Tame

by India Marshall

I pulled away, confused. "It's not?"

  "Well everyone always says, 'it's okay' when people are upset. It's obviously not, but it will get better. I bet Troy could beat the holy shit out of your Dad now." Jason explained.

  "Oh. Well, thanks J." I smiled. "You know, I say, 'holy shit on toast' sometimes."

  "Okay...then Troy'll beat the holy shit on toast out of your Dad- and any kind of other disgusting food your Dad consumes." Jason corrected himself, making me laugh.

  "That's good. That was a good one." I nodded, my pain slipping away slowly. "J? Why did your Dad leave, if you don't mind me asking."

  "Said he couldn't cope with kids. He's an ass, if you ask me." J shrugged. I couldn't imagine Jason to be a young child, with no father all of a sudden. He was so big, muscly and scary, that to think he was hurt by his Dad, even if he didn't show it later in life, was truly scary.

  "My Dad just cheated on my Mom because...well, he's an ass too." I told him.

  "Did you come to me because you thought my Dad did the same thing?" Jason wondered aloud.

  "Well, yes. I'd never seen him, in photos or anything, you didn't talk about him. I just wondered." I admitted.

  How stupid would I look if his Dad was just away?

  "You really need to learn to control your talking out loud of your thoughts." Jason informed me, a small smile playing on his lips.

  "Ah, shut up." I playfully punched his arm. My hand dropped to my side after I had realised what I had done though- I always hit Cameron. And now Cameron probably hated me, I'd been so mean to him.

  I was upset.

  But he was being nice to me. He was trying to help.

  It was none of his business.

  I argued continuously in my mind until I caught Jason smirking at me.

  "What?" I frowned.

  "You keep pulling funny faces. Are you talking to voices inside your head?" Jason laughed.

  "Yeah, actually. Ignore me." I shook my head at my own stupidity.

  "I can hear the voices." Jason said creepily, putting on a high pitch voice. I think he thought he sounded like a little ghost girl. I personally thought he sounded like a squirrell on a high.

  "Brownies!" Helen interrupted, coming in with a lovely smelling batch of brownies on a plate. "Eat up!"

  "Mom's been taking cooking classes, and cooks all the time." J told me, whilst munching on one of the little brown squares. "She mainly does it when you're here."

  "I thought you could use a snack whilst studying." Helen beamed. "And brownies are mood-improvers according to my book."

  "What book, Harry Potter?" Jason rolled his eyes.

  Helen put her hands on her hips. "No, you cheeky little monster. I-"

  "I'm not five, mom." Jason looked away, and I saw it was because he was hiding his blush.

  "Aww are you blushing, J?" I cooed. "You're so cute!"

  "Go away." He grumbled.

  "Anyway," Helen began again. "I got it from this book about healthy life styles. Though I don't really see how brownies are particularly healthy."

  She went back into the kitchen, muttering to herself about the pros and cons of brownies.

  "Sooo," Jason started as his Mom left- and when his blush had disappeared- "What do you wanna do?"

  "I don't know. You choose- your house." I replied politely. I was determined to regain my politeness. Ever since I met Cameron that had gone straight down the drain.

  Jason looked around his living room, before spotting a stack of paper in the corner, on the table. "We could do some revision, the test is pretty soon."

  "Hm, we could. But Cameron needs to help too." I frowned.

  "I can call him if you want..."

  "No." I said quickly. "No, it's okay."

  "Uh-oh." Jason pulled a face. "Have you two fought again?"

  "Not really- he was just being a nosy shoe." I scowled at my shoe.

  "A nosy shoe?"

  "What? I meant a nosy parker!" I struggled not to laugh at myself. "I was looking at my shoe, that's why I said shoe."

  "Right, I did get confused. So, we'll just start without Cameron?" Jason told me, throwing me a pen. We started scribbling onto the paper, my full attention on French dating websites and what I didn't like in French guys.

  We were half way through studying when Brody walked in.

  "Hey, kid." I grinned as I looked up.

  "Hi. I'm not a kid, I'm nearly your age, and I'm taller than you." Brody poked his tongue out at me.

  "What? No way." I got up, measuring my height against his. "Crap!"

