patchy4vam
in
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Growing Up Is Overrated Chapter 27
Yes, another update! And so soon after the previous one! *gasp* I know, usually it takes me about a week or two to write another chapter, but I wanted to get this filler chappie out so I could concentrate on... Bam's Birthday Party! *grin* Yes, Chapter 28 will be the first part of the long-awaited birthday, so I hope you'll all look forward to it!
NOTE: I've also decided that I'm going to aim for an update every week, on a Friday. Updates may come before Friday, or a day or two after, but Friday is my aim. I have plenty of free time while I'm still not back at work, so I should be able to stick to it. If not, feel free to give me a slap on the wrist =) Anyway, enough talk, here's Chapter 27 for you =) It's a bit longer than the rest (I think).
Prologue And Chapters 1-10
Chapters 11-20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27: Planning the Party
The moment that Ville, Craig and Alex tumbled out of the Hudson car, they were assaulted by Brandy and Carter. The two blondes quickly pulled them out of sight of the school gates, ducking down beneath Brandy's car.
"What's going on?" Craig asked, surprised. He tried to look up over the car, worried that Jude would get there and not see him. Brandy pulled him back down sharply.
"Look, Bam's going to be here any minute now, and he can't see us!" Brandy hissed, determination in his eyes. His long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail today, which either meant he was going on a date, playing hockey or skipping school. Craig had already figured out which of them it was. "Ville, we're gonna need your help." Ville's eyebrows shot up. "We need you to distract Bam while the rest of us get out of here. Just distract him long enough for us to get away, and then… I dunno; pretend you're ill or something."
"What's all this for?" Alex demanded. She didn't object to skipping school, but she did object to being dragged to the floor behind a car without any warning.
"Well, Bam's birthday is coming up in a few days, and his parents have asked us to help plan the party. Bam knows there's going to be a party, but he thinks it's just going to be a group of friends getting pissed." Carter explained. "We're meeting Jess at the mall, with Jude." Craig's eyes lit up. "I called him earlier so he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of getting down here. I was going to do the same with you three, but your phone is off," he pointed at Craig, "I got your answering machine," he pointed at Ville, "and I don't have your number." He pointed to Alex, who merely raised one eyebrow.
"So… what do we have to do?" Craig asked, grinning. "I love surprising Bam! He goes all red and embarrassed and it's just so cute!" Brandy winced.
"Quiet, Craig!" He whispered, but Craig seemed not to notice.
"And then he tries to cover it, and it makes him even cuter! But he really enjoys getting surprised, I mean, last year was amazing! We all hid-," Brandy did the only thing he knew would shut Craig up and tugged him forward, cutting off his sentence with a kiss. Ville and Carter stared at Brandy in shock, whereas Alex bit on her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing. When the kiss broke, Brandy put a finger to Craig's lips.
"Bam's just got out of his mom's car, you moron!" He whispered. Craig had gone a bright shade of pink, and appeared to be speechless. "Ville, go! Make your way to the skate shop in the mall, we'll meet you there! Hurry up! Oh, and make sure to look ill before you go over there!" Carter gave Ville a hard push and sent the Finn sprawling. He managed to catch his balance and tried to cover it up by walking calmly, and looking around him casually. Bam was standing in their usual place, checking his phone for the time and glancing around. Ville sidled up to him, working on making himself look sick. He didn't want to deceive Bam, but he told himself it was for a good cause.
"Hey, Bam." He said in a hoarse voice. Bam turned and grinned.
"Willa!" He all but pounced on him. "Wait… where are the others?" Ville held down the panic that was rising within his chest. Brandy hadn't said anything about making excuses for them, too!
"Uhh… Carter and Brandy won't be in today… and er, Craig was at Jude's house last night… and, uh… Alex is, uh…" He racked his brains for something that would keep Alex from school. Then he had it. "Well, it's that… time of the month… y'know…" He could feel himself blushing, and hoped Bam would buy it. He did.
"Ohh! That explains everything. She always takes the day off for that, cause she gets real nasty and she might actually kill someone…" He shook his head and grinned again. "As for Craig… well I'd say Jude wore him out." He laughed. "And I bet I can tell you what Carter and Brandy plan to do!" Ville smiled. Then he remembered his role in the plan and slyly checked around, as if looking for someone. He noted that Brandy's car had gone. "Willa? What is it?" Ville realized he'd been staring at the empty parking space and decided to start off his act. He began to cough harshly, grasping his chest tightly. "Whoa, what's wrong?"
"Nothing… just a smoker's cough, I guess." He rasped out. "I'll be okay; I just… need some air…" He realized how dumb that sounded when they were stood outside, but he walked away from Bam a little bit, towards a nearby bush. He had a plan - not a very nice one, but a plan nonetheless. He pretended to cover his mouth, and bent over towards the bush, sticking two fingers into his mouth. When the accident had happened, he'd gone in a downward spiral, and had almost become anorexic, among other things. The old skill he'd picked up would come in handy here. He gagged, retched, and coughed… and then Bam was beside him.
