I have changed my name LostInTheHurt to my now permanent lcRaddict

This is the first chapter to my new story. I have decided to change the name from silence to concealment. I have also decided to revamp the writing. Much of it is the same but I am much older now and I have become awear of the mistakes I had made. I hope to be better and produce an epic story.

For the moment the story loosley follows Patch and Nora's story. Much different dynamics to Hush, hush. I hope to take just a seed of inspiration from hush, hush. The characters will probably become unrecognizable.

Please do review it's what keeps me motivated.

Epilogue
ElkEdge High School

Walking through the school corridor I turn to walk outside. I pull out my phone and text my best-friend

*Where are you?*

*On field. Top left *

Her reply is brief and fast reminding me that she is probably busy texting her boyfriend. The familiar chill in my stomach creeps up on me and yet again I force the tears to stay back in my eyes. Why is it that I feel so lonely? It's pathetic really. I'm only 16 I shouldn't obsess over wanting a companion at such a young age. Maybe it's because my family has done things by the book that I always feel the need to connect with a male in such a way. Or maybe it's just because of Christian.

As I turn left I walk onto the crumbled concrete pathway, leading to the field I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. It's finally spring. My favourite time of year...and my birthday. A loud brawling group of boys come rambling past me and I have to retreat to the grass for safety. Even though the group are my own age I keep my head down and avoid all possibilities of contact. These group of boys are not to be messed with. Wherever they go trouble follows them and I do that well enough to myself. The one boy is tall and half cast; I admit that he has an element of charm and a look that many teenage girls would swear is incredibly handsome. The thing about Malik is he knows he has the young good looks and once he gets flirting you sort of get sucked in. Malik and his group have had many run in's with drugs and every time he swears he doesn't deal them. As the group wanders off to the inconspicuous corner I wonder what really goes on in there world and if all the gossip was indeed just gossip. As the lads ramble past I allow myself one sneaky glance as I wonder if Christian is with them. I catch a glance of him. He looks tired and depressed; as usual and my heart skips a few beats as I panic that he might catch me looking. Christian is about 5'6, filled out by muscle, pale faced and auburn hair. He's recently just come out of a relationship with an old friend of mine. We actually drifted apart because of Christian and never seem to have reconnected. She found new friends I found mine.

Christian is not as hard as he looks. His heart is soft and warm and just desires to be loved as much as the next person. I know this because I listen to his silence. I see the pain within his eyes. Underneath the walls he puts up he's crushed from the break up and he's messed up from his childhood. I sit by him in English and Math and his silence tells me enough about him. I sit quietly and do my work and write slow enough for his to see what I put. The deal is he sits next to me in lessons and I keep him out of trouble, I guess he copies me more that learns. I suppose you could say Christian and I are friends. Following in Christians footsteps is Nick he is the perfect example of what happens when you become friends with this bunch of boys. Nick is hardly ever sober and it's painful to watch him struggle through the day.

As I quickly snap out of my daydream of Christian I carry on walking to the field.

I find my group of friends sat in a circle over in the top left. Much to my annoyance they are next to the rounders game. It makes me tired just watching these group of girls play this ridiculous game. I will never understand the desire to do sport over a lunch period. They do sport every lunch, play matches after school and compete outside of school in tournaments.

I look over to the rounders game and I hear someone yell "Catch it! Get her out Patch!"I watch the girl running round. Rebecca Banbury. We used to be friends in lower years but for some reason the friendship didn't stick. Slowly I started to notice small parts of her I disliked and now, I've grown a strong dislike towards her. She's kind of short, stumpy (mostly muscle) and is large is areas that seem inconvenient for a sports addict. The thing about Rebecca is she somehow has the ability to get every one of her guy friends to fall at their knees for her. I don't understand it. She's not that pretty, Maybe it's the sports. As Patch sprints across the field and skids across the grass Rebecca howls with laughter of yet again winning. Patch is average height. Just tall enough so people stop calling him short. He is tanned and broadly built around the shoulders and arms. Patch didn't have a warm smile. It was a slanted smile that suggested he was no good. His light blue eyes where the perfect distraction from such a cold, hard line smile. His eyes sparkled like stars, they held an ocean of secrets that only I really knew, but even then I knew there were some he would never confess to even me his best friend. When girls looked into those eyes of his he somehow made their hearts skip a beat. From this one look you knew there was something different about Patch and the dark feeling that swept over me was all to familiar. The feeling would vanish so suddenly, but left you finding yourself still staring into the to great ocean. Myself and Patch have been friends since the age of 6 and as we've grown up our friendship has allowed us to share many memories of first love affairs, arguments and many playful summers. Our relationship and friendship contained no secrets.

