So Much to Learn

by Jessie L. Star

  Chapter 15

  I woke up late the next morning, I knew this because the sun filtering through the gap in the curtains was too strong for it to be earlier than about ten. I stretched blissfully, feeling the warmth of contentment spread from my chest all the way to the tips of my ears and the ends of my toes. Pulling the bedclothes tighter around myself, I revelled in the feeling of safe snugness that waking up in my childhood bed gave me. I contemplated turning over and going back to sleep, but then I heard a burst of laughter downstairs and changed my mind. I could lie in bed at the flat any Saturday morning that I liked, but it was getting increasingly rare that I could spend time with my parents, so I knew I should take advantage of my home visit.

  Rolling out of my warm cocoon I let my feet hit the floor and, grabbing a hair tie off my old chest of drawers, pulled my hair up into a ponytail as I exited my bedroom and started down the stairs.

  I could hear Jack and my mum's voices coming out of the kitchen and, outside, the rumble of the tractor which meant that Dad and Matt were playing farmers in the paddock. Isn't it strange when you're away from something for a while and when you come back you discover nothing has changed? This morning might as well have been any Saturday morning since I was about 10.

  The smell of toast and fried egg tantalised my nose and pulled me out of my reverie and I covered the last couple of stairs and turned to enter the kitchen, looking forward to a nice big plate of breakfast and a bit of basking in the feeling of being home.

  Now, there are a couple of things you expect to hit you as you enter the family kitchen. The smell of a good breakfast, the love and acceptance of your family, you know that kind of happy rosy stuff. What did I get that Saturday morning?

  A wet tea towel, straight in the face.

  I spluttered in surprise and grabbed at it, but before I had time to fully pull it off my face, a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and hustled me backwards out of the kitchen archway.

  When I finally managed to grab the wet material off my face I saw that Jack had pushed me into the little hollow between the stairs and the corridor wall.

  "Well good morning to you too," I gasped, my eyebrows raised. "Any reason for that particularly…um…original greeting?"

  "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror this morning?" Jack asked, looking as if he was trying, and failing, to hide a smile.

  "What?" I asked, completely bemused, "I only just got up, Jack, of course I haven't bloody looked in a-"

  "Perhaps you should," he interrupted me. "And, maybe, I don't know, put some makeup on or something."

  "You cheeky bastard," I snapped. "It's not like you wake up looking like a pretty picture yourself!"

  Far from being offended, Jack rolled his eyes in an exasperated sort of way and, after checking to see if there was anyone around, he pulled me across the corridor and into the downstairs bathroom where he positioned me in front of the mirror.

  "Oh!" I leant closer and examined my inflamed face at close range.

  Pash rash at its very worst!

  "Yeah, oh," Jack confirmed. "And considering there is a decided lack of candidates whose stubble could have scratched up your face like that in this house, I would’ve thought you would have liked to be warned before you ran into anybody."

  I turned away from the reflection of my bright red chin and cheeks and started rummaging in the cupboard for the aloe vera cream and my mum's concealer (we were the roughly the same shade, thank God!). Finding it and turning back to the mirror I smeared the cream across my face, making me look for all the world like I was going to start shaving.

  "So…uh…" Jack muttered from behind me and, looking at him in the reflection of the mirror, I raised my eyebrows in a 'yes?' kind of way. "Does it hurt?" He asked gruffly and it was my turn to roll my eyes.

  "I hadn't realised I had it until you pointed it out to me, did I?" I rubbed the cream in then squirted some of the concealer out onto my hand. "Pash rash is more annoying and unattractive than it is painful." Smearing the concealer across my face and smoothing it out I turned and grinned at him. "Nevertheless, maybe the next lesson could take place straight after you've shaved."

  "Ah yes, the lessons." Jack's lopsided smile made an appearance. "I meant to mention that last night's lesson was ‘location, location, location’, so I suppose lesson number 7 is that it’s best to be prepared and for me that means shaving."