"Holy shit, Ville! Are you sure you're okay? You're cringing in pain!" Actually, he was cringing due to the horrible taste in his mouth. "You've gotta go home, Ville, and lie down or something. You don't look so good."
"Yeah, okay…" He tried to sound weak and feeble. "I'll go home." Bam looked really worried, and Ville hated it. He hated to have Bam worry over nothing. He was tempted to straighten up and tell him he was fine, and that he'd stay at school with him, but he remembered the determined glint in Brandy's eyes and realized that if he didn't show up at the mall, he might end up going through some sort of painful torture.
"You want me to walk you?" Bam asked. Ville shook his head.
"I'll be fine, Bammie. You go on in, tell them I've gone home sick, okay? I'll see you later or something, I promise." Bam smiled and nodded. He quickly glanced around, and after assuring himself that the few people left outside were not watching, he leant forward and kissed Ville's cheek.
"Feel better Willa." Ville smiled at Bam, and watched him run off into the school building. Once he was inside, Ville leant back against the fence and sighed. He could still taste vomit, and it unsettled his stomach even further. That had been the problem back in Finland - if he tried to puke up what he'd eaten, it only made him more sick, and he puked up too much and damaged himself. That was probably what had made him stop altogether.
"Hey… you okay?" Ville jumped at the sudden voice and turned around. Standing beside him, brown eyes narrowed in concern, was Jason. "You don't look so hot, dude."
"I'm fine." For some reason, Ville didn't like being around Jason alone. It made him uncomfortable. "I'm just going home." Jason held up his hands, as if in surrender.
"Hey, hey… I was just asking. No need to get like that." He smiled. "I know you're probably dying to get away from me, but I'm not a bad guy anymore. I made some mistakes in my past, that's all. Besides, you've made some too, haven't you?" Ville stiffened. How did he know? "I saw you. Whatever reason you're faking an illness to avoid Bam… it had better be worth it. If he finds out…" Jason left his sentence hanging in the air, and turned to walk through the school gates. Ville shuddered when he was out of sight. For some reason, Jason gave him the creeps. There was something… not right about him. His mind flashed back to the look he'd seen in Alex's eyes when she'd stared at Jason and Gavin. Did she feel it too? Shaking his head and casually rubbing at his upper arms - as if a chill had swept over him - he turned in the direction of the town.
They were waiting for him when he got there - all standing outside the skate shop. Bam's brother and his mother were also among them. April smiled at Ville as he reached them, and then frowned. She peered into his face for a moment.
"You all right Ville?" She asked in concern. Craig appeared beside her. He, too, looked worried.
"You've gone pale." He said quietly. "And I mean, paler than usual." If he was honest, Ville didn't feel great either. Ever since his brief encounter with Jason, his stomach had been very unsettled.
"I'm okay; just the cost of distracting Bam." He smiled weakly, and avoided Alex's intimidating stare. It felt like she could see right through him. April seemed satisfied with his answer and stepped over to Jess and said something to him in a low voice. Craig, however, wasn't fooled.
"No, seriously… are you sick or something?" Craig put a hand to Ville's forehead and frowned. "You're not warm or anything." Ville still had that awful taste in his mouth, and it was making things worse.
"Does anyone have a drink or something? Water would be nice." He said slowly. He tried to ease his stomach as Jess walked over with a bottle of water. Ville took it gratefully and gulped half of it in one. Carter raised an eyebrow at this; Brandy merely stared at him with a blank face - but Ville didn't like the look in his eyes. It was a knowing look, one that told him Brandy knew exactly what was going on with him.
"Well you certainly did the job, Ville." Jude grinned. "Though to be honest, Bam isn't too quick with things like that. No offence to him, but he can be a bit slow." Ville smiled. It was true, of course, but he didn't care. Bam was cute when he didn't quite get something. "So… shall we proceed?"
They spent the rest of the day walking around the mall, picking things up for the party and each of them choosing Bam's birthday present. Ville already had his in mind - well, his main one, at least - but he wanted to get something else, something special that Bam would treasure forever. They'd ended up back at the skate shop, because Craig wanted to buy Bam a new set of trucks and special pro-skater wheels for his board, and that's when Ville had the best idea. He knew nothing about the technical side to skateboarding, but he was an artist, and what else was there to a skateboard? Just a plank of wood.
He walked outside while Craig selected the trucks and wheels, Alex assisting. April and Jess were next door, picking out more presents. Carter and Jude were looking at various boards inside and Brandy… Brandy was waiting for him. He grabbed Ville's wrist and hauled him out into the open air. Once they were out of sight from the others, he pushed Ville against a wall. He leant forward, and at first Ville thought Brandy was going to kiss him - but then he did something weird. He sniffed. Then he stepped back.
"I knew it." He said quietly. "You made yourself sick, didn't you?" Ville didn't want to ask how he knew (he hadn't been able to smell anything on himself, if he was honest), but he had a feeling that Brandy had been in a similar situation before. He simply nodded. "Don't. Just don't." Anger flared in the blonde's eyes, but it vanished quickly. Brandy was a very controlled guy - he rarely lost his temper. "Promise me, Ville. Please." He was surprised at the plea, but he smiled.
