Within The Shadows (2 page)

His face was
red and swollen, and by the looks of things
, the night before had been a heavy one. Everyone knew he
was a little too fond of the booze.

“
Giselle, come in, and close the door,” Principal Brooks
directed me.

Obediently,
I shut the door behind me, and stood close to Marc, trying my best
not to laugh. When I get nervous, I tend to mask my feelings by
laughing, or making light of the situation, but right then and
there, I doubted my humour would have been appreciated.

“
Giselle, I am very disappointed in you. How many times have
we had this discussion? You are always late for school, you’re
behind in your assignments, and, to be blunt, I am getting quite
sick of your casual display of affection with Mr.
Clark.”

I could not
believe it. He was pinning it all on me! “But . . .” I tried to
speak.

“
Enough of your excuses! You’re on detention for the rest of
the week. I believe you should be in English. If you make it quick,
I am sure Ms. Royston won’t add to your ever-growing record of
disobedience.” He ushered me out of the room. “Marc, this game on
Friday night . . .” The door closed, and the conversation became
nothing more than muffled voices.

As I made my
way to class, I could not have felt more pissed off. Walking into
the already quiet classroom was bad enough, but having Evie smugly
looking at me as I fumbled through my bag was the last
straw.

“
When you’re ready, Giselle,” Ms. Royston said.

Sitting
down, I looked around for him. There he sat, smiling at me, showing
concern with those luminous green eyes, and instantly, I felt
calm.

“
You okay?”
he mouthed at me.

Nodding my head, I tried not to
distract Ms. Royston, but failed.

“
Is there
something you’d like to share with the rest of the class, Giselle?”
she asked.

I could feel
my cheeks growing red, and my heart pounded hard in my chest. “No.”
My voice quivered.

Everyone was
looking at me. I could feel Evie’s eyes staring hard at me, but I
refused to give in, and stared ahead.

“
Really? Well, maybe you can take part in our class
discussion. What is Atticus’s relationship to his children like?”
She sat back against her desk, and folded her arms, waiting for my
input.

Oh
, my God!
I thought. I had read the book. well, only
slightly, but God, I didn’t have a clue. My face became redder and
redder as I slowly died inside.

Alex spoke
up. “Atticus is a kind, and I suppose, loving father. He reads to
his children, and offers them comfort when they need it. He is also
capable of teaching them pretty harsh lessons, like when he allows
Jem to come with him to tell Helen Robinson about Tom’s death. He
is also a very wise man, one who is committed to justice and
equality, and his parenting style is based on fostering these
virtues in his children. He even encourages Jem and Scout to call
him “Atticus” so that they can interact on terms as equal as
possible. Well, that is what Giselle and I discussed earlier,
anyway.” He confidently sat back in his chair, and grinned at
me.

“
Well, that was . . .” Ms. Royston began. The bell rang, and
I was out of that room in a flash.

I stood by
my locker, defeated by Monday’s usual round up, and craved my warm
bed. I wanted to escape the usual bullshit of school life, and
wanted nothing more than to run away, to live my life far from
there on the other side of the world.

“
It can’t be
that bad,” Alex said as he stood beside me.

“
Wanna bet? I have just had the worst morning ever. I was
hauled in by Green for kissing Marc, and now Brooks has me on
another week of detention. My dad is gonna kill me!” Closing my
eyes, I took a deep breath.

“
Ouch! But at least you have the prom on Saturday. That is
something to look forward to, right?” He tried his best to make me
feel better.

“
With the way
my week’s going, I doubt I’ll make it to Saturday.”

“
Oh, come on, G, play it cool! Just keep your head down, and
for God’s sake, stay out of Green’s way,” he said as he hugged
me.

“
Yep, but that’s easier said than done.”

The noise
from the corridor began to fade, and the bell rang again. I had an
awful knack for being late for everything, and at this rate, I was
more than likely going to be late for my own funeral.

“
See you later. I gotta go dazzle the lovely Ms. Shultze.”
He winked at me, and left me alone.

I stood with
my eyes closed for a few moments, trying my hardest not to succumb
to the overwhelming feelings growing inside me. I wanted to cry.
Hell, I wanted to throw a tantrum that a two-year-old could get
away with, but knowing the endless chaos it would bring would
probably ruin my school life forever. I played it safe, and held my
emotions in instead.

Opening my
locker, I searched for my Algebra book. “Damned thing!” I cursed to
myself.

I
nstead, I found a sealed brown
envelope lodged between my music folder and my copy of
To Kill A
Mockingbird
. Pulling it out, I looked it
over, checked the corridor for any peering eyes, and opened the
blank envelope. Inside, I found a disc and a small note. There was
nothing else. That was when I decided to let my curiosity get the
best of me. The message had been pieced together with cut-outs from
magazines, but the words had the profoundest effect on
me.

Once upon a time, a girl had a dream
. She had the boy. She had it all. Now it’s time
to burst that bubble
.

Without
hesitating, I skipped the rest of the day’s lessons.
I knew no one would be home when I got there.
Dad was away on another business trip, and Mom was more than likely
planning some charity convention with the other contenders for
‘Mother of the Year.’

Grabbing a
bag of chips and a can of Pepsi from the refrigerator, I casually
strolled into the family room, sliding the disc into the DVD
player, and pressing play. Sitting back on the sofa, I chugged down
half of the can, and started munching on my favourite snacks.
Before I could swallow my mouthful, what I saw caught me completely
off guard. Struggling to control the ever-growing knot in my
stomach, my eyes filled with tears. I was torn in two, full of
disbelief at what I was seeing, and anger that this was no set up.
I wanted to scream, but the voice would not come out.

