"I can't remember the last time we did this," Jody said as she set her tray down on the table, across from Tyler. She shrugged her bag off and sat down, preparing to dig into the only meal on the school menu worth mentioning.
In the end, she'd decided that if she couldn't see him on Saturdays, she'd have to spend some of her lunchtimes with him instead. Forty minutes every other day or so was still nothing compared to the time they used to spend together and certainly nowhere near enough but she had to take what she got. A niggling voice in the back of her head reminded her of Amy's advice but she ignored it; as her rival, Amy Gray was not to be trusted. She'd most likely suggested that Jody cut down on training hours because she wanted her to fall behind, not because she actually thought it was a solution to her problems.
"Probably Year Six," Tyler replied wryly, popping a piece of battered cod into his mouth with one of his bare hands.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste, piercing her own battered cod the proper way: with a knife and fork. "Tyler Lewis, if only Mike and May-Li could see you right now."
He looked up at her, grinning. "But they can't. We can do what we want."
"You mean you can," she corrected. "If any of the snitches w—I live with see me eating like you, I'll be getting a lecture from Mike and May-Li both as soon as I get home." A crazy thought suddenly occurred to her. "Are you allowed to eat like that at home?"
He nearly choked and she scrambled to help him, shoving a plastic cup of water towards him. "Hell no!" he exclaimed, breathing heavily. "Mum would kill me if I did. When it's just me and Kam though..."
She bit back a smile; she could already imagine Tyler and his stepdad acting like a right pair of lads whenever Sally was out of sight and/or earshot. Maybe she'd get to see such behaviour for herself one day.
The next ten minutes or so passed in silence as they ate their fish and chips and Jody tried not to take notice of the time on the clock hanging on the wall in front of her. After putting their trays and dirty dishes away, they walked out to the fields where some of Tyler's mates were playing football. They yelled at him to join but he loudly declined, continuing to stroll with her, and she figured that this was as good a time as any to update him on her family drama.
"So..." she started, clasping her hands together. "Do you remember when I told you that Gray has another daughter?" He nodded. "Well, I think she's my sparring partner."
All of a sudden, he stopped walking, and so did she. "The one who's the reason I can't text you when you're at the gym?" She giggled before replying in the positive. "What makes you think that?"
"Well, she's got the same last name as me and..." she trailed off, realising only then that she didn't have much to go on.
"Is that it?" he asked, blinking rapidly. "She didn't say anything about her parents or...?"
Sighing, she resumed her walk. Of course, he thought she was silly. What else was he going to think when even she knew she sounded ridiculous? There were plenty of Grays at school alone and she'd never so much as given any of them a second thought, not even to wonder if they could be her distant cousins. What was so special about Amy that had her jumping to conclusions and actually wanting to get to know her better? She doubted it was her shining personality; the girl distinctly reminded her of Ella, of all people, with her aloof manner and frank but often cutting rebuttals. She really couldn't make sense of it.
"I know it's stupid," she began as he appeared by her side once more. "I can't even explain it but I just have this feeling. And... and who's to say that I'm wrong? Alex saw his mum once and immediately knew it was her. He's even got a half-sister of his own." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him purse his lips and when he didn't say anything, she turned to him. "What is it? Why aren't you saying something?"
"I don't think you can compare your sparring partner to Alex's mum," he answered tentatively. "He knew she was his mum because he remembered her from when he was little. Kind of like how you recognised Gray. But you've never seen his daughter before, so it's not the same thing."
Except she had, that time she'd passed Gray's house on the way to a date with Brandon. Only, she couldn't recall the girl's face; all she remembered was the image of the girl laughing with her father—their father—and the gut-wrenching sensation that accompanied it.
"It doesn't mean anything. Alice turned out to be Alex's sister. Amy could still turn out to be mine." She didn't know who she was attempting to convince anymore; each time Tyler opened his mouth on the issue, she lost conviction.
"Jodes," he spoke softly, his eyes shining with concern. "I'm not going to try and stop you from finding out if she's your sister; I know you're going to do it anyway." She laughed under breath but he didn't join in, remaining serious. "Just don't get in too deep. I don't want to see you hurt again."
