I am grounded. I haven’t been in the house for up to a day and I am already grounded. The good part is, my room is big. So that’s something. But they took my phone. That’s how upset my parents are, mostly Daddy.
It’s the evening of day two of being grounded and I am slowly losing it. I walk around the room. A second later, I return to lying face down on my bed. I hate this punishment. I am allowed to leave the room but when all I will see are my parents’ judgy eyes, I will rather be in here bored out of my mind.
My eyes close, the next thing I am waking up to is Mum at the door. Her smile is not as happy. Well, yeah, I am not happy with her either. Light filters in through the crack of the windows and I rub the back of my eyes. Today is Monday. Monday is school. I will have to deal with a brooding Calum again.
“Tessa, you will be late. Your daddy’s ready.”
I groan into the pillow and kick the air once the door shuts behind her. On the bright side, I will see Ben. We get to kiss again. My lips tingle from the thought. I am smiling as I take my bath and prepare for school. They can’t keep us from each other.
When I’m done, I hurry downstairs. Daddy is eating alone at the table. It was strange at first to meet him every morning but I quickly got used to it. He looks up without a word and resumes spreading butter over his bread.
He’s still mad. He was furious.
“Daddy.” I stomp my feet and pout. It doesn’t work. I move close to his chair and throw my arms around his chest. I sniff. “I’m sorry.” I don’t want to be grounded again. I want to be able to go and see Ben without his gaze growing darker at the mention of his name. He pries my arms off him. “Daddy. Don’t be mad at your only favourite daughter. Sorry na.”
Daddy laughs. “You’re still grounded.”
“Okay.” I sink into the seat beside him and pour myself a cup of orange juice. “Are you happy with me now?” He shrugs. My birthday is on Wednesday. No one is talking about it and to be honest, I don’t care but I would love to spend the day with Ben. “Can I go out?” His mouth opens but I beat him to it. “I’ll be back by nine. Okay, okay. By eight.” He shakes his head. “But we were only talking.”
“Theresa. Grounded is grounded.”
I look around the room for Mum, she walks in and places a kiss on Daddy’s lips before pecking me. Where was she when I needed her? We eat in silence, which is unlike us. I dart several glances at them. Mum goes to work later so she’s not dressed. Dad is all suited up. I’m wearing a crop top today with a jean jacket in case I get second thoughts about showing off my vitiligo-covered stomach.
Daddy leaves the table before me. Mum smiles at his retreating figure. “He will come around. He’s just worried Ben will break your heart again.”
“He won’t.”
Mum cocks her head. “You can’t be so sure.”
“I’m sure. He won’t. He won’t break my heart again.” Her lips pull into a grim line. “I promise.”
Chugging down my glass of juice earns me a sneer from her. “Go. Your daddy is waiting.”
I rush out the front door and get into the car. The ride to school is even more silent.
We arrive at school. Teenagers mill around the entrance. I look out for Calum, he is always early. Ben is nowhere in sight. We haven’t spoken since that fiasco. I don’t even know where he lives.
I wait a few more seconds before opening the door. “Tessa.” My teeth sink into my lip. “Your phone.” A flood of emotion surges through me. I pick it up from the console, trying too hard to keep the smile off my lips. “Your mother and I are only doing what we think is best for you.” I nod. “We love you.”
“I love you too.” I step out of the car and poke my head inside. “And I know I’m still grounded.”
Daddy’s laughter follows me as I hurry up the stairs. I have my phone so it doesn’t matter how many days I’m grounded. I can contact the boy I love.
Calum is the first person I see once the door opens, we make eye contact and he mutters something under his breath and darts to the empty hallway. My arms tighten around the straps of my school bag.
I did the right thing. It would have been terrible to string him along when I love another person.
“Hey.” Ben pulls me for a brief hug. His head jerks in the direction Calum went. “What was that all about?”
I bounce on my toes and Ben chuckles. He’s letting me tell him at my own time. I don’t know if to tell him. I don’t want Calum to be the Olivia of Crescent High. I doubt that’s possible. Calum is hurt but he is not evil.
The hallway is empty. Ben takes my hand and walks me to my locker. After getting out the books for the periods before break, I push my bag into my locker and grab Ben by his collar. His hair isn’t as long as when he first resumed here. I can see eyes.
These are the blue eyes I want to stare into forever.
“Gracie...” Surprise and mirth lace his voice, his hands circle my wrists. “What are you doing?”
I don’t answer. Well, I let my lips do the talking. I kiss him. I kiss him and giggle when we pull back. Ben is still flustered, I lace our fingers together and peck his lips.
“Calum is ignoring me,” I tell him. He takes my bag but doesn’t start for the class. “We talked after the gig on Wednesday.” Since he hasn’t been to school, there’s no way he will know what happened. “He likes me but I... I told him not to. I like someone.”
Ben’s bushy brow knit together. I try to smoothen them but he grabs my hands to stop me. I need to trim them. “Who do you like?” he whispers.
