Room+401

ROOM 401 by Olivia Guzzardi AFTER SATURUDAY

Despite the pain and the shock, I was surprised to find that I could think incredibly clearly. My skin was tingling. It stung and stung with no end. My eyes burned from the smoke that filled the air and my lungs ached from lack of fresh air. I frantically glanced around, all I saw was flames. I could hear the crackling of the fire, yes, but louder than anything else was the pounding of my heart. It started beating faster and faster, sweat trickled down my back making my dress stick to my skin. I looked at my hand; the skin was darkening. Watching it burn was almost as bad as feeling it. I was sure I would be dead in minutes. I coughed the sound echoing through the abandoned room. I used my arm to cover my mouth as I walked around blindly, desperately trying to find the door. “HELP!” I screamed hoarsely, hoping, praying for someone to hear me. I collapsed onto my knees; tears fell from my eyes evaporating as soon as they landed on the floor boards of the room. My vision started to blur, I coughed uncontrollably. It felt like I was being chocked by someone. I tipped over on my side and that’s when I saw a figure. Surely I must have imagined it? The figure quickly raced towards me. Shouting something but I couldn’t hear what. It was then that everything went black.

BEFORE WEDNESDAY

I rushed out of school, careful to not waste a minute. As I exited the school, the sun beamed on my face, causing my cheeks to become red like beetroots, great, attractive. My heavy bag weighed down my left arm, as I tried to run as fast as I could, I was gonna be late! A class of people waited at the big imposing school gates and I instantly realised that they were my massive group of friends, great just what I need now! I quickly brushed them off with a smile trying to say goodbye as quickly as possible. I then noticed my two closet friends Melody and Savannah, leaning against the school gates texting on their phones. “Oh Summer your finally here! I tried to call you like a million times!! Where have you been?” Melody pleaded. To describe Melody all you have to do is think of a real life sized Barbie doll. She was perfect in every way, long blonde hair, a killer figure and beautiful, expressive blue eyes. People usually expected her not to be the most switched on girl but in fact she was really intelligent, like rocket scientist smart, but the sad thing was Melody rather have a social life than study. “Oh sorry Melody, I don’t mean to brush you off but I really have to go” I replied trying to slip away. She reached out and grabbed my forearm. I looked up at her. “But Summer” She whined, “I have massive goss!! Eric finally asked me out!!” She squealed as she jumped up and down on the spot clapping her hands. Savannah came to life at that moment looking up at Melody. “OMG that’s soo great!” She squealed equally as loud as Melody and gave her a massive hug. As Melody was light Savannah was dark, with dark olive skin and dead straight black hair that ended near her waist. She was gorgeous and she knew it. “That’s awesome Melody!” I replied also jumping into the hug. I was the third member of our little trio. Summer Ozera, head cheerleader, top of the social ladder. I wouldn’t say I was the most beautiful thing in school, but I did get the occasional look from guys and a few glares from girls. I had long, wavy, light brown hair, hazel eyes and a nice golden tan. Curves most girls would kill for and I guess a pretty face.I was quite short as well maybe only reaching 5 foot 2. Though I did have to say I had a pretty good fashion sense. I wore my dark ripped skinny jeans, with charcoal high heeled ankle boots. I also had on a white tank top with a faded grey vest. I just left my hair down. “Now I really have to go girls. Cya” I sprinted off running down the road, “What the hell is up with her?” I heard Savannah say to Melody. I groaned, jeez! At last I finally reached my destination LakeSide Nursing Home. Sweat dripped down the back of my tank top. I worked at the nursing home, money didn’t come easily to my small family of three and in order for us to survive a day to day life in San Cruz California I had to become the major bread winner. My mum left my younger brother Eli and I when we were little leaving us in the car of our father. To say it simply my dad wasn’t going to win father of the year award. He was a drunk and only occasionally turned up to work, so in the meantime it was me earning all of the money. Not that anybody knew this at school. I ran into the front office, and gave quick smiles to the people that also worked there. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, Sue!” I called to the lady at the front desk and rushed past her. She gave me an aged amused smile, the beginnings of crow’s feet showing on her face. I pushed against the heavy toilet door, she followed me into the bathroom, and I made my way into a cubicle to change into my nurse’s uniform. “Summer I’ve got to talk to you about something when you’re done changing,” Sue called to me. “What about?” I yelled back, pulling my white tank top off. “There’s someone you have to take under your wing” She said quite slowly as if she was worried about my response. “Okay,” I replied cautiously, what was she getting at? I stepped out of the cubicle in my white nurse’s dress, it was actually quite cute even if it stopped just at my knee. I looked over at Sue waiting for her response. She was a short lady and a little on the pudgy side. She was in her late 50’s and I often thought of her as a mother figure. She was the person to first offer me a job at the nursing home. My basic job was to check in with the old folks, keep them occupied, and get them anything they needed such tea, coffee, books and other small things like that. I also checked their medical reports informing the doctors if they were due for their medication. I loved my job even though sometimes it was really difficult. “Ummmmm maybe it’s better if I show you what I mean.” I gave a puzzled look. I didn’t understand what she was trying to say. I quickly pulled my long brown hair into a messy ponytail and gave myself a once over in the mirror. Not too shabby Summer. Sue gave me a look only to be described as amusement. “Okay missy I think you’re done now, follow me.” And with that she waddled out of the toilets. We walked briskly back into the reception area, it was decorated with beautiful blue colours, I guess to tie into the name LakeSide. Sue led me to the waiting area and that’s when I saw him. Tristan Miller. Tristan went to my high school but he was in year 12, the year above mine. I didn’t know much about him