5. Away

Charlie had no memory of what time he had finally dozed off to sleep last night. He and Nick had stayed up well into the early hours of the morning, talking and distracting, distracting and talking.

Nick didn't know what time Charlie had fallen asleep but he did remember lying awake, watching him breathe through the screen until he supposed he must have fallen asleep too.

When Charlie woke up the next morning, he felt impossibly lighter.

He made his way downstairs into the kitchen. Thankfully, no one else was awake yet. He sneaked his phone back into the spot on the counter his mum had left it yesterday.

Just as Charlie plugged the phone into it's charger, he heard a cough from the kitchen door.

He looked up in fright to see his dad standing there, watching him, a smirk on his sleepy face.

"It needed charging," said Charlie.

"I didn't see anything," said Julio. He switched on the radio for some background noise, just like he usually did. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Oh, um… just some toast, please?"

"Toast it is. Coming right up!"

Charlie slid himself onto a stool at the breakfast bar and watched as his dad pottered about.

Soon, a mug of tea and two slices of honey toast were pushed in front of him and Charlie found himself eating them without hesitation.

Julio leaned against the counter across from him, drinking his own tea.

"They're having a memorial service for Matt and Bethany this afternoon at one. At St Mary's church."

"Oh," said Charlie.

"I said you didn't have to go unless you wanted to, but your mum seems to think it's necessary that we all go."

Charlie sighed. "No. It's fine. I actually think I want to go. Matt was never exactly nice to me, and I didn't know Bethany at all but - I think I'd like to go and pay my respects."

And it was a chance to get out of the house, he thought selfishly. And there was a high chance that Nick would be there. If Charlie didn't go then he wouldn't see Nick in person again until tomorrow, and while last night had soothed his worries considerably, it had also reinforced his yearning.

"You do know your mum is only doing what she thinks is best for you, don't you?" Julio asked. "She does everything for you kids, often at great personal expense."

"I know that, dad."

"And I know you get frustrated at her sometimes, I know you do. I understand that. I've been married to her for seventeen years. Trust me, I am aware of her flaws. But I love her because of them, not despite them. It might be nice if you tried to do the same for her, Charlie."

I wish she'd love me because of my flaws and not despite them, Charlie thought bitterly.

But something else Julio had said struck against something Charlie had been turning over in his mind for a while now.

"Dad? Could I ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"How… how did you know that mum was… the one?"

Julio chuckled. "I think I just knew. It's a pain. A good pain. Right here in your belly."

"Are you sure that wasn't just mum's cooking?"

"Charlie," his dad laughed. "Love equals sacrifice."

Charlie smiled with him, but his eyes must have glazed over for a moment, deep in thought, because then Julio said cautiously, "Have you ever felt that pain before?"

Distractedly, Charlie found himself nodding.

"That means you've been in love, my son."

But did the love Charlie felt for Nick feel like a sacrifice?

Was it meant to feel painful?

Charlie didn't want to think so.

Loving Nick Nelson was the opposite of painful, Charlie thought as he swallowed the last of his tea. Maybe when they had first met and Charlie had still been convinced Nick was straight - that had been painful - but now they were together, Charlie had never felt anything less like pain.

And he would know, he had felt enough of it.

Having dropped Oliver off at their grandmother's house, Charlie followed his parents and Tori into St Mary's church. He had been accosted into the one suit he owned and Tori had been forced into a dress. A black dress, luckily for her, but still a dress.

The church was packed with students and teachers from both Truham and Higgs, including Mr Barnes and Mrs Singh.

On either side of the lectern at the front were two blown up versions of the school photographs Charlie had seen on the news yesterday. He tried not to look into Matt and Bethany's smiling faces for too long but it was hard to avoid them. This became harder still once Jane had shepherded him into the end of a pew.

