‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know,’ I whispered. Al l along I’d thought that he was a stuck-up rich boy, but he’d faced just as much crap as we had. He’d chosen to let it change him for good, instead of bad. He’d been brave enough to actually get off his arse and think good stuff about the world. He’d chosen not to judge me cos I’d gone the other way. He lifted his hand and put it under my chin. I didn’t wanna look at him, but he pulled my face up. His beautiful blue eyes were glittery in the sun as he smiled at me. It was one of those sexy smiles, where one corner of his lips went higher in his cheek. I have to admit that my stomach was like strawberry jelly now. He leant forward and allowed his forehead to rest against mine. I didn’t pull away as our breath intertwined. This feeling was so amazingly amazing. He was still looking into my eyes as our lips brushed together briefly. My eyes closed as he pulled away for a split second and then came back for more. The kiss deepened and I couldn’t think no more.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘Scott and Natalie, sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G … ’ The singing came from behind us. We were sitting on a bench, not a tree. I jumped back from Scott, recognising Jack’s voice.

  ‘Shut up, will you,’ I said, spinning on the bench to see Jack and Tiff coming through the cemetery towards us. Jack was on his bike, like always. He was obsessed with that thing.

  ‘See, Jack, don’t you feel inspired by Tiffany? Why don’t you go to try-outs … ?’

  Jack had always talked about doing something with his BMXing, but had never actually gone to any try-outs.

  ‘I can’t believe she’s done it. I mean … did she plug something in their ears before she sang?’ He stopped in front of us, resting his foot on the ground to steady the bike. Tiff sat next to me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it hard and making a kissing face. I slapped her arm, the cheeky mare! I glanced at Scott, who was ignoring us as he spoke to Jack.

  ‘I dunno mate, I’ve only ever ridden on my own and this bike ain’t any good really,’ Jack was saying as he puffed on a fag.

  ‘You’re awesome at riding and you know it! What’s the worst that could happen? I’m signing up for an art course at the college tomorrow.’ I smiled at my friend. Times were changing. I could feel it in my youthful bones.

  ‘Oh, woopie do!’ came a familiar voice from across the graveyard. Tommy was approaching us. He was really unsteady on his feet. I’d not seen or spoken to him since he’d knifed me. I weren’t about to sit here and let him ruin our day. I was about to jump up when Scott took my hand. I looked at him and he smiled. Yeah, yeah, I had a choice not to react to the bastard.

  ‘At least we’re doing something with our lives,’ Tiffany said, standing up and putting her hands on her skinny hips. Tommy walked straight up to her and sneered in her face. I was about to go to her rescue when Jack grabbed Tommy’s arm and pulled him away.

  ‘Come on, mate, what you been up to?’ he said, offering him a fag. Tommy took it as he swayed. He looked around at us and started to laugh. The tosser was off his head. I’d had it with him. Okay, so he might have had a rough time, but so had we all and we weren’t being a dick to our own friends. His gaze landed on my arm and a flash of something went through his eyes. He looked away from me and straight at Scott. He noticed our hands and snarled.

  ‘You shacking up with the goody-two -shoes? He replacing me then?’ He flicked the lighter a few times before managing to get it lit and using it on his fag.

  ‘I could never replace you, mate,’ Scott said before I could tell him to shove his fag up his cruel arse and smoke it there.

  ‘Trying to, though, I can tell. We used to be a family, you know? We were solid. We were one. Not any more though. Not since you got involved. It’s like everyone thinks that life is all fine and bloody dandy, but that ain’t reality. We came from nothing and we ain’t got a hope of going anywhere. When you lot remember that, you’ll come running back to me,’ Tommy said, gesturing with his fag. He stumbled a bit as he gave us his sermon. It was fitting in a place like this. I actually started to feel a tiny bit sorry for the lost lad. He was going nowhere and he could not see a way out of the nothingness he was in. I wanted to help him, but I knew that our time as a family had drawn its last breath of life. Sometimes you had to leave people behind. Not cos you didn’t care, but cos it was time for life to move on. If you’re constantly karate chopping upstream, instead of row row rowing your boat downstream, you got stuck. I was sick of being stuck. It was time to leave Tommy to fight his own battles. He didn’t care about us no more.

  ‘Come on, guys, let’s go,’ I said, standing up. It was getting late and dark. The rest followed my lead and we started to walk away from a friendship that had gone sour.

  ‘Wait, let me give you a lift,’ Tommy called, running all over the place as he caught up with us and lead us out of the graveyard. There was a beat up car parked up on the road.

  ‘Were did you get that from?’ Jack asked, looking at me. I noticed that there was a load of vodka bottles on the back seat. Two of them were empty.

  ‘I stole it, Bruv,’ Tommy laughed, running to the other side of the car. ‘Come on, where we going?’

  ‘Tommy, we ain’t getting in the car with you. What’s the matter with you? Things have gone too far and we ain’t playing this game no more,’ I shouted at him. My whole body was shaking like mad.

  ‘Oh, too good for me, are you? Well, screw you, guys, I’m going home.’ Tommy jumped into the car.

  ‘Don’t let him drive when he’s like that, he’ll hurt someone,’ Tiff called, pulling on Scott’s arm. He released me and opened the passenger door.

  ‘Scott, just leave him, will you,’ I said, trying to pull him away. When Tommy started the car, Scott jumped in with him.

  ‘Don’t worry, Natalie, I’m going to stop him.’

  As he said that, he pulled the door closed and winked at me. The smile he gave me made my tummy flip-flop, which annoyed me considering the situation.

