Chris woke on Christmas morning to find Irma sobbing in the hallway “Hey
honey…What’s wrong?” he asked gently as he pushed the long strands of hair over
her shoulder “Santa never brought us any cool gifts” Chris caught his breath he
knew this would happen he’d tried to buy what he could but he hadn’t gotten
much for his guitar therefore couldn’t buy them what they really wanted “Didn’t
he?” he asked trying not to let them hear the crack in his voice “Maybe he just
forgot to bring them sweetie” he suggested she wiped away her tears “You
reckon?” he nodded then watched her skip off to play.
While his sisters played Chris fixed dinner then went to shower and
change “Christian something’s smelling burny down here” he heard a little voice
“Noooooooooooo!” he shrieked as he dived down to the kitchen “No no no no no”
he yelled as he threw the pots into the sink “Hi oh hi Mark…Chris yeah sure but
he’s having a major strop just now” Ingrid said Chris glanced at her then took
the receiver from her “Hi Mark…what…oh nothing just ruined Christmas dinner
that’s all”
“Well it just so happens I got a Christmas
dinner here that I can’t possibly eat myself”
“What?”
“You wanna grab the girls and come over?”
“What about your Rents?”
“Well they have a dinner party to attend”
“What but its Christmas day”
“Yeah tell me about it”
“Well if you don’t mind then yeah I’ll take you
up on your offer”
“Great…I’ll see you soon then?”
“Yup thanks”
“No problem” said Mark before ringing off
“Go get changed we’re going round to Mark’s for
dinner”
“Cool” both said in unison as they skipped off
to shower and change into the dresses Chris had bought for them.
~**~
Paul glanced across the table to where Trina sat her face bruised he
still couldn’t believe he was spending Christmas Day in a young offenders
institution “I didn’t think you’d come” she said at last he grinned “Just try
and keep me away babe” he replied happily she bite on the sleeve of her grey
sweatshirt “My mom’s coming in soon” she continued Paul looked into those green
eyes “Yeah I figured she would be” tears started forming in her eyes “God I’ve
messed up” Paul reached over taking her hand “It’s okay…Trine you’ll be out
soon” she bowed her blond haired head “I still got six more months” she sniffed
“They’ll go real quick you’ll see” she smiled through her tears “And you’ll be
there when I get out?” he nodded “Of course I will” she felt reassured “Paul
would you do something for me?” he smiled “I’d do anything for you you know
that?” she grinned “Take me to the prom?” he nodded eagerly “I’ll even buy you
a dress” he offered as Trina recognised her mother in the distance “Mom” she
said as she dissolved into more tears “I’m here sweetie” Paul got up and
offered the woman a seat “Hi Paul” she greeted and he smiled “So how is
everyone? Did you call Chris?” her
mother nodded “Yeah they’re going to a friends for Christmas dinner” Trina
bowed her head “And the twins they’re okay?” her mother nodded “Yeah they’re
fine Chris is taking real good care of them” Trina frowned “Chris is okay isn’t
he mom?” her mother nodded “Yeah” Trina sighed “You’re sure?” she nodded again
“Why?” Trina shrugged “It’s just a feeling I just get the feeling that he’s not
that’s all” her mother looked worried her elder twins were so close they could
almost tell what each other was thinking and feeling “I’ll check on him Trina”
Paul offered and she nodded gratefully “Well I gotta go…I have to be back
before Gloria puts dinner on the table” Trina kissed his cheek “I’ll be back
soon…by Mrs I” Trina’s mother waved as she watched him walk away.
~**~
Tara sat facing Darren and his new girlfriend but felt really out of
place, she’d just finished dinner and was at a lose end “Oh for God sake Tara”
growled Darren when she flopped down on the sofa next to Pam “Why don’t you go
round and see Chris?”
She drew in a deep breath she hadn’t been round
to see Chris since the night they kissed “I’m gonna go round Hayley’s I know
when I ain’t wanted” she suddenly announced as she got up from the couch.
Hayley smiled as she entered the house and went upstairs to her room
“You ain’t seeing Ben tonight are you?” asked Tara
“Well yeah but later why?”
“Coz I gotta tell someone”
“Tell what?”
“Me and Chris kissed”
Hayley stood staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed
“You did what?” she said finally
Tara paced the room “It didn’t mean anything I
was upset and we just…it just sort of happened”
Hayley frowned “Does Paul know?”
