Maddie’s eyebrows shot upward. “You know him?”
“I know his brother,” she said—and come to think of it, why hadn’t Red mentioned anything before about his twin going to the same school she did? Was he hoping their paths would never cross?
“You know Red?” Maddie said.
“You know him?”
“Everyone knows Red! You should see him on a night out—people just flock to him. How did you two meet?”
“He was loitering on the beach outside my house.”
“Sounds like him,” Maddie said, laughing. “They’re heaps different considering they’re twins, right?”
Hazel couldn’t imagine them being any more opposite.
* * *
Luca joined them at lunch, the four of them sitting in their usual shady spot on the lawn. He slotted in seamlessly the same way Hazel had, as if he’d been there all along and they just hadn’t noticed. Hazel kept an eye on him as she listened to Hunter and Maddie talking about what people did for fun around Port Sheridan.
Both of them had part-time jobs. Hunter worked at a tourist hot spot just outside of town, giving guided tours of a waterfall, and Maddie helped teach dance to a class of twenty or so four-year-olds. That aside, it seemed their weekends were left to chance; depending on their work schedules, they went to the beach or hung out at the pier or relaxed at someone’s house. The way they talked made it seem so carefree and spontaneous, two things Hazel was completely unaccustomed to; she’d always been too preoccupied with her mum to socialize.
“Are you going to get a job?” Maddie asked Hazel.
Hazel hadn’t even thought about it. Part of her wanted to say no immediately because it didn’t make sense when she was only here temporarily—but then the other part thought that maybe she should get a job. It would be another distraction.
“Maybe,” she said. “Graham owns a restaurant in the town center. Maybe I could waitress.”
“Oh yeah?” Hunter said. “Which restaurant?”
“The Anchor?”
“No way! We love that place, don’t we, Mads? And isn’t that where your mum works, Luca?”
Luca nodded, and Hunter turned back to Hazel. “And you know the guy who owns it? Graham? And he’s your, what, uncle?”
“He’s … my dad,” she said, and wondered if she’d ever get used to saying that.
“That’s so cool! I’d love to work there. They make the best burgers in town.”
“Not that you’re eating burgers for a while,” Maddie reminded him. “No junk food until you find a sport, remember? Or have you already backed out of that?”
“Excuse you,” he said indignantly. “I never back out of anything. Although at this rate, I’ll never get to eat a burger again.”
Hazel had spent enough time with the two of them over the last few days to know how set they were on helping Hunter find a sports team to join. From what Hazel understood, he had decided to work methodically through each of the sports that Finchwood offered, attending open practices to see which one he might want to try out for next year.
“Why is getting onto a team so important to you, Hunter?” Hazel asked.
“Well, it’s Callum’s fault, really,” he said.
“Callum?”
“My older brother. He was captain of the rugby team for four years in a row, played soccer in the offseason, and entered the state championships for fun. It’s like he’s made it his life’s mission to make me feel completely inferior.”
“He’s a dick,” Maddie supplied helpfully.
“Right, a total dick,” Hunter agreed. “I figured that if I was part of a sports team like he was, he might stop teasing me about it.”
“So you only want to get on a team to prove to your brother that you can?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“And we’ll get there,” Maddie said firmly. “I’m not giving up until we find you a sport that you don’t suck at.”
“Ever the optimist.” He grinned.
Maddie shook her head. “You wait. I’m going to be there when you tell Callum all about it. I want to see the look on his face.”
“When do you not want to see his face, though?” Hunter said. “Everyone knows you’ve been crushing on him since you were five years old.”
“I have not!”
“You have so, Mads.”
“Hunter!”
“Maddie!” he said, laughing. “You said you thought he was cute that one time, remember?”
“That was truth or dare; it doesn’t count!”
“So you don’t think he’s cute?”
“Of course he is—he’s an Emery, isn’t he? Your whole family’s unnaturally good-looking.”
“What, even me?” he said, eyebrow raised.
Maddie just shook her head again, glowering at him. Hazel smiled and glanced over at Luca. Their eyes met, and he looked away.
“Anyway,” Hunter said, “volleyball practice is Friday, and I’ve got a really good feeling about it. I think it could be the right one.”
“He also said that about baseball and soccer,” Maddie said drily.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Ye of little faith.”
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. They each gathered their things, and when they went their separate ways outside the main building, all Luca said was, “Later.”
Hazel realized as he walked away that it was the only word he’d said the entire time.
* * *
Red was waiting for her on the beach that night, sitting cross-legged on the sand.
“Evening, sunshine,” he chirped as she approached. He was always so upbeat, and just like with Maddie and Hunter, it helped take her mind off England and her mum and reminded her to smile. “How are you today?”
Hazel collapsed on the sand beside him. “I’m okay, thank you.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” He slung an arm around her shoulder. “You know, I was thinking that we should go for a swim.”
“What, now?”
“While it’s not busy!”
“I don’t think there’s much chance of this beach getting crowded, seeing as you’re the only person I’ve ever seen here.”