Charlie picked up the order of service paper from the shelf in front of him but barely glanced at it. He had just wanted something to hold to stop his hands from shaking as he searched the crowd for that familiar dark blond head. He spotted Sai, Christian and Otis sitting together a few rows ahead, all looking peculiarly sombre. Sai caught Charlie's gaze for a moment and smiled weakly. Charlie forced a smile back and looked away again.

He continued to pick through the crowd with his gaze until he had turned all the way around in his seat to look toward the door.

A true smile spread across his face when he saw Nick enter but it quickly vanished when he saw the dark circles under his eyes, saw the paler than normal cheeks. Charlie went to stand up, to go to him, but a hand clamped tightly over his knee to stop him.

"Will you sit still," Jane hissed. "Don't stare. Show some respect."

Nick and Sarah had both just been enveloped into a huddle by the door. Sarah spoke softly to the distraught Osmonds, while Nick stood beside her, looking awkward and very uncomfortable.

Charlie wrenched his eyes away from them to look again at the front, but not long later, the Nelsons and the Osmonds made their way down the aisle, followed closely by Harry Greene and his parents. Charlie watched helplessly as Nick was dragged into the front row and made to sit beside Harry.

Once the service started, Charlie didn't catch much of what was being said. The miserable hunch of Nick's shoulders was making it very difficult for Charlie to think of much else. He stared at the back of Nick's head, wishing he could climb inside and whisper for him to turn around. Just turn around and look at me so I can know you're okay.

But even though Charlie could read Nick's body language flawlessly, their connection had not yet transcended into telepathy. If it had, Charlie might have had some warning before, half way through the speech, Nick stood up suddenly and hurried away, disappearing through a side door of the church.

Charlie dropped the paper from his hand and escaped the pew, past his mum - "Charlie! Sit back down!" - but he was already down the aisle, head down, scurrying past the sea of sad faces.

The door was slightly ajar. Charlie slipped inside. He closed it carefully behind him and turned to find himself in a small, bright side chapel.

Nick was sitting on one of the small wooden chairs, crying quietly into his hands. Charlie could see his shoulders shaking and the sight broke his heart.

His feet closed the space between them. Charlie sank into the chair beside him and Nick looked up at him through puffy red eyes. Through his tears, the brown eyes brightened.

"You're here?" he gasped. "I didn't know if you were coming - I couldn't find you -"

Charlie smiled sadly and took his hand. "It's alright. I'm here."

Nick gripped his hand back tightly, then proceeded to furiously wipe at his eyes.

"I don't know why I'm crying," Nick sniffled. "He was a twat."

"But he was your friend once. You're allowed to be upset."

Nick smiled meekly and nodded as a few stray tears ran down his cheeks.

Up close, Charlie saw just how exhausted Nick looked. He delicately stroked Nick's fringe away from his eyes. "I know we stayed up pretty late last night but did you get any sleep at all?"

Nick closed his eyes against the feeling of Charlie's hand in his hair. He took a deep breath. "I keep seeing him."

Charlie blinked. "Who?"

"You know… the - the shooter," Nick breathed. "Every time I fall asleep… I'm holding the cricket bat but I can't move and he - he shoots you - and then he turns to me and I want him to shoot me too but he won't do it and then he leaves and you're bleeding out under the bed and I can't move."

Nick fell forward into Charlie's arms and all Charlie could do was keep stroking his hair as softly as he could. "Oh, Nick…" he whispered. "That's not real. That's not what happened."

"I know…" Nick slipped his head down from Charlie's shoulder to rest his ear against the soothing, steady thump of his heartbeat. "It just always feels so real. You always look so scared and I can't even hold you while…"

While you die…

Charlie buried his face in the soft, floppy mess of Nick's hair. "I'm not going anywhere," he whispered. "As long as you're with me, I don't want to go."

"You'd better not," Nick mumbled against Charlie's chest.

Charlie felt a few of his own tears drip down into Nick's hair. Nick must have felt them too because he then sat up to look at him. There was an intense gleam in his sad brown eyes, mixed with so much emotion and fondness that Charlie melted into a puddle of mush even before Nick kissed him.

