Part Seven
Jake glared at Hamilton.
"get.....that.....thing.....out.....of..... here....... now......." she spoke slowly,
through clenched teeth, while Hamilton tried to contain his laughter. He
carefully threw the covers back, slipped his legs over the side of the bed and
stood up. He grabbed the mouse (*smile*) and walked out of the bedroom through
the lounge room to the front door of the cabin. He gave the mouse a quick pat
and plopped him down on the doorstep. Hamilton turned to go back into the cabin
with the little mouse looking after him, blinking his little eyes as if he were
crying... (I saw that in a movie once. mice are sooo cute sometimes, and I can
just see hammie taking pity on a little mousey) Hamilton turned around and
shook his head at the little guy. "Don't give me that look. It's not my choice.
You saw Jake... She freaked... look you'll be fine... you live out there
remember?" he tried to force himself not to feel guilty but it didn't work too
well. Nonetheless Hamilton walked back into the cabin, and into the room he and
Jake were sharing. He found her fully dressed and sitting on the side of the bed.
He greeted her with a huge smile.
"Don't say a word Ham... Not a
word!"
Ham went and sat next to her.
"You know baby, when I said I was
gonna be the knight in shining armor, you should've told me it'd be a mouse I
was fighting... " Hamilton cracked up laughing again and Jake grabbed the
pillow off the bed and started hitting him with it as she joined in his
laughter.
~Back in New Rawley~
"Finn, do you have a moment?"
Kate caught up to Finn as he walked through the Rawley corridors. Finn sighed.
"Sure Kate, What can I help you with?"
"Um...well you see, I was just
wondering if Hamilton mentioned going away anywhere to you? He wasn't at home
when I woke up this morning, and one of the other teachers thinks she saw him
when she was on her morning run."
"You think he just took off Kate?
It's not like Hamilton to do that. He's a good kid." Finn considered it.
Shaking his head he continued. "No, he wouldn't leave without due reason. Did
you or Steven say anything to upset him?"
Kate tried to remember what had
happened the night before. "Not really, Steven and I mentioned that we wanted
to go away for awhile, maybe to California, but Hamilton was thrilled with the
idea. We haven't been on a holiday for ages. In fact he asked if he could bring
Jake, but Steven said no, that it would just be family, and then Hamilton went
to bed. He seemed a little disappointed but nothing too terrible." Finn smiled, suddenly understanding why
Hamilton might've left.
"Don't worry about it Kate, I'm
sure he's just gone for a day trip with friends. If he's not back tomorrow
afternoon we'll go looking for him ok? Oh, does Steven know?"
"Of course not!" Kate snapped
"I've told you before I'm not going to hurt him like that!" Kate started to
panic as Finn put his hand on her shoulder to try to calm her. " I meant about
Hamilton Kate... Does Steven know that you think he's left town?"
"oh, no... I thought it best not
to worry him. I have to go. Ill talk to you tomorrow Finn." Kate wandered off
blushing profusely. She should've know what Finn was talking about but she felt
so guilty all the time when she was around her husband, and she felt nervous
when she was around Finn. There was just no easy way out of this situation."
Finn watched Kate walk away. He
thought about Hamilton and Jake as he watched the lake calmly flowing,
following the shoreline through the Rawley grounds. They were so much in love.
Hamilton had spoken to Finn on a regular basis, after he found out. He told
Finn of his feelings for Jake, and explained how much he hated hearing the gay
rumors when the truth was that there was a beautiful and talented girl right
under everyone's noses and no one noticed. Hamilton had told Finn that one day
he wanted to marry Jake, and that he wanted them to share a real love, unlike
the love of his mother and father. Kate always seemed to think that Hamilton
had this wild fantasy about his parents being in love and happy, but Hamilton
wasn't blind. He knew that there was trouble at home. Finn sighed He knew that
Hamilton would one day figure out what was going on between him and Kate. He
couldn't help wondering how Hamilton would take it. He couldn't deal with it if
Hamilton hated him. He felt so close to the boy sometimes it was like Hamilton
was his son instead of Steven's.
"hey Charlie" Will walked into
the gas station and grabbed a coke while he waited for Charlie to finish up
with the customer he was serving. Will smiled as he thought about all the times
he and Bella had hung out at the gas station when they were little thinking it
was great fun. Bella had tried to teach him how to tune up a car when he got
older but he had said he'd leave the brawny stuff to her if she left the brainy stuff to him. A harsh word had
hardly been said between them. It looked like they'd be friends forever.
"Hey Will. Thanks for dropping
by, I know you're busy now you're a Rawley boy" Charlie hit will playfully on
the arm as he said that. Charlie was like the good dad, and Brian (did we ever
know wills dads name? If this is wrong let me know.) Was like the bad dad.
"So what's up Charlie? Oh, and
where's our girl?"
"Well Will, Bella's gone out to
some cabin with Jake and Hamilton. We thought it might cheer her up a bit. She
got some news a couple days ago and she's been kinda stressed. Is Scout still
driving you mad?"
"Yeah, I know that he and Bella
went out for a week or so before they found out, but he's taken it really hard.
He's really in love with her. It's Bella this, and Bella that, and don't get me
wrong I love Bel to pieces but it's driving me crazy!" Will laughed. Bella
would be so embarrassed at how Scout spoke about her.
"Well the thing is Will, that I
want you to take Scout out to the cabin where Hamilton. Jake and Bella are. You
have to promise not to breathe a word of this to anyone else, but Bella's mom
came by the other day, and, well Bella's father isn't John Calhoun. She went to
tell Scout but she saw him with some girl, and now she thinks he's over her. If
I talk to Roger and get him to give you the week off work will you take Scout
there for me?"
"Sure Charlie! That's so great!
But what girl is she talking about? I don't remember Scout talking about anyone
but Bel…"
"I think she is just a friend. Bel didn't stick around long enough to figure
out what was going on."
"Ok, well I'm going to go find
Scout, so If u can get us the time off work then we'll be ready to leave
tomorrow."
"Ok, Thanks Will."
Will walked back towards Rawley
academy. So Scout and Bella weren't related at all? This would be great for
Scout and Bella, but Will couldn't help feeling like the odd one out. Jake had
Ham, Bella had Scout again, and Will had no one. Will sighed and picked up the
pace as he started to look for Scout to tell him about their upcoming trip.