Chapter 5

The house was empty when I got home, but the silence didn't bother me. I liked to be alone because that meant I didn't need to put up with my father and his incessant need to talk about himself or about how I wasn't living up to his expectations. Screw his expectations. I didn't want to become some heartless prick that had no real friends and got off on having his minions chasing after him.

I dumped my bag on the dining table and went into the kitchen to grab an Up&Go and a chocolate bar then jogged up the stairs to my bedroom. After I changed out of my school uniform into a pair of shorts and singlet, I opened the doors to my balcony and stepped outside. I didn't have any furniture there yet, but that was something I definitely would have to buy.

I looked down at the beach and felt guilty as I watched a couple jog along the shore toward Surfers Paradise. I hadn't done any exercise since the move, and I was afraid I would start getting a bit frumpy if I left it much longer. But that would have to wait for another day. I really couldn't be bothered going for a run, but I did want to get my feet in the sand.

I went downstairs and stepped outside. The warmth of the afternoon sun was behind me as I walked down the back patio steps and onto the sand dunes. I stuck my straw in my drink as I sat down in the sand. Staring out at the water, I sucked down the coffee-flavoured breakfast drink.

A few kids from my school were surfing the breaks. I'd seen them around but hadn't spoken to them. That was one sport I wasn't going to get into any time soon.

My breath caught in my throat as I spotted my black-eyed boy coming out of the water. He carried a board under his arm. Okay, so I might just have to take up surfing, or at least become very interested in watching.

From where I was sitting, nothing about him looked unusual. But I was probably the one who looked like a freak with my mouth wide open. I was practically drooling as he walked up the beach. His shorts hung off his hips, revealing that sexy V that only came with countless hours of working out and watching what he ate.

I looked down at the chocolate bar in my hand. I definitely needed to ditch the cellulite-in-a-wrapper things and get my ass out there to work it off. Tomorrow. I shoved the rest of the chocolate into my mouth and tucked the wrapper in my pocket.

Jett dropped his surfboard and picked up his towel. Considering I was only twenty metres away, he had to have known that I was staring at him, but he never once looked in my direction. Typical guy. Couldn't keep his eyes off a girl, and then the moment she showed a little bit of interest... I choked on a laugh. A little bit of interest? God, I had to wipe the drool from my chin.

My phone went off in my pocket. I checked the screen. It was my reminder to study. I didn't even know why I bothered. Thanks to my dad making me move at the start of exams, I had pretty much no chance in hell of passing with grades good enough to get into university. If I didn't pass, he would make sure I got in anyway. As he liked to say, "Money talks." But I didn't want him to pay. I wanted to be able to do things on my own, live my own life.

I wondered what life would've been like if my mum hadn't died when I was born. Had my father always been an asshole, or was the greed just a way of coping with her death? He couldn't control her passing away, so maybe he needed to do something where he was in control. He made the decisions at work, and nothing went down without his permission.

Getting up, I took a last wistful look at Jett's gorgeous body then headed back up to the house to study.

I pulled my tablet out of my school bag and ran up the stairs to my room. I sat down at my desk and checked my email. My math teacher had sent a practise exam, and my art teacher had posted some homework for next class. Art? No other art teacher I'd ever known had asked us to do a sketch to bring to our next class after everyone had already handed in their final project.

"May as well get it over with," I muttered then opened the math exam.

I picked up my stylus and began answering the questions with an ease that baffled me. I had always received decent marks in math, but that was because I studied my ass off to get them. And since I moved to the Coast, I had barely opened the textbook. All the countless study hours must've finally paid off.

Once I'd finished the practice exam, I emailed it back to the teacher then opened the email from my art teacher. She wanted us to draw whatever inspired us and bring it with us to our next class.

"Righty-O." I put my tablet to the side and grabbed my sketchbook off the shelf. I sucked at drawing, but art was a mandatory subject at my new school. Picking up a pencil, I looked around the room for some inspiration. Nothing. Not one single thing spoke to me.

"Hmm." I went out onto the balcony. Leaning my book against the balustrade, I began drawing the basic lines of the beach, the water, and the dusky sky. I then tried to fill in the details: waves, uneven sand, half moon shining down, and the boats floating in the distance. By the time I'd finished, I had one hell of a crappy masterpiece. A five-year-old would've done a better job.

"Ugh!" I threw the sketchbook down and hung my head over the balustrade. The air rippled down near the ground just as it had done at school that day. But I thought it was even stranger considering it was almost nighttime, and I'd always thought it had something to do with the heat and the sun. I almost considered jumping off my balcony so I could stick my hand in it, but then I'd have to get back up, and I so wasn't going to scale the side of my house.

A few seconds later, the air stilled, leaving me wondering if I'd really seen the movement. What I needed was a doctor's appointment and some sleep.

I picked up my book and went inside, closing and locking the door behind me. I put my art supplies away, turned off the light, then climbed into bed and pulled the sheet up to my chin. Grabbing the remote off the bedside table, I switched on my TV. With all the nights I'd spent alone, I had become accustomed to sleeping with it on. I also liked having background noise when the rest of the house was so quiet.

After turning it to a rerun of Friends, I settled down on my pillow and quickly drifted off to sleep.

"Restless" didn't even begin to explain what I experienced. I felt as if I were half awake all night, and whenever I did slip into dreamland, all I dreamt about was my black eyes staring back at me. It was as if there was another piece to my soul that I had never known existed, and it was choosing to come to me while I was in a state of semiconsciousness.

The next morning, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and stumbled into the bathroom. I quickly had a shower, brushed my teeth, and changed into my school uniform, thrilled that I would only be wearing that stupid uniform five more days before I was free. One more week of putting up with exams, bitches, and rapists, then I would finally get to see my friends again when they came up for Schoolies Week. I couldn't wait.

