SORROW WOODS (23 page)

Serena wouldn’t wear lip-gloss, I think. Serena wouldn’t force her tongue into my mouth as a

way of persuading me to take her back home and into my bed. When I flick my eyes open, I see

blonde hair instead of brown. When Anastasia opens her eyes to see why I’ve stopped, I see green

instead of grey. I pull away, wiping the gloss from off my lips with the back of my hand.

“What’s up with you?” she hisses. “You’ve been in a rotten mood the last few days.”

I shrug. “I haven’t been in a mood.”

“You have,” she says, pushing her finger into my chest. “You’ve been moody and even more

short-tempered than you usually are.”

She’s one to talk, I think. “Whatever,” I mumble. “I’m not the one that’s been flirting with

other people in front of your face all night.”

She laughs. “That wasn’t flirting. I can show you flirting if you want.”

“No thanks. I’m tired. I haven’t really been sleeping all that great.”

She puts her hands on her hips. “So you’re going home on your own?”

“Yes.”

“Fine,” she says, stalking off towards the others that are milling around their cars. “See you

around, Kai.”

I push my hands into my pockets and make my way to my car.

I’d thought about Serena while I was kissing Anastasia.

I hate myself for wishing it had actually been Serena. She’s gotten into my head and it doesn’t

matter what I do, I can’t get her out of it. I’ve never felt like this before about a girl. I’ve never let one get into my head the way she has, and the worst part about it, is that I’m the last person that should be thinking about Serena like this. Even
I
know that she deserves better than me.

Serena

I’m officially bored. I’ve been here for almost three weeks now and I haven’t once been out, unless you count the trip to the salon with Angela. I’m itching to go somewhere…anywhere. I’m starting to feel trapped.

“Mom, can I go out please?” I sit down at the breakfast bar and grab a banana from the fruit

bowl. The variety of foods that you can pluck from your own kitchen still surprises me.

She puts the knife down that she was using to chop up meat and looks at me. “Where do

you want to go?”

I shrug. “Anywhere, really. I’ve been in the woods my whole life and now that I’m not stuck

in the woods, I still haven’t seen anything.”

She blinks, looking a little shocked at my outburst. “Who do you want to go with?”

Do I have options? I guess I could go somewhere with my parents or go and see Elodie, but I

don’t know where she lives.

“Would you like me to ask Kaiden?” she asks. When I look up at her, I notice that she is

shifting uncomfortably on her feet.

“I know we can take you out, but it might be good for you to spend some time away from us

and with someone your own age.”

I nod. It’s not that I don’t like my parents, but I’ve been with them every day for almost three

weeks. I need some sort of release. When I was in the woods, I would often just put my sneakers on and run out of the house for a few hours to get away from it all.

“Yeah, okay, but can we all do something together soon?” I ask, hoping I haven’t hurt her

feelings.

She stops chopping and looks across to me. “That would be lovely. We could go out for a

nice meal or something, or maybe we could go to a theme park.”

I’ve read about theme parks with rides that make your stomach feel like it’s going to come

out of your mouth.

“A theme park would be good,” I say. “Let’s do that.”

She washes her hands and walks towards me, wiping them on a towel. “You go and get

yourself dressed and I’ll ring Kaiden. If he’s busy or something, then I’ll take you out.”

I smile and jump down from off the high stool. “Okay.”

When I step out of the shower, I can hear Angela on the telephone. I pull on a strapless bra

and a pair of matching red knickers, and slip a red dress over my head. I’ve never had clothes that were this tight before and even after three weeks, I can’t get used to the wire in the bras that I’ve been told I should wear. Apparently, women shouldn’t go out without a bra on because if they get

cold, people will see their nipples. I hadn’t thought about any of that sort of stuff when I was in the woods. If my Mother or Elodie saw my nipples, then I guess it didn’t matter. I saw theirs, well

Mother’s anyway, and she didn’t care either.

I sit down at my new dressing table and look at myself in the mirror. Even though the sun

shines every single day, the colour of my skin is fading. I can’t go hiking or swimming in the lake all day like I did in the woods, so I guess the sun doesn’t have as much time to catch my skin anymore.