“That might be the case, Hazel-from-England, but skinny-dipping is much easier under the cover of darkness.”
“Hey!” Hazel said, pushing him away. “We are not skinny-dipping!”
“Not tonight, maybe,” he said. “But tomorrow’s the first day of spring, which means summer’s just around the corner.”
“So?”
He winked. “So, never say never.”
She shook her head, amused, and focused her attention on the gentle rush of the waves moving up the shore. It was one of the few constant, familiar things about this entire weird, alien place.
“I have a bone to pick with you,” she said then.
“Yeah? What did I do?”
“You failed to mention that your brother goes to Finchwood.”
Red shifted on the sand to face her. “You saw him, then?”
“Hard not to. He’s in my homeroom.”
“Christ.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I was hoping you wouldn’t realize?” he said. “I don’t know. Things with Luca are … tricky. I didn’t want to complicate things.”
Hazel squeezed his arm. “Families are complicated, Red. You don’t have to be embarrassed. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have baggage of my own, is it? I understand tricky.”
“I know,” Red said, and he was half-smiling now, which was good. “Does this mean you’ve been hanging out with Hunter and Maddie too?”
“Yep. They’re lovely.”
“They are,” he agreed.
They were quiet for a moment, but the silence that settled over them wasn’t awkward. It was nice. It was peaceful.
“I’m not embarrassed about him,” Red said then, his voice low. “Luca, I mean. I’m … worried.”
Hazel
just nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.
Dear Mum,
I remember the time we went to the Natural History Museum in London. It was so fun looking at all the different animals, but the dinosaur exhibition was my favorite. You didn’t mind that I dragged you back there to see it three times, and you didn’t mind that all I wanted to do was stand and stare. You bought me a book about dinosaurs from the gift shop so I could take them home with me. You read it to me each night for a long, long time.
It was my favorite book ever.
I miss you, Mum, but I remember.
Love,
Hazel
9
On Monday morning, instead of going to homeroom with the others, Hazel went to a meeting with Miss Allen, the school guidance counselor. Apparently, it was just to check in with how she was adjusting to life at Finchwood now that she’d been there two full weeks, but Hazel was worried that Miss Allen was going to ask probing questions about England and her mum that she wasn’t ready to answer.
Hazel signed in with the lady at the desk in the administrative office and took a seat on one of the green chairs lining the wall of the waiting room. She hadn’t been sitting long when a student and a parent filed out of Mr. Lynch’s office. Hazel realized that it was Luca and Claire Cawley.
“Hey!” Hazel said, jumping to her feet as they approached. “You’re here early, why—”
“None of your business,” Luca cut her off.
Hazel blinked at him, taken aback by his vehemence, the sharp edges of his voice. “I was just—”
“Well, just don’t,” he said, glaring at her over his shoulder as he walked away, leaving Claire and Hazel staring after him.
“It was a meeting about attendance and his plans for the future,” Claire said, eyes still fixed on her son’s back as he disappeared into the crowd outside in the hallway. “Mr. Lynch called it. He’s getting concerned. We all are.”
“Oh,” Hazel said softly, not knowing what else to say.
Claire exhaled and forced a smile. “We’ll get through it. It’s good to see you, Hazel. Come over again soon?”
“Sure,” she said as Claire waved goodbye and headed out of the office, no doubt on her way to join Graham at the Anchor to start prepping for lunch. Hazel watched her go with a pang of sympathy. It must be so hard for her and Red to live with Luca when he was like this.
“Hazel?” the receptionist said from the desk. “Miss Allen is ready for you.”
Hazel nodded and made her way through the waiting area and into the guidance counselor’s office.
* * *
The session was longer than Hazel had expected, but relatively painless, with Miss Allen giving England a wide berth. They spoke about her classes and teachers instead, and about how she was getting on. When the bell rang, signaling the end of first period, Hazel thanked her and headed toward the arts building for her next class.
At lunch, Hazel joined Hunter, Maddie, and Luca at their usual spot.
“How was Miss Allen?” Maddie asked.
Hazel looked over at Luca, their encounter in the waiting room still in the back of her mind. He was staring at her, lips pressed into a thin line.
“She was fine,” she said eventually, tearing her eyes away to look at Maddie. “She’s very friendly.”
“She didn’t try and psychoanalyze you, did she?” Hunter asked. “I got sent to see a guidance counselor by my dad when he and Mum got divorced. She kept going on about stability and forgiveness. You remember, Mads?”
“I remember. She was probably right, though, looking back. You were pretty fragile.”
He pulled a face. “She thought I was certifiable because I told her I was glad my parents were separating.”
“Glad?” Hazel said.
“They used to fight all the time,” Hunter said. “Like, all the time. Now that they’re not constantly under each other’s feet, they can be civil.”
“I guess that’s an improvement,” Hazel said, and Maddie changed the subject. Hazel glanced over at Luca again to see if he was still staring at her, but his gaze was fixed firmly on the grass.