"I promise, Brandy." He said calmly. "It was a one-time thing. I know better, because I've learnt from my mistakes." Brandy nodded slightly, but said nothing. Ville felt curiosity creep up on him, and he let it get the better of him. "Who?"
"My sister." Brandy muttered so quietly that Ville struggled to hear him. "Danielle." Ville had never met Brandy's sisters - or his brother, for that matter - but he'd heard about them from Craig. Danielle was the youngest of the girls, and older than Brandy by four years. They'd been the closest siblings growing up, and they adored each other. "Three years… three whole years." Brandy had turned away now, and Ville put an arm around him. Without another word, Brandy turned into Ville, who hugged him. "I just… I can't handle any of my friends going through such torture."
"Come on… the others will get worried if we don't show up soon." He smiled. "You don't want Carter to be worried about you, do you?" Brandy shook his head. "Then let's go back inside. Besides… I need to talk to the guy in the skate shop." He nodded, and Ville led him back into the mall, and towards the skate shop. He jogged ahead quickly, planning to nudge Carter in his direction. If anyone could make Brandy feel better, it was the tall blonde. He nearly ran straight into Jude, but quickly stepped to one side before they collided. Jude turned and grinned as Ville prodded Carter in the back and jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Brandy. Carter seemed to understand, and went straight to the long-haired blonde. Then Ville marched up to the front desk.
"Hey, can I help?" The guy behind the desk grinned. Ville's eyes widened. The guy looked exactly like Brandy, but a little older, and black hair. Ville noticed the blonde roots, however, and realized that he had the exact same accent. The guy's smile faded when Ville continued to stare at him, and he glanced around nervously. Ville quickly shook himself out of it.
"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly. "I was just wondering… do you perhaps create custom designs on the bottom of boards?" He hoped they did. The guy grinned again.
"We do indeed. Is this a gift?" He reached beneath the desk and pulled out a sketch pad and a pencil. Ville nodded. "Right, just tell me what you want on the bottom and I'll see that it's done. There a specific time it needs to be done for?" Ville realized he should probably have come here earlier, but it was too late now.
"Um… tomorrow?" The guy raised his eyebrows and smirked.
"Sure. It'll cost a bit more though." Ville shrugged. He didn't care how much money he spent on the board, just so long as he had it for tomorrow, and Bam liked it. "Well, what did you have in mind?" Ville quickly told him the basics, and then took the pencil and sketched out the design. He remembered Bam's sketchbook from art, and smiled, adding another pattern to the design. "Hey, that's pretty cool!" The guy laughed. Craig had walked over, carrying trucks and wheels, and peered over Ville's shoulder at it.
"Wow! Is that for Bammie?" He asked. Ville nodded. "Ville, he'll love it!" The guy behind the desk looked at Craig and smiled.
"I take it those are for him, too, eh Craig?" Ville was surprised. They knew each other? He quickly figured that Craig came in here a lot, so he'd probably know all of the staff.
"Yup. Hey, Ville! These trucks and wheels could go onto this new board!" Ville grinned. Craig had picked up on the idea already.
"I was hoping for that, actually. I was going to talk to you about it, but it looks like I don't need to." Suddenly, the guy looked up over their heads and a sly grin crossed his face.
"Watch the desk for me Craig." He said quietly, and then he crept out from behind it and he stalked over to where Brandy was stood with Carter. Grinning, he suddenly grabbed Brandy around the waist and hoisted him up, running out of the store with him. "What time is it? Garbage time!" He laughed. The gang ran to the door just in time to see the guy dump Brandy in the waste bin outside in the mall. Ville was staring at them in shock, whereas everyone else was laughing. Brandy shoved at the guy and scowled.
"Todd! Get me the fuck out!" The guy, Todd, simply stood there and laughed. Brandy worked himself free and jumped out of the bin, brushing off his jeans and grimacing in disgust. "You're lucky there wasn't much in it." Todd grinned and messed up Brandy's hair. "Fucking quit it!" Brandy ducked away from him and let his hair down, before tying it back up again.
"What, gonna tell mom on me?" Todd laughed. "Not gonna work. That stopped working when I was your age. Ten years ago." Craig saw the confused look on Ville's face and laughed.
"Don't worry Ville, Todd isn't some random nutcase. He's Brandy's brother." Suddenly everything made sense to the Finn, and he laughed. That would certainly explain the looks and the accent. "He just dyes his hair a lot. Next time you see him, he'll probably have red or blue or something stupid. Todd can't stick to one colour for long." Ville laughed as he watched Brandy tackle Todd to the floor. "There's ten years between them, but that doesn't stop them being close." Ville's eyebrows rose once more.
"Ten years? That's quite a lot." Craig grinned.
"It seems that way, doesn't it? But if you think about it, it's actually pretty normal. There's four years between him and Danielle, and another two between Danielle and Hannah, and then another four between Hannah and Todd, and last of all, Tiffany is another four years older than Todd." He explained. "Brandy's the baby, and Todd treats him that way. However, no matter how mean he'll be, he still cares a lot about Brandy, cause he's the only other son in the family. Todd was surrounded by girls for ten years, and he's just glad to have a brother." Todd was up off the floor now and walking back towards them, Brandy in tow.