His breath warms my face, I push myself on my toes to place a kiss on his jaw. “You. I love you, Benny.” I feel the relief oozing off him, he hugs me so hard I struggle to breathe. “Benny.” His hold on me slacks for the briefest second but he’s hugging me again and rubbing his nose against the crook of my neck. “I’m not mad at you again.”
“You forgive me?”
I don’t look away. “Yes, I forgive you.” His smile makes everything better. “You were not in school.”
“I couldn’t deal with seeing both of you together.” He brushes my hair away from my face. His smile is too cute and charming. How did I survive without seeing his smiles everyday? No idea. “I love you.”
“Love you more.” Patting his chest, I whisper, “I know we still have to talk but I’m grounded.”
“Because of me?”
“Yeah. Partly.” It takes two to tango and I can’t blame him alone. “But we can talk on phone.” I hold up the device with a half-smile. “I got back my phone this morning and you’re not blocked again.”
“I don’t think a phone call is enough,” he says minutes later. His brows are furrowed. “I need to tell it to your face.” The seriousness that creeps into his voice makes my toes curl. I have a feeling it has less to do with Olivia and more to do with his mum and Josef. “I want to tell you about everything.”
“Okay,” I reply when all the voices in my head are screaming otherwise. “Saturday then?”
“Saturday.”
Hand in hand, we start for our first class. We have Mrs Miller for first period. Ben stops in front of the door without opening it. By my calculation, we have twenty minutes until first period so the delay doesn’t bother me.
“You will still love me, right?” he asks.
The smile trying to break out on my lips disappear when I note his nervousness. I am nervous too.
“Benny.”
“You didn’t answer.”
“Yes. I’ll still love you. I never stopped.”
The next hug happens so fast. I can’t breathe but I let him hold me tight because he seems to need that silent comfort. “Good. Sometimes, I feel broken. It used to feel like I was alone. That she broke me.”
Amid his protest, I pull away from the hug. I want to hear his story but I am worried for him and us. Ben looks everywhere but at me. I cup his face.
“Hey.” His eyes close and my heart twists painfully. “You’re not broken, Benny. Even if you are, I will complete you.” I place his hand over my stomach. My vitiligo is my biggest insecurity, the part of me that leaves me with doubts. It is nothing compared to his pain but it shows I am not perfect either and I don’t want to be. “I am broken too. We all are.”
“What if you lose pieces of yourself trying to complete me?” he says with a pout. His tone is lighter but his grip on my hand is still tight.
“I don’t know. Then it will be your turn to complete me, I guess.” He grins. “You’re not alone, okay? You have me and I have you.”
“We have each other.”
Someone clears his throat behind us. I cling to Ben because I know in all storms, he will have my back. Calum’s eyes narrow slightly and out of respect for our friendship, I step away from Ben, keeping enough distance to let him know I am with him.
“I wanted to apologise for back there,” he says. Not once does he glance at Ben. Rude, much? I am willing to wait for him to come around but if he puts me in the position to pick, I will pick Ben. “Sorry.”
At a loss of words, I can only offer him a small nod. Ben steps aside for him to enter the class and he hugs me once the door shuts behind Calum.
“Sorry. It’s my fault.” It’s not his fault and I tell him that. Calum brought this on himself. He opens the door for me to go in first. “It feels like it, Gracie.”
Our class is usually big but it shrinks in size once Ben and I step in. Calum doesn’t look up from his notepad. I want to be anywhere but here but I need my highschool diploma.
The tension in the air dissipates a bit when other students start trooping in. I nudge Ben with my elbow and he smiles at me with a strange gleam in his eyes. What is he thinking? I tear out a sheet from my note, scribble something into it and pass it to him.
Different emotions skitter across his face after reading it. He writes something on the back and passes it to me. I smile. We will be okay.
A calm falls over the class as soon as Mrs Miller walks in. She is frowning. It’s how she is before she announces a pop quiz. I am ready for one but I don’t know about Ben. He missed two classes. She goes straight to the board and writes the word: Project. She underlines the word so much I am certain it would leave a dent on the board.
On her table is a pile of notes, she picks out a sheet from it and squints. Ben stretches his hand to me and I take it without looking at him. “For this project, you will do it in pairs.”
I imagine everyone rolling their eyes. She hasn’t even told us about the project. Calum lifts his head briefly and resumes writing on his jotter. He’s probably writing a heartbreak song. A pang of guilt flickers through me and Ben gives my hand a small squeeze.
“When I call your name, raise your hand.” I sit up as the name call begins. Grumbles and murmurs fill the air as people are paired with partners they don’t like. I better be paired with Ben. “Theresa Mower.” My spine goes rigid, Ben has to nudge me before I remember to raise my hand. “Calum Dissick.”
This time, Calum raises his head and our eyes lock. His stare is blank, the guilt eating me up from inside spreads all over me. I look away. I don’t think our friendship will recover.