Chapter Six

"Even Angels Fall"

Bianca walked slowly over to where I stood and leaned against the railing, watching the door that her sister had just exited through. After a moment or two she spoke up.

"It wasn't your fault." she said quietly.

I looked at her surprised. That was probably the last thing I expected her to say and to tell the truth it made me feel a little bit better. Even though I knew what she said was a complete lie. I shook my head and continued to look out over the balcony. I thought that Bianca would leave after a while but she stayed and waited for me to move. I did finally, and she looked a little relieved. Maybe she was worried I was going to hurl myself off the balcony. I looked at her and found that she was looking directly back at me. Finally she spoke again.

"Do you actually care about her?" She looked as though she didn't want to hear the answer, maybe she thought I'd say no.

I nodded and she looked relieved once again.

"Thankyou," she said before smiling at Cameron who was hovering in the doorway looking slightly awkward and leaving me to join him. They walked back into the ballroom leaving me to wallow in the sorrow I didn't fell for myself but for the girl I had just caused an immense amount of pain.

"What was it like? A down payment now and then a bonus for sleeping with me?"

Did she mean that? Did she really think that our night would lead to a severe bedding whether she wanted to or not? Or did that mean she wanted to sleep with me? I felt sick and sat down, breathing heavily through my nose to stop the bile rising in my throat. I could hear the music still playing back in the ballroom. Well, so much for a night at the prom.

As I climbed into the back of the taxi I thought about the things I could do to make it up to Kat. Was there anything I could do? I began to go through the possibilities. Flowers, chocolates, concert tickets, they all seeemed so worthless. Then I stopped. Did I even want to make it up to her? This girl was possibly the most fantastic person I had ever met and this was the third time I have had to redeem myself in her eyes. Maybe I should just leave her alone. She'd be better off anyway. By now I had almost reached the front door of my house and the notion of giving her up completely made me feel even sicker than before. Bending over into the bushes I retched and regurgitated the entire contents of that days meals. Wiping my mouth I pulled my key out of my pocket and let myself inside. I trudged up to my bedroom, closed the door and lay down on my bed without bothering to get undressed. I kicked off my shoes, pulled the covers over me and waited for sleep to take me. Three hours later I was still waiting so I sighed loudly and swung my feet over the side of my bed. Walking over to my desk I opened the jar I had stashed all Joey's money in. I pulled out the numerous notes and spread them out on my bed. Sifting through them I counted them quickly. After a minute or two I sat back in awe, staring at the small fortune I now held in my hands.

Four hundred and thirty six dollars.

Hopping out of bed once more I sat down at my computer and switched it on. When it had logged on I connected to the internet and began to search.

"Guitar stores, Seattle" my search was entitled. I watched as page after page listed itself in the search engine. I clicked on the first one and began to take notes.

When I finally emerged into the kitchen the next day my mother looked at me, startled. I glared at her and she shrugged and turned back to making her muesli. As soon as I had finished breakfast I got into my car and drove into town. Soon enough my car started making that familiar clunking noise I hate. Lack of sleep and my current situation made me care less about the stupid engine than I ever had before. I cranked up the radio and satm satisfied at the song that blared out of the speakers. Looking up I realised I was almost at a stop sign so I slammed down on the brake pedal, cursing myself for this reckless driving I seemed to be doing.

"Don't drive angry, Patrick." My father's voice filtered through my mind as clear as if he were sitting in the passenger seat next to me.

"I'm not," I muttered under my breath and he looked at me scrutinizingly.

"Right. Patrick, if you drive like this all the time you are going to end up-" he stopped suddenly, turning back to the waiting light.

I knew what he was going to say and I felt a sudden thunk in the pit of my stomach as though someone had just thrown a rock into the water and it had settled in my gut. I carefully avoided looking him in the eye and drove off as the light turned green.

I jumped at the sound of a horn behind me and saw that I had kind of zoned out and the light above me was green. Annoyed at myself for getting all remeniscent I drove off carefully. I thought things like that only happened in movies. Where people zoned out inside their own memories and relived something awful. Well, I had quite a lot to relive, I supposed. I could always think about Sarah and the phonecall. But right now I'm on a mission.