"One of these days Todd, you'll regret bullying me." Brandy scowled. "Especially when I'm bigger than you." Todd walked back around the desk and smirked.
"Not gonna happen, baby bro. We both take after dad, so we're both gonna be tall. You ain't gonna catch up to me." He fiddled with the cash register, and laughed to himself. "The day you're taller than me, I'll eat my shoe."
"Is that a deal?" Brandy countered with a smirk. Todd raised one eyebrow.
"Alright. It's a deal. You get bigger than me; I will eat my own shoe. I'll even add ketchup." He turned to Ville. "So, this is a normal board, yes?" Ville went blank. Craig laughed and leant over the desk, and pressed something on the cash register's monitor. "Ah, a special one aye? Right… and with a custom design… no trucks or wheels… ready for tomorrow…" He told Ville the price, and Ville handed over the money. He didn't like the amount he had in his wallet, but as someone once told him, he was a Hudson now, and money was thrown at him whenever he stepped out the house. Therefore he didn't mind how much the custom board would cost. "Right, here's your receipt, and come back tomorrow to pick it up. When is the best time for you?"
"Well… I guess the school lunch break would be the best time." Ville pondered aloud, and he smiled. "Yeah. About 1pm." Todd noted it down.
"Alright. Done. Now, Craig… your turn." Ville walked away while Todd rang up Craig's purchases. Ville walked over to where Carter was knelt behind Brandy, seemingly getting rid of any rubbish that had stuck to him. As he got nearer, however, he noted that there was nothing on Brandy at all.
"Carter… are you using the bin incident as an excuse to grope him in public?" He asked with a laugh. Brandy spun around and put his hands on his hips, glaring at Carter, who simply grinned.
"What? You can't say you're surprised Brandy. Anything to grope you in public." Carter winked, and Brandy tried to keep a straight face - and failed. He pulled Carter to his feet.
"Perve."
"You like it."
"Oh yeah?"
"You liked it last night."
"… Shut up."
"And there is an example of a typical conversation between the two blondes." Jude said to Ville, who grinned. Craig walked over, swinging a bag from one arm, just as Jess and April walked through the door.
"Are we all done boys?" She asked with a smile. Craig nodded.
"Yup." He looked around quickly. "Wait… where's Alex?" The rest of them realized that she wasn't in the store. "She was just here, helping me pick out the trucks and wheels…" Craig spun around in a circle, as if she would magically appear behind him or something.
"She left about five minutes ago." Todd told them from the counter. "She's probably just gone to one of her weird shops. She'll be back." Craig nodded. It sounded like his sister.
"Well let's just go wait out there for her." Ville suggested. Everyone agreed and said their goodbyes to Todd, except Brandy, who simply waved his middle finger in Todd's direction. Todd laughed and ducked into the back room until another customer came in.
When Alex finally returned, she looked darker than usual and seemed to be in a dangerous mood. Craig stood up, having sensed the change in his sister, and she regarded him with icy blue eyes.
"Where've you been then?" Craig asked her. She shrugged casually.
"Just on pest control." She replied coolly. "Doing my duty as an exterminator." She looked over their various bags and smirked. "We ready to go then?" Without waiting for an answer, she strolled off towards the exit doors. Ville went to stand up and stopped, his keen eyes spotting the trail of dried blood on Alex's right hand. No one else seemed to have noticed. They all stood up and followed her, but he remained seated. She stopped and turned to look at him. "Something the matter, Ville?"
"N-no." He jumped to his feet and walked over quickly. As he passed her, she put the bloodied hand on his shoulder and ice blue met jade green.
"Don't say anything to Craig." She murmured. "But we've been followed here." Ville's mind leapt to Jason instantly. "I dealt with it, so there's nothing to worry about. But… when you're with Craig, keep a watch out. And don't let him go anywhere alone." She went to walk away, but Ville caught her wrist.
"Who?" He asked. She smirked.
"Jason's brother." She told him. "Big guy, looks like Jason, but with longer hair and grey eyes instead of brown. Scar under the right eye, down over his cheek. Goes by the name of Jackson." Her smirk grew slightly into a wicked grin. "Looks like a tough guy, and he is nasty work… but he's no match against a Hudson. Keep that in mind." Ville let her go this time, and nervously glanced around. Could he keep something like this from Craig? He had to. Craig would only get scared if he knew Jason's brother was following him around. And it was probably nothing serious… after all, once Alex deals with someone, they tend to stay away, at least for a while. Don't let him go anywhere alone… He'd have to tell Jude. Just to keep Craig safe. He had to jog to catch up to the others, and thoughts of Jackson Daniels vanished from his mind as the discussions of Bam's party started up once again. If only Ville knew the truth, that Jackson wasn't keeping an eye on Craig.
Jackson was watching him.