  "Aww," I sashayed towards him and put my arms around his neck, "you'd change your toiletry routine for me?"

  His hands rose up and circled my waist, pulling me in closer to him. "Baby, I'd change the world for you if you asked me to." He was only joking, as denoted by his corny use of 'baby', but I couldn't help my wide grin at his words.

  "Jack, Talia, breakfast's getting cold!" My mum's voice from the kitchen cut across the moment and made as jump apart from each other guiltily.

  My conscience immediately started roundly abusing me for being so stupid. My mum, the biggest busybody known to man, was only a little way down the corridor and I had been flirting outrageously with Jack, the person she is the most interested in? I was nuts! Jack must have been thinking along the same lines as me because he looked like he'd just been slapped across the face.

  Unable to resist, I reached up and smoothed out the furrow in his brow with my fingers before jerking my head towards the door.

  “Breakfast,” I announced firmly.

  We entered the kitchen together and Mum, fussing around with setting the table, glanced up with a smile. "There you two are!" She exclaimed. "I thought I heard you coming down the stairs, Talia, but you never appeared and then I turn away for one second and Jack disappears as well, very odd."

  I shrugged noncommittally because it is never a good idea to outright lie to my mother by trying to make up some excuse. Nor is it wise to try and look completely innocent, she never believes that one.

  "Morning," is what I settled for instead.

  "Morning dear, isn't it a little early for makeup?" She smirked at me then turned and threw open the window above the sink. "Boys, food's ready," she sang out while I inwardly groaned at her ability to notice even the smallest difference in my appearance.

  Facing us once more, this time with loaded plates in her hands, Mum held one out to me, but instead of taking it, I shot a panicked look across at Jack.

  "You cooked the eggs, right?" I asked and he nodded. "And the toast?" I clarified and he grinned and nodded again. "Good." I sighed in relief and then finally took the plate my mum offered.

  While Mum tittered in pretend offence, Matt and Dad trooped in looking all fresh faced and happy.

  Despite the fact that we are one of the few families in the town whose principal income doesn’t come from the land, we have approximately 10 acres, although it’s mostly bushland rather than grazing area. With a small flock of sheep and a thriving orchard, my dad keeps his hand in on the farming side although his day job is being the principal of the area's district school. My mum is an artsy fartsy and does the most beautiful landscapes although her 'real' job is being the art teacher at the school too.

  Matt and Dad sat down and Matt pulled a plate piled high with toast and eggs towards himself. Picking up a fork he was about to dig in when he suddenly froze and looked at Jack in alarm. "You made this, right?" he asked and, when Jack confirmed he had, he relaxed and began shovelling the food into his mouth, tuning out Mum's indignant squawks.

  We all ate appreciatively for several minutes then, cramming the last piece of toast into his mouth, my dad stood up and brushed the crumbs off his trousers.

  "Right, boys, let's finish up with the tractor, then I want to move the sheep into the south paddock."

  Jack and Matt both nodded, finished up their plates and stood to follow him. Matt, however, seemed to remember something and stopped in the kitchen doorway, looking back at me.

  "Hey, Talia, you might want to call Simone and, um, check she's OK or whatever, alright?"

  I looked up in surprise an
d swallowed my mouthful of food before asking, "Why?"

  Matt shrugged uncomfortably. "Well I don't know, but last night on the drive up she got a couple of calls on her mobile and went all weird."

  I laid down my fork and said slowly, "OK, now Matt I need you to focus. I know you hate this girly, emotional stuff, but you're going to have to give me more than 'went all weird.'"

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and glowered at me from underneath his shaggy hair. "Don't be patronising, I noticed something was wrong, didn't I? Look someone rang and it was like she didn't want to talk to them in front of me and Tommo so she said she couldn't talk and hung up, but then she got another call and the person on the other end talked for ages and then she said 'right, thank you for telling me.' and hung up. Then," he hung his head even further and blew the fringe out of his eyes, "well then she did the whole trying not to cry thing."