With four hundred of the dollars in my Joey Donner jar at home in my pocket I climbed out of my car that was now making hissing noises. Ignoring this inconvenient sound I stepped into the street and searched around for the store I was looking for. Ah, there it is. Walking in, I could hear different chords of music coming from throughout the store where people were trying out the different guitars for sale. I approached the man behind the counter and waited for him to stop singing along to the radio and notice he had a customer. Fortunately that didn't take too long and he soon turned to me with the sort of smile that every shop assistant has.

"How can I help you?" he asked me.

"My name is Patrick Verona. I sent you that email," I told him. Hopefully he had received it. I did send it at three in the morning.

"Verona...Verona..." the man wracked his brain for any sign that name existed in his memory. Obviously the little lightbulb went off after a moment because he smiled and said, "you're the one after the Stratocaster right?"

I nodded and he disappeared into the store room, returning a minute or two later with a very lumpy looking package. Once the package was minus the tape and numerous layers of bubble wrapping, a guitar was revealed. Not just any guitar, the man behind the counter assured me, but a Fender Stratocaster. Used by the best apparently. Whatever, it's not like I would be playing it.

"How much?" I asked the man, pulling my wallet out of the back pocket of my jeans.

"Three hundred thirty," he told me happily, "how will you be paying?"

"Cash," I told him as I counted out the bills and handed them over.

"Present for someone?" he asked as he put the bills in the cash register. I nodded and the man whistled through his teeth, "well, whoever they are, they are very lucky to have you for a friend."

I resisted from correcting him but merely smiled.

"What?" lost in my own thoughts I didn't hear what he said. I could have sworn he said something about a grave and I hoped I was wrong.

"I said would you like something engraved?" the man repeated impatiently.

"Oh. How much does it cost?" I asked him.

"Twenty bucks," he told me, pointing to a sign on the counter displaying the words 'engraving: $20'.

"Right," I muttered. I told him what I wanted engraved on it and he wrote it on a post-it note and stuck it on the underside of the guitar before wrapping back in bubble wrap.

"Come back and get it Monday," he told me as he disappeared back into the room behind him, returning minus the instrument I had just purchased. I nodded and turned around to leave but he called me back.

"Uh, son?" I turned back around to face him and he held up the change I had forgotten to take from him. I retraced my steps and held out my hand for the money. As he handed it to me he he motioned behind himself towards, what I assumed, was the guitar in the store room.

"Girlfriend?"

I hesitated for a moment then nodded before turning around and leaving the store as fast as I could.

Sunday went by pretty quickly due to the fact that I stayed in bed until around two in the afternoon when my mother found me and abused her role as parent to get me out of bed. It's not like I was asleep or anything, I was awake, but since I couldn't think of anything else to do I figured that bed was a better option than the alternative which was either cleaning the house with mum or doing homework. Mum had been pretty good about not asking about the night before but I didn't want to be there when curiosity finally got the better of her. But after a while she grew wise of my plan to stay in bed for the rest of my life and hauled off my covers, leaving me with no choice but to get up.

"We need milk, washing powder and a mousetrap from the shops," was mum's cruel awakening as she threw my doona on the floor. Unfortunately no amount of glaring seemed to thaw her ice-covered heart and she insisted I get ot of bed, get into my car and drive 10 minutes for strange household items.

"What do we need a mousetrap for?" I asked her as I walked into the kitchen pulling a (hopefully) clean shirt over my head.

Mum pointed to where the cupboar stopped to give way to the space given for a refrigerator. Since our fridge isn't as large as the one that belonged to the people who built the house it left a gap. Upon closer inspection I saw that what she was actually pointing to was not the wall but a small hole underneath the small skirting board that ran around the bottom of the wall the length of the kitchen.

I wrinkled my nose, "yuck."

"Yuck," mum agreed, "that's why we need a mousetrap."

On the way down to the supermarket I thought about the sonnet that Mr. Morgan wanted us to write for Literature class. Shit. With a jolt I realised it was due the next day and prayed that something would distract him from requiring to read mine.

Wow, I just keep churning out these random chapters don't I? Haha anyway Read and Review! Thank you to my faithful reviewers who have so far given me their opinions. I feel so special! Like I have my own little following or something Lol. Anyways I promise I will have a better chapter next time so dont worry!