but I knew he was a little weird, almost mysterious. He was misunderstood, yeah he had friends but none of them really knew much about him, it was all a little strange. He was the guy that would get in trouble, purposely disrupt class, not do any of his homework but still remarkably fleece his exams. Tristan was sitting on one of the waiting chairs, hunched over facing down; his hair hung forward hiding his face from my view. His arms folded, resting on his chest. What the hell was he doing here? Sue cleared her throat stopping my train of thought; she gave me one of her priceless Sue pouts. “Summer, I would like you to meet Tristan,” With the mention of his name Tristan straightened up in his chair, and he looked up at her. “He’s going to be here for a month helping you out. He has to some community service for the little stunt he performed at school.” He gave a cheeky grin. I couldn’t help but give a small gasp, my eyes enlarging. To say Tristan Miller was attractive would be an understatement. Tristan had an unbelievable smile, the perfect white, light up a room type. But the thing I loved most about his smile was the fact that every time that cheeky grin made itself know, so did that fact that he had utterly gorgeous dimples! They were like craters in his cheeks. Tristan’s hair was a dusty brown. It hung forward on his forehead and swept slightly to the side, the ends flicked up softly. I’m pretty sure he styled it to make it look purposely messy. Tristan wore dark skinny jeans with grey canvas shoes. He had on a white V- Neck T-Shirt that was slightly baggy with a black leather jacket. He looked at me funny and I then realised that while I had been doing my little analysis of him my mouth seemed to have dropped open. I quickly closed it shut and looked around the waiting room pretending to be occupied by painting, a faint blush making itself known on my face. I quickly replayed what Sue had said about him. “Wait why did you say he was here?” I questioned. Before Sue could say anything Tristan looked up at me and gave me smirk. “Because I set the science block on fire.” He said, he actually looked quite happy at his little stunt. I remembered that the science block had indeed been set on fire but I thought it was just a science experiment gone wrong. Obviously not. “Why would you do that?” I asked wanting to understand this guy. Tristan stood up, hands in his pockets and only then did I realise just how tall he was. I literally had to tilt my head back to look him in the eye. He took a step closer to me. “Cause I got bored, and I wanted to see what Mr Wayland would say.” He said as if it was common knowledge. “Okay that’s enough talk for now, Summer, I want you to look after him, your going to be his mentor” Sue explained, I tried to interject, “But!” She raised her hand immediately silencing me. Tristan looked amused at my annoyance. Even though Tristan was incredibly good looking I didn’t want to be stuck being his babysitter knowing that he was a fire hazard. No pun intended. “You have no choice, you are going to show Mr Miller here around the place, he will do what you do, say what you say and work like you work. There are no negotiations.” She then turned her attention to Tristan. “And you,” She pointed at him her finger only a few centimetres from his chest. “I want absolutely NO trouble. Summer is to write up a report on your progress and behaviour once a week. If I even hear of you do anything mildly disruptive I will report you straight away to the court and bye-bye community service, hello house arrest! Do you understand!?” She warned. I tried to stifle a laugh, putting my hand to my mouth stopping my laugh escaping. Sue was no more 5 foot and here she was threatening a potential juvenile delinquent, who liked to set things on fire for fun, it was hilarious. “You have my word, Ma’am.” Tristan swore as he crossed his heart. He also looked like he was trying not to laugh. With one last glare from Sue, she waddled off but not before whispering to me, “Watch him Summer” I nodded my reply. Finally we were on our own. Tristan ran his hands though his hair and exhaled loudly, he then turned to face me directly. “What now?” He asked, “We work.” I replied. He raised his eyebrows and muttered under his breath something sounding close to, ‘I wonder what would happen if I set this place on fire?’ I took a few steps closer to him and jabbed at his chest with my finger. “Don’t even think about it buddy!” I turned around, my ponytail flicking him in his face. “Hey I didn’t say anything,” He called after me. I walked over to the front desk picked up my schedule and looked at it,

4:00pm Mrs Pearl Capplin Room 401

She was a kind elderly lady that I looked after, she was a little odd but for some strange reason she was one of my favourite patients. Tristan walked next to me as we made our way to her room. “Well I never knew that you worked. I thought that since you were like in the it group, which then means you’re loaded, that meant you didn’t have to work or anything. That everything gets handed to you on a silver platter” He stated. I stopped in the middle of the corridor. Who the hell did this guy think he was? “Don’t assume to know anything about me.” I said sharply through gritted teeth. I glared at him. I continued walking down the corridor. He ran after me and stood in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. “Whoa easy there, just trying to figure you out that’s all.” He put up his hands defensively. I pushed him out of my way. Man was this guy was annoying. We finally reached Pearl’s room. I walked in quietly she really didn’t like to be surprised. Pearl was sat in her wheelchair which faced the window; she looked outside with a vacant look on her face. “Be gentle with her,” I whispered to Tristan, he just looked disinterested. “Hi Pearl how are we today?” I asked, checking her medical records. Tristan walked around her small room looking at her picture frames of all of her smiling grandchildren. “Have you ever noticed that birds always fly in a V? It’s quite peculiar isn’t it?” She asked. Tristan snorted at her response I shot him with an icy glare. “Why yes I have, Pearl. I think it’s quite pretty.” I replied as I fixed her bed. The blankets were strewn all over the floor. “Who’s with you today Summer?” asked Pearl as she swung her wheelchair to face us. “Oh this is my friend Tristan, Tristan this is Pearl.” I introduced the two. Tristan didn’t what to do I gave him a gentle push encouraging him. He walked over to her and bent down by her wheelchair, unsure of what to do next, he looked up at me and in that moment I saw a gentle, kind boy. It took me by