I gathered all my stuff and checked the clock-eight thirty. "Shit." The school bell was going to go off in ten minutes. I ran to the car, praying there wasn't any unexpected traffic.

Fortunately, the roads were relatively clear, and I parked the car just as the bell rang. I quickly looked at my schedule. My first class was... a free period. "Argh." If only I'd checked my schedule earlier, I could've stayed home longer.

Someone knocked on my window, making me jump and almost hit my head on the roof. I turned and found Lilly standing there with a nervous expression that she desperately tried to hide with a smile. The sooner that girl finished school, the better off she would be. Scratch that. The sooner those girls and boys got what they deserved, the safer she would feel.

I lowered my window. "Hey there."

"Um..." She stepped back and looked down at her hands. "Are you leaving?"

"Just getting out of here for my free period."

"Oh."

She looked as if I'd punched her in the guts. Was I really the only friend she had? Friend? God, we'd only spoken to each other on the beach for a few minutes. We were hardly friends. But by the look on her face, I was all she had, and I so didn't want to be the heartless bitch I could feel myself turning into.

"You want to come?" I asked her.

Her eyes lit up, and her smile turned into a real one. "Yeah."

"Get in," I said, throwing my bag into the backseat.

Lilly quickly ran around the car, opened the door, and jumped in as if afraid I'd change my mind. "Where are we going?"

I shrugged. "You've lived here longer. You tell me."

She bit her bottom lip. "Coffee shop?"

"Do we have time?"

She checked her watch. "Probably not."

A motorbike pulled into the parking spot beside me. Even though I couldn't see the rider's face, I knew it was Jett. My heart began to flutter, and I wanted to stomp on the thing to get it back to a normal beat. Sure, I thought he was absolutely delicious, but that didn't mean I wanted my heart doing crazy shit like that. I wasn't that kind of girl.

He took off his helmet, revealing his god-like features. He brushed his hand through his dark-brown hair that barely looked as if he'd been wearing a helmet at all. When he turned his head and saw me gawking at him, a grin spread across his face, showing his perfect teeth.

He hopped off his bike and moved to stand in front of my window. "Zara." He then turned around and walked through the school gates.

My eyebrows shot up. How the hell did he know my name?

"I thought you said you didn't know him?" Lilly asked.

Still shocked, I turned to her. "I don't."

She grinned. "Well, he seems to know you."

I would've loved to think my looks had captured his attention, but I knew it was something else. I decided to change the subject. "I thought you said he doesn't go to our school anymore." I pulled out onto the road.

"He doesn't," she replied. "Take a left at the next traffic light."

I did as she said. "Then why is this the second time I've seen him there in two days?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"So if he doesn't go to our school, then what does he do?"

"Nothing really. He doesn't need to do anything. His father owns the Gold Coast."

"What?"

Lilly shook her head. "You know, the mob."

I started laughing, but Lilly looked dead serious, and not the type of serious in which they were about to break out into an "I had you there for a minute, didn't I?" kind of way. I dropped my smile. "You're serious, aren't you?"

She bit her lower lip and nodded. "About the mob part, yeah. I think Jett might look after one of his dad's clubs, but he must not spend too much time there 'cause he's usually seen out socialising." Lilly pointed at a driveway on the other side of the street.

I slammed on my brakes, thankful that there was no one behind us because I almost had to do a U-turn to get into the lot. "What's this place?"

"We're not there yet," she said as I parked in an available slot. "Come on." She opened her door and got out.

We walked down a deserted lane that opened onto Broadbeach Mall. After ordering two lattes from a little Italian coffee shop, we sat at a vacant table.

"So what are you planning on doing after school finishes?" Lilly asked as she played nervously with the strap of her bag.

I sighed. "I'm hoping my grades will be good enough to get into business. What about you?"

"I haven't decided yet, but that's not what I meant." She took a deep breath and blurted, "I was talking about Schoolies. Do you have any plans? Are you staying anywhere? With anyone?"

It took a moment, but it finally dawned on me that she wanted someone to celebrate Schoolies with. "Um, yeah, sorry. I haven't been here for long, so I haven't got anything planned for the Queensland one. I was going to celebrate it with the New South Wales Schoolies." When she slumped in her chair, I added, "Or I could do both? That's if you don't mind me hanging around."

Her face lit up. "Are you serious? Of course I don't mind. I've got no one to celebrate it with until it's my friends from Melbourne's turn."

Wow, she really was a loner. I would've thought she should have made some friends in the six months she'd been on the Coast, but I guess she could've been like me and didn't really want to give anyone a chance after being friends with those three girls.

"Coffee's ready," the old Italian guy called to us.

We picked up our cups and made our way back to my car.

"Three Schoolies. This is going to be awesome," she said then took a sip of her coffee.

I turned my head, trying to hide my eyes that were bugging out. I hadn't realised I'd invited her to Schoolies with my friends. What the hell was wrong with me? I wanted to slap myself for being such a bitch. I was usually a nice person, caring about the happiness of others. But I was acting like a bitch, and no matter how much I wanted to deny it, my behaviour kind of reminded me of my father. And there was no way in hell I wanted to be like him.

Forcing a smile, I turned to her. "Have you organised anywhere to stay yet?"

She shuffled nervously. "Not since we just planned it."

Of course she hadn't. "Don't worry about it. I'll find something nice for us."

Lilly looked at me sceptically. "Yeah, right. We'll probably end up in some backpackers' hell hole, leaving it this late."

"Oh, ye of little faith." I realised she didn't know me at all. Lilly had no idea how persuasive I was-especially when I had my black credit card. Things had a way of falling into my lap-exactly the way my father liked and expected. "Don't worry. I'll get us something good."