Soft and sweet and tender, Charlie shivered as Nick brushed his fingers ever-so gently against his chin.

They pulled away and Nick felt betrayed by his own subconsciousness as his eyes flicked toward the door, even just for a second. There was no reason anyone would come in here during a service, but still…

Nick turned away from Charlie and slumped lower in his chair. He couldn't stand having to face whatever disappointment or hurt he may have just caused.

"God," Nick groaned. "I'm so tired of this."

"What?"

The slight tremor and the smallness of Charlie's voice made Nick's heart plummet. He spun back around to face the hurt.

"Oh no, Charlie. I didn't mean this. I don't think I'll ever get tired of this. I just meant I'm tired of keeping this a secret. Of keeping us a secret…" Nick took a deep breath. "I've been thinking… what if we just… stopped hiding as much?"

Charlie's eyes widened. "Really?"

It looked like he was holding his breath.

"Honestly, at this point, after everything that's happened, I think it might just be a relief to… to not have to worry about that anymore," said Nick. "We have so many other horrible things going on right now and I think that maybe if we could be together freely then it might make everything else feel less awful… But, of course, if you don't want to then we don't have to."

Charlie threaded their fingers together between them and squeezed firmly.

"I know I was feeling pretty stressed about us coming out before," said Charlie. "Because of what happened last year when I was forced out but… after everything we've been through now, it doesn't seem quite so scary anymore."

"Right," Nick chuckled weakly. "If we can get through a triple homicide then I can walk back out there into that room full of people and I can do it while holding your hand."

Charlie beamed. Nick thought he would do anything at all if it meant Charlie would always look like that.

He got to his feet and Charlie followed. Nick held out a hand and Charlie took it.

Charlie gave it another encouraging squeeze and that was enough to propel Nick across the small chapel, toward the door. Beyond it, they could hear the muffled drone of the service still continuing.

Charlie felt his own heart in his throat at the enormity of what they were about to do. He was just psyching himself up when Nick stopped, his hand an inch from the doorknob.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Nick dropped Charlie's hand and turned to look back at him, biting his lip anxiously. "I just - I don't know if you remember but… What did you want to tell me?"

Charlie tilted his head quizzically and frowned.

"The other night when we were drunk. You were rambling about something you needed to tell me and I just thought… well, you said it was important."

"Oh." Charlie smiled, his cheeks flushed. "That."

"Forget I said anything." Nick turned back to the door, suddenly flustered. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I shouldn't have -"

"Nick! No… I do need to tell you."

Nick turned around again.

Charlie looked utterly incredible standing there in his suit. Light streamed through the stained-glass window behind him, making the tips of his curls glow multicoloured.

Charlie took a deep breath and Nick felt even more guilty for demanding an answer, even if he had been fretting over it for a while now.

Hadn't Charlie said it might make Nick want to break up with him?

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Charlie smiled. Suddenly his task now felt like the easiest thing in the world.

"I just wanted to tell you that… I love you."

Nick stood there, stunned for such a long moment that Charlie suddenly remembered why he had been so worried about this for so long.

"You don't have to say it back," he sputtered. "We haven't even been together that long, really. I just wanted you to know because -"

"Charlie -" Nick took two steps to bridge the unending chasm between them and placed a gentle finger over Charlie's mouth. "I love you too." He threaded their hands once again between them. "I love you so much."

Nick let his forehead fall softly against Charlie's.

"You're not just saying it because I said -"

"Charlie!"

Their laughter was quickly swallowed up by a kiss.

"Why are we like this?" Charlie smiled against Nick's mouth.

"Because I love you and you love me."

Nick kissed Charlie quickly once more and then took his hand firmly to pull him back toward the door. "Ready?"

"Let's do this."

Nick pushed the door open and they stepped through it together, hands clasped a little tighter than usual, each trying to transmit as much reassurance and comfort as they could through their connected palms.

