Opposites Always Attract.

As always Frank was found in his usual spot. Bunking his lesson behind the gym, a cigarette hanging lightly from his fingers. When we first rounded the corner he looked anything but happy to see Tara. His eyes narrowed and took an angry drag of his smoke. However, as soon as he saw Tara snuggling into Gerard as she continued to sob his frown dropped and his eyes opened wide.

“T-Tara?” he stammered, dropping the half-finished smoke to the floor and running over to her. Gerard awkwardly lowered her to the floor, making sure she had her balance before letting her go. But she crumpled to the floor anyway, her knee’s buckling. Gerard stepped back in alarm.

“H-h-he’s dead! He’s dead!” she wailed, sobbing into her hands and taking deep shaky breaths. She sounded so hurt...so pained. My own eyes began to sting as I looked at her. Her blonde hair shadowing her unusually pale face.

Frank looked at me, almost for permission, and with a swift nod he lowered to her level. He took her hands which cupped her face and moved them away so he could look into her blood shot eyes.

“He’s dead” she whispered, her bottom lip trembling uncontrollably.
“Who’s dead?” Frank whispered so quietly back, clearly unaware of the situation.
“S-S-“ she hiccupped “Seth J-Jones” she let out a small whimper at the name and squeezed her eyes shut.

By the look on Frank’s face I could tell he was also in shock. And I could also tell he’d completely forgotten either Gerard or I were still here. He sat down on the concrete making himself comfortable and pulled Tara closer. His gloved fingers stroked her bare arm while he rested his chin on her head. She nuzzled into him, dampening his black top with her tears, hiccupping softly and sniffing gently. In these moments words are not always needed. There is no need for over-dramatic gestures. In these times you just need comfort. A hug, a kiss on the forehead, a whisper in the ear promising everything will be okay.

I smiled to myself and turned my back. Somehow it felt too private to witness. I walked away, from the second pair of footsteps I knew Gerard was following.

“She’ll be okay” I said more to myself than anyone else.
“They’ll be okay” Gerard somehow corrected me. I chuckled lightly, knowing he was right.

“She thinks he’s the one” I mumbled.
“She does?” although I wasn’t looking at him, I could tell by his tone of voice exactly what Gerard was thinking “do you think he’s the one?”
I thought, perhaps for longer than I should have. We were back inside the school before I answered “yeah, I do”

Inside the school was a depressive sight. Girls sat on the floor sobbing, hugging one another. Boys stood by lockers, each one too shocked to speak. Remember Percy, Seth’s best friend? He looked awful. In fact he looked far from awful. I’d never seen such a look before. Completely blank and still. In his eyes I could see haunt and torture. His right hand was clearly clenching something so tightly by the way his fingers were trembling.

We went to walk past him but I stopped. How could anyone walk past a person in such a state?

“Percy?” I whispered almost scared for his response. Not that I received any. He didn’t even blink. Not once. He looked like a statue. Like stone. The only way I knew he was actually alive was by the shallow breaths coming from his slightly parted lips.

“Percy?” I said again, braver than the last attempt. This time his eyes flicked to mine. But there was still no emotion in his eyes. Just pain...clear pain. It took him exactly seven seconds to actually do anything other than look at me.

He took my hand in his free one and pressed the item he was clenching into mine. From the rough feel I could tell it was a screwed up piece of paper. I looked at him one more time before lowering my eyes to it. With trembling fingers I opened the paper, smoothing out the creases so I could read the messy handwriting.



I pressed my lips together. A single tear slide down my face. I couldn’t look at him. Not for one moment. I couldn’t look at those tortured eyes again. It was too much. I swallowed the lump in my throat and handed the letter back to him without a sound.

I didn’t know what to do. My eyes were still staring at my feet. I could sense Gerard behind me. I could tell he was shocked too. It almost made me sick. I felt so sad. I didn’t have to look at Percy. In a way I didn’t want to. But I stepped forward and allowed him to crumple into me. He had no one. Tara had Frank, I had Gerard. But Percy? The very person he would seek comfort in was gone. His best friend. His everything.

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to say sorry. Percy would have had enough of that already. I didn’t want to say it would all be okay. Because it wouldn’t. It would hurt for a very long time. I didn’t want to say Seth will always be watching. Because I don’t believe in heaven. I don’t believe in ghosts.

So instead I whispered in his ear “Let’s make it count”

-

The rest of the day was awful. Every lesson was deathly quiet. Teacher’s were awkward and stammered through their teachings. Students were still hiccupping and sniffing even at the final bell. And even then we all walked out with our heads down without smiles.

It was 7:59pm. Under one arm was four cans of beer, and under the other was a small selection of fireworks. I slipped on my Ugg boots and stuffed my items into a bag.