surprise. I gave him a nod. “Oh hi Peal. What’s up?” He asked slowly giving her a small smile. She reached out and grabbed his large hand in her petite, delicate one. “Well, my aren’t you the handsome one.” She gushed. Tristan cheeks went instantly red. “It’s been said before.” He joked, he looked over at me and winked. I gave a smile back. Maybe I had thought wrong about Tristan. No way was the badass who burnt down buildings for fun and the boy talking to the old lady the same guy. It completely and utterly shocked me. “My, my the joker are we. You know I used to be the class clown back in my day. I used to get up to all sorts of mischief!” She said with a chuckle. “Tell me what you did.” Replied Tristan with honest curiosity. I sat down on her bed and Tristan sat next to me. He gave me cheeky grin and then looked at Pearl. I smiled as I listened to their conversation about what each of them had done in class. After about an hour it was time to leave Pearl. Pearl gave Tristan a kiss on the cheek and he went and stood by the door. Pearl gestured for me to come closer to her. I leant down next to her. “Summer, that boys quite a catch if you know what I mean.” She whispered to me. “And I think he has the hots for you!” She chuckled. “WHAT?” I questioned. All Tristan did was make fun of me, what in the world was Pearl trying to get at? “When you both were sitting down on the bed he kept looking at you,” “You must be mistaken.” I said defiantly. “Just saying what I saw,” and with that we left her room. For the rest of the day I couldn’t help but think about what Pearl had said, did Tristan really have a thing for me? At around 7:00 it was time to leave LakeSide and go home. Tristan and I stood in front of the front entrance; he leaned against a brick wall arms crossed, while I stood facing him, with my bag in hand. “Well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” He questioned looking up at me with his expressive eyes. The wind blew his messy hair around, forcing it to fly into his eyes. He quickly brushed it away only to have it blow straight back. “I guess so,” I replied. “I really thought what you did today with Pearl was really sweet.” I said quietly a little scared at his response. Tristan took a few steps towards me and all of a sudden we were only a few centimetres apart. I looked up at him my arms crossed around my chest. “Yeah well she was nice,” He paused, biting his lip, “For an old lady. Listen Summer I don’t want you to tell anybody what happened today, you understand, yeah you can tell them that I had to do community service with you but don’t tell anybody that I enjoyed it, okay?” He stared deep into my eyes, his face full of worry. I couldn’t believe that he was actually scared of people knowing that he enjoyed being here today. I truly felt sorry for the guy. Wait what did he say? “Wait you enjoyed it?” I questioned. He looked down at his feet kicking a few pebbles that were on the ground. “Maybe.” He returned. Tristan then turned around and walked off and I was then left standing on the pathway by myself. I started to walk home, replaying the events of the day over and over again in my head. There was something about Tristan Miller that annoyed me to no end but then there was a side of him that was considerate and thoughtful. On my way home I walked through a shopping centre, I needed to pick up a few things for home. Once I bought the things I needed for school the next day I noticed a whole group of guys hanging around the outside tables. It was pretty much deserted except for them. As I walked by I then noticed that one of the guys was no other than Tristan Miller. He was sitting on top of one of the tables, arms rested on his long legs, a cigarette in hand but it looked like he hadn’t actually smoked, more like it was for looks. In his other hand Tristan was playing with a small lighter with the Italian flag on it. He kept flicking it on and then off again. He must have used that lighter to start the fire in the science block. Sitting with him were his group of trouble maker friends from school. A guy that looked like to be the ring leader of their small gang jumped up and blocked the exit so I couldn’t get out. He was huge and not just tall but freakishly muscular, but not in an attractive way at all. I was locked in; I put my hands on hips and gave him a greasy. “Hey Tristan isn’t this the girl that you had to do community service with.” He called out; Tristan also jumped down for the table and walked over. “Yeah it is, Mike.” He replied. Mike took a long drag of his cigarette and blew it directly in my face. I coughed, disgusted by his behaviour. I waved my hand around to get rid of the smoke. “Do you mind not blowing that disgusting smoke all over me, unlike you I rather not get lung cancer.” I remarked, his expression went instantly from high and mighty to just plain pissed off. All of the other boys started to jeer. Mike took a few steps towards me, Tristan shuffled looking really uncomfortable. “Missy I think you should learn to keep your mouth shut.” He said with a low threatening voice, towering over me. In that moment I actually felt really scared, this guy looked like he could snap somebody’s neck in half! I took a small step backwards; I tried to get eye contact with Tristan hoping that he would get his loser friend to back off. He avoided my eyes and put his hands in his pockets, his hair falling across his face hiding it. He wasn’t going to do anything!! In that moment I couldn’t decide who I was angrier with Mike or Tristan. I gave Mike a dirty look, “Well I’m just going to go now!” I said sharply, flicking my hair. I stared at Tristan, “Goodbye Tristan!” I said sarcastically and pushed past both of the boys and continued walking through down the pathway. After a few minutes of walking I heard footsteps pounding behind me. All of a sudden a hand grabbed me on the shoulder and spun me around. “What the hell do you want?” I yelled at the person. Tristan looked at me, his face slightly red from his run. “I just wanted to say sorry for before,” He replied quietly. In that moment I wanted to do nothing but punch him. I noticed a shopping trolley by the side of the pathway. I stalked over to it. “Hey what are you doing?” He asked confused, taking a step towards me. I grabbed the handle of the trolley, swung it around and pushed it directly into Tristan’s stomach. He groaned loudly, and doubled over, his hands clutching at his stomach. I actually felt a little better. “That’s for not saying anything when your freak of a friend nearly torn me to shreds!” I yelled and walked off, leaving Tristan on the side of the road. Good, he deserved it!