“Oh what do you think?”
“Well if it meant nothing then why tell him?”
“Coz I wouldn’t feel right I’ve gotta tell him”
" Well if you wanna risk losing him...then
go tell him”
Tara didn’t know what to do she didn’t want to
lose Paul but she didn’t want to feel this guilty forever.
“It’s up to you…it’s your funeral” Hayley
advised
“If the shoe was on the other foot and this
were you would you tell Ben?”
Hayley smiled “I wouldn’t have to coz I
wouldn’t cheat”
“I didn’t really cheat it was just coz we were
a bit down and well as I said it just sorta happened”
“Well don’t tell then”
Tara was really torn if only Chris hadn’t kissed her. No that wasn’t fair she had been just as
guilty in kissing him back “Look I’m gonna go round Ben’s come if you like?”
suggested Hayley but Tara refused “It’s okay I’ll take a rain check I don’t
wanna cramp your style” she smiled at last.
Hayley hesitated for a second before giving her friend a hug
“Everything’ll be okay you’ll see” she said positively as she reached for her
jacket and hat “Isn’t Ben coming to collect you?” asked Tara
Hayley shook his head “I told him I’d catch the
bus”
“What?
But Haykey It’s Christmas day”
“I’ll be fine honest”
“I’m not too sure Haykey you ain’t very street
wise are you…maybe I should just come along and see you safely there?”
Hayley laughed but was secretly delighted, as
she hadn’t fancied taking the bus on her own especially at night “Okay thanks”
she said happily.
The bus seemed to take forever and both girls were really cold when they
reached Ben’s home. Two cars sat in the
huge driveway along with a black coloured bronco “Wow he must have visitors”
Tara mentioned as they stepped through the large gates “Ben didn’t say he had
guests” whispered Hayley looking nervously around “May I help you?” Hayley
averted her gaze “I’ve em…” she stammered
The woman raised her eyebrows “What?”
“I em…”
“She’s here to see Ben” Tara interrupted
looking irritated
The woman frowned “Well she can’t!”
“Why?” Hayley found her voice at last
“Because we have guests”
Tara rolled her eyes “What? So we ain’t good enough for your
guests? Gee what a nice way to greet
Ben’s girlfriend!”
The woman looked astounded “Why Ben’s
girlfriend is inside”
“What?
Ben has another girlfriend?” said Hayley
“No Benjamin has one girlfriend and she is with
him right now!”
Hayley took a few steps away her right hand
immediately going to her forehead as she tried to take it all in “No he can’t
have he wouldn’t cheat on me” she said quietly
Tara stood her ground “I demand to speak to
him!” she sniped
“You what?” the woman seemed slightly amused by
this girl
“I want to speak to Ben so could you get him
please?”
“No I most certainly wont get him”
Tara tried to push her way into the house but
was prevented “I suggest you leave this property right now before I call the
police and have you thrown in jail”
“Oh you do that! Ben Ben Beeeeeeeeeeeeeen!”
yelled Tara
“Taz come on let’s go,” said Hayley as she
tugged at her arm
“Not until he…”
“Tara please come on I really don’t wanna see
him”
“Fine but he has a lot of explaining to do”
Tara muttered as she walked slowly away.
Hayley’s mind was in turmoil she didn’t believe it Ben would never do
such a thing of that she was sure and why call and ask her to come over? Was this his way of telling her they were
through? Surely he wouldn’t be so cruel
but then he had done some cruel things in the past hadn’t he “Why Taz? Why couldn’t he just have said it was over
like any other normal person” Tara sympathised “I still believe he owes you an
explanation…wait and see what he has to say for himself before you condemn him”
Hayley stared Tara was actually standing up for Ben “No…I wont listen to
anything that lying cheating insect has to say” Tara suppressed the urge to
giggle Hayley was so polite now if it had been Tara calling him names she
wouldn’t have called him insect no the words no use and bastard
sprang to mind “Just give him a chance Haykey” she said again as they made
their way home.
Just as they rounded the corner and stepped onto the main street Tara
caught a glimpse of Paul dressed to the nines in baggy pants t-shirt and blue
hooded zipper boy did he look cool as her eyes moved to his thigh where a heavy
silver chain dangled “Maz” she called he turned quickly “Hey babe” he greeted
her with a kiss “Merry Christmas” she said “Oh yeah Merry Christmas” Tara
watched him carefully he smelt of something which wasn’t aftershave no this was
perfume and perfume which she did not use “God! I’m being paranoid,” she reproached herself as he linked arms
with her then turned to Hayley “Hakers…what’s up?” Hayley forced a smile
“Nothing I’m cool” she said optimistically as they walked Paul in between them
his arms now round both.
