Chapter 2

Life's complicated, especially when you're me – Anna-Beth Maree Seemore, or just Annie for short. Just to make it clear to all of you, I hate my middle name and my last name. I just have to keep them because I'm not adopted yet. I'm eleven years old, born on the eleventh of October. I'm 136cm tall – yeah, I am that short – and my hair's a darkish brown, but I want it black. The only reason it's not dyed some random colour is because the school says you have to have natural hair colour, which I think is stupid. How else can a girl express themselves? Anyway, my life revolves around school, and friends, but at the same time I know there's something else out there, that I can't get to. I feel like I'm trapped, despite being just a school-girl in a local middle school on the east coast of Australia. I live with a foster family, led by a woman named Mrs Sanders. She's a good mum, cause I can talk to her about almost anything. I wish my mother had been like this. No such luck for me – she's in prison. I go to church every Sunday night. I live in a run-down wood house on the Gold Coast, and there's this massive pool out the front. It's an okay place to live, but It's real crappy. Rubbish piles line the streets and it's super dirty. Anyway, it's fun inviting friends over and stuff, just to chill… and eat takeaway while we chill. I hate school, simply because I hate learning. The only reasons I go are to diss the teachers and see my friends. Every morning and afternoon, I go surfing on the beach, and every night I meet friends at the youth hall. My life is generally a good life. But it wasn't always like this. I can hardly remember, but there was a big white house, white clothes, white room. It was nothing like the black walls and pink décor of my room today. I have one photo, which I had in my pocket the day everything changed. It was the one I got with my card on my second birthday. There is a woman wearing white – my mum –, and a man in black – probably my dad. It was before mum got sent to prison and Dad died. Next to them is a young girl. Under the photo, it says, in very faint pencil:

Dear Anna-Beth,

Every day you live on is a gift from God. Happy Birthday.

With love,

Mum, Dad and Leah.

Leah? Okay, why have I not been told about this girl? She's my freaking identical twin sister! I carry this photo everywhere. It even has a random coffee stain on the corner from when I was being sort of careless. I don't know if she's even alive, but I trust God will keep her safe, wherever she is.

If I ever meet my sister again, it'll be the best day of my life.

'Anna? Anna-Beth?' Annie spun around. She was dressed for summer, with a stripy almost-mid drift and skinny jeans, even though it was the middle of winter. She never felt the cold. The kid looked like he came from about the fourth grade, though he was easily ten centimetres taller than her. 'Mr Goppins said you have detention tomorrow for not coming to class.'

Annie scowled. 'I didn't come because I hate maths, and I felt like a swim. Plus, I'm not even coming to school tomorrow, so I won't even be there for my detention.'

'Where're you going?'

'None of your business, sprout.' Annie grinned and tossed him a packet of ovaltines. 'Here, take this for all your trouble.'

'Thanks.' The kid winked. 'You'll have to watch out for you're detention consequences, though.'

'Who cares?' Annie waved him off and turned back to the inside of her locker, which was covered in pictures of friends and her dog, Missy. She was just slamming the door shut when a huge weight pressed down on her shoulders. Annie screamed as someone flipped over her and landed on the ground just centimetres from where her hand was now resting.

'Jesus, Reece! Watch it!'

Reece Blackwood grinned at her. 'Sorry.' Twelve years old, he'd been Annie's boyfriend for over a year. He had no parents and lived in a small shed next to Annie's house, as one of her permanent foster brothers. It was more like he was her actual adopted brother. It didn't look good going out when they lived under the same roof, but nobody seemed to care. After shoving his books in his locker, he laced his fingers through hers and together they walked through the crowded playground.

'Man, I'm so glad we're not in primary anymore.' Annie remarked, as she pointed to a group of year-ones wrestling with each other on the grass. 'Those kids are mental.'

Reece nodded. 'Tell me about it.' They reached the corner of the playground where Annie's group of friends always sat. There were about ten kids, half boys, half girls, with a few annoying tag-alongs. Her best friend, Lee Sommers, nodded to her.'

'Nice swim? I should've joined you, but Mr Watkins caught me in the hallway and made sure I went to my exam, which I probably failed. Coming this-arvo?

Annie shrugged. 'Sure. Don't want to go to Japanese, anyway.'

'Cool.' Lee grinned at her and was about to say something else when she got pulled up by one of the tags. She threw a scowl back at Annie, who smirked.

No sooner had she smirked, people realised she had arrived and started coming over, delivering her the 'news'. This happened almost every day. She had no idea what it was about her that made everyone want to be her friend. Sometimes it was good – like, it brought people like Lee and Reece into her life, she had loads of friends and she never felt like she was un-loved. But a lot of the time, it was bad, because you got tag-alongs like Maree.

Maree had first started befriending Annie because her name was Annie's middle name. At first, Annie had been nice and welcomed her, but she gradually got more and more annoying. She was the sort of girl who never let go, no matter how many times you gossiped about her or dissed her.