  I was getting pretty alarmed by this stage. Cursing mildly, after all my parents were still in the room, I pushed my chair back from the table and barged past the boys in the doorway. Starting to jog up the stairs I called over my shoulder, "Did you at least ask her what was wrong?"

  "Of course I did," Matt shouted indignantly as I reached the top of the stairs and entered my bedroom. "She said she was fine and I didn't want to pry."

  "Urgh," I groaned, stripping off my pjs and digging some underwear, a pair of jeans, a top and the thin little jacket I'd used the night before, out of my travelling bag. "OK, so you didn't want to pry," I yelled so he would be able to hear me from downstairs, "but why didn't you tell me this last night?"

  "I thought I'd give her a night to sort things out herself before I sent you charging in there," he replied, having the cheek to start sounding frustrated with me. "When I dropped her off she said she was buggered and was just going to go straight to bed."

  "And you believed her?" Now fully dressed I clattered down the stairs again and shot my brother an incredulous look. He glared back at me and I was about to snap at him again when I realised I was just wasting time.

  Slipping my sandshoes on I smiled briefly at my family, all gathered in the corridor looking anxious.

  "Thanks for breakfast Jack, I'll see you all later," I said, exiting through the front door and just catching my mum calling after me,

  "Give Simone our love."

  I hurried down the drive and turned right on the road, treading the familiar bitumen which led to Simone's house. Being a 15 minute walk from mine to hers I had plenty of time to think and realise that, under my worry over Simone, I was beginning to feel a bit guilty. Clearly something was up with her and I, supposedly her best friend, hadn't noticed. Recently I'd been so wrapped up in the burgeoning…thing…between Jack and me, that everything else had been shoved to the back of my mind. God, that made me such a crappy friend!

  I hoped Matt had exaggerated the situation and it would be nothing, but I couldn't really believe that. For a start Matt would usually be the one to try and minimise an emotional situation rather than amplify it. Also, Simone is such a nice, upbeat person that the news that she was hanging up on people and on the verge of tears was particularly disconcerting.

  Finally, I turned up the driveway to the Coogan's house and when I reached it I knocked briefly on their front door before letting myself in. Hearing noises coming from the lounge room I stuck my head round the corner and saw 10 year old Holly, the youngest of Simone's three siblings, sitting on the floor half-heartedly dragging a piece of string across the carpet for her cat to chase.

  "Hey there, how's things?" I asked with a smile. After all, I'm a younger sister myself and I know that if you want to know what's what in a household, the younger sister is the fount of all knowledge.

  "Hello, Talia. Things are bad," Holly sighed. "Everybody's so cranky today."

  "Why's that?" I asked and Holly sighed again, twitching the piece of string just out of the cat’s reach.

  "Same as usual, Alex has done something bad again."

  "Ah." I nodded knowingly. Alex, Simone's 15 year old brother, is renowned in our small town for causing trouble. He'd been excluded from a knobby private school and was well on his way to being banished from a second. You know how some kids fall in with the bad crowd? Well Alex is that bad crowd.

  It doesn't help that Mr and Mrs Coogan insist on basing their children's education on how much they have to fork out as opposed to how good the school actually is. Alex is the sort of kid who considers it his duty to stick it up the group of stiffs who populate the stuffy, musty halls of private schools and the sooner his parents realise this and put him in a place where he'd be a small fish in a big pond, rather than the shark he is now, the better the whole family will sleep.

  Still, Simone's parents are not home enough to understand what is going on with their children. While Jack's dad is emotionally distant Mr and Mrs Coogan are geographically distant, spending about as much time as us uni students in the city. This invariably means leaving Alex to look after the younger two children, although it was usually 12 year old Sean who looked after himself and Holly, Alex typically being out stirring shit.

