Chapter 11:

The idea had been to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. By standing up for April, I was positive that I had her trust – and that meant I should be able to start planting doubts in her head about whether she was doing the right thing by keeping quiet about her brother. She already felt guilty about that other guy being arrested. It wouldn't be long before she confessed.

However, to do this I actually needed to be around April – and I'm sure you can imagine my irritation when I got to school on Friday and found that April hadn't come in. She was supposed to be sick or something. Yeah, well last time I checked, she was fine. And now this…

After a while, I realized there was no use in getting angry about it. I could go and see her after school or over the weekend instead. And, of course, I realized that April's absence provided me with many advantages. Specifically, I could act as I normally would around Suze. No one would care that I still liked her – and they wouldn't bother telling April.

So first chance I got - as we were walking through the breezeway on the way to our next lesson – I pulled Suze aside and into an empty classroom.

"Paul," Suze said, clearly irritated. "What do you want?" She glared at me pointedly. "You're making me late for my next class, you know."

I smiled and took a seat on the teacher's desk, for some reason amused at her outburst.

"Relax," I said, "We won't be too long."

She glared at me. "This had better be important," she grumbled, leaning against the wall behind her.

I kept smiling at her. "You look gorgeous today, Suze." I stated.

She squirmed nervously, but covered it up by asking impatiently, "What do you want, Paul?"

Don't feel like chatting, eh, Suze? Too bad. I do. Still, I guess we can leave the idle chatter for another time.

I sighed and stood up. "I just thought I should inform you that when April comes back, you shouldn't stop trying to get her to confess because of what I'm doing. April might get suspicious if you do." I walked towards her. "And we need to act like nothing's changed."

Suze kept on glaring at me. "Right, whatever. Is that all or does his majesty have any more orders I need to carry out?"

I smirked and put one hand on the wall Suze was leaning against, just next to her head, smiling in amusement. "Really, Suze. I'm done with that. However, we do have other business to attend to."

Suze swallowed. She was uncomfortable, but I wasn't going to let her move. I lifted my other hand to her face and lightly ran a finger down the side of it. Smiling again, I leaned in just a little closer.

She seemed to stop breathing for a second. Her voice was almost inaudible as she said, "Paul… don't do this." She sounded terrified.

I moved my finger to her lips. God, did I ever want to kiss those lips right then. But I stopped myself.

Just.

"I wasn't lying yesterday when I said that I missed talking to you – hell, just being with you. So I'm just… savoring the moment."

Suze scowled at me, knocking my hand away from her face.

"Savor this, Paul. I HATE YOU! Get out of my face!" Quick as a flash, she punched me in the stomach and I bent over, winded, gasping for breath. "I don't know why you think you have the right to do this to me and I certainly don't know what it is you think you feel about me, but I will NEVER feel the same way!" She continued stonily, "I hate you – and I'll never forgive you for what you've done to me or to Jesse."

My face twisted in anger – she thought what I felt was fake? I had never felt anything more real. She didn't have a clue what she was talking about. I straightened myself up and sneered at her, half-expecting her to storm from the room, but she didn't. She was still standing by the wall, her fist still clenched from punching me, just giving me a look of pure loathing.

I stared back at her, unsmiling, my face a mask devoid of emotion.

"Some things are meant to be, Suze – and we're one of them. You'll see that… eventually."

Unsurprisingly, she wasn't convinced.

"Don't get your hopes up," was her only response, before turning and walking out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

She never looked back.

And as I watched her, I felt as if all the hope I had that this would work was just fading away. I went back to sit on the teacher's desk and slumped my head in my hands. God, this was killing me.

As it turned out, I didn't need to go looking for April – she came to me. I was at home reading a book when the doorbell rang, and when I answered it, there she was. She looked bad – actually, that was an understatement. She looked awful. Her usually glossy curls were dull and limp and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Underneath her eye was a deep cut and that side of her face looked bruised.

I couldn't figure out what was going on.

"April," I asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry I came around without calling first," she muttered, seeming to not hear me, "I haven't interrupted anything have I?"

I shook my head.

"I just… don't have anywhere else to go."

I nodded slightly, waiting for her to elaborate, but waving her inside. She complied, coming to the living room and sitting on the sofa, trembling nervously.

"I just needed to get out of the house," she continued, "Today was Hell."

I believed her. She looked like she hadn't slept at all last night. She looked on the verge of crying again. I was confused – what was causing April, a girl who always seems to live and enjoy life to the full, to break down completely like this?

"Do you want to talk about it?"

April looked at me, and I saw how grateful she was that I was there for her and a person she could talk to. It was like she thought she could count on me. Almost as if she completely depended on me. And as I registered this, I was disgusted to find that I just wanted to get the Hell out of there, to run miles in the opposite direction, because I was starting to feel something horribly similar to guilt – and I already had enough to last me a lifetime.

I was broken from my thoughts by April letting out a small sob. "Yes. But… it's just… it's hard… I've never had anybody to talk to about… things… before." I felt a pang of sadness for April hit my chest, and I stared at the floor uncomfortably. After all, if your last resort is a fake one, what have you got left?

I forced the stray emotions away. I couldn't feel like this now – it would ruin everything. And as if I, Paul Slater, could ever run away from something I promised myself – and Suze – that I would do. And for what? Just because April wouldn't like it? If there were an easier option than to do this to April, then I'd take it.

But for now I had to go through with this – for Suze's sake.

I placed a comforting hand on April's shoulder.

"Well, Matt didn't come home last night. I was kind of worried, because last time he pulled an all-nighter it was when… you know… it happened."

April paused and lowered her head in her hands in despair.

She obviously loved her brother – but she hated what he'd done so much that she just couldn't stand it. She was stuck between remaining loyal to her brother or doing what she thought was the right thing. This was tearing her apart.

She continued. "And then this morning… he turned up just as I was going to school. And he was really, really drunk. Mum went off to work – she isn't coping well, you know. She's asking like it never happened – like she never had a son in the first place. And dad works in another state, so we don't see him much; I don't think he even knows what's going on… Anyway, when she left…" April paused and wiped her nose on her sleeve, unwilling to finish the story.

"What happened?" I prompted her, sitting up and staring at her. "This is important…"

"I was trying to help him, and he totally lashed out at me." I looked at the cut on her face suspiciously, and she got what I meant, and nodded. "Yeah. He did that."

"Why do you put up with him?" I asked, revolted.

"He's my brother! And… he never meant to do it. He told me he was sorry…" she said quietly.

"And that makes it alright?"

"He's my brother, Paul. Does that mean anything to you? Does one incident change how many years he's been kind to me. He never meant to do it," she said stubbornly.

"You should turn him in. Right now." I flicked my cell phone out of my pocket and held it out to her. "Phone the police."

Her voice rose. "What makes you think that you can just tell me to turn him in and I'll do it? You don't even care, do you, Paul? Just like you don't even care about your own brother. You just can't comprehend what it's like to care about someone enough to do something like this for them."

God, April had no idea how wrong she was.

"Why do you think I'm even doing all of this? Just for kicks? God, April, I care about you," I snapped back. The worst thing was that at that moment I actually meant it. Things were not going according to plan.

She stared up at me like those words really meant something to her. Her eyes were shining now, when they'd been so dull before. And then, like she just couldn't stop herself or something, she walked to me and pressed her lips to mine. A fiendish desire rose within me and I found myself kissing back. And the worst thing was, I enjoyed it.

A/N: Elaine - Yay! We updated, amazing isn't it? Sorry it took so long. The next chapter should be up quicker, since I've already written like half of it. So go me!

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