I don't own Night World, but I do own the story line.

Jez and Morgead: SuperStar

Chapter 3

Jez POV

Morgead texted me when we were halfway to Sacramento. Uncle Bracken said that it might be easier to get a new phone, so that he didn't know my number. I just about managed to hold the tears back when I saw what he had written.

Hi J, I went to ur house bt u wernt ther. R u alrite? M xxx

He cared so much about me, and I was just throwing it back in his face.

I wish I'd told him when I'd had the chance. I thought. But I can't tell him now. Not in a text. It's too cruel.

I deleted the text and switched off my phone.

We made it to Sacramento with no more mishaps, and I got out, uncle Bracken helping me with my luggage. Aunt Nanami came outside with a girl with black hair about my age and a boy with brown hair who looked about ten.

"Hi! How are you?" my aunt said.

"I'm fine, thanks," I said. I smiled, trying not to show my heartache.

"I'm your aunt Nan. This is Claire," she gestured towards the girl. "And Ricky," she gestured towards the young boy. We all smiled tightly.

"Claire, can you show Jez to her room?" Aunt Nan asked Claire.

Claire nodded, and I followed her with my bags.

"So, you lived in San Francisco before you came here?" she asked.

I nodded. "Do you have a piano here?" I asked.

Claire shook her head. "But there are loads at the school we're going to. It has a massive music department. There's usually a practice room free at lunch. Do you play the piano?"

"A bit," I said.

Claire smiled. "I always wanted to learn, but I never got round to it. I love listening to piano music, though."

"It's even more fun playing it."

"I'd bet."

I smiled. I was happy that I would hopefully find a good friend in Claire.

She helped me take everything in the room. She left me alone to unpack. I appreciated the chance to think.

I first pulled out my diary and photo album. I didn't look in them. I had cried enough for a day. All I did was sit on the edge of my new bed, my legs curled up, my chin resting on my knees, and tried as hard as I could to not think.

Uncle Bracken came in after a while. He just held me and cried.

"What shall I tell Morgead?" He asked after a while.

I looked out the window.

"Tell him that you don't know where I've gone to and that I just left a note saying that... I want to make my own way in life."

He nodded seriously and left.

I lay back on my bed, my view disrupted by emerald green eyes.

Morgead POV

She had left.

I stared at Bracken in shock as he told me that he didn't know where Jez was, but she'd left a note saying that she wanted to make her own way in life.

I heard myself saying something along the lines of, "If that's what she wanted..." in a strangled voice that I hardly recognised as my own.

When I was back at my apartment, I stared at the photo that I'd taken of her.

She'd left. She never could have cared if she just left, without fight. She'd always seemed so strong, so sure of herself...

Had it all been a lie? I didn't think so. No-one would have been able to act so perfectly through all the years. Had I imagined that she cared for me? I hoped not.

"Jez... was it all a lie?" I asked to the photo.

It didn't respond.

I felt cold, cold as ice. A wind had blown through and around me, extinguishing my only sun, the centre of my universe.

"How could you, Jez?" I said. This time I was talking to the canvas she'd painted for me. The Jez in the picture stared back at me with eyes as warm as they always stared out the picture, but I could now see a coldness underneath the light-hearted smile that made her seem like an angel. She was looking at me the same as always, but with new eyes I could see that she looked clever. She looked like she was plotting.

I ripped the painting from the wall and threw it across the room. I collapsed on the floor, shaking uncontrollably.

I didn't play my piano from that day on.