A lump formed in her throat. Her family had hurt her far too many times to count but she couldn't, for the life of her, leave them alone, especially Gray's side. It was absurd; thanks to her birth certificate, she wasn't even sure if he was her father. "I won't be."
.:. QK .:.
U were right. The site's been taken down.
Jody sighed, texting a 'thanks' in response. After confiding in Tyler about Amy Gray, she'd asked him for help; she'd had trouble locating the site they'd used to find out where Gray lived which she'd hoped to use to confirm that Amy lived at that same address. The site being taken down was a setback, though not a massive one because it apparently didn't really work for children anyway, but she was still determined to uncover the truth, whatever it was. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to make much progress today; as per her own mental agreement, she was going to have to finish the entire week's homework by the end of the day.
"Jody!" Taz's voice carried down the hallway. Said girl looked up from her science homework just in time to see her youngest housemate appear in the doorway to her room. Damn. She knew should've closed the door and put a 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign up.
"What is it?" she grumbled, rubbing her eyes. She'd severely underestimated her workload. "I've got a ton of homework to get through."
"I need your help," the younger girl replied, jumping on the balls of her feet. "I want to make an indoor rainbow for Sid."
"Why?" Jody asked incredulously. "Last time I checked, you didn't even like him. You wouldn't let him go bowling with you last week."
"I didn't go either; I didn't have enough money!" Taz complained, as if it was sufficient explanation. "It's not fair! Floss still hasn't got our allowances back!"
"She probably won't be able to," Jody muttered, wincing at the volume of Taz's whiny voice. God, she probably sounded like that when she was ten as well. "Anyway, I'm sorry, but I'm way too busy. Ask Chloe. She likes all that creative stuff, doesn't she? And she loves helping people. It's a win-win."
"I can't; I need to do it upstairs because I want it to be a surprise."
Rather conveniently, Finn, arguably the most artistic member of the household, was off hiding in the attic reading comics, and Charlie, who would've been the next obvious choice, was down at the police station doing last-minute work experience with Ryan. After those two, Floss was the best bet but she was going through a trumpet phase like Tyler had four years ago; it was best not to disturb her.
"Candi-Rose, then?" Taz crossed her arms, making Jody frown. "Bird?" she tried. No response. "Jay?" Taz scoffed. "Anyone who isn't me?!"
"Nope, it has to be you."
Oh, of course. How could she think that the universe would let her have a break? "Why? I've got a mountain of work to do!"
"Because you made me feel welcome here," Taz answered swiftly. "You were really nice, and because you made me feel welcome, I made Charlie feel welcome. And now I want to make Sid feel welcome."
Jody swallowed deeply, feeling oddly touched. Who knew that a ten-year-old could say something so... meaningful? In any case, Taz had definitely learnt some skills of manipulation from Ryan because Jody found herself closing her homework booklet and putting her pen down within seconds.
"We're going to need some paint."
A half-hour later, Jody scowled when Alex and Jay burst into her room, thereby ruining the surprise for Sid. She'd wanted to do this properly, not least because she'd given up precious homework time in order to do it, but when she saw the awestruck expression on Sid's face, none of that mattered as much anymore. She couldn't help but smile as Sid pulled her into a hug and thanked her and Taz profusely.
Ever since Tyler had left, she'd forgotten just how rewarding being at home could be. No one could ever take his place in her heart, of course, but the DG lot were not a bad bunch of kids—even Ryan had his moments. She'd been taking them for granted, she realised, especially with the way she'd actively been trying to find out more about Amy when she should've been spending time with them. How long had it been since she'd had a proper chat with Charlie or watched a rom-com with Candi-Rose? Too long to know.
Her homework was her priority right now but if she managed to finish with time to spare, she wouldn't turn her nose up at weekly film night, even if meant watching a movie she'd already watched a million times over.
.:. QK .:.
"Now, that was more like it," Amy praised, following one of Jody's more successful spars. "I take it you didn't come in yesterday because you took my advice and decided to see your mate?"