The vicar was in the middle of the Lord's Prayer and the congregation had their heads bowed.

Charlie froze for a millisecond at the sight of the full crowd of people, but Nick squeezed his hand and pulled him into the nearest empty pew. They sat side by side as the prayer finished, and tried in vain to wipe the giddy smiles from their faces.

After they had been forced to sing some hymn or other, finally the service was over and everyone started to file out of the church.

Nick and Charlie kept their hands entwined the entire time. They did not let go still, when they got up to follow the rest out. They kept their distance a bit, just in case, but everyone was far too preoccupied to give them much notice.

However, as soon as they stepped outside into the sun, Jane bustled toward them, extremely harried. "There you are. Come on, we're going home."

Charlie continued to hold on to Nick's hand but Jane wasn't paying enough attention to notice.

"What?" said Charlie. "Aren't we staying for the wake?"

"No," said Jane, lips pursed. "I don't think that'll be necessary."

Jane linked her arm through Julio's and tugged Tori along with them down the path.

Julio looked back at the boys, ignoring their joint hands if he noticed them at all. "I'll see you in the car in two minutes, Charlie."

"I wish I didn't have to go to the wake," said Nick.

"I wish I could go to keep you company," said Charlie.

"But alas, we must be parted once more." Nick gave a dramatic sigh.

"You are such a dork." Charlie laughed, but his face fell again when he re-noticed the dark circles under Nick's eyes. An idea suddenly came to him. "Let's go somewhere tomorrow. Together."

"You mean school?"

"No, I mean somewhere else. Somewhere not in this town."

"Charlie Spring, are you asking me to skip school with you?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to. No - it was a stupid idea anyway. I'm already in enough trouble - if we got caught…"

"No, it's a good idea," said Nick, brightly. "I'd love that, actually. And I think I know how we can do it without getting caught."

"Oh, yeah?" Charlie smirked at the gleam of excitement that had appeared in Nick's eyes.

"The bus you take stops at the train station on the way to school, doesn't it?"

"Yes…"

"Great! I'll meet you at the train station at quarter past eight tomorrow, okay?"

"What are you planning?"

"You'll have to wait and see. I love you."

"What have I gotten myself into? I love you, too."

Propelled by his new found happiness, Monday morning seemed to arrive in no time at all. A lot of the weight which had been on Charlie's shoulders had lifted and the giddiness was still there as he packed some jeans and a jumper into his school bag, and headed downstairs.

"You're in a good mood," Julio observed when Charlie sat down across from him at the breakfast table.

Charlie shrugged but couldn't wipe the smile off his face nor hide the twinkle in his eye, no matter how hard Tori was smirking at him.

"Strawberry!" Oliver exclaimed and shoved a berry a little too close to Charlie's face.

Charlie laughed, took the strawberry and ate it. "Thanks, Olly. Do you think you could spare some syrup for the rest of us or are you really going to use all that?"

Oliver continued to dump liberal amounts of golden syrup onto his waffles until Jane wrenched the bottle out of his sticky hands and set it down on the other side of the table. Oliver pouted. All four of his older family members smiled affectionately at him as they all settled down to eat.

A while later, when Charlie followed Tori out the front door, Jane handed over his now-fully-charged phone without a single word of fuss.

"Have a good day at school," she said with just the hint of a smile, then headed off toward her car with Oliver.

Charlie must have still been smiling like an idiot all the way to the bus stop because when they stepped aboard and took their seats, Tori sighed heavily and said, "Jesus, Charlie. What the fuck do you have to be so happy about? You're really ruining my gloomy vibe this morning."

"Nothing," Charlie sighed. "It's just a nice day."

Tori rolled her eyes and shoved her earphones in.

Charlie would usually do the same but this morning he didn't feel much of a need to block out the world at all.

A stop before he knew they would arrive at the train station, Charlie realised he hadn't thought about how he was going to explain this change of plans to Tori.

