, I’d never felt truly afraid of him, until now.

The others must have heard the loud tumble of the skateboard because their teaching session had come to a halt and all four of them were walking over to us apprehensively.

Oliver was the first to reach us “Guys, what’s up?” he asked panicky.

“Nothing” Ethan replied coldly “my skateboard slipped”

“Slipped from where Eth? You’re in the middle of the ramp?”

“You know what, forget it” Ethan shook his head and picked up his skateboard and stormed off towards the exit.

“Dude, where are you going?” Oliver called confused.

“Home” he shouted.

Oliver looked at me for some kind of explanation but I simply shrugged. I hated being the one left to make up stupid pretend stories, why I didn’t just tell them the truth was beyond me. It’s not like I owed him anything. Maybe my head was telling me to tell them everything, but a small part of me, in my heart still didn’t want to betray his trust.

“Ave, what the hell?” Grace probed.

“He’s just moody that’s all, probably tired – can we forget about it please?”

“Sure” she nodded; clearly aware I wasn't in the mood to discuss.

Strangely the rest of the night was sort of OK after that, everyone was doing their best to make me laugh and avoided talking about the incident wherever they could. I guess you could say that I actually enjoyed myself, enjoyed myself enough to stupidly agree to come out the same time tomorrow. Great, clever idea, Ava.

The second night out was going a lot better than the first, we’d been out 2 hours and I’d managed to sandwich myself between Oliver and Hayley and the conversations were flowing pretty easily. Ebony had joined us tonight even though she was refusing to tell us exactly how her date went, or who it was with for that matter.

Anyway, we were all laughing and joking about a programme that had been on TV last night and even Ethan seemed to be doing his best to avoid striking up conversation with everyone. Sure it was still awkward and what not, but at least he wasn’t in my peripheral vision so I didn’t have to stare at his annoying yet beautiful face all the time.

Suddenly out of nowhere Carl Thomas, who I shamefully hadn’t actually noted as missing from the group tonight, came panting around the corner with the biggest smile on his face in the world.

“Hey dude” Oli smirked “you look pleased with yourself”

“I have...” he panted “the...BEST news...you will ever hear”

Everyone was listening attentively now.

“What is it man?” Oli asked again.

“Well my uncle Roy has just become the new manager of The Vibe Shack in town, and get this – tomorrow night, Kings of Leon are playing an up close and personal set, and I’ve only gone and bagged us a whole bunch of VIP tickets!”

The atmosphere went from chilled to frenzied within milliseconds, even I was surprised to see myself grinning from ear to ear, Kings of Leon, my absolute favourite band in the world were playing at the Vibe Shack this very Friday and I had the opportunity to meet them, I actually had the sudden urge to dive on Carl and give him a big dramatic hug, I resisted the temptation, but as for Oli, his legs were wrapped around Carl’s waist in a matter of seconds and the two of them fell into a friendly wrestle on the floor, which was then added to by Lucas and James . Hayley and I high fived in awe, whilst Ryan whistled loudly and even though I’d tried to resist seeing or hearing his reaction, somewhere in the back of my head I heard Ethan say “That’s awesome man, are you sure that’s cool with your uncle?”

Carl scrambled to his feet and dusted his self down taking a seat next to Ethan and draping his arm across his shoulders

“Of course it’s cool; my uncle was the one who suggested it...” he paused for a minute, panic stricken across his face “Damn! I’ve only got 8 tickets, there’s 9 of us – what are we gonna do?”

Everyone fell silent, the looks of excitement fading quickly to disappointment when the realisation set in that one of us wouldn’t be able to go. No one spoke for a few moments but then;

“I don’t mind taking a step back, the rest of you should go and have a good time” Oh how convenient. Ethan ‘knight in shining armour’ Hollow stepping in to save the day as usual.

Oliver sighed “Eth, you can’t do that, we can’t go without you”

“Its fine” Ethan said nobly “I don’t mind, you guys go and have an amazing time”

“Only if you’re sure...” Carl stood up and reached into his rucksack and began rummaging about.