Patch is now stands still staring at the sky, hands poised ready to catch the falling ball. The ball comes crashing down and lands immediately in his hands. Patch lets out a loud cry and screams "You're out Beck! Caught out! How's it feel to be caught out at first base!"

"I owned you at your own game!" Rebecca jabs a figure up to Patch and flashes an attempted flirty smile as he throws the ball in one swift motion towards the bowler.

Everyone's shocked. It's impossible to ever get Rebecca out. She basically owns the game. Patch wipes his forehead and stretches out his arms. Twisting his body around he tests the tension in his sides and wiggles ready for the next batter. As he twist he catches sight of me and shouts my name. Bounding over he takes me into a swift sweaty hug. His hugs always felt so strong warm and I knew in his arms I could never be harmed. His hugs where so tight and so meaningful like he never wanted to let go. Even though we were best friends he still managed to have the same effect on me as he did on every other girl. We parted from the hug and we both had big smiles across our faces. "How are you then chicken? Haven't had a chance to talk to you since we came back?" He voice was full of such curiosity and need to catch up with an old friend.

"I'm good thanks. Wish it was still the holiday." I shrug and look up at him through my lashes.

"Yeah school has that effect on us. Listen…" He looks around and dips his head closer towards me. "I need..." Rebecca cuts his off

"It's your bat" he shouts back to miss his go. For some reason this sent a wave of jealousy right through me. Could she not wait two minutes? He wasn't hers. I let out a sigh and walk off towards my friends. He grabs my hand and pulls me back

"Hey, I hadn't finished" I looked up to him trying to hide the pain in my eyes but failing. "Listen Nora… I need to talk to you. It's really important. What are you doing tonight?" I could hear regret and panic in his voice. This worried me. I put off all plans after five for tonight and told him I was free.

"Great see you at half five" with a quick wink and brush of my arm he sprints off back to his game. What could be so important?

At twenty past five I ran up my house steps and crash through my front door. I had ten minuets to have a shower and eat something before Patch would come over. I'd been at dance since half three and ballet had ran over. We were working towards a big dance show so lessons where more full on than usual. This results in over running and dancing till we drop. I yanked open the fridge and searched for something to eat. Something quick to eat...My eyes caught sight of nothing. I roll my eyes closing the fridge. Why does my mom always forget to stock the fridge when she goes away for work. I glance up at the clock. I have seven minuets to have a shower. Running up the stairs I take two steps at a time and run down the hall to the bathroom. Switching on the water I pull out my ballet bun and jump in the shower.

Five minuets later I step out and wrap a towel around me. Padding down the hall I decided to check the cupboard for something. Much to my surprise theirs an out of date can of soup. As I lean against the counter giving up I hear a knock at the door "great" I mutter under my breath. Answering the door I explain how unorganized my mom is and how little she cares for me and how we need to go out for dinner. Patch tilts his head to the side and looks at me. Making sure he looks at my face. He lifts a Tesco bag with one finger into my line of vision. Ah.

"What did you think we only met yesterday. I knew you wouldn't have any food" He flashes his cheeky smile and lowers his eyes to my towel. "Nice dress" strolling into my kitchen he leaves me stunned standing in a puddle of water in my hall way. Slumping off his coat and putting it onto the stool next to him. He wanders around my kitchen unloading the shopping bag. Truth be told Patch has been over so often he treated this place like his home. So I don't get why i'm so shocked by his knowledge of my lack of food

"You Showered? You going to stand in the hall all night and catch a cold?" he pulls a knife out of the draw next to him. He flips the handle around in his hands testing it's weight. I blink and remind myself exactly who is in my kitchen. Pull it together Nora

"I rushed back from dance. I thought you'd prefer me not to smell like sweat" Padding toward him I wrap my arms around my towel for security and tuck a strand of wet hair behind my ear.

"You didn't need to it's me. Since when do I give a shit about what you look like?" I laughed and walk closer to him. Leaning my hips forward onto the counter I fold my arms securely around my towel.

"I smelt and I just felt dirty" I stand looking at him waiting for another witty comment.

"Seriously? You smell fine" he puts on a pouty face. Usually I wouldn't care about looking or smelling nice for him but for some reason tonight it really bothered me.

