Chapter Five

Sephy

I went down to my private beech today but it felt different. It felt cold, hopeless and dead. Just Like Callum. Why did almost everything lead to Callum? Why couldn't I stop thinking about him? I know I loved him but I need to move on. It's what Callum would've wanted, right?

"You miss Callum?" A voice asked from behind me.

I was stunned because I thought I was here alone. I turned around to see a nought man who was about my age.

"Yeah, I do but who the hell are you?" I asked, still sitting on the sand.

"Me?" He said putting his hand on his chest. "I'm Blake Poultice but that's not important."

Blake walked over to me and sat down. He offered his hand so I shaked it politely.

"So, when is your baby due?" Blake asked with a friendly smile on his face.

"I think it's three months away but who's counting?"

"All of Britain."

"More importantly, why are you on my family's beech?"

"It's a free country or does that only count as crosses 'cause if I does I can leave," Blake told me pointing his right thumb behind him.

"No, you don't have to leave."

"When was the last time you talked to someone you actually liked?"

"Umm…probably before Callum got taken away from me."

"Yeah, Callum was a great guy," Blake said staring at the sea.

"How do you know Callum?" I asked cautiously.

"He was my next door neighbour before his house got, you know, burnt down."

I tucked my knees as close to my chest as possible and wrapped my arms around them.

"So what brings you here to this beech?" I asked.

"Callum said this place was real nice so I thought I'd check it out to see if he was right. And like most things, he was right about this beech."

"He was smart so I'm not surprised."

"Do you like talking to people?"

Blake had asked me the weirdest question ever. But then I took a second to think and it clicked. How many people had I talked to in my whole life? Not many.

"I like talking but…" I said, trying to think of why I didn't talk to many people.

"But people don't understand you?" Blake suggested.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"I know where you're coming from."

"How?"

"My mum and dad homeschooled me so I didn't talk to many kids. I was beaten up by a bunch of crosses when I was fifteen because I asked a cross girl for directions. I hate going into clubs because I don't like crowds and I don't like many noughts."

"Why?"

"Because they're all hell-bent on getting one over on the crosses," Blake said and took a quick look at me. "No offense."

"None taken."

When Blake looked at me I felt like he forgot my skin colour and saw whom the real Persephone Hadley was.

"You know something, I think that you should be loved instead of hated," Blake said from out of the blue.

"Why?"

"Because you have just had a friendly conversation with me without saying one mean comment and you answered everything I asked you truthfully," Blake said with a victorious smile.

"How do you know I was telling the truth?" I asked with a mischievous smile.

"The look in your eyes were as genuine as they come and I like trusting people," Blake said and smiled.

He then looked at his watch and back at me.

"Will you be here tomorrow?" Blake asked which made me feel better.

"Yeah."

"I'll see you then," Blake said and got up.

He walked away slowly as if he was taking in the whole beech. He seemed like a nice guy. I liked him and even though I had only had one conversation with him I felt like he was my only friend in the world. And to honest I could use a friend right now.

Chapter Six

Blake

I walked home slowly. Debating with myself because part of me wanted me to go back and talk to Sephy but something else told me no. One conversation and I already want to talk to her after I've left to go home. She seemed like my friend but I've presumed that people were my friends before but that ended with me in the hospital. But Sephy had no one and neither did I. We seemed like we would make good friends but I keep wondering why I talked to her in the first place.

Callum had told me about the beech so I went there, thinking I would be alone but then Sephy was there. She looked so alone, so helpless and lost just like I was. I knew it was Sephy on the beech because she was pregnant and it was her family's private beech so it had to be her unless her sister, Minerva, got knocked up. I had questions for Sephy because every conversation starts with a question. I thought asking about Callum would help her and me but mostly her. I could tell she was lonely and just wanted Callum back so reminiscing seemed good.

I was close to my house, which made me look at where Callum's house once was. His house used to be nice but now it was just rubble and ash. I remember the night when his house was set on fire. I was in my room listening to music when I saw the orange flames from out my window. I thought I was imagining it but people's "Oh my God"'s told me it was real. I had a mini heart attack when I thought about the fact that Callum's family could have been in there.

I opened my front door, walked in and closed it behind me. I walked into my living room and sat down on the couch. I made a sight that almost woke my lazy brother, Drew, who was sleeping on the couch. Drew was a year older that me but he was an arsewhole. He got sent to school and I didn't. It was unfair but Drew is "the golden child" and I was "the accident". Drew is the apple of my parents' eyes and I'm just a sour lemon.

"Where did you go out to this time, brother?" Kyle, my other and older brother, asked as he walked into the room.

"I went to the beech," I told him and made room on the couch so he could sit down as well.

I liked Kyle better than Drew because he got treated just like me. He got homeschooled with me but we weren't friends. He was my older brother so we were never going to get on but it would have been nice.

"Wake up," Kyle said and hit Drew's torso.

Drew looked like a rabbit caught in a headlight when he opened his eyes. He instantly sat up and gave Kyle room to sit down because if he didn't Kyle would have sat on him and believe me, it's happened before. Kyle sat down and some how he got the TV remote. He turned on the telly and the news was on. It was always the news.

"….Kamal Hadley's daughter, Persephone Hadley, is pregnant with the baby of the nought terrorist and rapist, Callum McGregor. There have been no reports on how Persephone is handling this ordeal but we hope to get some information soon. In other news…" the female news reporter said sounding more like a gossip column in a newspaper.

I felt sorry for Sephy because the whole world was being so condescending. It didn't bother me about what the news about Sephy before I talked to her but now I took it as a personal insult.

"Why can't they leave that girl alone?" I asked aloud and instantly regretting it.

"She's just another dagger," Drew said.

"That Persephone Hadley is just a cross airhead who only cares about herself," Kyle said.

"Close minded idiots," I said under my breath but I knew Kyle heard me.

"And why do you care what the world thinks of Persephone Hadley?" Kyle asked and gave me an aggressive look.

"Well she might be a nice person and she might actually care about something other than herself," I told him with a feeling of power behind every word I said.

"She's just another dagger," Drew said with the kind of voice that meant the discussion was over.

I instantly decided to go to bed. I got up off the couch and went up the stairs to my bedroom. I shared a room with Kyle but we had separated the room with a curtain that went right down the middle. Just because we lived in the same room didn't mean we had to look at each other. I went to my side of the room and crawled into bed with my cloths on. Was Sephy thinking about me? Why should she? She had just lost Callum so how could I even think she would spare a thought for me. But what if she was sparing many thoughts for me. What if she was thinking about tommorow and seeing me at the beech. We hadn't said a time but that didn't matter. I couldn't wait. I finally had someone who could be my friend. Finally.