CHAPTER 2
The next year was like a dream come true for Gemma! All the days she had felt so alone sitting in her room were now forgotten. Since the incident with Adam at school she'd become a lot more popular with the other kids! She even had one or two close girlfriends that she would hang with at break- times or lunch, but unfortunately all of them lived outside of Cameron so they very rarely saw each other outside of school! Still, Gemma didnt mind all that much, after all, she had Jeff! He lived only 5 minutes walk away from Gemma's house so they speant a lot of time together. Some of the girls at school were jealous that she speant a lot of time at the Hardy house & therefore a lot of time in the company of Jeff's older brother, (& apparently every little girls dream man!) Matt! Others thought it to be a bit freaky that her best & only true friend was a guy, but Gemma quickly learned to ignore them! Dont get me wrong, Jeff got teased just as much by the other boys, but even at 10 years old he was wise enough to simply laugh it off! From the outside it did seem like a strange kind of relationship, but people who really knew them both saw just how much they had in common, but figured puberty would either drive a wedge between them or have them jump into bed with each other!
They had a special invisable bond that nothing could break! Gemma speant hours just watching Jeff & his brother wrestling each other - they both had their hearts set on being big time famous wresters on TV some day! Gemma had no doubt in her mind that they would achieve their goal! She'd never seen anyone so passionate about anything in her life the way Matt & Jeff were about wrestling! At first when she was over at Jeff's house & they were all sitting around watching it on TV she thought it was just a 'dumb guy' thing! For weeks she politely sat through hours of TV wrestling, that quite frankly bored her to tears, but if Jeff was happy, she was happy! After a couple of months infront of the TV with the Hardy family she did infact grow to love it! It bacame one more thing she & Jeff had in common, although Gemma had no desires to roll around a ring wearing a bikini infront of thousands of roaring fans!! Just for fun, however, when the brothers were having a 'match', Gemma would pretend to accompany Jeff to the ring! She would pout & wiggle her ass until they were all laughing so much they couldnt begin their match!! She was having fun! She enjoyed her life at last!....
.....until the letter arrived!
Gemma was now 14 years old. Her brother, Pat, was 15. One morning her father was opening the mail when his face went grey. She knew something was wrong but had a such feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach that she was afraid to ask. She tried to continue eating her breakfast but it felt as though her throat has closed up & she couldnt swallow. She followed her father's distraught gaze & saw that it was fixed on her brother. Chris at this point hadnt even noticed anything was wrong. He was 17 & was in a world of his own. The latest Iron Maiden album thundered in his ears from his headphones as he devoured his cereal like a pig in a trough! Pat sensed he was being watched, stopped eating & looked up at his father.
"What's up Pops?" he asked
"Erm....son...I have to have a word errrr....with you in errr....private." their father stammered, his eyes now welling up with tears. Gemma could stay silent no longer.
"Dad! What's wrong? And dont try & tell me it's nothing, I can tell from the look on your face!" she blurted out.
Their Dad's, now fiance, Kellie, came into the kitchen, still in her nightdress & looking like something the cat dragged in! She stopped halfway through a yawn when she saw the looks on everyones faces.
"Jesus what happened honney? Did someone die?"
Their father shook his head. He was only 55 years old but looked 20 years older since opening that letter. He made Chris take off the headphones that were almost constantly glued to his ears these days. He asked Kellie to take a seat & then he explained what was in the letter.
It was a solicitors letter. It stated that their mother had gone to court once more to gain full custody of Pat & Gemma. She had been sucessful on one part.She had won full custody of Patrick. She had claimed several reasons why living with their father was no longer good for both of them, but had used the fact that Pat's schooling & tennis coaching had gone rappidly downhill this past year. Truth be told this had more to do with a girl named Becky than it did with with his father's attention span! Gemma was stunned! She got up from her chair & ran out of the door. She didnt know where she was going & didnt care. she could hear Pat's sobs from outside of the house & knew she had to get away fast. Where she ended up was Jeff's house. She hadnt meant to go there, it just happened. Jeff was in the yard when he saw Gemma running up the lane. Her face was wet with tears & by the time she reached Jeff, who was now halfway to his gate to meet her, she was shaking uncontrolably. Jeff didnt ask. He just hugged her & figured whatever it was she would tell him if she needed to. He took her inside & eventually got her somewhere near to calm & she stopped crying for long enough to tell him the events of the morning & how she would be losing another brother. All the time she talked he held her, stroked her hair & somehow made her feel like maybe her world wasnt caving in after all. Her world was no longer solid though, it was going to be almost unbearable without Pat & she realised she was going to have to deal with it the way she had delt with all the other shit life had thrown in her face in her short life. But she knew, if she hadnt done already, that from that day Jeff would always be there for her & she also knew she would always be there for him. She was falling in love, although it would be many years before either of them realised that.