My green eyes sparkle and shine at me as I brush on some black mascara. Angela got me a few bits

of my own make-up and has shown me how to do ‘the-basics,’ as she calls it. I grab my bronzing

brush and sweep it quickly across my cheeks and nose. I squirt some water into my hair and scrunch it with my hands. I stare at myself and realise that something is missing. I pull open my drawer and find a red, flower clip, using it to pull back one side of my hair. I don’t have a purse because I have nothing to put in one so I skip downstairs to Angela.

“You look lovely,” she says with a smile as I walk back into the kitchen.

I hold my dress at the bottom and twirl around for her.

“Thanks,” I say happily.

Her eyes fall down to my bare feet.

“What shoes are you wearing?” she asks.

“I thought I could wear my white flip-flops. Will that look alright?”

She nods. “That would look lovely.” She sniffs and asks, “Have you sprayed perfume?”

I shake my head. “I haven’t got any.”

“Wait there,” she says, walking out of the kitchen.

I step forward and grab an apple from the bowl.

Angela comes back down the stairs with a bottle of perfume and a lip-gloss. “Here,” she

says, squirting me all over. “Now you look
and
smell beautiful.” She hands me the lip-gloss.

“I used shower gel,” I say defensively.

She laughs. “Yes, I know. I could smell it, but women and girls always wear perfume.”

I walk over to the huge brass mirror that hangs in the hallway near the front door and

smooth on the pale pink shimmery colour onto my lips. I smack them together and turn back around

to Angela. “Why?”

She shrugs. “It smells nice and men like women that smell nice.”

“But I don’t care if men think I smell nice,” I say matter-of-factly.

I can feel myself frowning as I grab my flip-flops from the cupboard underneath the stairs.

Sometimes I really don’t understand some of the things Angela says or does.

“Did you speak to Kaiden?” I ask.

“Oh, yes I did. He’ll be here in about five minutes,” she tells me.

During the five minutes, I sit outside on the garden furniture and let the sun dry the last few

bits of my wet hair. The garden looks lovely and the sun enhances the bright colours of the flowers, whose aroma make it seem like they’re wearing their own perfume. I pluck one of the wilting

pansies from off its stem just as the doorbell chimes. I jump up from my seat and dash through the kitchen, arriving at the door just as Angela swings it open.

“Hi,” I breathe, as I take in Kaiden and his messy hair. When my eyes travel down, I notice his

toned legs that are full of twisting shapes of muscles sticking out of his light brown shorts. I watch his brown eyes skim up my body until they land on my face. He smiles, making me instantly aware of my heart pumping in my chest. He steps into the house and moves his eyes back down over my

dress.

“Hello, Serena,” he says with a lopsided smile.

“Thanks for agreeing to take me out,” I say.

He smiles again and glances quickly at Angela. “It’s my pleasure.”

“Come on in a minute, Kaiden,” says Angela. “I’ve got something I want to give you.”

Kaiden steps into the hallway, grinning at me as he closes the door behind him.

“You look very nice,” he says.

I pull my dress out a little and try to hide the smile that’s threatening to creep across my

face. I don’t understand why I feel so pleased that he’s complimented me. I don’t feel these flutters or want to smile this much when Angela or Auden compliment me.

“Do you really think so? I’m still not sure about these clothes that they got me; they’re just so different.”

He laughs. “Yes, I’m sure. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t think it.”

I nod towards him. “You look very nice too.”

He smiles but he’s not looking at me. I turn around to see what’s caught his attention and

see Angela walking from the kitchen towards us with something in her hands.

“Here,” she says, putting a small black case into my hand. “I got you your very own camera

so you can start making memories of your new life.”

A camera of my own. I’ve always wanted a camera. I have a good memory anyway, but

sometimes I have wished for a photograph to look at, just to make sure I’d remembered everything

correctly. “Wow, thanks Mom.”

“You’re welcome,” she says. She glances quickly towards Kaiden and takes the camera from

out of my hands, giving it to him.