The amount of times Maree tried to talk to her every day left Annie with a blurred mind. Most of the time, she used the one-on-one boyfriend excuse with Reece to get away from her. But even then, Maree looked like she was waiting for them to break up or something so that she could get all the attention. She sometimes even came up to them and disturbed their privacy completely.

Luckily she wasn't hanging with them today, but there were still other kids trying to get into the 'inner-circle', that consisted of Annie, Reece and Lee, and seven others: Bethany Spark, Sean Rowley, Bradlee Gilbert, Wilson Flint, Teesh MacLeigh, Kati Power and Jay Wryte. Right now, Sean was showing her a print-out of a MySpace fight between Bethany and their group enemy Vanessa Maggins. It was pretty funny, reading all the good comebacks that had been written and laughing at lame excuses Vanessa had made, but at the same time it felt like they were just trying to get her attention. Nearing to the end of the fight, the actual point of it became unknown and it was just random accusations, which made the whole thing more and more pointless.

Annie laughed with them, but after a while she extracted herself and went off with Reece. It wasn't that she didn't like her friends. She loved every one of them. It was just that she needed her space. It was the tag alongs that just drove her completely round the bend.

'Sounds like a pretty pointless fight, hey?' Reece read her thoughts, exactly how he always did. Annie always wondered how he did it. It was like he had psychic powers or something.

'Yeah, but I'm still with Bethany the whole way,' Annie sighed, 'even though she did throw some pretty false accusations in. Like the fact that her boyfriend said she was a lesbian. That's so not true.'

'Yeah, but it was funny. Good to have something to liven the place up sometimes.'

Annie smiled at him. ''Tis,' she pulled him into a hug, and then plopped down onto a bench. 'Maree is getting really annoying.'

'You'll always have tags like Maree, no matter where you go.' Reece said. 'You can't get away from it, but you should learn to accept it. God just happened to make you beautiful.'

Annie sighed, and thought how good it was to have someone to lean on. Someone who wouldn't let you be put down and encouraged her. But she left this subject quickly, because it reminded her of her sister. Still, it didn't stop tears forming in her eyes.

'Are you okay?' Reece put his arm around her. Only Reece and Lee knew about Leah. Annie just didn't trust anyone else enough to tell them.

'I'm fine. I just remembered my sister, that's all.' She sighed again. 'Do you think I'll ever see her again?'

'Only God knows,'

Annie smiled at him. 'I hope what God knows is good.'

'Me too.'

'I wonder what she's doing.'

'Probably got a huge hunk of friends, if she's anything like you, with tag-alongs coming out of her ears.' Reece said.

'Probably got a boyfriend too.' Annie said. 'Like you, again.'

They sat for a few minutes in silence, before Annie spoke up again.

'I feel like I have to track her down, myself. Mum told me she died in the car accident that killed dad, but I didn't buy it. I don't know why. I just felt hope that she might still be alive.'

'I used to wonder if my Mum was still alive, even though I knew she wasn't. I just never stopped hoping she was somewhere out there, until I realised it was for real.' Reece said. 'Besides, if your mum was lying to you, she's lying for a reason. She wants to keep you safe. I'm sure she wouldn't keep you two apart for no reason.'

'God help me.' Annie said, changing the subject completely. 'We have to go.'

'What is it?' Reece asked.

'Maree.'

'Oh God.' He led her by the hand and they disappeared as fast as they could into the crowd. They had to run through the middle of a football game between the grade fours and fives to get to safety. After a minute or two, they crashed out behind a building, puffed from running. 'She's one twisted girl.'

'Tell me about it.' Annie said.

I'm sitting in my room with my curtains drawn. The sun is pouring in from outside and starting to blind me slightly. Reece is in his shed. Lee – she lives next door – has gone to the markets with her Dad. Mum's out at the market's too, and she's taken two of my brothers with her. Two of my sisters, who are both under the age of eight, are playing with dolls in the attic. My other three sisters and brothers are down at the beach, surfing: Alice, Tessa, Jennifer, Joe, Matt and Josh. All freaks about the beach, even Jennifer, who came from Mount Isa last week and isn't mad on cold water. All I can hear is the sound of Reece's Amplifier turned down low and the occasional high-pitched scream from the attic. It's an early start for a Friday. Normally I'm still under the covers, either texting Reece because I don't want to walk down to him, or just dozing. Anyway, as I said before, I'm not going to school today. Mum's decided that we can all have a day off because we've been apparently working very hard on our school work. This is so not true because I never work, but I don't mind her saying so because now I don't have to go to my detention or see Maree's face again for another three days. I'll probably go surfing with Reece and maybe with Lee when she gets back. Then tonight I have to go to Little Athletics. I only go because Lee, Reece and a lot of my friends go, and there's nothing else to do. Reece is in under thirteens with Bradlee and Bethany, so I'm stuck in under twelves with Jay, Kati, Sean and Lee. I have a suspicion that there's something going on between Lee and Sean, so I don't really like interrupting their conversations. And, well, Jay and Kati have been dating for nearly six months. So, I kind of have to go around with Lee and Sean to not look like a complete loner. Fortunately, we also get loads of free time, so I meet up with Reece then to get away from my love-sick friend. The only two friends who don't go are Teesh and Wilson. I'm stuck in the middle.