THURSDAY

The next day at school I didn’t say anything to my friends about Tristan. I didn’t know what they would say. He was so low down the social ladder that even if I mentioned talking to him they would probably squeal in disgust. Stupid high school politics. That afternoon at the nursing home I hardly spoke to Tristan at all, only to tell him where we were going and what he had to do. I was still upset at him for the night before. Even though he was incredibly attractive I didn’t want anything to do with him unless he treated me nicely and not saying anything when his friend acted like a complete moron to me didn’t qualify as nice behaviour. We were packing up for the night when Tristan pulled something out of his school backpack. He walked over to me. “Summer I’m really, really sorry about yesterday night. I know I acted like a loser not sticking up for you in front of my friends.” I stopped organising some files and looked up at him. “I want you to have this.” He extended his hands in them were a box of chocolates with a small sticker on it saying ‘I’m sorry!’ I took the chocolates from him. They were a box of Belgium Seashells, my favourite. “Oh thank you,” I replied, where had this all come from? Tristan took the box of chocolates from my hands and placed them on a table next to us. He looked down at me and gently grabbed one of my hands. The second our hands made contact I felt shivers all up and done my spine. “I truly am really sorry for what happened last night, and I wanted to make it up to you,” He said slowly, he took a deep breath and he almost looked nervous. “Do you want to um....... go out to dinner with me on Saturday?” He asked. I felt a smile creeping up on my face. “That’s if you don’t have any plans or anything.” He added really quickly, letting go of my hand. I realised I hadn’t replied, I was too distracted by his eyes. At first glance his eyes were brown, a beautiful deep brown which you could get lost in. But when the light hit them they changed to amber, and if I looked close enough around the iris, the colour was almost like pure honey. But when Tristan looked into the sun, his eyes became green, like emeralds dazzling in the light. I quickly did a calendar check in my head making sure I had nothing on. It came up as empty. “Yes I would love to!” I said excitedly. He let out a deep breath looking relieved; he mustn’t do this very often. “Oh great, thank god for second there I thought you were going to say no.” He gave a nervous laugh, while messing up his hair a little with his hand. “I know this awesome Italian restaurant called Gennaro’s. The foods amazing, that’s if you like Italian cause if you don’t I know-“I cut him off mid sentence. “I love Italian food. How ‘bout you pick me up at around 7 from my place?” A grin spread across his face. “Sounds great” He replied. I wrote down my address and number on a piece of paper and gave it to him. He folded it up and put it in his jacket pocket. He grabbed his backpack and hung it over his shoulder. “So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, same place, same time?” He questioned. “No we don’t work tomorrow, but I’ll see you on Saturday 7:00 Gennero’s.” I stated. Tristan walked over to the door and opened it. “No problems, it’s a date!” He gave a wink and walked out of the nursing home. As soon as he was out of my view I started to jump up and down. “I going on a date with the hottest guy know to man!”I yelled over and over again.

Friday

The next day I could hardly contain my excitement. At lunch I was sitting with my usual group of friends which included Savannah, Melody, Zane, Jesse and Eric on the football oval. “Okay guys, I have big news!” I announced as everybody looked over at me. “I’m going on a date with Tristan Miller” I exclaimed. The girls looked at me with their eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, are you serious, that weirdo?” Melody said with a ‘as if’ look on her face. “Honey you can do soooo much better than that!” Savannah added. Jesse and Eric look at me with a non enthusiastic look on their faces. “You’re kidding right? Tristan, he’s like the loser who burnt down the science blocks, trying to act all rebel and stuff.” Eric said, rolling his eyes. “No way Summer, he probably wants to be noticed as the cool guy which he obviously isn’t.”Jesse added. My friends continued to argue about Tristan and his “problems.” I noticed, after a while, Zane hadn’t said anything. Zane was my ex boyfriend we went out for only month, it didn’t quite work out, he was a good friend but a horrible boyfriend. Even though we broke up we were still friends but Zane always did make jokes about getting back together. Even though he swore they were jokes I was pretty sure that he still liked me. I stormed off leaving my friends on the oval. I was soo angry at them. Couldn’t they just say they were happy for me? If I was in their position I would never do anything like that. I stamped my way to the student corridors. I walked over to my locker by myself, put in my code and opened up the door, when SMASH somebody had shut it closed. “What the hell!” I yelled. I whipped around. It was Zane. If Melody looked like Barbie, than Zane looked like Ken. He had short spiky bleach blonde hair and tanned skin. He was the captain of the football team which meant he was both tall and muscular. Zane was rich and always dressed in designer clothing, at the moment he was wore Guess Jeans with a white shirt and a loose black skinny tie. Zane’s face was red with fury, nostril’s flared. Zane put his hands around my small frame, stopping me from any hope of escaping. Through gritted teeth he said, “So how long do you reckon this little fling will last? My bets no more than a week, since you’re dating Weirdy McWeirdeson.” I leant in towards him our noses almost touching. “Well I’m pretty sure it will be longer than you and I dated, since Tristan actually has a personality.”I said with an icy smile on my face. That set him off. All of a sudden Zane grabbed me by my shoulders, pulled me forwards and then threw me back against the lockers, deafening my ears with a big bang. I yelped out in surprise and pain. Zane grabbed my wrists, pinning them against the lockers. He gripped my wrists with such strength I wouldn’t have been surprised if bruises appeared within two seconds. “You think that you can just go ahead date whoever you want! It’s not that easy! You are meant to be with me, not that loser!” He screamed in my face. I looked up and down the corridor hoping that somebody was walking down but because it was still lunch nobody was in sight. Zane’s grip on my wrists was beginning to hurt even more and I could feel a lump forming at the back of my head. I needed to get away from him and now! “Let go of me Zane! You’re acting like a psycho!” I shrieked. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp but he was much too strong. Zane looked like he was on the edge of actually going crazy, his blue eyes wide and unblinking. I finally managed to slip my right hand out of his grasp. I pulled back my arm and gave a mean right hook, my fist connected with the flesh on Zane’s face. The instant I hit Zane’s face, my wrist started to throb like crazy. It trembled uncontrollably.