"I smell nice now because I used that shit called soap and shampoo and a little thing called hot water," rolling my eyes I walk round the counter and start riffling through the shopping bag. Pulling out a bottle of vanilla coke I walk to the left side of him and look sideways to him. "Which you wouldn't know of since you have Elk Edge field all over your neck" I run my finger down his neck wiping away the dirt and feeling the soft, warm trail of skin that I left behind. He glances at me and looks in my eyes.

"Naked. I'm familiar with the process" We stare each other out for a moment both knowing that we'd shared conversations like this before but never about each other. The silence was thick with anticipation and confusion as to what was actually happening this evening. I clear my throat and walk off towards my stairs. Taking a sip of my coke I smile at the fact it's vanilla and he remembered it was my favourite. Remembering what me and Patch are to each other I call a witty comment about chopping a finger off while i'm away to try and break the tension. I hear a deep chuckle leave his lips and I smile to myself as I bounce up the stairs.

I quickly throw on my dark grey joggers and grab a random bra off my bed. I then grab a black t-shirt off the washed pile in my room quickly ruffling my long brown hair with a hand towel I head back downstairs. As I enter the Kitchen I ask what he is preparing for us. He states that he is making me my favourite spaghetti and meat balls. Looking up at me he frowns then looks back down.

"What? Why'd you frown? And let me help I didn't expect you to make this for me" I walked round to him and he sets a knife down for me. Grabbing the onion he stands beside me.

"I've never seen you without makeup" I look towards him.

"Seriously your commenting on make up now. What's going on? Why you so bothered about being all nice all of a sudden?" I pick up the knife and start to chop the onion into thick circles and then into triangles and then into finer triangles. He laughs under his breath.

"What?" I say snatching my head up.

"You're going to cut your finger off Chick" He walks up behind me and placed his hands on the counter, either side of me. He tilts his heads so it gently brushes against mine. His lips an inch away from my ear. His breath was warm and tickling my skin "Hold the knife with a purpose"

"It's a knife Patch"

"Feel it's weight. Use it against it" Clearing my through I have to blink to clear my mind and tell myself not to think to much into his last sentence.

"Does the chef always stand this close?" I asked hoping he'd step back and give me some breathing space. His close body was starting to cloud my mind. I wasn't sure if I liked or feared the flutter his closeness caused inside me.

"When he's reviewing health and safety. Yes. Cooking is dangerous Nora" Stepping back, he gives me the breathing space I desired and I hear him take a long breath in as if preparing himself for something. Twisting my head round I catch him giving me the once over. For one fleeting moment, I thought I saw a smile of approval.

After I have eaten I picked up my plate and walk over to the sink. Patch follows and picks up a towel. Playfully he swats at my ass and catches it right at the best second. As a reaction I turn round and flick my wet soapy hands at him, he goes for my waist and pushes me up against the counter. "What's was that for?" I ask, breathlessly.

"No reason" his face became serious and he moves his eyes so they are no longer focusing on me. But looking deep into my eyes. He brings his one hand up to my face and gently strokes the line of my jaw. Closing his eyes he crashes his lips against mine and places his hand behind my neck deepening the kiss. Dazzled by the sudden kiss I react by pulling away slightly but as Patch deepens the kiss I part my mouth and let his tongue roam free. He kisses me with a passion and need that I have never felt before. It's a longing and desperate kiss. Pulling away for air he rests his forehead against mine. We stand looking into each other's eyes for what felt like forever. I never realized how beautiful they were, how sad they looked but how they didn't let you see past them. They were usually firm and controlled but tonight they were open and I could read them like a book. He is the first to speak.

I could see pain, sadness, regret and then; confession.

"Nora" He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose

"There's something I need to tell you." He turns away from me and walks away.

"You're not going to like it" He walks forward towards the sink and places his hands on the side. "I'm moving. I'm being sent to boarding school. It's not so far away I'll still be able to see you but not every day" he turns around and looks at me. Pain filling his eyes. "Nora I don't want to go but there making me. If I carry on at Elk Edge High for any longer i'll be caught out"

"What do you mean Caught out" I frown crossing my arms. Trying to evaluate the information he just told me.

"I can't tell you anymore Nora" He turns around and stares right at me. "The less you know the better. It isn't safe for you to know"

I hope you like it. I know it's not the patch you're used to but I hope I can have a nice spin on the story.

Don't forget to review.