~**~
Mark glanced at Chris then the twins who were now sitting watching
Nickelodeon and laughing at some cartoon which had come on “So…you gonna tell
me what’s up?” he asked as they cleared the dinner dishes away Chris let out a
deep sigh “Nothing” Mark didn’t believe him “Come on Chris you hardly ate
anything!” he added worriedly as they entered the kitchen “Oh don’t start on
with that again! I’m perfectly fine
Mark I just wasn’t hungry that’s all” Mark scraped the food into the waste
disposal “When was the last time you had a meal Chris?”
“What?”
“A meal you know what you eat?”
“I know what a meal is Mark”
“Well!”
“Jes--us”
“When?”
“Oh God! Yesterday”
“When yesterday?”
“What?”
“The meal?
When yesterday did you have it?”
“Dinner time I ate with the twins”
“Is that a fact…so if I call them in here they’ll
say you ate with them?”
“Yes Dad they’ll say I ate with them”
Mark drew up to his full 6ft in height then
headed for the door.
“Okay…okay they wont”
“C-h-r-I-s…buddy you gotta eat”
“I do eat I had a snack”
“A snack?”
“Oh God Yeah a snack”
“On a scale of one to ten how nutritious is
that?”
“What?
Are you some kind of dietician now?”
“No!
Just a concerned friend”
Chris bowed his head “I’m fine…honest” he
assured as he walked away.
Mark finished loading the dishwasher then went to talk to his friend
“So you wanna talk about it?”
“Nope”
“Okay”
“Tara’s seeing Paul now”
“I know”
“You know?”
“Yeah it was obvious they’d get it together”
“Really?”
“Sure we all knew they were attracted to each
other”
“All except me it seems”
Mark looked at him “Oh God! You like her don’t you?”
“Yeah well there ain’t any point in liking her
in that way coz all we’ll ever be is friends”
“I’m sorry bud…I know how you feel”
“Yeah…well at least you got with your chick in
the end I got no chance which is the story of my life really…all fucked up in
every way”
“Don’t say that”
“Why?
It’s true”
Mark watched him stand up and rest his back
against the wall
“Chris you’ve a lot going for you”
“What?
Are you nuts name one?”
“Well...well I can’t not off hand”
Chris scoffed “I knew it I’m good at absolutely
fuck all”
“Chris don’t bring yourself down…there ain’t
no-one I know of that can hold it together the way you can”
“Me hold it together oh please…I couldn’t even
get my kid sisters what they wanted for Christmas…I’ve stuffed up my grades big
time and you’re right I haven’t eaten a proper meal in days…so you see my life
is all fucked up” frustrated tears begun to well up in Chris’s eyes making them
even greener than usual
“Oh Chris buddy…everything will be fine we’ll
all help” Mark consoled, Chris slid down the wall and rested his head on his
knees “I just can’t take this anymore Mark…I’ve had enough I just want things
to go back to normal”
Mark placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder
giving it a gentle squeeze “It will Chris…it will…and as I said we’ll all chip
in and help out” he assured as he eyed two little anxious faces in the doorway
“Is Chris all right mark?” Ingrid asked “Yeah he’s just a bit sad that’s all”
Mark replied “He can play with my Barbie doll if he wants” said Irma Mark
smiled “It’s okay…you go play with it honey” he said but they remained where
they were “Chris will a hug stop you from being sad? Your hugs always stop me from being sad” said Ingrid sweetly Mark
smiled as he watched the twins throw themselves into their brother’s arms and
hug him as tightly as they could, Mark frowned if a hug could take away
problems then they’d all be gone.
~**~
Paul opened the swing door then stepped inside his home, music filled
the air as he walked across the hall towards the stairs “I kept dinner for you”
he heard Gloria say calmly he grinned “You did cool” she raised an eyebrow
“Yeah…so you gonna tell me where you were?