Zane staggered back from the impact. That’ll teach him! He looked at me hatred all over his face, his mouth forming a bloodied grin. He stalked over to me; hand in position for a return punch. Zane drew his arm back, I clenched my eyes shut, and I could already imagine the feeling of the moment when Zane’s fist made impact with my face. The possible sound of skin breaking and that horrible mind jarring pain. Then suddenly it wasn’t there. I slowly opened my eyes open and what I saw made my heart leap. Tristan had grabbed Zane’s hand mid punch. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to hit a girl?” Tristan smirked. Zane turned his attention away from me and stared over at Tristan. “Mind your own business punk!” Snarled Zane. I stood there, with my mouth open. I was too afraid to even move, this was going to get ugly. Zane ran over to Tristan, and smashed him against the wall. He grabbed the scruff of Tristan’s T-shirt and lifted him up a little against the lockers right arm ready to punch Tristan in the face. “You know buddy you’re really starting to get on my nerves.” Zane said in a scary low voice. Tristan literally laughed in his face. “And here I was thinking that we were best buds!” Tristan remarked. Zane went in for the punch but Tristan skilfully blocked it, he then gave Zane a painful looking uppercut. Zane stumbled backwards but quickly regained his footing. I couldn’t believe what was happening, a second ago Zane was one of my closet friends and now here he was acting completely crazy. I stood watching my arm cradled to my chest, a deep throbbing pain pulsing from it. Yup I definitely had done some damage. Zane and Tristan circled each other waiting for one of them to make a move. “Zane, seriously dude, let’s forget this, it’s stupid.” Pleaded Tristan. He let his hands hang down his sides showing he didn’t want to fight anymore. For a moment it looked like Zane had finally given in but within a split second he launched himself onto Tristan forcing him to the ground. Tristan’s head snapped against the floor and he gave a dazed look. Zane punched Tristan, once, twice in the face causing blood to flow freely from his nose. “Tristan!” I yelled. I sprinted towards Zane barrelling directly into his broad shoulder. He was knocked off Tristan. “Get over it Zane, I chose him not you!” I screamed. Zane quickly got up off the floor, his shirt was ripped at the bottom, blood dripped from his mouth where I had punched him. “You two better watch out” Zane threatened and he sauntered off. Tristan let out a loud groan and he rolled onto his side, his face scrunched up. “Man Summer, your ex he’s a freak!” He said gingerly. I rushed over to his side and helped him up. He quickly shrugged me off once he was standing he gently grabbed my possibly broken wrist, his face full of worry. “That was a beautiful right hook, if I do say so myself.” He said with a grin. I gently touched Tristan’s left eye, it had already started to turn an awful shade of purple. He flinched back and I quickly put my hand back down. “That looks like it hurts,” I said softly. Tristan gave me a shrug. “It’s nothing.” He replied. Tristan’s hair was in disarray sticking up in weird directions, and as for his white shirt let’s just say it wasn’t white anymore, he looked like he had lost a fight with a tomato sauce bottle. Tristan looked over my hand and tested it tenderly. “Ouch” I hissed quietly when he moved my wrist up and down. “Sorry,” He replied instantly lightening his grip even more. A little blood trickled from Tristan’s nose and he promptly wiped it with the sleeve of his jacket. “Thank you Tristan, I, I don’t know what would of happened if you didn’t come” My eyes began to tear up, a single tear leaked down my cheek. Tristan carefully wiped it away with his finger and rested his hand on my cheek. “Anything for you Summer.” He whispered. Tristan’s hand slipped to the back of my head, I lightly placed my hand on his chest feeling his heart beat, strong and steady. He leant down, our lips only a few centimetres apart. I could feel his warm breath on my lips. I tilted my head upwards. Closer, closer our lips about to meet. DING! DING! DING! The shrill sound of the end of lunch bell startled us. We both jumped back. Tristan cleared his throat. He grabbed my uninjured hand. “Let’s take you to the sick bay.” Tristan took me to the Sick Bay and I got my wrist checked out, it turned out it was only sprained, he also got his nose cleaned up. We didn’t see Zane for the rest of the day but I did hear rumours that after the fight he got into his car and sped off down the road, but I couldn’t care less, in fact if I never saw Zane again it would be too soon. That guy had lost all of my respect and quite frankly I was scared of him.