He took a deep breath, then nudged Tori's shoulder. She pulled out an earphone and gave him a look that said quite plainly, What?

"Um…" Charlie chose his words carefully. "You know how me and Nick have been dating for, like, over two months now…?"

"Wow," Tori deadpanned. "I'd been wondering what all the heart eyes and longing looks had been about. I thought you were just really enthusiastic best bros."

"Ew," Charlie shuddered. "Please don't call us that."

"So, you've been really enthusiastic boyfriends for over two months. Good for you. What about it?"

"Well," he began quietly. "Yesterday, when we were at the church… I told him I loved him."

Tori's emotionless eyes softened ever so slightly. "Did he say it back?"

"Yeah."

"Good," said Tori. "Or I'd have had to kill him."

Charlie swallowed back the sudden lump in his throat. "Please don't do that," he murmured, fighting to keep his voice even.

"Is that what you were doing when you both disappeared in the middle of the service yesterday? Please tell me you didn't desecrate that church too badly, Charles."

"Victoria!"

Tori laughed but so did Charlie.

"Anyway," he sighed. "Now you're aware of the stakes, I'm going to ask you for another favour. I know I've asked a lot of you lately, but, please, for the sake of romance, will you allow me one more?"

"Good grief," Tori huffed. "Love has rotted your brain and made you even more dramatic. Go on. Out with it."

Charlie whispered it all out in one breath. "I'm going to get off this bus at the next stop and I don't want you to tell mum and dad that I didn't go to school today."

Tori's eyes widened. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You're already very grounded."

"Please, Victoria?" Charlie turned on his puppy-dog eyes. "We just want one day for ourselves, away from everything. Pretty please. You know you love me."

"You know that face doesn't work on everyone else as well as it does on your Nick Nelson," Tori scoffed. "Fine. But don't come crying to me when mum triple grounds you."

The bus pulled up outside the train stations and the doors hissed open.

"Yes!" Charlie leapt to his feet. "Thank you, Tori! You're the best!"

He kissed her on the forehead and practically skipped away off the bus.

Tori watched him go, smiling, despite herself.

Nick had been waiting on a bench just outside the station but he stood up at once when he saw Charlie. His bright smile matched how Charlie was feeling so perfectly that as soon as he closed the distance between them, Charlie pulled him into a kiss. Nick hummed slightly against his mouth.

"Hi," said Charlie, breathless.

"Hi."

Without a second thought or a glance over his shoulder, Nick took Charlie's hand in his. "Are you ready for our date then?"

"Oh," said Charlie, smirking. "This is a date, is it? I didn't realise. I thought this was just an illegal platonic hang out. My mistake. I shouldn't have agreed to come."

Nick pouted dramatically as they entered the small station, hand in hand. "Well, you're stuck now. You have to come. Even if this is actually an illegal romantic hang out."

"I thought you said this was a date?"

Charlie teased and Nick laughed and they continued to giggle and flirt all the way through the queue for tickets. (Nick refused to tell Charlie where they were going still, and insisted Charlie closed his eyes while he bought their tickets.)

They braved the gross train station toilets to change out of their uniforms, and suddenly the whole idea felt much more real. By the time they were on the train, heading through the countryside, the whole thing felt one hundred percent worth it.

Charlie didn't recognise the name of the town when they arrived at the quiet little station, but Nick seemed to know where he was going.

"Come on, we're nearly there," he said as they turned onto the road outside the station.

"Okay, okay," Charlie laughed, happy to be pulled along as their pace quickened in excitement.

The familiar screech of birds overhead ("Seagulls?") told Charlie where they were seconds before the road in front of them cleared, revealing -

"Oh my God!"

"Here we are!"

"The beach?"