Breathe
, Giselle.
Breathe!

That was
when reality really hit me
, and I started
screaming uncontrollably, tears streaming down my cheeks. My head
pulsated as I searched through my bag for my phone whilst the audio
played in the background.
Her
laughter and moans filled my
head, and in a rage, I threw the controller at the TV screen. It
cracked, and the screen went dead momentarily.

Frantically,
I dialled Alex’s number, and paced, waiting for him to
answer.

“
Hello?” he
answered.

“
Alex . . . Alex . . .” I sobbed.

“
Giselle,
what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

“
Oh, God . . . Marc and . . . He . . .” I broke
down.

“
Where are
you?” he asked.

“
Home.”

Sitting on
the floor in the middle of the room, I cried. Inside, my stomach
churned over and over, and at times, I felt like vomiting, but it
didn’t happen. Instead, I took long deep breaths to counteract my
sobs. Dizziness plagued me as I tried to make sense of what I had
seen. Surely, it had been some kind of sick joke, but it was too
real. Marc had to have known about this, but I was at a loss as to
what to do. If it was true, things would never be the same again.
Inside, I could feel a part of me die.

Chapter
Two

ALEX SAT
BESIDE
me on the lounge floor, and held
the empty envelope in his hands. His face was no longer that of the
calm handsome guy I had known for so long. Instead, his jaw was
clenched tight, and his eyes were wild.

Looking
around the room, he let out a long breath, and then stood up.
Walking over to the television, he picked up the controller off the
floor, and pressed play. He stood back, and watched the footage
play through the cracks on the television.

“
I am going to kill that son of a bitch!” he
growled.

Hearing the
audio a second time round made it all the more real. I avoided
staring at the screen, and the more I listened, the more I realised
I had to do something about it.

“
My dad is going to kill me!” I blurted out.

“
What!?” Alex exclaimed.

Walking over
to the television, I pulled the power cord out of the wall, and
stood back from the screen. “I broke it.”

“
Yeah, but I’ll sort that out. Giselle, what are we going to
do about Marc?” he asked.

I looked at
him, surprised that he was so worked up over this, and curious as
to what he had in mind. “Confront him, I guess.”

“
Oh, no. We’re going to do more than confront him,” he
shouted.

Up until
now, I had never really seen Alex lose his composure, but here he
was, almost ready to burst, and it was all over something Marc had
done to me, not him.

“
I . . . don’t know what to do.” I broke down, and he held
me.

Holding me
close, and refusing to break the embrace, Alex gently stroked my
hair as I tried hard to compose myself while failing at every
breath.

“
We will
humiliate him in front of the whole school, both of them,” he
said.

“
What?”

“
At prom . . . There would be no better revenge. Think about
it, G. The ultimate payback.”

I pulled
away from him, walked over to my mother’s favourite day chair, and
sat down. Running my hands through my hair, I looked out of the
large bay window, and watched the branches of the large willow tree
sway from side to side.

“
I am not sure. What do you suggest?”

Laughing, he
came over, and sat on the ground near my legs. “Think about it . .
. big television, playback, and an audience that would love the
entertainment. Obviously, you would have to try your best over the
next five days or so, to . . . you know, pretend that everything is
fine, but I can assure you. It would be the ultimate revenge, and I
swear, there would be no comeback to you.”

“
Alex, this is crazy. I can’t . . . I am not that
strong.”

“
G, you are stronger than you think, and I will be with you
every step of the way. I will not let you down like that loser. I
am not like him.”

“
I don’t know. This is all too much!”

Taking my
hands in his, he lowered his voice. “Do you trust me?”

“
Of course, I trust you, Alex, but not even you can fix
this,” I said, defeated.

“
I can assure you I can do a lot. Leave it all to me. Just
make sure you show up that night, and the rest will reveal itself,”
he replied earnestly.

The clock on
the mantel piece chimed, and both of us got to our feet. A car door
shut nearby, and footsteps made their way towards the front door.
It was my mother, and the room was a mess. Alex ran over to the
television, and grabbed the game controllers. He threw one at me,
and promptly slipped a disc into the PlayStation. The door opened,
and my mother walked in.

“
Giselle, what are you doing home so early?” she asked as
she slipped off her shoes, and strode in our direction.

“
I, um, felt unwell, and took the rest of the day
off.”

Walking into
the room, she caught sight of Alex, and then the television. “What
on earth has happened here?” she inquired as she examined the crack
across the television.

“
Hi, Mrs. Bergman. I came round to cheer Giselle up, and we
got carried away with the game. It was my fault. I have already
contacted my father who is more than willing to pay for the
damage.” His voice was calm and confident.

“
There is no need for that, Alex. I am sure your father has
better things to do than spend his money on minor incidents.” She
smiled at Alex.

“
My father won’t hear of it, and I do feel responsible, so
please accept it. God knows when he’ll cough up money again!” Alex
laughed.

My mother
was all doe-eyed, and for a moment, it looked as though she’d been
put under a spell. Fortunately, she came round pretty quickly, and
gave me a sharp look. She turned her back on us, and walked out of
the room. She had been looking so pale as of late, yet her robust
personality was enough to make you stand to attention when she came
into a room. That’s not to say that my mother was not pleasant, as
she had a way of making people adore her. With prom coming up, she
was in her glory.

“
Told you I’d sort it out. Trust me, Giselle. Okay?” Alex
prodded, breaking the silence.