Yeah I know, Jackson Daniels is very similar to Jack Daniels but... I can honestly say I wasn't influence by the bottle sat on my desk. Not at all *nervous shifty eyes*... Anyway, hope you liked this chapter =) Just a filler, but a necessary one. And the twist at the end there... well, it will explain itself, all in due time. Let's just say I've already worked out the ending for this story, and the separate components are slowly being added into various chapters =P
Remember... comments are the fuel that keeps me writing chapters =D
NOTE: I've also decided that I'm going to aim for an update every week, on a Friday. Updates may come before Friday, or a day or two after, but Friday is my aim. I have plenty of free time while I'm still not back at work, so I should be able to stick to it. If not, feel free to give me a slap on the wrist =) Anyway, enough talk, here's Chapter 27 for you =) It's a bit longer than the rest (I think).
Prologue And Chapters 1-10
Chapters 11-20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27: Planning the Party
The moment that Ville, Craig and Alex tumbled out of the Hudson car, they were assaulted by Brandy and Carter. The two blondes quickly pulled them out of sight of the school gates, ducking down beneath Brandy's car.
"What's going on?" Craig asked, surprised. He tried to look up over the car, worried that Jude would get there and not see him. Brandy pulled him back down sharply.
"Look, Bam's going to be here any minute now, and he can't see us!" Brandy hissed, determination in his eyes. His long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail today, which either meant he was going on a date, playing hockey or skipping school. Craig had already figured out which of them it was. "Ville, we're gonna need your help." Ville's eyebrows shot up. "We need you to distract Bam while the rest of us get out of here. Just distract him long enough for us to get away, and then… I dunno; pretend you're ill or something."
"What's all this for?" Alex demanded. She didn't object to skipping school, but she did object to being dragged to the floor behind a car without any warning.
"Well, Bam's birthday is coming up in a few days, and his parents have asked us to help plan the party. Bam knows there's going to be a party, but he thinks it's just going to be a group of friends getting pissed." Carter explained. "We're meeting Jess at the mall, with Jude." Craig's eyes lit up. "I called him earlier so he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of getting down here. I was going to do the same with you three, but your phone is off," he pointed at Craig, "I got your answering machine," he pointed at Ville, "and I don't have your number." He pointed to Alex, who merely raised one eyebrow.
"So… what do we have to do?" Craig asked, grinning. "I love surprising Bam! He goes all red and embarrassed and it's just so cute!" Brandy winced.
"Quiet, Craig!" He whispered, but Craig seemed not to notice.
"And then he tries to cover it, and it makes him even cuter! But he really enjoys getting surprised, I mean, last year was amazing! We all hid-," Brandy did the only thing he knew would shut Craig up and tugged him forward, cutting off his sentence with a kiss. Ville and Carter stared at Brandy in shock, whereas Alex bit on her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing. When the kiss broke, Brandy put a finger to Craig's lips.
"Bam's just got out of his mom's car, you moron!" He whispered. Craig had gone a bright shade of pink, and appeared to be speechless. "Ville, go! Make your way to the skate shop in the mall, we'll meet you there! Hurry up! Oh, and make sure to look ill before you go over there!" Carter gave Ville a hard push and sent the Finn sprawling. He managed to catch his balance and tried to cover it up by walking calmly, and looking around him casually. Bam was standing in their usual place, checking his phone for the time and glancing around. Ville sidled up to him, working on making himself look sick. He didn't want to deceive Bam, but he told himself it was for a good cause.
"Hey, Bam." He said in a hoarse voice. Bam turned and grinned.
"Willa!" He all but pounced on him. "Wait… where are the others?" Ville held down the panic that was rising within his chest. Brandy hadn't said anything about making excuses for them, too!
"Uhh… Carter and Brandy won't be in today… and er, Craig was at Jude's house last night… and, uh… Alex is, uh…" He racked his brains for something that would keep Alex from school. Then he had it. "Well, it's that… time of the month… y'know…" He could feel himself blushing, and hoped Bam would buy it. He did.
"Ohh! That explains everything. She always takes the day off for that, cause she gets real nasty and she might actually kill someone…" He shook his head and grinned again. "As for Craig… well I'd say Jude wore him out." He laughed. "And I bet I can tell you what Carter and Brandy plan to do!" Ville smiled. Then he remembered his role in the plan and slyly checked around, as if looking for someone. He noted that Brandy's car had gone. "Willa? What is it?" Ville realized he'd been staring at the empty parking space and decided to start off his act. He began to cough harshly, grasping his chest tightly. "Whoa, what's wrong?"
"Nothing… just a smoker's cough, I guess." He rasped out. "I'll be okay; I just… need some air…" He realized how dumb that sounded when they were stood outside, but he walked away from Bam a little bit, towards a nearby bush. He had a plan - not a very nice one, but a plan nonetheless. He pretended to cover his mouth, and bent over towards the bush, sticking two fingers into his mouth. When the accident had happened, he'd gone in a downward spiral, and had almost become anorexic, among other things. The old skill he'd picked up would come in handy here. He gagged, retched, and coughed… and then Bam was beside him.
"Holy shit, Ville! Are you sure you're okay? You're cringing in pain!" Actually, he was cringing due to the horrible taste in his mouth. "You've gotta go home, Ville, and lie down or something. You don't look so good."
