SORROW WOODS (10 page)

to the side of the outhouse where we keep our pots. Then I pluck some strawberries from off the

plant and an apple from the small tree that sits on its own in the middle of the dry grass. When I get back to him, he’s asleep.

I bite a strawberry in half and rub it along his lips. His pink tongue skims across his lips, making them look wet. I stare at him closely, noticing that his eyelashes are longer than any I’ve ever seen before. The tip of his hair is wet from sweat and sticks against his sunburnt forehead. His lips are full and now stained red from the fruit.

I want to touch him. I want to feel with my hands what a boy’s face feels like. Is his skin really as soft as it looks? What does the dark stubble feel like that’s splashed across the bottom half of his face? I lift my hand up. My fingers are literally seconds away from touching him when his eyes flutter open. He blinks quickly, trying to pull my face into focus and then smiles at me.

“Did I fall asleep?” he asks, looking a little dazed and confused.

I nod and hand him the fruit that I collected. “You did. I think your blood sugar is running

low. You need to eat some fruit and then you can drink some more water afterwards.”

He takes the fruit from me and throws a whole strawberry into his mouth. “How do you

know about blood sugars anyway?”

I smile and stand up. “I have a medical encyclopaedia. I’ve probably read it cover to cover

about five times.”

He shuffles in his seat until he’s sitting upright and smiles. “I never realised you could learn

so much from books. You’re lucky to have them.”

“I know,” I say. “I’m really lucky.”

He makes a face. I want to ask him what that face meant but I can’t. The words don’t form

properly in my mouth.

“I’m gonna go and get our dinner. Elodie will keep an eye on you,” I tell him.

He looks at his watch. “I didn’t realise it was so late. I can’t believe we were out there all

day.”

I walk into the kitchen and grab my knife, putting it into my leather sling. I throw it over my

shoulder and head out across the dusty ground.

“Where is she going with that knife?” I hear him ask Elodie.

“To get our dinner,” she replies. “What did you think she was doing with it?”

I don’t hear his reply. I’m too busy smiling about our new friend and thinking about which

chicken I’m going to throttle to bother listening any harder.

As I climb the steps, Kaiden’s eyes run all over my legs and hands that are covered in blood. He raises his eyebrows at me.

“Still sitting in that same seat, huh?” I ask.

He nods. “Chasing chickens again, huh?” He nods down towards the headless chicken that

I’m holding by its feet.

I grin. “I hope you’re not a vegetarian.”

He smiles back, revealing his perfect, pearly white teeth. “Nope, I’m definitely a carnivore

and will certainly need some meat tonight, considering the distance you’ve made me walk and swim

today.”

I want to laugh. What we walked and swam today was nothing compared to what we usually

do. Maybe these city boys need some educating of their own, I think, as I step into the house. I grab my bucket and walk back outside, sitting next to Kaiden. Just being close to him makes me feel calm and I realise that I haven’t even thought about my Mother once today.

I lift my knife up and chop through the chicken in one quick move.

“That’s gross,” says Kaiden.

I’m not sure what that word means but by the look on his face, it means he doesn’t like it. I

look down at my feathered and blood covered hands and shrug. “It’s what I have to do. If we don’t kill, pluck, and cut it, then we can’t eat it.”

He nods. “I guess you’re right. I just haven’t ever seen my dinner being made in this way

before.”

I stop and think for a moment. “How does your Mother usually make your chicken dinner

then?”

Kaiden smiles. It’s a slow smile that stretches all the way up to his ears. “The chicken comes

to us already cut, skinned, and plucked. We just get the breast of it. They sell it in supermarkets in plastic packets.”

“They sell meat in shops?” I ask incredulously.

He nods. “Butchers mainly, but supermarkets have started to sell meat on their shelves. It’s

not bad, actually.”

I wrinkle my nose. “I can’t imagine anything tasting good that’s been killed for days before it

even gets packed.”

“Well, I haven’t tasted your fresh chicken yet, so I can’t compare them. I’ll tell you when I’ve

finished eating it,” he says diplomatically.