  ‘Scott, seriously … ’ My sentence was cut off as Tommy started the car and sped off down the road. We all ran into the middle of the street and watched as the car veered all over the place. It just about dodged another car that beeped, but then a split second later, it veered straight into a massive tree on the side of the road. The ringing in my ears after the smash had me holding my hands over them. What the hell had just happened? Jack was already riding towards the car on his bike. Tiff was squeezing my hand as she screamed. We started to run. We could see smoke starting to rise out of the front of the car. It took a few minutes, but when we got there, I could see Jack pulling Tommy free from the car. I ran to the passenger’s side. My heart was pounding the inside of my ribs to escape my chest. I saw the front of the car had completely crumpled. When I got to the window, I saw the glass all over the floor. Scott’s airbag hadn’t come out. He was sitting in the seat. There was blood all over his face and I could see a massive gash in his forehead. Only a few short minutes ago that skin had been smooth and touching my own. I tried to pull on the door, but it was jammed. The rest of the car had melted into it. I could feel tears as they ran off my face. I pulled and pulled, but I couldn’t get the bloody door open. I heard my name being whispered and looked at Scott. His beautiful blue eyes were open. He was smiling at me. I leant in the window and took his hand.

  ‘Oh, Scott, thank god! Are you okay?’ I couldn’t take my gaze away from his. The look in his eyes was one that I hadn’t seen in my life often.

  ‘I love you, Natalie, you know that don’t you?’ he whispered, squeezing my hand tight. I held on to him. I wanted to try and get him out, but he needed me by his side.

  ‘Yeah, I sorta guessed. You’re my stalker after all,’ I laughed at the same time as crying, which was a mission in itself. He laughed and then coughed. I tried not to scream when a bit of blood leaked out of his mouth.

  ‘Scott, oh God,’ I tried to pull away.

  ‘Don’t leave me. Listen to me. It’s okay, Nat, I’m fine.’

  ‘How can you say that you’re fine?’ I didn’t know what to do. I wanted so much to try and get help but I didn’t want to let him go.

  ‘Just remember what I told you. You have the choice to change and be who you want to be. Look at things better, babe. Your life’s going to be amazing.’ He choked again and blinked briefly. What was he talking about? He couldn’t go anywhere. I’d only just found him.

  ‘No, Scott, please don’t … I love you too,’ I cried. I was trying so hard not to let my tears flow but I couldn’t stop them. I couldn’t be hard. I couldn’t hold in my emotion. This posh boy had shown me that I could live a great life but now he was dying in front of me. I lent further into the car and kissed him. It was a soft kiss and I felt him return it gently.

  ‘Don’t worry about me, seriously, just make your life great,’ he whispered. I pulled away just as his eyes fluttered closed. I shook my head as his hand went limp in mine. This couldn’t be happening. I started to scream and sob. I was pulled away from the car. The paramedics were trying to get to him but I knew it was too late. The only person that had ever shown me how to love had just left me.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I walked through the door and sat in the stall. I could see through the glass screen. They were wheeling him into the room. He had scars over his face and his hands were shaking as they gripped the side of the chair. His alright looking face was a mess and I felt guilty at how pleased I was. They placed him in front of me and then went away. I picked up the phone and gestured to his. He reached for it, but it took him a few goes to get it to his ear.

  ‘Hello,’ I said, looking straight into his sad eyes. He couldn’t look at me. I felt like I wanted to break his fat neck. I wished that it was him, instead of Scott that had died.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. The hard-arsed boy fell apart in front of me, allowing a life time of major pain to come out.

  ‘Really … ? I don’t believe you, Tommy,’ I spat. ‘You killed him.’

  Tears were running down my cheeks, but I ignored them. Hopefully the bastard would see what he’d done to me.

  ‘Nat. I fucked up, I know. I’m seriously sorry. I ain’t ever gonna walk again. I deserve it, I know, but still … ’ he stopped talking as the shaking overtook his body. The guards rushed forward as he started to slip out of his wheelchair. I put my hand over my mouth as I watched the boy that I’d once loved like a brother, suffer. The fits had started after the accident. I closed my eyes as they got him on the floor and into the recovery position. I stood up when they asked me to leave the hospital wing. Tommy was gonna be inside for a long time, but that was the path he’d chosen. He was lucky that he was on the other side of the glass cos I would’ve been tempted to kick his arse when he was down. As I watched him pass out on the floor, I knew that Scott had come into my life to show me that there was another way. Tommy had chosen to act like a prick and the life that he now looked forward to made me shake my head in disgust. He got everything he deserved for killing my boyfriend.

  I left the prison and started to walk. I didn’t know where I was going but I needed to clear my jumbled head. I took deep breaths to calm the fire that threatened to make me kill someone. Jumping onto the bus, I looked out of the window. I didn’t see London as it passed by. When I got off, I found myself outside the graveyard. My feet took me through the gate and to the resting place of my soulmate. I would never forget how he made me feel. Everything that I now did in life was gonna be for him. Life was still unfair though, why had they taken him from me? Look at life better he’d said, but how could I do that? I constantly wanted to kill someone. I wanted to try and get rid of the pain in my still beating heart. I looked down at the fresh earth that covered the man that had tried to get me away from the bastard that had killed him. I knelt on the ground and felt the tears sky dive off the end of my nose.

  ‘What the bloody hell do I do now?’ I whispered to him.

  My phone burst out in music and I grabbed it out of my pocket. It was my mother, probably checking to see if I was okay. I was amazed at how much she’d been there for me through this. I pressed ignore and saw her name flash away. My screen photo showed up and I shook my head at the picture Scott had drawn me. It said four words.

  You have a choice.

 

 

  Rachel Medhurst, Choice!

 

 

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