"Yeah, okay…" He tried to sound weak and feeble. "I'll go home." Bam looked really worried, and Ville hated it. He hated to have Bam worry over nothing. He was tempted to straighten up and tell him he was fine, and that he'd stay at school with him, but he remembered the determined glint in Brandy's eyes and realized that if he didn't show up at the mall, he might end up going through some sort of painful torture.
"You want me to walk you?" Bam asked. Ville shook his head.
"I'll be fine, Bammie. You go on in, tell them I've gone home sick, okay? I'll see you later or something, I promise." Bam smiled and nodded. He quickly glanced around, and after assuring himself that the few people left outside were not watching, he leant forward and kissed Ville's cheek.
"Feel better Willa." Ville smiled at Bam, and watched him run off into the school building. Once he was inside, Ville leant back against the fence and sighed. He could still taste vomit, and it unsettled his stomach even further. That had been the problem back in Finland - if he tried to puke up what he'd eaten, it only made him more sick, and he puked up too much and damaged himself. That was probably what had made him stop altogether.
"Hey… you okay?" Ville jumped at the sudden voice and turned around. Standing beside him, brown eyes narrowed in concern, was Jason. "You don't look so hot, dude."
"I'm fine." For some reason, Ville didn't like being around Jason alone. It made him uncomfortable. "I'm just going home." Jason held up his hands, as if in surrender.
"Hey, hey… I was just asking. No need to get like that." He smiled. "I know you're probably dying to get away from me, but I'm not a bad guy anymore. I made some mistakes in my past, that's all. Besides, you've made some too, haven't you?" Ville stiffened. How did he know? "I saw you. Whatever reason you're faking an illness to avoid Bam… it had better be worth it. If he finds out…" Jason left his sentence hanging in the air, and turned to walk through the school gates. Ville shuddered when he was out of sight. For some reason, Jason gave him the creeps. There was something… not right about him. His mind flashed back to the look he'd seen in Alex's eyes when she'd stared at Jason and Gavin. Did she feel it too? Shaking his head and casually rubbing at his upper arms - as if a chill had swept over him - he turned in the direction of the town.
They were waiting for him when he got there - all standing outside the skate shop. Bam's brother and his mother were also among them. April smiled at Ville as he reached them, and then frowned. She peered into his face for a moment.
"You all right Ville?" She asked in concern. Craig appeared beside her. He, too, looked worried.
"You've gone pale." He said quietly. "And I mean, paler than usual." If he was honest, Ville didn't feel great either. Ever since his brief encounter with Jason, his stomach had been very unsettled.
"I'm okay; just the cost of distracting Bam." He smiled weakly, and avoided Alex's intimidating stare. It felt like she could see right through him. April seemed satisfied with his answer and stepped over to Jess and said something to him in a low voice. Craig, however, wasn't fooled.
"No, seriously… are you sick or something?" Craig put a hand to Ville's forehead and frowned. "You're not warm or anything." Ville still had that awful taste in his mouth, and it was making things worse.
"Does anyone have a drink or something? Water would be nice." He said slowly. He tried to ease his stomach as Jess walked over with a bottle of water. Ville took it gratefully and gulped half of it in one. Carter raised an eyebrow at this; Brandy merely stared at him with a blank face - but Ville didn't like the look in his eyes. It was a knowing look, one that told him Brandy knew exactly what was going on with him.
"Well you certainly did the job, Ville." Jude grinned. "Though to be honest, Bam isn't too quick with things like that. No offence to him, but he can be a bit slow." Ville smiled. It was true, of course, but he didn't care. Bam was cute when he didn't quite get something. "So… shall we proceed?"
They spent the rest of the day walking around the mall, picking things up for the party and each of them choosing Bam's birthday present. Ville already had his in mind - well, his main one, at least - but he wanted to get something else, something special that Bam would treasure forever. They'd ended up back at the skate shop, because Craig wanted to buy Bam a new set of trucks and special pro-skater wheels for his board, and that's when Ville had the best idea. He knew nothing about the technical side to skateboarding, but he was an artist, and what else was there to a skateboard? Just a plank of wood.
He walked outside while Craig selected the trucks and wheels, Alex assisting. April and Jess were next door, picking out more presents. Carter and Jude were looking at various boards inside and Brandy… Brandy was waiting for him. He grabbed Ville's wrist and hauled him out into the open air. Once they were out of sight from the others, he pushed Ville against a wall. He leant forward, and at first Ville thought Brandy was going to kiss him - but then he did something weird. He sniffed. Then he stepped back.
"I knew it." He said quietly. "You made yourself sick, didn't you?" Ville didn't want to ask how he knew (he hadn't been able to smell anything on himself, if he was honest), but he had a feeling that Brandy had been in a similar situation before. He simply nodded. "Don't. Just don't." Anger flared in the blonde's eyes, but it vanished quickly. Brandy was a very controlled guy - he rarely lost his temper. "Promise me, Ville. Please." He was surprised at the plea, but he smiled.
"I promise, Brandy." He said calmly. "It was a one-time thing. I know better, because I've learnt from my mistakes." Brandy nodded slightly, but said nothing. Ville felt curiosity creep up on him, and he let it get the better of him. "Who?"