My parents weren’t home. They had gone out for dinner, just the two of them. I guess they were trying to work things out. So I locked the front door and trudged through the grass to my car. Flinging the bag to the back seat I began my journey. I didn’t turn my radio on, I wanted complete silence. It was peaceful in a way, I could think. I wasn’t hearing the sobs of my students or countless local news reporters telling me of the untimely death. Finally I was allowed to think for myself. I seriously couldn’t believe it. My day was going so well and all of a sudden it had turned to crap. The thought of Seth really did make me sad. But what made me feel even worse was Percy’s face. His stone cold face that couldn’t hold any emotion because- quite frankly – he wasn’t actually sure what to feel. I never really liked Percy that much. He was often cruel and a bit of a dick. But he’d just lost his best friend, and no matter how much of a dickhead he could be nobody deserved that.

By the time I arrived at Belleville Park there must have already been about fifty people there. A bonfire was going and there was music pumping through several speakers. I parked my car on the street and retrieved my belongings before walking into the park and towards my school mates.

After spotting Percy in the crowd I made my way over to him. The whole event was mine and Percy’s idea. We figured Seth’s life needed to go out with a bang. As soon as he spotted me he ran over, completely abandoning the females he was talking to. Beer spilt from his bottle as he engulfed me in a hug.

“I’m glad to see you” he smiled taking the fireworks from me and placing them in an ever-growing pile to the side.

“How many are we expecting?” I asked, cracking open a beer and admiring the surroundings.
“More than two-hundred the last time I checked the Facebook invite” Percy replied, taking a sip of his own beer.

“Do you know if Tara’s here yet?”
“Uh – yeah. She’s over there,” he pointed towards the bonfire where a blonde girl was twirling around the flames to the music “hey, before you go I just wanted to say thank you for doing this. I-I know I wasn’t always nice to you, and I mean Seth wasn’t the nicest guy either-“

“Hey,” I interrupted, placing my hand on his shoulder “don’t be stupid. It’s the least I could do. When I saw how upset you where – well. I dunno what I would do if It had been Tara. Sure, Seth wasn’t the nicest guy, but then again who is? Seth deserves this”

Percy gave me a watery smile before we parted ways. As I headed towards Tara my ears caught a hold of the music.

’Yellow diamonds in the light
And we’re standing side by side
As your shadow crosses mine
What it takes to come alive

It’s the way I’m feeling I just can’t deny
But I’ve gotta let it go

We found love in a hopeless place
We found love in a hopeless place
We found love in a hopeless place
We found love in a hopeless place’

I laughed and immediately ran up to her, placed my beer on the floor and danced with her. We spun around the fire, flung our hair around the smoke, stepped over the twigs laughing as we did so. Unknowingly tears were flowing down my cheeks, and as the song came to an end I grabbed Tara and hugged her for all it was worth. And she hugged me right back, swaying side to side.

“I’ll never lose you, right?” Tara said, her chin propped on my shoulder as we continued to embrace.

I smiled to myself, so thankful I had a friend like her. “Never” I said. I lied.

-

By nine o’clock the two-hundred people had turned up, including Gerard and the boys. We’d been chatting for at least an hour when suddenly the music stopped. Those dancing feel still and we all turned towards the culprit. Percy moved away from the stereo and stood in front of the fire. Several other male students were stood behind him. All with lighters in their hands.

“Guys, I just want to say thank you for coming!” Percy shouted over the crackling bonfire “this means so much to me. Seth was my best fucking friend. I know maybe he didn’t mean a lot to any of you, but to me he was everything. Tonight I wanna celebrate him, I want him to go out with a bang. Seth didn’t like being the centre of attention but I think just this once he deserves it. So, I guess I’m trying to say, Seth! I’ll miss you, man! To Seth!” he raised his beer to the crowd, and not a second later two-hundred voices followed.

“To Seth!”

Then came the spectacular view. Rockets shot of into the night sky, exploding into wonderful colours. The music kicked in again. A song filled the stereo that made me smile. It was emotional, but not in a sad way. It brought tears to my eyes, but not because I was upset. It was so simple but so perfect for the moment. The music surrounded me as I watched the night light up with the fireworks.

‘Sweet disposition
Never too soon
Oh, reckless abandon
Like no one’s watching you

A moment, a love
A dream aloud
A kiss, a cry
Our rights, our wrongs
A moment, a love
A dream aloud

So stay there,
Because I’ll be coming over
And while our blood’s still young
It’s so young
It runs
And we won’t stop until it’s over
Won’t stop to surrender’

I felt Gerard’s arm wrap around my shoulder and I allowed him to pull me close. Nothing could ruin this moment for me. Well – perhaps only one thing.

I’d already booked my ticket to England.

- Get a job
- Make Gerard see sense
- Get a tattoo
- Talk to Tara
- Pass maths
- Stop my parents arguing
- Tell Chloe were to stick it
- Move back to England?
- Make it count