SATURDAY

Finally Saturday was here and it was time to go on my date. I spent the whole day trying to figure out what to wear and ended up deciding on a one sleeve little black dress with a pair of killer black heels. I managed to lightly curl my hair into perfect waves. I was so nervous but then excited at the same time. As I was putting on the finishing touches of my makeup the doorbell rang. I heard my brother Eli run to the door and answer it. Eli was 14 and pretty much resembled me apart from the fact that he was really tall. Dad wasn’t home probably at a bar or something but I didn’t care, tonight was my night. “Summer your date’s here!” He called. I quickly grabbed my clutch and ran down the stairs. What I saw amazed me. Tristan was standing in the door way leaning against the side of the frame. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a blue plaid shirt over the top with the buttons left undone. He had on dark jeans and a pair of black vans. His hair was its usual, styled to look like he had just rolled out of bed, I loved it like that. He was actively talking to my brother when I walked down the stairs. As soon as he saw me he stopped talking instantly and stared with his mouth wide open. It was similar to the way I had looked at him the first time I saw him sitting in the nursing home waiting area. I gave a smile and walked over to him. “You look amazing!” He said with his usual trouble maker grin, dimples in full force. “You don’t look to bad yourself” I returned. In fact he looked very, very hot. Eli shuffled around and cleared his throat. “We better get going if we don’t wanna loose our reservation” Tristan said. I gave Eli a quick kiss on the cheek and said goodbye. I then walked out the front door, I noticed that my brother had grabbed Tristan and was whispering to him in his ear, his face was very serious. “I promise mate.” Tristan replied to Eli’s whisper, he then extended his hand for a very manly shake. Eli accepted it. Tristan then ran over to me and grabbed his car keys from his pocket. In front of my house was Tristan’s car. It was a black 2011 Chevrolet Camaro. A sports car, pretty much what I expected from him. Tristan opened up the car door for me and I got in he then closed it and ran around to the driver’s seat. Eli still hadn’t moved from the front door he wanted to obviously to see us off. Tristan sat in the front seat opened up the window and waved goodbye to him. Tristan then drove off. “So what was that all about with my brother?” I questioned, I had no idea what he would have to say to Tristan. Tristan gave a chuckle. “What?” I asked again. “Well your darling little brother gave me the whole if you hurt my sister I’ll kill you speech.” Tristan burst out laughing. I groaned and put my face in my hands. Man, that’s embarrassing. “It was very sweet of him.” Tristan stated. After about a 20 minute drive we reached the restaurant. We walked in together and were greeted by the amazing smell of pizza and pasta. Tristan held my hand, and we walked over to the lady at the front of the restaurant. “Hey Gina,” He greeted her. “Hey trouble maker.” She returned. He gave a little chuckle. “This is my friend Summer,” Tristan introduced. I gave her a smile. “Ohh I understand, so Tristan I guess it’ll be that special thing you reserved” She said cryptically. He gave a nod. I was confused what was going on? Gina led us through the restaurant and up a few stairs, onto what seemed to be a balcony. When I stepped out I gave a gasp. On the balcony was a table set for two, there was fairy lights wrapped all around the steel of the balcony fence. I looked up and could see hundreds of stars and the moon. It was a nice warm night with a gentle breeze. Everything was beautiful! Gina gave a smile and then descended back down the stairs leaving us along. I turned to face Tristan. He had a grin plastered on his face, hands in his pockets. “This is beautiful Tristan! Did you do all of this?” I asked, Tristan led me to the table and I sat down. He also took his seat. “My parents own this restaurant, I practically grew up here. Ever since I found this upstairs terrace I always wanted to take a girl up here for a romantic date and well when I asked you out, I just knew this was the time.” He replied his cheeks becoming red. “Well it’s definitely romantic.” I replied not taking my eyes off him for a second. I couldn’t believe the change Tristan had made. From a troubled delinquent to a sweet and caring boy. It amazed me. I looked down at my plate and noticed a little box with a gold ribbon on it. “What’s this?” I questioned. “Open it.” Was all he said. I pulled at the ribbon and opened the box carefully. Inside it was a gorgeous silver bracelet with a little yellow canary hanging from it. “Thank you soo much, it’s beautiful. Can you put it on for me?” I asked. Tristan leant over and carefully put on the bracelet, I could smell the cologne he had put on before coming to pick me up. It smelt amazing. For the rest of the night all we did was talk and talk. Tristan was charming and funny, but then he would act sweet and really open up to me. He would tell me all about his family, his brothers and sister and why he had gotten involved with Mike and his gang. He also asked me heaps of questions about myself and interests. This was what made him so different to Zane. When Zane and I would go on dates he used to spend hours just talking about himself and how much money he had and what car he had just bought. He never asked any questions about me. Though he used to buy me expensive jewellery but that didn’t make up for his awful personality. Before I knew it the night had ended and it was time to go home. Tristan drove me home, and then we were in front of my house. I was standing in the doorway of the front door, with Tristan. “I had an amazing night.” I told him. “Me too beautiful.” Tristan had gotten into the habit of calling me beautiful as my nick name. I liked it. “So I guess this is goodnight?” Tristan stated. “I guess it is trouble maker.” I said with a grin. “Well sweet dreams Summer, I’ll see you at school, hopefully?” “Definitely.” I replied. More than anything I didn’t want to say goodbye. I had such a longing for him to kiss me but I didn’t know if he felt the same way. That moment by my locker where we had almost kissed was amazing, I hadn’t been able to get it out of my mind. Tristan gave me a wink and started to walk down the pathway. I stood watching him walk away my arms crossed over my body keeping myself warm, it seemed to have cooled down a fair bit. Suddenly Tristan turned back around to me; he rushed up back to the doorway and grabbed me around my waist. I gasped and put my hands on his broad shoulders. He gently leant his forehead on mine. I stared into his eyes, at the moment they were a deep honey. “I can’t