"My sister." Brandy muttered so quietly that Ville struggled to hear him. "Danielle." Ville had never met Brandy's sisters - or his brother, for that matter - but he'd heard about them from Craig. Danielle was the youngest of the girls, and older than Brandy by four years. They'd been the closest siblings growing up, and they adored each other. "Three years… three whole years." Brandy had turned away now, and Ville put an arm around him. Without another word, Brandy turned into Ville, who hugged him. "I just… I can't handle any of my friends going through such torture."
"Come on… the others will get worried if we don't show up soon." He smiled. "You don't want Carter to be worried about you, do you?" Brandy shook his head. "Then let's go back inside. Besides… I need to talk to the guy in the skate shop." He nodded, and Ville led him back into the mall, and towards the skate shop. He jogged ahead quickly, planning to nudge Carter in his direction. If anyone could make Brandy feel better, it was the tall blonde. He nearly ran straight into Jude, but quickly stepped to one side before they collided. Jude turned and grinned as Ville prodded Carter in the back and jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Brandy. Carter seemed to understand, and went straight to the long-haired blonde. Then Ville marched up to the front desk.
"Hey, can I help?" The guy behind the desk grinned. Ville's eyes widened. The guy looked exactly like Brandy, but a little older, and black hair. Ville noticed the blonde roots, however, and realized that he had the exact same accent. The guy's smile faded when Ville continued to stare at him, and he glanced around nervously. Ville quickly shook himself out of it.
"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly. "I was just wondering… do you perhaps create custom designs on the bottom of boards?" He hoped they did. The guy grinned again.
"We do indeed. Is this a gift?" He reached beneath the desk and pulled out a sketch pad and a pencil. Ville nodded. "Right, just tell me what you want on the bottom and I'll see that it's done. There a specific time it needs to be done for?" Ville realized he should probably have come here earlier, but it was too late now.
"Um… tomorrow?" The guy raised his eyebrows and smirked.
"Sure. It'll cost a bit more though." Ville shrugged. He didn't care how much money he spent on the board, just so long as he had it for tomorrow, and Bam liked it. "Well, what did you have in mind?" Ville quickly told him the basics, and then took the pencil and sketched out the design. He remembered Bam's sketchbook from art, and smiled, adding another pattern to the design. "Hey, that's pretty cool!" The guy laughed. Craig had walked over, carrying trucks and wheels, and peered over Ville's shoulder at it.
"Wow! Is that for Bammie?" He asked. Ville nodded. "Ville, he'll love it!" The guy behind the desk looked at Craig and smiled.
"I take it those are for him, too, eh Craig?" Ville was surprised. They knew each other? He quickly figured that Craig came in here a lot, so he'd probably know all of the staff.
"Yup. Hey, Ville! These trucks and wheels could go onto this new board!" Ville grinned. Craig had picked up on the idea already.
"I was hoping for that, actually. I was going to talk to you about it, but it looks like I don't need to." Suddenly, the guy looked up over their heads and a sly grin crossed his face.
"Watch the desk for me Craig." He said quietly, and then he crept out from behind it and he stalked over to where Brandy was stood with Carter. Grinning, he suddenly grabbed Brandy around the waist and hoisted him up, running out of the store with him. "What time is it? Garbage time!" He laughed. The gang ran to the door just in time to see the guy dump Brandy in the waste bin outside in the mall. Ville was staring at them in shock, whereas everyone else was laughing. Brandy shoved at the guy and scowled.
"Todd! Get me the fuck out!" The guy, Todd, simply stood there and laughed. Brandy worked himself free and jumped out of the bin, brushing off his jeans and grimacing in disgust. "You're lucky there wasn't much in it." Todd grinned and messed up Brandy's hair. "Fucking quit it!" Brandy ducked away from him and let his hair down, before tying it back up again.
"What, gonna tell mom on me?" Todd laughed. "Not gonna work. That stopped working when I was your age. Ten years ago." Craig saw the confused look on Ville's face and laughed.
"Don't worry Ville, Todd isn't some random nutcase. He's Brandy's brother." Suddenly everything made sense to the Finn, and he laughed. That would certainly explain the looks and the accent. "He just dyes his hair a lot. Next time you see him, he'll probably have red or blue or something stupid. Todd can't stick to one colour for long." Ville laughed as he watched Brandy tackle Todd to the floor. "There's ten years between them, but that doesn't stop them being close." Ville's eyebrows rose once more.
"Ten years? That's quite a lot." Craig grinned.
"It seems that way, doesn't it? But if you think about it, it's actually pretty normal. There's four years between him and Danielle, and another two between Danielle and Hannah, and then another four between Hannah and Todd, and last of all, Tiffany is another four years older than Todd." He explained. "Brandy's the baby, and Todd treats him that way. However, no matter how mean he'll be, he still cares a lot about Brandy, cause he's the only other son in the family. Todd was surrounded by girls for ten years, and he's just glad to have a brother." Todd was up off the floor now and walking back towards them, Brandy in tow.
"One of these days Todd, you'll regret bullying me." Brandy scowled. "Especially when I'm bigger than you." Todd walked back around the desk and smirked.