  "Is Simone up in her room?" I asked Holly, wanting more than ever to see Simone and make sure she was alright. She nodded and I made my way across the open plan living area to the staircase. I was about half way up when I met Sean who was on his way down.

  "Hi, Talia," he said, smiling shyly.

  "Hey Sean, how’s things?" I asked and he ducked his head quickly, but not before I saw the troubled expression on his face.

  "Oh, hey," I said gently, putting a consoling hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure whatever’s going on it'll all work out."

  He blushed a vivid red and I remembered belatedly that 12 year old boys don't handle a girl's touch very well. Quickly removing my hand I settled for smiling sympathetically instead.

  He shrugged in a movement reminiscent of Holly's moments before. "Yeah," he agreed sombrely, "I just wish Mum and Dad were here."

  "They're not?" I exclaimed, completely astounded. Normally perky Holly was seriously morose, normally chatty Sean was virtually monotone and Simone, well, I haven't found out how she was holding up, but I didn't think it was going to be good, and their parents hadn't bothered to cancel a couple of meetings and come home? "Oh well," I amended, not wanting to speak ill of Sean's parents to his face, "I'm sure they're on their way."

  "Are you?" Sean asked darkly.

  He clumped away down the stairs and I virtually pelted up the remaining distance to Simone's door. As I had downstairs, I knocked on her door then let myself in, coming face to face as I did so with the infamous Alex.

  This boy was about as far removed from Simone's bouncy golden red curls and smiling, open face as it was possible to be. He had dyed his own reddish hair a midnight black and hacked it short so it stuck up in short little spikes all over his head, and his eyes, technically the same bluey/grey as Simone's, were permanently narrowed in an angry expression. He had grown into one scary looking boy.

  "Hey, Alex," I said, trying to hide the fact that his sudden appearance in front of me had set my heart beating wildly in surprise. He was like a tiger, you should never show him any fear.

  He looked me over disinterestedly, then, pushing aggressively past me, he grunted, "Whatever."

  I watched him storm down the stairs out of the house, slamming the front door with a bang behind him, before turning to look at Simone who was standing, looking wan, by the window. Her eyes followed Alex as he marched down the drive and disappeared down the road.

  "Gee," I said with raised eyebrows, "if that kid works hard enough he just might be as charming as Micky one day."

  I had meant to lighten the mood, but at my words, Simone's face crumpled and, seeing that she was about to lose it, I covered the room in a couple of leaps and wrapped my arms around her. Feeling her shoulders shaking beneath my hands and my own shoulder becoming wet with her tears I desperately sought for a way to make her feel better.

  "Oh sweet
heart, I was only joking, he's nothing like Micky, I promise," I crooned, but if anything, this only seemed to make her shake harder with sobs so I decided to forgo actual, cohesive sentences and settled instead for mumbling nonsense to the vague tune of 'it's going to be alright.'

  We stayed this way for what felt like hours, but was probably only 10 minutes or so, until Simone pulled away from me and reached for the box of tissues on her desk. Collapsing onto the bed she proceeded to mop up her face and I sat down gingerly beside her, waiting for her to explain what was going on.

  "I'm sorry," she gasped at last, throwing her wadded tissues into the bin. "I shouldn't have freaked you out like that, things aren't that bad really."

  "Uh huh," I said sceptically.

  "No, honestly. I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill," she insisted, her pale, drawn face and lank hair completely at odds with the words coming out of her mouth.

  "But, Simmy," I said gently, "we don't have moles here so, I hate to break it to you, but it's got to be a mountain."

  She choked out a laugh then leant her head against my shoulder and sighed. "Alex is in trouble again."

  "Yeah, I know," I said, putting an arm around her shoulder and resting my head atop hers, "Holly told me. What's he done this time?"

  Simone sniffed and then said, in a very small voice, "To be fair, we don't know if he has done anything. There was a school dance last night and Alex apparently went along to stand around outside smoking and being generally too cool to actually enter and do any dancing. About midway through the night a kid got thrown down the fire escape stairs and ended up in hospital with a couple of broken ribs and bad bruising."