The next year was like a dream come true for Gemma! All the days she had felt so alone sitting in her room were now forgotten. Since the incident with Adam at school she'd become a lot more popular with the other kids! She even had one or two close girlfriends that she would hang with at break- times or lunch, but unfortunately all of them lived outside of Cameron so they very rarely saw each other outside of school! Still, Gemma didnt mind all that much, after all, she had Jeff! He lived only 5 minutes walk away from Gemma's house so they speant a lot of time together. Some of the girls at school were jealous that she speant a lot of time at the Hardy house & therefore a lot of time in the company of Jeff's older brother, (& apparently every little girls dream man!) Matt! Others thought it to be a bit freaky that her best & only true friend was a guy, but Gemma quickly learned to ignore them! Dont get me wrong, Jeff got teased just as much by the other boys, but even at 10 years old he was wise enough to simply laugh it off! From the outside it did seem like a strange kind of relationship, but people who really knew them both saw just how much they had in common, but figured puberty would either drive a wedge between them or have them jump into bed with each other!
They had a special invisable bond that nothing could break! Gemma speant hours just watching Jeff & his brother wrestling each other - they both had their hearts set on being big time famous wresters on TV some day! Gemma had no doubt in her mind that they would achieve their goal! She'd never seen anyone so passionate about anything in her life the way Matt & Jeff were about wrestling! At first when she was over at Jeff's house & they were all sitting around watching it on TV she thought it was just a 'dumb guy' thing! For weeks she politely sat through hours of TV wrestling, that quite frankly bored her to tears, but if Jeff was happy, she was happy! After a couple of months infront of the TV with the Hardy family she did infact grow to love it! It bacame one more thing she & Jeff had in common, although Gemma had no desires to roll around a ring wearing a bikini infront of thousands of roaring fans!! Just for fun, however, when the brothers were having a 'match', Gemma would pretend to accompany Jeff to the ring! She would pout & wiggle her ass until they were all laughing so much they couldnt begin their match!! She was having fun! She enjoyed her life at last!....
.....until the letter arrived!
Gemma was now 14 years old. Her brother, Pat, was 15. One morning her father was opening the mail when his face went grey. She knew something was wrong but had a such feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach that she was afraid to ask. She tried to continue eating her breakfast but it felt as though her throat has closed up & she couldnt swallow. She followed her father's distraught gaze & saw that it was fixed on her brother. Chris at this point hadnt even noticed anything was wrong. He was 17 & was in a world of his own. The latest Iron Maiden album thundered in his ears from his headphones as he devoured his cereal like a pig in a trough! Pat sensed he was being watched, stopped eating & looked up at his father.
"What's up Pops?" he asked
"Erm....son...I have to have a word errrr....with you in errr....private." their father stammered, his eyes now welling up with tears. Gemma could stay silent no longer.
"Dad! What's wrong? And dont try & tell me it's nothing, I can tell from the look on your face!" she blurted out.
Their Dad's, now fiance, Kellie, came into the kitchen, still in her nightdress & looking like something the cat dragged in! She stopped halfway through a yawn when she saw the looks on everyones faces.
"Jesus what happened honney? Did someone die?"
Their father shook his head. He was only 55 years old but looked 20 years older since opening that letter. He made Chris take off the headphones that were almost constantly glued to his ears these days. He asked Kellie to take a seat & then he explained what was in the letter.
It was a solicitors letter. It stated that their mother had gone to court once more to gain full custody of Pat & Gemma. She had been sucessful on one part.She had won full custody of Patrick. She had claimed several reasons why living with their father was no longer good for both of them, but had used the fact that Pat's schooling & tennis coaching had gone rappidly downhill this past year. Truth be told this had more to do with a girl named Becky than it did with with his father's attention span! Gemma was stunned! She got up from her chair & ran out of the door. She didnt know where she was going & didnt care. she could hear Pat's sobs from outside of the house & knew she had to get away fast. Where she ended up was Jeff's house. She hadnt meant to go there, it just happened. Jeff was in the yard when he saw Gemma running up the lane. Her face was wet with tears & by the time she reached Jeff, who was now halfway to his gate to meet her, she was shaking uncontrolably. Jeff didnt ask. He just hugged her & figured whatever it was she would tell him if she needed to. He took her inside & eventually got her somewhere near to calm & she stopped crying for long enough to tell him the events of the morning & how she would be losing another brother. All the time she talked he held her, stroked her hair & somehow made her feel like maybe her world wasnt caving in after all. Her world was no longer solid though, it was going to be almost unbearable without Pat & she realised she was going to have to deal with it the way she had delt with all the other shit life had thrown in her face in her short life. But she knew, if she hadnt done already, that from that day Jeff would always be there for her & she also knew she would always be there for him. She was falling in love, although it would be many years before either of them realised that.