Silence (Silence #1)(42)

The whole house was covered in decorations. Pink decorations. You could barely move around all the balloons, banners, streamers, and enormous pink feathers! Feathers? What was I, eight! It was probably what Mum wanted for her sixteenth. My grandparents didn’t have much money so she never really had a big party

My mouth dropped open in shock as I saw what was on the kitchen counter. What on earth?! Blinking in disbelief, I stepped closer to the giant ice sculpture. It was of a girl doing a cartwheel. Me, doing a cartwheel.

“Honey, here.” Mum gave me a plastic cup of punch, and one to Cole too. Forcing my lips to twitch in a brief smile, I turned pretending to look at something different so she wouldn’t see how much I hated all of it. She still saw me as a little girl. Just a few hours, for her, I reasoned with myself, again.

“Well, this is all very pink,” Cole commented, stating the obvious. “She knows your favourite colour is yellow, right?” He knew that? “Come on, I need to tip some of that vodka in this before I hang myself.”

As we made a move, Kerry hopped in front of me and laughed as I jumped.

“Sorry. Happy birthday! This party’s awesome, by the way.” Is it?

“I’m guessing you like pink,” Ben said sarcastically and threw his arm over Cole’s shoulder. I stared at him flatly.

“She doesn’t like pink. Her mum organised everything,” Cole explained.

“Ah. Ouch.” Ben winced in sympathy.

Kerry waved her hand. “Don’t worry, Oakley, you have us to save you now.”

She pulled me into the living room. Her grip was tight, and she strode confidently through the small crowd that had gathered by the doorway. I wished I could be more like her.

“Sit,” she ordered, pointing to the smaller sofa that had been pushed into the corner of the room. Cole and Ben joined us, both sitting on the arms of the chair.

“This is our corner. If anyone tries to take it, kill. Okay?” Kerry looked at us sternly. I grinned in amusement and sat back in the sofa. Maybe this party won’t be too bad after all.

Occasionally I saw Mum chatting happily and laughing with Ali and other family members. That was why I was putting up with the stupid party. She deserves this.

Jasper knelt down in front of me and leered towards someone. I thought he had gone out for the evening.

“The blonde girl over there.”

He gestured towards Jennifer from my class, the girl he’d just been letching at. She was talking to her friends by the kitchen door.

“She over sixteen?” I nodded, confused. Jasper rubbed his hands together. “Fair game then,” he joked.

Suddenly I caught sight of Julian, dancing with Lizzie. I noticed how he moved her closer to where we were sitting, so they ended up right in front of us. I didn’t know how Lizzie could touch him. I would rather die than get that close to him.

With a sick feeling in my stomach, I turned back to Cole and our friends.

“She’s not pregnant, she’s just put weight on,” Kerry announced, looking at someone in the room. Okay, what have I missed?



I walked upstairs to go to the bathroom. After six cups of punch, my bladder felt like it was going to burst. Just as I was about to open the door, I heard someone giggle from inside my room. Oh, heck no! Did I want to go in there? No, but I didn’t want whoever was in there to do whatever they were going to do in there either.

Maybe I should go get Cole to do it. No, I relied on him way too much already. Pushing the door open quickly, with the thought that ripping the plaster off was always the better option, my stomach turned.

Lizzie and Julian were lying on my bed, all over each other, and now I was going to have to burn the sheets. Lizzie gasped and looked up at me shocked as if it wasn’t my room! What on earth was wrong with her? Glaring at her furiously, I pointed to the door. Lizzie immediately ran out, sneering at me as she shot past me. Sorry I stopped you making a huge mistake with a complete jerk…

“Well, well, well. Looks like we’re alone now, huh,” Julian sang. I stood my ground as he slowly moved off my bed and took one step towards me. Don’t let him intimidate you. Straightening my back to try to make myself appear taller, I stared him in the eye.

He stopped a couple inches in front of me and my stomach tightened. What was he going to do? Everything inside me was screaming to run away, but I refused to do that.

“Sorry you had to see that. She wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

I stared at him blankly. I couldn’t really care less what he did with Lizzie. I just didn’t want it in my room, or my house for that matter.

He cocked his head to the side. The way he was looking at me was as if he was trying to solve an A level maths problem or something.

“Stop playing hard to get, Oakley” he finally said and took another step closer. Playing hard to get? What did that even mean? I wasn’t playing anything.

“You think I don’t see how you look at me?”

My jaw dropped open in shock. He’s drunk. That’s the only explanation.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he growled. “I’ve had two years of you ignoring me and pretending you don’t give a shit! I have to fucking insult you just to get you to acknowledge me,” he shouted, stepping forward one more time. He was so close now. Far too close.

Adrenaline was pulsing through my veins as his arms reached out to touch me. All I could think about was stopping him. his arms stretched nearer, I balled my hand into a fist and punched him as hard as I could. We both stumbled back in shock. Oh God. The sound – like a thud – rang through my ears. Julian’s hand shot to his mouth, and he groaned in pain. My hand immediately started throbbing. I shook my hand and winced. Punching someone didn’t look like it hurt in the movies.