This if for anyone that's not given up on this story…

Izzy x

"Alex, can you take that dish over to the table please?" Marie pointed at a dish of potatoes steaming on the kitchen work surface.

"Sure, Ma" Alex had taken to calling Marie 'Ma', it was his way of saying he thought of her as a grand-mother.

As Alex set the dish down on the laden table he thought about the past week, it had been so dramatic, Harry being rushed in to hospital, the girls coming to stay with them, going backwards and forwards to the hospital, all in all not a week that Alex wished to repeat. Ever.

Harry had stayed in hospital for four days, a relatively short amount of time considering the operation he'd been through. As he got better he got to thinking. He loved his girls more than anything in the world; they'd been through so much and come out the other side, as strong as ever. The only thing the girls were missing was a mother. Harry knew that having a female influence around was good for any child growing up, let alone two girls. The girl would want someone to talk over things such as periods and hair styles with them. They had Jack and their grandmother but it wasn't the same, it wasn't a mother. Harry had been keeping himself from even letting himself look at another woman, let alone fall in love again. There had been one woman, Diana, a few months ago. Harry had met her at parent's evening; she had a son in Amy's class, Lucas. They'd got talking and finally Diana had asked for Harry's number, but Harry had done the cowardly thing. He'd made up some excuse about losing his phone and avoided the woman ever since. Harry knew that the girls needed a mother, and Harry was fed up of being lonely.

"You okay, Daddy?" Amy asked, placing a jug of juice on the table next to her father.

Amy had coped amazingly when her father had been in hospital. She'd sat up during the night when Lucia couldn't sleep, she'd comforted her younger sister when she'd cried and she'd still found time to ace her maths test! Alex was amazed by his cousin; she was intelligent, kind and caring. She was everything Alex wanted to be.

"Of course darling, now what did I hear from Alex about you falling out with Paul?" Harry asked, fixing his daughter with a stern look.

"It's nothing, we made up again." Amy glared at Alex who hurried away mumbling something about napkins.

"You sure?" Harry enquired.

"Of course, it was only a small fight." Amy insisted.

"I could still go round and beat him up, though" Alex offered, as he took his place next to Lucia at the dinner table.

"You're as bad as Daddy!" Amy exclaimed, glaring at Alex and her father in turn.

"Well, just remember I'm a black belt in Karate." Alex said, helping himself to potatoes.

"Leave the girl alone, she can fight her own battles." Jack said, pouring out the juice.

"Yeah, well. I'm only looking out for her." Alex muttered.

***

On Saturday morning Alex awoke to the sound of his phone ringing.

Are we human or are we dancers?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancers?

"Hello?" Alex mumbled sleepily.

"Yo, man. You awake?" Austin's voice boomed loud and clear from the speaker.

"Well I am now" Alex croaked, looking at his clock. 11.05. Shit, he hadn't meant to sleep that late.

"A bunch of us are going down to the beach. You in?" Austin asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not dressed or anything." Alex said, throwing back the covers and climbing out of bed. It was boiling, hotter than it ever got in England, that was for sure.

"Well get a move on then, we'll pick you up in half an hour." Austin said.

"We?" Alex questioned, but the line was dead.

***

Forty-five minutes later Alex was in Matilda's car speeding along the freeway towards the ocean, the wind blowing in his hair, the sun shining on his face. This is home, Alex thought.

"You mad?" Austin had asked when Alex had walked out of the house in just a pair of board shorts. "It's not hot enough for that, it's September!"

"It's a lot hotter than it EVER got in England, I promise" Alex said, wiping a small bead of sweat away from his forehead.

"Whatever dude, you're weird" Austin had said.

From the back seat of the convertible Alex watched Austin and Matilda interact. It seemed to Alex that they had spent more time than just school hours together, he noticed the way Austin out his hand on Matilda's knee to emphasise a point, only it stayed there a little too long. He also noticed the way that Matilda's eyes would linger on Austin's face or legs just long enough for the car to start to swerve before she regained composure and looked at the road again. These were obvious signs that the pair liked each other, a lot! Alex knew that it was against the unwritten rules of high school for a nerd and a jock to date, but Alex also knew that Matilda and Austin were in love.

As Alex let his mind wander he found himself thinking about Sabina. She'd avoided him all week, whenever he smiled in her direction she looked down and pretended not to have seen. Alex didn't know what he'd done wrong; they'd been so close in England. Is Sabina had stayed they might even have been a couple. But that was the other thing, what had Sabina done to be kept behind a year at school? Alex knew she was bright, exceptionally so. What could have caused her to fall behind so badly she was kept back a whole year?

Sabrina being bright wasn't the only thing Alex liked about her. She was beautiful, caring, generous and overall Alex thought she was as close to perfection as it got. Alex knew that he should be over her. She had a boyfriend, and a large one at that.

"You in there?" Matilda was standing outside the car and looking at Alex as though he'd gone mad.

"Sorry, what did I miss?" Alex snapped out of his reverie and looked around. They'd arrived at the beach and Austin was busy unloading three surf boards from the seat next to Alex. Marie and Ted had surprised Alex with his surfboard the previous night, knowing he wished to learn.

"Nothing, you okay?" Matilda asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Yeah, fine! Just zoned out for a while. Let's go" Alex picked up his surfboard and followed Austin down the beach.

There ocean was deep blue and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Alex saw that Austin was headed for a group of teenagers about half way down the beach and made to follow him before noticing a slim girl with her head buried in a book. It was Sabina. Alex bit his tongue, he'd have to grin and bear it.

Half an hour later Alex was happily chatting to a girl named Lily when Austin stood up and addressed the group of young adults in front of him. "Right, we're going to play shoulder tag, as there is an equal number of boys and girls."

"Shoulder what?" Asked Alex, thoroughly confused.

"It's where a girl sits on a boys shoulders in the ocean and the girls have to tag each other. But they have to remain on their boys shoulders at all times. Okay?" Austin explained.

"Yeah, I think so." Said Alex, he'd seen people playing this on the beach. It looked like a laugh.

"Okay, boys take one of the names out of the hat. That's who you're playing with." Austin offered a baseball cap around, containing the names of all the girls in the group.

As the hat was passed around Alex kept an open mind, he didn't mind who he was with as long as it wasn't…

Unfolding the piece of paper his heart sank; Sabina.

Okay, if I have any readers left, then I'm sorry. I'm not going to waste energy rattling off a load of excuses. I will just say that my family is going through a tough time at the moment, although I know that's not an excuse.

Izzy xx