leave you without doing this first.” He whispered, and in that moment the distance between our lips ended. I closed my eyes and we kissed. It was everything I expected and more. After only a few seconds, which felt like forever, we broke apart. “Now I can say goodnight” Tristan said. He then ran off to his car and drove off. I walked into my house and closed my door. I leant against the door a smile plastered across my face. I gave a little jump in the air, and walked up to my bedroom careful not to disturb Eli who was probably asleep. I took off my shoes and left them by my bed. I then walked over to my window still thinking about what was probably my best night ever. Everything from start to finish was perfect. From my window I could see LakeSide Nursing home. That’s when I noticed the smoke. I scrunched up my eyes looking hard to see where it was coming from. My heart started to beat like crazy. It was coming from the nursing home. I put my hands to my mouth. Oh my god, the nursing home was on fire! They were like a second family to me. I had to do something. I quickly grabbed my mobile and ran down my stairs not even bothering to put back on my shoes and I sprinted down the road. I had to get there. I had to help them! As I was running I whipped out my phone and dialled 911. Before the operator even had the chance to say a word I had already screamed at them for the fire brigade. I rounded a corner, only three more blocks to go Summer. “What’s the situation?” asked the operator. “There’s a fire at LakeSide Nursing home! I don’t know if anybody been alerted about it, but you need to get down there now!! There’s old people there, you’ve got to hurry!!” I screamed at the operator and quickly hung up. I rounded the last corner and there it was. There were people everywhere, it was pandemonium! The elderly were all assembled in one area, nurses and the receptionists were trying to keep them calm. There was police, ambulance and what looked like more fire engines turning up. My call obviously had been sent straight through. I then saw the most unusual thing, Tristan’s car parked across from the nursing home. What the hell was that doing there? I then saw Sue with a clipboard checking off names, with the residents of the nursing home surrounding her. Other elderly people were being loaded up into ambulances. I ran over to her. “Summer what are you doing here?” She asked, her hair was in disarray and she looked like she had been crying. “I saw smoke from my window and ran all the way here. I also called the fire department. Sue is everybody out?” I questioned desperately. A grim look came across her face. “What is it?” I screamed. “Well we can’t seem find Pearl.” She had barely finished her sentence before I rushed over to the entrance. “Summer don’t!!” She called after me, but I didn’t listen to her, I had to help find Pearl. I took a deep breath and opened the front door. Inside was an inferno, everything burning up. I wrapped my arm around my face, protecting it from the embers which were floating around like tiny little fire fairies. I had to find my way to room 401. I ran down the corridor to where her room was, when I stepped on something hard. I let out a scream, I was still barefoot. I picked up the foreign object and held it close to my face. I rubbed soot off it and gasped. I dropped the object on the floor. It was Tristan’s Italy lighter. “No, no, no, no” I whispered to myself. No, he couldn’t have done it? He wouldn’t have done it! I felt instantly sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to believe that Tristan had done such a thing, but it all added up, the time from when I was at home to when the fire started did leave a pretty big gap, his car across the road and now his lighter! Something collapsed behind me and I was jolted from my horrible thoughts, I didn’t have time to think about Tristan, I had to find Pearl. After 5 minutes of searching through the smoke I found her room. I pushed the door open and rushed in. I ran straight to her bed but it was empty and her wheelchair was nowhere in sight. I opened her bathroom door but it too was also empty. Pearl wasn’t in this room. Smoke was billowing into the room making it harder and harder to breathe. My dress was ruined and my arms had soot all over them. I ran quickly over to the door, when all of a sudden the ceiling collapsed blocking my exit. I was trapped! Despite the pain and the shock, I was surprised to find that I could think incredibly clearly. My skin was tingling. It stung and stung with no end. My eyes burned from the smoke that filled the air and my lungs ached from lack of fresh air. I frantically glanced around, all I saw was flames. I could hear the crackling of the fire, yes, but louder than anything else was the pounding of my heart. It started beating faster and faster, sweat trickled down my back making my dress stick to my skin. I looked at my hand; the skin was darkening. Watching it burn was almost as bad as feeling it. I was sure I would be dead in minutes. I coughed the sound echoing through the abandoned room. I used my arm to cover my mouth as I walked around blindly, desperately trying to find the door. “HELP!” I screamed hoarsely, hoping, praying for someone to hear me. I collapsed onto my knees; tears fell from my eyes evaporating as soon as they landed on the floor boards of the room. My vision started to blur, I coughed uncontrollably. It felt like I was being chocked by someone. I tipped over on my side and that’s when I saw a figure. Surely I must have imagined it? The figure quickly raced towards me. Shouting something but I couldn’t hear what. It was then that everything went black. The first thing I became aware of was the fact that I was being carried bridal style. My head was rested against somebody’s shoulder, my arm wrapped around their neck, the other lightly placed on their chest. I guessed it was probably a man. The gentle rock of their walk made me feel unusually relaxed. Fresh air filled my lungs; it was such a relief to be out of that nightmare. My face and arms were tingling from where they had been burnt. It felt like my skin was bubbling, it hurt soo much! I opened my eyes carefully and the world started to spin. I clenched my eyes shut again. I let out a quiet whimper. “Shhhh it’s going to be okay Summer. I’ve got you, your safe now. I’ve got you.” My eyes flew open to the voice that I would recognize anywhere. I looked up at the person and sure enough my conclusion was confirmed. It was a shaggy haired boy whose face was streaked with soot, his eyes puffy and full with worry. “Get away from me Tristan” I hoarsely cried out. I tried to push him away with my hand but I was too weak. Tristan stopped dead in his tracks, he’s face became instantly confused. The events from the night came flooding back to me, the