The day was reasonably dreary for June but it wasn't that cold, so they spared no time before running across the sand to splash about in the shallow waves. Despite only initially planning to go in up to their ankles, a frantic water fight ensued. They shrieked and laughed as they splashed freezing seawater at each other until the inevitable happened, and Nick found himself fully sitting down in the water, and they realised how much of a terrible mistake it had all been.

Charlie was still giggling at Nick's misfortune when they decided to walk across the road to the nearest chip shop.

"You wanna share?" asked Nick.

"Okay."

They sat on the wall by the beach huts to eat their chips. It wasn't a particularly busy day at the seaside, it was a Monday in the middle of term after all, but Charlie was still incredibly proud when Nick didn't once, not on any occasion, hesitate to kiss him whenever he wanted.

On their way down the seafront, Charlie spotted a photo booth and dragged Nick inside it.

"You know that time we went to the arcade and went in the photo booth?" asked Nick.

"And you made me sit on your lap?"

"I did not make you -"

"I distinctly remember you literally pulling me onto your lap." Charlie laughed, linking two fingers around Nick's pinky.

"Um…" Nick blushed furiously.

Charlie smirked, stood up and deposited himself across Nick's lap. Nick flushed even redder.

Charlie cupped his boyfriend's face in his hands. "I wanted to kiss you so bad when that happened."

"Me too."

Fifteen entire minutes later, a very flushed and ruffled Nick and Charlie collected their photos from the machine and laughed at the evidence.

They spent the afternoon walking through the little town, and when they had exhausted all other possible make-out spots, they settled on their jackets on the sand to wait out the rest of the time before they had to catch their train home.

Charlie tapped about on his phone to set some music playing, and was surprised at the considerable lack of angry texts. He handed the other earphone to Nick and they both lied back against their jackets and the sand.

"This seems all too good to be true," he said. "Surely the school rings home when there are unexplained absences."

Nick shrugged. "I dunno. I've never skipped school before."

"I keep expecting to get a snotty text from my mum any second now," said Charlie, gazing up at the tiny gap of blue sky between the grey clouds. "And I'd deserve it. I deserve every punishment she's given me. I've been a crap son lately."

"What?" Nick turned to look at him. "That's not true."

"It is though!" said Charlie, grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes. "I'm so selfish. Even today… it's been the best day ever but it's all so selfish!"

Nick's heart cracked painfully as he rolled over onto his side and pulled Charlie's hands away. Charlie let him do it but kept his eyes squeezed shut tight. A few solitary tears rolled down his cheeks.

"You are not selfish, Charlie," said Nick. "You are the most selfless, amazing, brilliant, kind, beautiful person I have ever met. Okay, maybe we've been a little bit reckless lately, but it's only come across like that to our parents because we've been forced to keep the reason a secret."

Charlie rolled over and curled up at Nick's side, their hands once again entwined in the sand between them.

"I know we can't tell them most of it but maybe at least telling them about us, might ease the burden a bit…" Nick swallowed thickly. "At least I hope it will."

"Yesterday," said Charlie. "You said you didn't want us to hide so much anymore. Does that mean you want to come out?"

"Yeah," said Nick. "Yeah, it does. I know I've been unsure about it for a while, but I'm definitely bisexual. I'm not saying I want to make some sort of public announcement but I want to tell the people I care about. And I want you to be able to tell people too."

He brought a hand up to ruffle Charlie's curls. "I love you so much."

Charlie's bottom lip wobbled. "I love you," he managed before he burst into tears.

"Oh, Char… What -?"

"S-sorry," he sniffled. "I'm just… really happy. I never thought this would happen to me."

Nick bundled him into his arms. "Oh, Char… Me neither."

"And now we're gonna tell people?"

"Yeah."

They managed to disentangle themselves from each other just in time to not miss their train. Luckily, there was one that left at a good enough time that meant they could get home just as school ended. Nick had already told his mum he would get the bus home today so she wouldn't come to pick him up from school.

Not even having to change into their uniforms in the horrible station loos dampened their glow.