  I pulled away and looked at Simone in alarm. "Oh God! Alex didn't do it, did he?" I'd always known Alex as a bit of an angry, 'I'm so misunderstood' kid, but I never thought he was violent.

  "Well, that's the thing," Simone said in frustration. "I don't think he did, but he was standing over the guy when the teachers found them and Alex refuses to say that he didn't do it."

  "You mean he's saying he did?" I asked, confused by her wording.

  "No, I mean he won't say that he didn't do it, but he won't say that he did do it either. Not to me, not to the teachers, not to Sean, not to Mum and Dad when he talked to them on the phone at the police station."

  "Police station!" My eyes widened in surprise and horror. "He was arrested?"

  "No, they just took him in for questioning." Simone sighed, looking as if she was thankful for small mercies. "They can't arrest him just yet because the kid who was pushed down the stairs won't say anything about it either and there were no other witnesses." She groaned and buried her face in her hands for a moment. "It's such a mess, Alex just keeps repeating that it's none of our business what happened and to back off and the boy in hospital is saying the exact same thing. I know the police think it’s because Alex has intimidated him into not saying anything, but I can't believe it."

  Having known Alex since he was 5, I had to agree with her. Alex may think he's a hard man, but really, he's all bravado and he certainly wouldn't be the sort to push someone down the stairs and then intimidate them into not ratting him out. Obviously something was going on that we didn't know about.

  "Oh," Simone gave a little moan of anguish, "it's all going so badly wrong. I mean this Alex thing on top of everything else is too much."

  "It's going to be alright, it really is," I said sympathetically, rubbing her back before I properly realised what she’d said. "On top of everything else?" I repeated after a moment, "What everything else?"

  Simone looked panicked for a moment and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to tell you," she said in a small voice and a cold chill settled over me. Simone and I told each other everything, if she was trying to keep something from me it must be really bad.

  "Please tell me," I begged. "I won't judge or anything."

  Far from agreeing, Simone let out a little choke of disbelieving laughter and I pulled away from her in surprise.

  "What was that supposed to mean?" I asked, a little bit hurt by her reaction.

  Simone grabbed another tissue and blew her nose before replying, "I'm sorry, Talia, you know I love you to death, but you are one of the most judgemental people I know."

  "I am?" This was news to me.

  "It's not a bad thing necessarily," she hurried to placate me. "It's just that you hold people up to pretty high standards. Every guy you meet has to be as funny and nice as Matt and Jack are, and every girl has to be as sure of herself as you are. Most people can't live up to that, I know I can’t."

  My head whirled and my mouth opened and closed like a fish's as I tried to think of what to say.

  "I don't think you aren't as good as me,” I eventually spluttered. “You're better! You're sweeter and nicer and kinder…"

  "Which is your way of saying sometimes you think I'm a big wet blanket," Simone interrupted gently. "I wish I was as self-assured as you, but I'm not." She plucked at some loose threads on her bedspread and mumbled, "I'm not saying this to be mean, but just for now, I want to keep what's going on with me to myself."

  "But…" I searched for something to say to convince her and settled, fairly lamely, on, "but we're best friends."

  "Of course we are, but that doesn't mean I'm not entitled to some privacy."

  And she didn't think she was self assured? She was certainly a good actor then. Admitting defeat and not wanting to push her away I nodded in what I hoped was an understanding way and then said quietly, "OK fine, I see what you're saying and I agree that you should have privacy. But just, could you tell me...you're OK, right? I mean you're not ill, or anything?"

  Her face relaxed into a smile and she shook her head. "No, I'm fine.”

  "And everybody else? I mean none of our friends have got cancer or anything, have they?"

  She shook her head again, her lank curls swaying as she did so. "No, as far as I'm aware, everybody is in perfect health."