fire, the lighter and room 401. “What? What’s wrong Summer?” Asked Tristan. I couldn’t believe it, did he seriously not know why I wanted to be as far away from him. I whispered through gritted teeth, “You started the fire, I know it.” Tristan’s face went from confused to just astounded. “No I didn’t, you must be confused, you’ve been through a lot, and I would never-“I interrupted him. “Don’t you try to lie about it, I know you did!” People around us started to stare at Tristan and I. Tristan was stunned he didn’t know what to reply. A paramedic rushed over to us, bringing with them a stretcher. “Just leave me alone” I cried out tears beginning to fall. Tristan softly placed me on the stretcher and he started to talk to the paramedic about the situation, leaving out the part of how I accused him of starting the fire. I sat on the stretcher with my burnt and torn dress, I felt completely and utterly betrayed. The paramedics did a series of tests on me, Tristan stayed with me the whole time but I didn’t talk to him. How could he do that? He knew how much I loved that place. The paramedics loaded me into the ambulance and we drove off leaving Tristan alone by the site of the fire. Once I got to the hospital, they gave me a quick check over. I stayed in observation for a couple of hours and then they discharged me. Eli was also at the hospital but I had no idea how he got there. Sue drove us home. She offered to stay with us but we said that we were fine. I didn’t have the energy to walk all the way upstairs so Eli made me a bed on the couch. He and I sat on the couch together I rested my head on his shoulder and put his arms around me, giving me a brotherly hug. Tears poured down my face. I told him about Tristan. “How could he Eli?” I sobbed. He rubbed my shoulder. “I don’t know Summer, I just don’t know.” He replied quietly. We stayed that way for the rest of the night. SUNDAY

The next day it was awfully quiet in the house. Eli and I had breakfast and watched a little bit of TV. After awhile he said he had homework to do, though he was a little reluctant to leave. I insisted that he did. All day I got texts from people asking how I was and to get better soon. Word sure did get around fast. Sue had also called later on, she told me that nearly everybody had gotten out, that was except for poor old Pearl. Apparently they found her trying to get out of the nursing home but her wheelchair got stuck. The firemen rescued her but she later died in hospital from smoke inhalation. I cried on the phone to Sue. Sue also said that the fire department hadn’t found out who had started the fire but they were working on it, they knew it was intentional. I hung up the phone. I wasn’t yet prepared to tell her about Tristan. At around 3:30 the doorbell rang. “I got it!” I yelled to Eli. He shouted back an okay. I got up off the couch, and opened the door. “Hello?” I asked. Standing on the front porch was Tristan, in his hands a bouquet of flowers and a ‘get better soon’ balloon. “Summer,” He started I grabbed the door and tried to slam it shut but Tristan put his foot in the doorway stopping me from doing so. “Why are you here!?” I screamed. I opened up the door wide. Tristan carefully placed the flowers and balloon on the ground. “I just-" Before he could continue I drew my hand back and gave a hard slap across his face. It made an awful sound, his face jerked to the side. “I can-" He started again and SMACK I gave him another slap. I was just so angry. Tristan looked at me the right side of his face already going red. I was proud of my handy work, he deserved it. Suddenly Tristan grabbed my arms and pushed me against a brick wall which was next to the front door. He did it actually quite gently. I squirmed trying to get out of his grip. “Stop it Summer!” He yelled. I stopped instantly. “I did NOT start the fire you have to believe me!” He said sounding desperate for me to believe him. I so wanted to but I couldn’t ignore the hard facts. “But your car was parked across the road, and I saw your lighter in the nursing home. For heavens sake you like to set things on fire for fun, you told me that yourself! Do you really expect me to believe you?” I questioned loudly. Then all of a sudden Tristan’s lips were on mine, at first I tried to resist him. I tried to push him away but then part of me just sort of gave up and before I knew it I was kissing him back. Tristan pulled back, determination streaked across his face. “I would never do anything to hurt you and that was just proof of that.” He said sternly. “Also, I found this.” Tristan opened up a zip in his jacket and pulled out a burnt wallet. He handed it to me. I gave him a puzzled look. “What’s this?” I questioned unsure of what he was trying to get at. “Open it up.” He told me simply. I opened up the wallet and gasped. Staring up at me was a driver’s license with …………….. Zane on it! “After I dropped you home, I drove to a service station to fill up my car. When I went inside to pay and when I came out my car was gone. Somebody had stolen it. Now we know that somebody was Zane. He parked my car across the road from LakeSide and used my lighter which was in my car at the time to start the fire. He tried to frame me!” Everything was starting to make sense. “When I saw smoke coming in the direction of the nursing home I assumed the worst and ran over there. It was crazy when I got there people, cops, ambos and the fire department were everywhere. Sue came over to me and told me that you had tried to play hero and ran inside. So I didn’t think I just sprinted in. When I saw you Summer,” He choked up, “I just had to get you out.” He stopped talking. I couldn’t believe Zane had started the fire all because he was jealous. “But how did you find his wallet?” I questioned. Tristan gave me a smirk. “I snuck into the site this morning and found it among the debris.” I gave a giggle. Standing on my tippy toes, I wrapped my hands around his neck, fingers lacing themselves into those brown locks of hair I adored. Tristan pulled me close to his chest, his arms around my waist. I stared deep into his eyes, and he gave me a cheeky grin. A strand of my hair fell on my face, Tristan gently brushed it away. He leaned closer and whispered “I love you,” I smiled not able to help myself and then with much enthusiasm he kissed me. After what seemed forever I pulled back for a breath. Tristan chuckled a bit and cradled me into his chest. I listened to his steady, strong heartbeat. For a moment everything seemed perfect, nothing in the world was more important than the boy I was with. Nobody could tell us what we were doing was wrong. After everything we had endured, all the struggles and pain finally we were happy. Tristan rested his forehead against mine and I closed my eyes. “Tristan” “Yes beautiful?” “Kiss me” “Okay”