“Actually, Kaiden, can you take one of Serena and I together now?”

“Sure,” he says, pulling a shiny red camera from out of the black case and holding it up.

Angela puts her arms around my shoulders and pulls me into her.

“Say cheese,” Kaiden says with a smile.

Angela and I both say “cheese” at the same time that the bright white light flashes on the

front of the camera.

“That’s a really good one.” He turns the camera around to show us the picture.

“You’re very photogenic,” says Angela to me. “When you’ve taken about fifty, we’ll go and

get the pictures printed and then you can do what you want with them.” She takes the camera from

Kaiden and hands him some money.

“What’s this for?” he asks, looking confused.

“For today,” she says, as she turns the camera back around. “I’ll take one of you two now.”

I shuffle closer to Kaiden but he’s still looking at the money in his hand.

“I don’t need money, Angela. You know that.”

“Nonsense. I called to ask if you’ll take Serena out so I’m paying. My treat.”

Kaiden huffs, but I guess he knows better than to argue with Angela. Even Auden knows

when he’s lost and usually just shrugs his shoulders at her.

“Right, stand a bit closer to each other then,” she says.

Kaiden shoves the notes into the pocket of his shorts and puts his arm around me. He pulls

me in so quickly that I have to put my hand on his chest to steady myself, and that’s when I hear the click of the camera.

“Perfect!” says Angela. She turns the camera around to show us.

“I’m not sure,” I say. I’m not even looking at the camera or smiling.

She playfully rolls her eyes. “One more and then you two need to scram.”

This time I make sure I’m looking at the camera and smiling, even though my skin is burning

where Kaiden’s hand is touching my arm. The white light flashes and then Kaiden immediately

removes his arm from around me. He takes the camera from Angela and glances at it, smiling before putting it back into the case.

“We’d better get going then.” He nods at Angela and pulls the door open.

“Bye, Mom,” I say with a wave.

“Wait a minute, Serena.”

I stop. Angela walks right up to me and hugs me tightly. “Be careful, okay? And don’t leave

Kaiden, not once.”

I nod. “Okay.”

“Kaiden,” she says sternly, “I’m trusting you with my daughter. Please make sure you bring

her back to me in one piece.”

He laughs. “Okay, Mrs. Scott, but you really don’t need to worry. I wouldn’t let anything

happen to her. I promise.” He glances at me and quickly winks. “And besides, I’ve come in the car today instead of the bike.”

“You have a bike?” I ask.

He nods. “I do, but I thought we’d take the car seeing as how I’ll have precious cargo on

board.”

Angela pushes us both gently towards the door. “Have fun,” she smiles, “and be careful.”

“We will,” I call as I follow Kaiden down the pale peach coloured path to a sleek and shiny

white car.

He opens my door for me and gestures for me to climb in. My legs skim across the hot

leather seats and my eyes roam around the car, looking at all the chrome and dials. I can tell that this is a very new and expensive car.

The driver’s door opens and then Kaiden is sitting next to me. He smiles and starts the engine.

I just have time to turn and wave at Angela before the car whirls smoothly and quickly down the

drive and out of the automatic gates.

“Can I put the window down, please?” I ask.

He grins and leans forward to press a button on the black dash. “I’ll put the air conditioner

on instead.”

A blast of freezing cold air skims up my legs, making me feel cooler. I turn my head and

watch the houses that breeze past us.

“Where are we going anyway?” I ask.

“It’s a surprise,” he says secretively.

“What kind of a surprise?”

He chuckles. “What kind of surprises are there?”

I think for a moment, but realise I don’t even know what I meant myself. “Will I like it?”

He nods. “I hope so.”

I fiddle with the edge of my dress. I don’t know why I suddenly feel like things are awkward

between us. Maybe he doesn’t really want to take me out, but was pressured by Angela when she

rang him. I turn to look at him and see that he’s put some sunglasses on and, even though they cover half of his face, I think he looks even more handsome.

“Didn’t you have any plans for today?” I ask, curious.

He turns his head towards me and smiles. The sun shines through the window and bounces