Jody took a generous gulp from her water bottle before answering. "His name's Tyler. And no, I didn't see him yesterday. I was actually at home all day, doing my homework and hanging out with some of my other friends who live there."
"Well, I don't care what you do as long as you don't get all mopey again..."
How blunt. Not for the first time, she wondered how Amy managed to fit her studies and social life around her boxing. Where was the time? According to Brandon, who came in most Saturdays, Amy was always there, meaning she spent every single day at the gym without fail. Not so long ago, Jody had thought that was how it was supposed to be but after realising just how much homework Year Eleven teachers liked to give out, she was grateful to May-Li for talking some sense into her; even in the absence of homework, being at the gym every day was unhealthy, if only because it meant the person in question didn't have a life beyond exercising.
"Were you here yesterday?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "What did you do?"
"I sparred with one of the other girls," Amy responded, her eyes quickly flitting to one of the girls on the other side of the gym. "Mind you, she's not much of a challenge. She was busy flirting with her boyfriend half the time."
As if on cue, the girl practically pounced on a boy around her age, presumably her boyfriend, and started kissing him. Jody quickly averted her gaze, her face growing hot. Brandon had kissed her like that once, towards the end of their relationship, and she'd found the experience so underwhelming that she'd proceeded to avoid letting it happen again; on one occasion, she'd turned her head at the last minute, causing him to kiss her cheek instead. To his credit, he'd taken the hint and every kiss afterwards had always been on the cheek or the forehead.
"Hey!" Amy yelled abruptly. "Stop sucking face! No one wants to see that!"
Like a schoolgirl witnessing a wrongdoing, Jody quickly scanned her surroundings to see if there was a responsible adult around, her eyes landing on Bernadette who'd just walked in through the double doors. She looked back to the young couple who were now innocently holding hands. Had she and Tyler started a relationship while still living in the same care home, they wouldn't even have been able to do that much without getting into trouble. How did Alex and Charlie manage it?
"She won't make it very far," Amy said smugly. "Don't know why she signed up. It's a joke."
Jody frowned. Dismissing an opponent solely because she had a PDA problem was harsh. She'd initially brushed Amy's aversion to men off as part of her no distractions work ethic but now she wasn't so sure; the venom in her voice said otherwise. "Why do you say that?"
Amy turned to her, appearing to be surprised. "I told you before: real strong women don't need men."
"But we all need someone, don't we? Not just women; men as well. Someone to talk to, someone to care about... that sort of thing."
"I've got my mum and my brother for that. I don't need anyone else."
Her mum and her brother? As Gray's partner, and son Benji? Jody raised her eyebrow, wondering how much more she could get out of Amy regarding her family. "What about your dad?"
Amy scoffed, picking one of her boxing gloves back up. "What about him?"
Before Jody could ask any further questions, her lithe sparring partner began talking about their next training exercise. Losing the gumption to speak further about the subject, Jody tightly pursed her lips and did as she was told, a crucial question doing the rounds in the back of her mind: what had gone wrong between Gray and his other daughter?
A/N: Thanks to all for the reviews!
Charlie—I don't think it's at all weird that you envision your school when I write about Tyler and Jody's; in order to write the school scenes, I have to envision my old school. It's not easy since it's been a while but my brothers currently go there and can easily answer any questions I have.
Hey, if Jody comes off as a real person, it means I'm doing something right 😉
yourfire—I think they'll fight a lot more so you have something to look forward to. 😊
Love your descriptions of Jody and Tyler's characters. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Yep, Jody's come a long way but I think she's got a bit more growing up to do yet.
I understand where you're coming from on the whole Sally no contact thing but all I'll say is that Sally asked for a short period of no contact because she wanted Tyler to settle in without feeling homesick, not because she wants to ignore his life in care.
Brittany—Can I just say how surprised I was to wake up and see that my inbox was flooded with reviews? You've taken me to 92! I'm sorry that you dislike Tyler living away from Jody but it's something I'd planned for a while and I can't really see this story going any other way.