* * *
Hunter’s volleyball practice on Friday had gone poorly, but he remained upbeat and enthusiastic about his next endeavor: cricket. He was staying after school to work on his batting technique with one of the guys from his Health/PE class, so Maddie and Hazel caught the bus home together. Hazel waited until they were sitting tucked away at the back of the bus before bringing up Luca.
“Maddie, can I ask you something?” she said.
“Of course! What’s up?”
Hazel hesitated. “It’s … about Luca.”
Maddie shifted in her seat to face Hazel. “What about him?”
“It’s just that Red’s so friendly and confident and cheerful and Luca’s…”
“… not?” Maddie finished for her, and Hazel nodded.
“What happened to him?” she said.
“God knows,” Maddie said. “He never talks about his past, but it’s clear something’s troubling him. Hunter tried to ask him about it once, and Luca shut him down. But look, he’s not … He’s not mean. I don’t want you to think he’s a bad person or anything.”
“It’s not just me he hates then?”
“He doesn’t hate you, Hazel.”
“Well, he definitely doesn’t like me.”
“He’s just … adjusting to you. He’ll warm up eventually.”
“Is that the reason he barely talks at lunch? Because I’m there?”
“I doubt it. He’s always pretty quiet. But once you get to know him, he can be sweet, and he’s got a killer sense of humor, and sometimes he’ll forget to be shy for a moment. Then you can tell that he and Red are twins.”
Hazel wondered if she’d ever get to see that side of him. “How did you guys become friends, anyway?”
“Hunter was assigned to show him around when he moved here,” she said. “Like you and Ashley. It was only supposed to be for a week, but he stuck around. He’s a good guy, and we’re glad we have him—just like we’re glad to have you.”
“I’m glad I have you too.” Hazel smiled.
“It’s nice to have a female friend for once, actually,” Maddie said then. “I’ve got a bit of a history of scaring people off. I’m sort of … intense.”
“About what?”
“Everything?” she said, laughing. “I don’t know. I get obsessed easily, like with helping Hunter find a sport he’s good at. It also probably doesn’t help that I’ve been dux for three years straight.”
“Dux?”
Maddie flushed pink. “It means I got the highest marks in our grade.”
“That’s amazing!” Hazel enthused.
“Yeah, well. Not everyone thinks so.” Maddie shook her head, glancing out the bus window and then down into her lap. “When I was younger, some kids bullied me about it, so I stopped trying to be the best at everything for a while.”
Hazel couldn’t imagine why anyone in the world would want to be mean to the bright, bubbly girl sitting beside her. “What made you want to get good grades again?”
“I realized that people are assholes, and they’ll always find something about you to criticize. I figured I’d rather they picked on me because I tried hard and did well and made myself proud than because I let them make me feel small.”
“When I was growing up,” Hazel said, “my mum always used to tell me never to compromise myself for anyone else.”
“Your mum sounds very wise.”
“She was,” Hazel said, ignoring the pang in her chest. “She … used to be a nurse. She made people feel better for a living.”
Maddie looked at her carefully. “Past tense?”
“She … got sick when I was younger. Very sick.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Not yet.”
Maddie nodded once and pulled her in for a hug. “I’ll be here when you’re ready, all right? I’m really, really happy
that I met you, you know that? I’m so glad you’re here.”
Hazel hugged her back tightly.
10
There were several things about Port Sheridan that Red had grown to love in the past seven months, but the West School of Art and Design was pretty much at the top of the list. When he’d found out that they were moving away from Sydney and heading two thousand kilometers up the coast, it was the first thing he did: google art schools in the area.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true—the first thing he did was sulk bitterly.
If Red had to move away from his home city for a quiet, suburban town so that Luca could have a fresh start, then Red deserved a fresh start too. And Red’s fresh start came in the form of a school that not only tolerated but actively encouraged his penchant for drawing and daydreaming when he should’ve been listening in class.
West was more than just a school; it was Red’s sanctuary. Even on days like today, when he was standing waiting for his teacher’s verdict on his work and feeling like he might throw up from nerves.
Monday afternoons used to be Red’s favorite of the week; lunch was followed by an hour of free time, which he usually spent sketching in one of the studios, followed by two blissful hours of Photography with Mr. Hodgkins. Not anymore, though. Not since Hodgkins had started them on their final big project of the year, a portfolio of carefully collated photographs that encapsulated the theme of family.
Family. Yeah, fucking right.
Red usually found that sticking to a theme gave his work focus—last term’s exploration of dark versus light had generated some of his favorite pictures—but not this one. This one was a major pain in his ass, which explained why Hodgkins had kept him after class to check in on his photographs. Red knew he needed some help, but his teacher’s scrutiny was making him sweat.
“Well,” Hodgkins said finally, looking up from the photographs and taking off his glasses to study him closely. “I don’t know what to say. Your work is usually much better than this, Redleigh.”
Red sighed. Tell me about it. “I know, sir. I’m sorry. I think it’s the subject matter. My heart isn’t in it.”
“Why? Do you not think it’s a good theme?”
“No,” he said. “It’s not that. I’m just struggling to find a way to shoot my family that doesn’t feel … forced.”
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