I nod. “You’re on.” I turn to try and listen to what Elodie is doing in the house but I can’t hear her. She’s probably reading. “Elodie!” I call.

A few minutes later, she bobs her head around the door. “Yeah?”

I nod towards the concrete slab. “Are you gonna get the fire going?”

She huffs but stalks off towards the wood store anyway.

“Are you happy here, Serena?” Kaiden asks out of nowhere.

I stop what I’m doing and turn to him. I remember what he said when he turned up at the

front door last night. “I’m not unhappy.”

“That’s still not really answering my question, is it?” he asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know what you want from me. I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Don’t you want to see the world? Aren’t you curious about what’s out there?”

I nod. “Of course.”

He sighs. “Okay, no more questions.”

He doesn’t ask my anymore questions after that. He just sits and watches me prepare the

chicken. Occasionally, I see him make a face out of the corner of my eye, but other than that, he just sits and stares at me as if he’s studying me. When I’m done, I slap the meat onto the plate and throw the rest of the chicken into the bucket.

“What are you going to do with all that?” he asks, pointing to the bucket.

“I’m taking it into the woods. Something will eat it,” I say, picking it up.

He nods and then stands up.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m coming with you.”

I have no idea why he wants to do that. I’m only walking into the woods and throwing the

scraps onto a tree trunk. I shrug and walk down the steps. As we pass Elodie, she turns and grins at me.

“It must have rained today while we were at the lake,” she says.

I look down at the wet mud in her hand and then watch her eyes flick towards Kaiden. I

know exactly what she’s planning, but I have to dump the chicken and wash my hands first.

“You just turn the ground over, Elodie, and I’ll have a look at it when I come back from

dumping these scraps,” I tell her, giving her a knowing look.

She smiles and nods. I can see Kaiden looking between the two of us, confused. He follows

silently behind me as I move through the woods scattering my scraps and walking to the small water pool so I can wash my hands. I wonder why he’s not talking, but I don’t worry enough to ask him.

Before we have even seen Elodie again, a ball of mud flies through the air and lands on

Kaiden’s leg. He looks up and blinks. “Where did that come from?”

I laugh and run away from him to get my own handful of mud. When I look up again, another

ball comes flying over the small hill and lands on his cheek. He shakes his head and then spins

around. He won’t find Elodie like that. She’s far too clever and she cheats far too much.

I gather my own handful up and charge towards Kaiden. He spots me at the last minute, but

not in time to stop me from slapping the mud into his face. “Gotcha.”

“I don’t think so,” he calls, as he chases after me. “There’s no way I’m letting you win this

game too.”

“Are you trying to say that you let us win the swimming race?” I ask disbelievingly.

He grins and throws mud that flies right on past my head. “I had to let you win. You’re a

girl.”

There is no way he let me win. He’s joking.

“So is that gonna be your excuse for when you lose this game too?” I ask, picking up another

handful of mud.

Elodie beats me to it as hers slaps against his forehead, covering his eyes. I laugh and charge

towards him. My shoulder collides with his chest as I push him down onto the ground. I pull my arms out and swipe more mud all over his face. He’s laughing so much that he can’t push me off, so I take the opportunity to turn him over and completely cover him in mud. When I’m done, I stand up and

put my hands on my hips. My eyes scan the hill, looking for Elodie, who smiles and waves another

handful of mud at me.

Before I know what’s happened, I’m flat on my back with Kaiden straddling me. I can feel the

thickness of his thighs surrounding my rib cage.

“You didn’t just tackle me to the ground and cover me with mud, did you?” he asks.

“Yes.” I laugh and try to push him off, but he’s heavier than I thought. My dirty hands spread

over his white t-shirt, leaving perfect brown handprints on his chest. He stops for a moment, looks at his t-shirt, and then spreads mud over me with his strong, big hands. He finally sits back onto his heels and grins at me.

“I think you can safely say that I won that game,” he declares.

I’m still laughing but manage to shake my head.