"Not gonna happen, baby bro. We both take after dad, so we're both gonna be tall. You ain't gonna catch up to me." He fiddled with the cash register, and laughed to himself. "The day you're taller than me, I'll eat my shoe."
"Is that a deal?" Brandy countered with a smirk. Todd raised one eyebrow.
"Alright. It's a deal. You get bigger than me; I will eat my own shoe. I'll even add ketchup." He turned to Ville. "So, this is a normal board, yes?" Ville went blank. Craig laughed and leant over the desk, and pressed something on the cash register's monitor. "Ah, a special one aye? Right… and with a custom design… no trucks or wheels… ready for tomorrow…" He told Ville the price, and Ville handed over the money. He didn't like the amount he had in his wallet, but as someone once told him, he was a Hudson now, and money was thrown at him whenever he stepped out the house. Therefore he didn't mind how much the custom board would cost. "Right, here's your receipt, and come back tomorrow to pick it up. When is the best time for you?"
"Well… I guess the school lunch break would be the best time." Ville pondered aloud, and he smiled. "Yeah. About 1pm." Todd noted it down.
"Alright. Done. Now, Craig… your turn." Ville walked away while Todd rang up Craig's purchases. Ville walked over to where Carter was knelt behind Brandy, seemingly getting rid of any rubbish that had stuck to him. As he got nearer, however, he noted that there was nothing on Brandy at all.
"Carter… are you using the bin incident as an excuse to grope him in public?" He asked with a laugh. Brandy spun around and put his hands on his hips, glaring at Carter, who simply grinned.
"What? You can't say you're surprised Brandy. Anything to grope you in public." Carter winked, and Brandy tried to keep a straight face - and failed. He pulled Carter to his feet.
"Perve."
"You like it."
"Oh yeah?"
"You liked it last night."
"… Shut up."
"And there is an example of a typical conversation between the two blondes." Jude said to Ville, who grinned. Craig walked over, swinging a bag from one arm, just as Jess and April walked through the door.
"Are we all done boys?" She asked with a smile. Craig nodded.
"Yup." He looked around quickly. "Wait… where's Alex?" The rest of them realized that she wasn't in the store. "She was just here, helping me pick out the trucks and wheels…" Craig spun around in a circle, as if she would magically appear behind him or something.
"She left about five minutes ago." Todd told them from the counter. "She's probably just gone to one of her weird shops. She'll be back." Craig nodded. It sounded like his sister.
"Well let's just go wait out there for her." Ville suggested. Everyone agreed and said their goodbyes to Todd, except Brandy, who simply waved his middle finger in Todd's direction. Todd laughed and ducked into the back room until another customer came in.
When Alex finally returned, she looked darker than usual and seemed to be in a dangerous mood. Craig stood up, having sensed the change in his sister, and she regarded him with icy blue eyes.
"Where've you been then?" Craig asked her. She shrugged casually.
"Just on pest control." She replied coolly. "Doing my duty as an exterminator." She looked over their various bags and smirked. "We ready to go then?" Without waiting for an answer, she strolled off towards the exit doors. Ville went to stand up and stopped, his keen eyes spotting the trail of dried blood on Alex's right hand. No one else seemed to have noticed. They all stood up and followed her, but he remained seated. She stopped and turned to look at him. "Something the matter, Ville?"
"N-no." He jumped to his feet and walked over quickly. As he passed her, she put the bloodied hand on his shoulder and ice blue met jade green.
"Don't say anything to Craig." She murmured. "But we've been followed here." Ville's mind leapt to Jason instantly. "I dealt with it, so there's nothing to worry about. But… when you're with Craig, keep a watch out. And don't let him go anywhere alone." She went to walk away, but Ville caught her wrist.
"Who?" He asked. She smirked.
"Jason's brother." She told him. "Big guy, looks like Jason, but with longer hair and grey eyes instead of brown. Scar under the right eye, down over his cheek. Goes by the name of Jackson." Her smirk grew slightly into a wicked grin. "Looks like a tough guy, and he is nasty work… but he's no match against a Hudson. Keep that in mind." Ville let her go this time, and nervously glanced around. Could he keep something like this from Craig? He had to. Craig would only get scared if he knew Jason's brother was following him around. And it was probably nothing serious… after all, once Alex deals with someone, they tend to stay away, at least for a while. Don't let him go anywhere alone… He'd have to tell Jude. Just to keep Craig safe. He had to jog to catch up to the others, and thoughts of Jackson Daniels vanished from his mind as the discussions of Bam's party started up once again. If only Ville knew the truth, that Jackson wasn't keeping an eye on Craig.
Jackson was watching him.
Yeah I know, Jackson Daniels is very similar to Jack Daniels but... I can honestly say I wasn't influence by the bottle sat on my desk. Not at all *nervous shifty eyes*... Anyway, hope you liked this chapter =) Just a filler, but a necessary one. And the twist at the end there... well, it will explain itself, all in due time. Let's just say I've already worked out the ending for this story, and the separate components are slowly being added into various chapters =P
Remember... comments are the fuel that keeps me writing chapters =D