Or do I have to guess?” he frowned “Just out” she followed him to the
bottom of the stairs “Out where? Its
Christmas day” Paul grinned “No! Really
you’d never have guessed” Gloria rolled her eyes but could never stay angry
with Paul for long “I was round seeing Tara” he lied as he climbed a few stairs
“So do you want me to fix dinner for you?” he smiled “Yeah sure” he replied
then continued upstairs and into his room.
Gloria knew Paul was up to something; he couldn’t lie if his life
depended on it but what? What could he
possibly be up to? The woman had
worried that he might be in with the crowd who’d gotten him into drugs and
stuff she hoped not but Paul was easily led Chris had always been a good
influence on him but now she was even hearing stories about him dealing there
was only one thing for it she would have to sit Paul down and try to have some
sort of serious conversation with him about her fears “Paul come get your
dinner” she called upstairs and had just returned to the kitchen when he
appeared “Wow this looks good” he said hungrily as he sat down “So how was
Tara?” Gloria began as she sat down opposite her large hands cupping the mug of
tea. Paul looked at her “Okay” he
replied then continued eating “So did she get anything nice for Christmas?” he
stopped eating once again “Yeah I think so” he was now beginning to smell a rat
“So what presents did she get?” Paul held the fork next to his mouth “What is
this Glo? Twenty questions? She got lots of girly stuff” Gloria frowned
“Oh right good” Gloria stammered Paul lent back on the seat “You don’t believe
me do you?” he asked boldly watching her eyes grew wide “I’m trying very hard
to believe you Paul” she said quietly Paul bowed his head “Okay I’ll tell you”
he gave in “I was visiting Trina”
“What Trina Ingebrigtsen?”
“Yeah”
“Why?”
“Because she asked me to visit”
“Paul she’s a wild one”
“No she ain’t…we were as much to blame as she
was…we didn’t have to get in the car remember”
“I know but she was the one driving”
“Yeah well that’s what they said”
Gloria looked puzzled “What? What do you mean? Paul was someone else driving that afternoon?”
Paul shrugged he really couldn’t remember they
had all been so out of it that they could hardly stand never mind drive all he
could remember was regaining consciousness only to find Trina’s little white VW
golf soft top on it’s side and Trina kneeling beside her twin who’d been thrown
out of the car and was lying unconscious on the gravel “Paul what happened that
afternoon?” Gloria said as she placed a hand on his arm.
~*~*~*~*~*
“I
can’t believe how pissed we are” Trina said as she tossed the empty bottle away
Paul glanced at his girlfriend then laughed “I must look a sight” the blond
beauty seated on the rock at the side of the creek muttered “You look great
babe” her boyfriend said on his approach they both looked across to where a few
teenagers stood “Hey Lou you’re so gonna fall in there babe” Paul cried as he
stood up Louise Parker waved a hand dismissively “No I wont I’ve done this
heaps of times” she insisted “Yeah but you ain’t been wrecked” laughed Chris “I
don’t know why you bother with them they’re so un-cool” Chris glanced down to
where his girlfriend sat then sighed “They’re my friends Jen” Jennifer looked
up at him ”They’re losers” Chris raised his eyebrows “Well if they’re losers
what the hell does that make me?” she stared at him “You know what I think of
you” Chris frowned “Do I?” he growled
as he walked away, she followed “Chris don’t be like this” she begged he raised
his eyebrows “Like what?” she placed her arms around his neck “You know
what…Chris come on please we were having a nice afternoon…let’s not spoil
things by talking about them” Chris removed her arms from around his neck and
marched away “If this relationship is gonna go anywhere Jen then you’re gonna
have to accept my friends” she rushed after him “Oh like you accept mine?” he
pouted “That’s different!” she looked confused “How is it?” he took a few paces
away “Because your friends really are jerks”
“No they aren’t…they’re real neat”
“Oh sure is that why they stamp all over
everyone?”
“No!”
“Yeah Jen they do and what’s more you know they
do”
“I’m not gonna stand here and have you insult
my friends Chris”
“No…yeah well neither am I Jen!”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
The argument was the last thing Paul remembered
everything else before the accident was a complete mystery.
~**~
Gloria glanced at her foster son, his face wracked with pain filled
guilt “Paul it wasn’t your fault…I know you were drunk that day but hay we all
make mistakes…no it was the fault of the driver…they knew how intoxicated they
were when they got behind that wheel…now it’s them has to live with it not you
and definitely not Trina…If she’s innocent” Paul sighed “Yeah maybe you’re
right” he agreed albeit half-heartedly.