The door slammed with a bang, vibrating the walls of the old wooden house. Annie's foster Mum bustled up the hallway, with identical twin brothers Will and Ryan, five years old. Mrs Sanders dumped boxes of fruit and vegetables on the long bench in the kitchen before opening the window and ringing a bell – Annie's bell.

Because twelve other kids lived in the house besides Annie and her mum, the house had to be fairly bigger than your average house. When Mrs Sanders became a foster parent, she bought the house behind and turned it into a place to house all the children. When a kid was required, she simply rang their bell – every bell sounded different. Annie appeared from the top of the stairs.

'I was in my room.'

'Sorry,' Mrs Sanders swept her into a hug which took her feet off the floor. 'I was afraid I'd missed you. Where is everyone?'

'Kaisa and Lizzie are playing in the attic, Reece is in the shed and the others are on the waves. I was gonna join them but I wanted to wait 'til Lee got back.'

'I saw her at the markets. She said she'd meet you there at eight. You'd better hurry, that's ten minutes.' She kissed the top of Annie's head and replaced the bell on a shelf above the fridge. Annie thankfully rushed off, flying down the stairs and out the back door, over the narrow gully bridge and right up to the door of a wood shelter. Reece answered with his ever-present smile. 'Hi.'

'Mum says Lee wants to meet us at the beach at eight. Coming?'

'Sure.' Reece said. 'Just need to pack up. Meet you in five minutes on the street.'

Annie nodded and walked the ten-or-so metres to the door of the kid's house. It was good living here, because life never got boring, but at the same time it was bad because there was very little privacy. At night, when everyone was packed in, the noise was terrific and every minute you had to get up and re-shut your door because other kids kept ramming it. If she could buy anything in the world, she'd buy a lock for her door and a pair of earplugs.

The beach was reasonably quiet for a Friday morning. Only a few people were surfing, with a few other early risers walking along the beach. Lee waved to them as they got close.

'Hi. Took your time.'

'We only got the news to come down about fifteen minutes ago.' Annie said, sitting down to smother on sun-tan lotion. 'How were the markets?'

'They were OK.' Lee said. 'This old guy tried to give me a free rock. Seemed pretty weird.'

'That's what happened to me last year.' Reece said. 'Should never take them. Apparently they curse them and stuff.'

'Oh damn.' Lee grabbed her bag and rustled through it, throwing out a shiny-looking pebble. 'You should have said that earlier.'

Annie and Reece both laughed. 'It's just a novelty thing. Don't take it seriously.' Annie said. Lee didn't look too convinced.

'Do up my zip, Lee?' Annie turned around, back to her friend. Lee tugged the zip of the wet-suit up, careful not to snag it in Annie's hair.

'You want yours done too, Reece?'

'Already done.' Reece said, picking up his surf board. 'Let's go.'

The water was beautiful, like silk brushing your skin. It was a clear as drinking water, with a slight tinge of blue, exactly like a tropical island. The scene was perfect. After surfing they went and had fish and chips for breakfast, before heading back to the house.

As soon as she got in the gate, Annie peeled off her suit and hurtled herself into the pool. 'Ugh. That salt is really making me stink.'

Matt grinned. 'Nothing more than usual.'

Annie flicked him off as Reece tore off his wet-suit and jumped in with her. The splash was huge and soaked Jennifer, who was standing a little too close. She scowled and went inside. At nine years old, she always seemed to be in a mood and didn't like being social with the other kids. The social workers were getting worried about her. After losing her mum to cancer three months earlier, she had gradually sunk into depression. She wouldn't speak to any of the counsellors who Mrs Sanders sent her to, and most of her spare time in her room reading and sulking. The only reason she'd come down to the beach was because Mrs Sanders had told her she needed fresh air. She apparently didn't like surfing at all.

'Chill out, Jen.' Joe yelled after her. He didn't get an answer.

After a few hours, Lee went off to school. She said that she didn't want to, but that her Dad would throw a spack at her if she didn't. Mrs Sanders offered to drive her, and got them Hungry Jacks on the way home. Tessa and Alice refused it and went off shopping. They seemed to have this overall desire to be really, really slim. At thirteen years of age, they both looked close to anorexic.

'Wouldn't want any more lard on those thighs, would we girls?' Matt taunted. He was a good one for making other kids feel small and stupid.

Annie rolled her eyes. She'd just got out of the pool and her skin was wrinkled from swimming all morning. 'You think you're just so smart.' She rubbed herself down with the towel, making her skin come up bright red.

'That's because I am.'