“No?” he asks, grinning. “You don’t think I won?”

I shake my head and turn towards Elodie, who is flying through the air towards Kaiden. She

lands on him with a thump, sending him flying face first into the mud. Both of us scramble around in the mud and slap it onto him until he’s buried up to the neck. We pat it down and then stand back to admire our work. Kaiden turns his mud-streaked face to me and rolls his eyes. “Fine,” he huffs, “you won that game too.”

Kaiden

I can’t help but stare at her toned legs as she bends down to pick up the wicker basket. She

straightens herself up and reaches to the top of the cupboard to get a knife, giving me the perfect view of her taut stomach. Instead of finding a way to hate her so I can justify what I’m going to do, I’ve started to find her attractive and that’s never a good thing. All that I can see when I close my eyes at night is her face. I can probably describe her body better than I can my own. I don’t think I’ve looked at any other girl as intently as I’ve looked at Serena. Not only does she have the perfect body, she’s beautiful beyond words. She’s also funny, clever and fun to be with. What more could a guy

possibly want? She’s almost perfect. Almost.

“What are you thinking about?” she asks.

My eyes flash onto her curious face. She’s always asking me what I’m thinking or how I’m

feeling about stuff. I can feel myself making a face as I try to decide if I should be honest with her or not. I decide to be honest. She’s clearly rubbing off on me. “I was thinking about you.”

I watch a gentle blush creep up from her chest until it lands on her cheeks. She narrows her

eyes at me as if suspicious, which of course she has every right to be. “Why? What about me?”

“I was just thinking about how pretty you are. That’s all,” I say.

She pushes a piece of hair behind her ear and frowns at me. “Don’t say things you don’t

mean, Kaiden.” She swings the basket over her arm and walks out of the shack.

What the fuck did I say? Girls confuse the hell out of me. I hear myself sigh and then run out

of the house, trying to not wake Elodie as I crash through the door.

“Serena,” I call out, “wait.” I sprint up to the side of her and pull on her arm. “Why did you

storm off?”

She spins around but she doesn’t look as mad as I thought she would.

“How can you say that to me?” she demands.

How can I say that I think she’s pretty? Easy.

“I don’t understand why you’re mad. You need to explain to me, so I can understand,” I tell

her.

She folds her arms across her chest and huffs at the same time a huge droplet of water lands

on the end of my nose. I blink, feeling totally confused as to where it came from, and shake my head to try and remove it from my nose. When I look back at Serena, she’s trying so hard not to laugh at me that I find myself feeling annoyed.

“Don’t laugh at me,” I say.

That’s the trigger. She drops the basket and starts to laugh uncontrollably as tears streak

down her face. Before I can tell her to shut up or push her over or something, the clouds seem to open up and drop a bucketful of water on us. Within seconds, I am soaked right through to my

underwear.

When I glance back up at Serena, I see that the pale peach-coloured dress she is wearing is

now a see-through peach-coloured dress. She holds her hands out wide and tips her head up

towards the sky. At first, I have no idea what she’s doing, but then I realise that she probably hasn’t felt rain on her skin for a couple of months now.

I don’t care if she’s felt rain or not, the only thing I can think about is her nipples that I can see poking through the fabric of her dress. She’s going to see me when she looks at me but I can’t stop myself. I want her. I actually want to peel that dress off her and kiss every inch of her tanned skin.

When I start to feel the familiar tingle spreading through me, I have to look away.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. How could I have got it so wrong? How have I let her affect

me in this way? This is ridiculous. I hate her. I’ve always hated her. I hardly saw my parents in the early years of my childhood because they were busy at her parents’ house, helping with the

campaign.

I’m supposed to be a dick. I’m supposed to hate her. I’m not supposed to want to get her

naked so I can have sex with her. What am I even saying? She’s probably never even been kissed. I need to stop and think about something else. Think about everything that’s nothing to do with

Serena.

When I feel her cool hand slip into mine, I snap my eyes open and find her smiling, wet face