Page 413 of Knox Academy Omnibus
I head straight down to the back lawns of the school grounds where the stage has been set up. Whoever thought that an outside event was a good idea needs to re-evaluate. There are too many things that could go wrong.
I hear him before I see him, his laughter ringing through the air. I search for any sign of the twins or Sawyer but nothing. Baxter sometimes likes to pop up out of nowhere but he’s currently ignoring my texts. Now that I’ve found Kalen I know he isn’t behind their mysterious vanishing act.
Kalen jumps to the ground as I round the stage. He lands weird and does a half roll as Cap lands beside him. I see him from an angle no one should ever have to see their boyfriend.
“Kalen Knox, what in the fuck are you doing?!” I say, my hands falling to my hips. He turns his head to face me, and he smiles.
“Making sure I test how fit Cap is! Did you know, for a big dude he can run?”
Cap pulls Kalen up by the arm and he dusts himself down. “Why are you naked under there?”
“It's a funny story actually, I was so damn itchy, I needed to air out the goods.”
A laugh gets caught in my throat; bloody Adrianne, I swear if she did this I’m going to strangle her.
“And I think I have a rash.”
He lifts his damn gown and flashes me, and my eyes go wide. Hedoeshave a rash. “I think I have crabs,” he whimpers, giving himself a scratch.
“Syphilis gives you a rash, not crabs,” Cap announces, shaking his head.
“How would you know, big guy, are you talking from experience?”
“I actually listened in health class, you idiot.”
“Go and get some damn cream from the school nurse and warn her before you flash your goods. Not everyone wants to see that…oh, and lay off the sugar.”
“You want to see it,” he crows with a mischievous grin just before he lifts his gown and takes off running.
“I’m sorry,” I apologise to Cap.
“I don’t get paid enough to deal with him,” he grumbles as he walks away.
I turn and see that people have started arriving and have witnessed Kalen in all his Kalen-ness.
Monty and Laura sit on the left-hand side of the stage in the front row, where Monty can access the stage. My dad, Chelsea, Aadi, Smalls, Bex, Camilla, Debbie and Maggie are all seated onthe right. Smart move whoever did that. Laura isn’t very liked, but it makes sense she would be forced to be here. I head over to my family. Debbie and Chelsea are seated next to each other. Chelsea pulled me aside last night and we had a talk about Debbie. She wanted to see how I was feeling about it all. I was more concerned about howshewas handling it all. All she said is my father’s past isn’t something she can change and that without Debbie there would be no me, so for that reason alone she will forever be grateful to Debbie because I am her daughter thanks to her. There were tears, mostly from Chelsea, but I may have shed one or two myself at being called Chelsea’s daughter.
They are both laughing as I approach. “Amelie, I was just telling Debbie how funny it is that you and her both have this weird Aussie, British twang.”
“He said she had an accent. Australian. A bit like yours, actually.”
The memory hits me hard and I don’t know why I didn’t think about it earlier. The women that sound like me! It narrows it down to Debbie, Laura and possibly Camilla depending on if he was referring to the Aussiness or the British.
“Honey, are you okay?” Chelsea asks.
“Um, yeah…Debbie and Camilla, could I talk to you both for a minute, please?”
They both look at me and nod. Camilla is slightly more hesitant than Debbie but we all move closer to the stage before I talk.
“I need you to both go to the back of the school building, first door on the left. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I just need one more person for this conversation.
I casually walk over to where Laura is now seated alone; Monty must be off making sure everything is ready to go. She barely looks up at me, her eyes glued to her phone.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” I ask, trying to hold back the natural tone of resentment that finds its way out when I have to talk to her.
“Talk?” she snaps. “Why bother when your perfect little family is over there?”
“Seriously, Laura? I’m about to graduate and I want to clear the air. Can we go and talk somewhere more private? All I want is five minutes of your time.”