“Yes, I’m positive, someone’s got to step down” Ethan laughed “I’ll just make this a whole lot easier for everyone”

“You’re a true legend you know that Ethan” Carl said, pulling out what appeared to be a bunch of lanyards with VIP written in great big silvery letters across the front out of his bag. He stretched one out and placed it around his own neck as the rest of us sighed in awe. He then went along the line handing them out one by one to each person who swiftly and gladly put it around their neck. When he came to me, a pang of guilt hit me that Ethan had to sit there and watch the crowning ceremony knowing he’d never receive his. It annoyed me that I felt sorry for him, how could he have this effect on me, why did he have to be the one that was noble and took one for the team? Why couldn’t he have acted selfish and demanded a ticket? All of these questions came flooding into my mind, but it didn’t matter because after his little handing out ceremony, Carl approached Ethan and ruffled his hair in a quick and playful manner “Only kidding you!” he beamed “you think I’d leave one of the gang out? No chance!” he reached into his bag again and pulled out the hidden lanyard and placed it around Ethan’s neck.

Ethan sighed with laughter and bit his lip “Thanks, you had me then”

“Were you really not bothered about going?” Ebony asked intriguingly.

“I was a bit gutted, they’re like one of my favourite bands, but hey you’re my friends, I’d rather you lot went and had a great time” he nodded sincerely avoiding her gaze.

Her facial expression made me angry, she stared straight at me open mouthed, shaking her head with the look that said “you’re mad for not wanting anything to do with him, Ava”

I narrowed my eyes and pulled her an evil look back to which she frowned.

“Well anyway” Oliver began breaking the silence “I reckon it is gonna be a night to remember, how are we getting to The Vibe Shack dude? The arena’s right on the other side of town, it’s about a twenty minute drive away.”

“Oh yeah about that” Carl started “we could probably run a minibus for the nine of us, would only be a couple of pounds each if you’re up for that”

“Absolutely, yeah” Oli confirmed. The rest of us nodded in agreement.

We spent pretty much the whole next hour discussing how exciting tomorrow night was going to be, it was actually quite unbelievable how much time had flown because by the time I knew it, it was nearly 10 o clock and my mum had pulled up outside the skate park to pick me up.

“Right well, cheers for the tickets Carl – it’s great” I thanked him again.

“Hey no problem” he grinned “I’m gonna head off too now I think guys, big day ahead tomorrow”

Oliver agreed, “Wait up man, I’m walking your way”

By the time I’d reached my mum in the car park, everyone was beginning to head off home in their own directions.

We pulled out of the car park when my mum shot a look across the road.

“Ava is that guy over there your friend?”

I turned around to see who she was looking at; I should have guessed – Ethan.

“Uh, well not exactly”

“Oh bless him, he’s walking on his own, it’s very dark, shall I give him a ride?”

“No.” I protested loudly.

“Ava, that’s mean. Why ever not?”

“He uh, lives in the opposite direction mum”

“I don’t mind, as long as he gets home safe”

“Look mum, the thing is...”

Too late, she’d already slowed at the side of him and wound her window down, he looked confused as he peered into the car. I turned my head so he wouldn’t recognise me.

“Hi, I’m Ava’s mum” – great. My plans of keeping disguised were pretty much shot to hell now.

“Would you like a lift home?”

“Um, thank you but I’m OK” he replied earnestly.

“No really, you don’t have to be modest – jump in”

“Honestly its fine. I think my brother’s on his way to pick me up anyway – thank you for asking though”

“Only if you’re sure?” she quizzed, again. She was very stubborn, my mother. I guess I got it from her.

“Yeah I’m sure” he laughed to himself.

“OK well nice to meet you, uh...”

“Ethan” he grinned.

My mum nodded and we headed off down the road.

“That was very rude of you back there Ava, why did you ignore him?”

“I know” I said sarcastically “we don’t exactly get on”

“Why not? He seems lovely. Quite the looker too”

Great. Even my own mother had been drawn in by him. Just what I needed.

“God mum, you’re so unbelievable” I sighed.

“I’m just curious that’s all, you usually get on with everyone so whatever he’s done to you must have been pretty bad”

“Well, no. He’s not done anything and neither have I, we just don’t get on. Its as simple as that. Everyone can’t be expected to be best friends these days, mum”

“Alright, alright calm down. Wow I can see I’ve hit a nerve here”

I ignored her for the rest of the journey home. I hated how she thought she knew me better than I knew myself.

Reviews

Floppy125 - Haha thank you, don't worry - more things will be happening between Ava and Ethan soon, it's already clear that Ava is finding it too hard to constantly avoid him, watch this space :)

Crystal Red Roses - Aww i'm glad you're tense about what is going to happen, I guess you could say a bit more about Ethan has just been revealed, e.g. the way he snapped when she called him a coward, i promise it'll all fully make sense soon haha!

OneLeft - Thank you so much again, I hope you enjoy this chapter too - it's going to get more exciting soon i swear :)