  "Good." I sighed in relief, after all don't they say that if you have your health you have everything? Pretty simplistic, but a nice principle nonetheless.

  There was a silence for a moment, which was suddenly broken by the shrill ring of Simone's mobile. Since it was sitting on the bedside table right next to me I picked it up and went to hand it to Simone, not realising that she had made a wild lunge for it as it had made its first peep. Seeing her about to snatch it from me I looked down at the phone in confusion and saw 'Sam's house' flashing on the caller ID. Before I had time to ask Simone what was going on, she had grabbed the phone out of my hands, clicked the off button, stopping the shrill ringing, and thrown the mobile into her bag.

  "Why didn't you-" I began, but she sent me a quelling look and I stopped abruptly. "Right, you don't want me to know."

  Well, as Alice said, curiouser and curiouser. Samsa obviously had something to do with this, what the hell was going on with the two of them?

  Realising another silence was stretching between us, I pushed thoughts of Sam out of the forefront of my mind, I'd think it through later, and returned to the matter at hand.

  "OK, so where does it stand with the Alex thing?" I asked and Simone, seeming very happy to go along with my conversation change sat up straighter.

  "He's been suspended from school until he tells them what happened and the police are looking for evidence so they can charge him without a formal complaint from the boy in hospital." Simone threw up her hands in disbelief. "I can't believe I'm saying stuff like this, it's so unreal!" She lowered her voice, glancing towards her door, as if expecting Sean and Holly to be listening on the other side, and added, "I asked mum and dad to come home, but they said they're needed in the city and if anything more happens I should tell them and they'll try to get away."

  "How magnanimous of them," I said sarcastically before I could stop myself. "Sorry." I pulled an apologetic face, but Simone wasn't looking at me anymore. She had her head cocked to one side as if listening to something and then s
he jumped to her feet, went to the window and then looked back to me in puzzlement.

  "What are Matt and Jack doing here?" She asked.

  "Huh?" I joined her at the window and, looking down, saw that Jack's Ute was pulling up outside the Coogan's house. Sitting in the cab was a very grim Jack and Matt and, between them, was a bloodied and dishevelled…

  "Alex!" Simone pulled away from the window and tore out of her room and I hastily followed her.

  Reaching the bottom of the stairs I watched Simone race through the lounge room without sparing even a glance at Sean and Holly who were sitting on the couch watching TV.

  "What's going on?" Sean asked in alarm and I forced myself to stop and smile reassuringly at the two of them.

  "Oh nothing important," I lied. "Just stay in here for a moment, OK you two?" I looked specifically at Sean, trusting that his big brother instincts would kick in and he would stay inside at least to look after Holly.

  I was right, he glanced longingly towards the front door, which Simone had left open in her mad rush to get to Alex, and then back at Holly who was looking between us with big eyes. "Yeah, fine, we'll stay here," he grunted and I smiled thankfully at him before following Simone outside.

  Closing the front door behind me so that there was less chance of the kids hearing what was going on, I hurried across the gravel parking area to where Matt, Jack and Simone were gathered around the battered Alex.

  "It's alright, Simone," I heard Jack say soothingly as I joined them. "I know it looks bad, but it’s only a split lip and some swelling, nothing's broken."

  "What happened?" I gasped. "Alex what's going on?"

  He mumbled something through his split and bleeding lips that I didn't quite catch, but I would bet that it was something along the lines of 'whatever'. Obviously not going to get any information out of that source, I looked instead at Matt and Jack for an explanation.

  "We went into town to get some oil for the tractor and on the way back we saw Alex walking along the road trying to hitchhike," Matt said, his expression solemn.

  "I wasn't trying to hitchhike," Alex snarled, pausing to spit some blood out of his mouth before continuing, "I was hitchhiking. I'd just flagged down a lift when you two dickheads showed up and scared that guy off."