Nick tried to wipe the smile from his face as he unlocked his front door, slightly terrified his mum would be able to read every moment of his day on his face. As Nick stirred his tea and his mum looked up at him from over her laptop, he realised this had not worked in the slightest.

"You seem smiley," she said. "Did you have a good day?"

"Um… yeah. It was alright, I guess."

Nick sat down at the table and was immediately greeted by an excitable Nellie, her tail wagging madly. "Hey Nellie! Did you have a good day?"

"Boof!" said Nellie.

Even with Nellie's soft head in his lap, Nick felt the slight tension return to him about what he was about to do. The knowing look his mum was giving him did not help matters, either.

"Mum?"

"Mmhm?"

"You know Charlie's like… my best friend?"

"If you're going to ask if he can come to Menorca with us this summer, the answer is no, I already booked the tickets and -"

"No…" said Nick, turning to look at Nellie instead of dealing with any of the possible looks his mum might be giving him. "No, that's not what I was gonna say…" Even Nellie's non-judgemental stare proved to be too much so he shut his eyes. "He's my boyfriend. Charlie's my boyfriend. I - I still like girls, but… I like guys too, I think… And Charlie, we're - we're going out. I wanted you to know."

Nick wiped furiously at his eyes as he peered across at his mum.

"Oh, baby," she said. She got carefully to her feet to join him on the other side of the table. "Thank you for telling me that."

Sarah pulled him into her arms and rubbed soothing circles onto his back. "Shh, it's okay." She wiped away the rest of his tears. "Sweetheart, you don't have to say you like girls if you don't…"

"No, I - I definitely like both! It's - it's called… um… bisexuality… if you've heard of that."

Sarah chuckled. "Yes, I've heard of that. I wasn't born in 1920."

Nick chuckled too, between sniffles.

"How long have you known?"

"Well, me and Charlie started going out just over two months ago… but I started liking him way before that… Months and months ago. I wanted to tell you, but we never talk about, like, gay stuff. I didn't know how you would react. Are you surprised?"

"I… had my suspicions," said Sarah. "Especially after seeing how much you care about him. But… I was never sure."

She stroked his slightly damp cheek affectionately. "I love you, Nicky. I'm sorry I ever made you feel like you couldn't tell me that."

Nick beamed, so very relieved and hugged his mum tightly. "Love you, too."

"So," Sarah said as she pulled away. "Is this the reason you found it acceptable to skip school today?"

Nick's face fell and his heart plummeted into his feet. "Wha-?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Nicholas. I got a call from Truham this morning asking why you weren't in, and, because I'm a nice mother, I told them you were too poorly to go to school. I'm assuming you didn't go wherever you went alone. I'm assuming Charlie went with you."

Nick nodded grimly. "We just wanted to get away… for a bit…"

"I know you've been a bit off lately, baby. I can't pretend I haven't noticed how stressed you've been. Keeping your relationship a secret must have been very hard on you both. Goodness knows, you deserve to be happy and have fun but…" Sarah sighed heavily, and turned suddenly deadly serious. "I hadn't planned on telling you like this but… they found another body."

The nausea rose in Nick's stomach. He gripped the hem of his hoodie tightly.

"Another dead teenager, Nicky." Sarah shook her head miserably. "I don't know what's going on in this town but I need you to promise me you will never go anywhere without telling me like that, ever again."

"I understand. Of course." Nick swallowed. "W-who was it?"

"Her name was Isabella Harding. Did you know her? She was in your year at Higgs."

"No."

But that didn't stop Nick's stomach from turning over horribly.

"They found her under the railway bridge. Another shooting." She fixed her son with a desperately intense stare. "I need to know where you are at all times, do you understand? I don't want to go to another joint funeral for another teenage couple."

Quite a bit of dialogue from the graphic novels in this chapter. But I've tried my best to adapt it to this new storyline without taking away the essence of the original.

Thanks for reading! Leave a nice comment if you like x