  "Never mind that for now, I want to know who beat you up." Simone reached out tentatively towards Alex's face and he winced as she gently touched some of the swelling around his mouth.

  "No-one, it doesn't matter," he muttered, looking as if he was about to bolt. Simone cut off his opportunity by grabbing onto his arm and looking up at him imploringly.

  "Clearly it was someone and it does matter. Please tell me."

  But he looked determinedly away from her and kept his bruised mouth firmly shut.

  A thought drifted to the front of my mind and I cleared my throat before asking softly, "The family of the boy who, um, fell down the fire escape, they live locally, do they?"

  I knew I was right when Alex looked at me quickly, his eyes wide with shock. Matt and Jack were also looking at me in surprise, but I gestured to them that I would explain later.

  "You told her?" Alex asked Simone angrily, but she didn't flinch from his fury, rather looked at him sternly.

  "Of course I did," she told him firmly. "And I take it Talia was right? You ran into some of that guy's family and they did this to you?" She gestured towards his puffy and inflamed face.

  "It's only a punch in the mouth," Alex sighed, trying and failing to sound nonchalant. "Don't make a big deal out of it."

  Simone looked like she wasn't far off from giving him another punch in the mouth herself, but she took a deep, calming breath and let it out again slowly. "Well, I think it is a big deal so here's what we're going to do. First off we're going inside to clean you up a bit, then we're getting Sean and Holly and going to the Davenport's."

  "Why?" Alex demanded. "Why can't we just stay here?"

  "Oh you want to stay here now, do you?" She snapped. "I was under the impression that you wanted out of here considering that the second I let you out of my sight you went to try and scam some lifts off strangers. Just get in the house, Alex," she rapped the last bit out with such authority that, with only minimal grumbling, Alex obeyed.

  As soon as the door closed behind him Simone's shoulders slumped and her eyes filled with tears. "Thanks, guys," she said to Jack and Matt. "God knows where he was off to, if you hadn't seen him…" she trailed off as if unable to bear to finish the thought.

  "But we did see him, so don't beat yourself up about it," Jack said kindly, giving her shoulder a quick pat. "Do you want us to head off so you can sort some things out with just your family?"

  She looked at him thankfully and blinked back her tears. "Yeah, thanks."

  "What are you going to do?" I couldn't resist asking.

  "Oh," Simone smiled feebly, "I think that's pretty obvious, don't you? I've got to get Alex to Mum and Dad, they need to understand the seriousness of what's going on. Do you think it would be alright with your parents if I left Sean and Holly with them for a bit?"

  "Of course it would," Matt said, before I had time to reply. "I reckon they'll go you one better too. I can't imagine Dad letting you take Alex up there by yourself so expect to have him joining you."

  "And I'll come too," I said quickly. "I can't see myself being that useful, but I’ll be there for whatever you need."

  Simone nodded. "Thanks, that’d be good. I'll see you in a bit." She stiffened her spine again and began walking towards the house.

  "Hey, Simone," Jack suddenly called and, when she turned, he threw the Ute keys across to her. "It might be better if you have Alex strapped into a moving vehicle when you make your way over to the Davenport's," he explained. "We'll walk."

  The three of us turned and began down the drive. As soon as we were on the road Jack and Matt both turned to me and demanded to know what was going on. With a sigh I explained all about the trouble Alex was in and, by the time I'd finished, they both looked in equal parts furious and worried.

  "But they have no proof that he's done anything," Matt protested. "God, this town! The slightest thing happens and everybody blames Alex."

  Jack and I nodded in agreement and we walked on, each of us deep in thought. Just before we turned up our driveway something else suddenly sprang to my mind and I stopped short.

  "Hey, do you think I'm judgemental?" I asked and my heart sank as I saw them exchange looks.

  "Well…" Jack began cautiously, but Matt interrupted him.

  "Look at it this way," he said brusquely, "do you think it's a fluke that the degree you're doing may lead to you becoming a 'judge'? Think about it."