  "Ha. Hey, what are you doing J?" Brody looked disgusted at the idea of work. I saw he had his phone sticking out of his back pocket. Such a typical fourteen year old.

  "Schoolwork. We're distracting Farrah." Jason told him, sitting up. I saw he had spelt a few words wrong, and wondered silently if he'd ever tell Cameron about his dyslexia.

  "What?" Brody groaned. "Ugh, you're so boring! I have a much better idea on how to cheer her up."

  I looked at Jason worriedly, and he was staring straight back at me, his face matching mine.

  "What idea?" We said slowly.

  ***

  "Is this safe?!" I shrieked down to the boys.

  "Totally!" Brody called up to me. "We do it all the time!"

  "Jason?" I panicked, praying I would be able to keep my balance. I was standing on top of their house, on the roof to be exact. It wasn't slopy and made of tiles though- I was on a flat, gray piece of roof on top of where the Evans' bathroom was. Jason and his younger brother stood in the back yard, massive water guns in their hands. They had apparently come up with a game when they were little kids, of climbing on to the roof and squirting each other with water guns. As much as I panicked and squirmed- Brody was right. I wasn't thinking about my family.

  "Ready?" Jason hollered.

  "No wait-"

  "FIRE!" They shouted simultaneously. I screamed and dodged the water, which was currently being fired at me. I was already soaking wet from the fountain episode (surprisingly no one asked me about it) so it didn't really matter, but I didn't want to get any more wet. I was beginning to dry off.

  "This is awesome with a third person!" Jason screeched.

  "Ew! Dude that makes it sound like a threesome!" Brody yelled at him, still aiming at me.

  "Do you really do this on a regular basis?" I asked curiously, narrowly missing the jet of water Jason shot at me.

  "No!" Both boys replied. So much for doing it all the time. I nearly slipped over trying to dodge the water, and landed with a thump on my butt. The boys roared and came closer to me, seizing the opportunity to soak me once again.

  "Aaaahhh!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, laughing at the same time. But if anyone had heard me, they wouldn't have heard the laughter anyway, because a new voice was yelling at the two Evans brothers. Helen.

  "How many times have I told you to not put people on the roof? To not squirt them with water from water guns? To not disturb the nosy old neighbours?" Helen complained, waving her arms around, like I did when I was angry. The boys looked at their feet, ashamed. Helen turned to me and my scarlett cheeks.

  "I'm not mad at you, sweetie. Please ignore me. I'll come and help you back in through the window, just wait one second." Helen told me, bustling around the boys, throwing them a quick glare, before coming in to help me. I couldn't help but laugh at the boy's faces- and they gave me a quick water shot. I squealed and hopped from foot to foot, nearly loosing my balance. My foot slipped and I fell down on to the roof-hard.

  *Cameron*

  I slumped over to Jason's house, thinking about Farrah. I felt bad that I had listened in to her family problems- but I already knew about her Mom and Dad, and had always had my suspicions about the bruises Troy used to have in football practice before he left our school. I didn't understand why she got so mad. She should have just listened to me. I wasn't as big of an ass as she seemed to think I was.

  I kicked a bottle across the street, earning a disapp
roving look from one of Jason's neighbours. I rolled my eyes and continued my way to his house, deciding to go around the back way. Just as his back yard came into view, a bloodcurdling scream came from his house. I jumped up and peered into his back yard, frantically looking for a girl being murdered. Instead I saw Jason and Brody waving their hands at someone on their bathroom roof.

  Farrah?

  I raced my way to the front door, not bothering to knock. I slammed the door to alert Helen I was in the house- I nearly always did, and she'd never once thought it was a burglar. I made my way to the back of the house, colliding with Brody because my head was looking upwards to try and see Farrah.

  "Ow! Dude watch it! Cam?" Brody snapped.

  "Don't call me Cam." I muttered half-heartedly, still looking for Farrah. She was gone. I frowned to myself, I could have sworn she was on the roof. It was like all the times Jason had told me to go on the roof so he could spray me with water. I saw two water guns by the shed, but I sighed as I realised they were nearly always laying in the yard somewhere. I was hallucinating. Stupid Farrah Poppy Chambers.

  "...call you what I want. It's my house." Brody glared at me, before stomping into the house. I rolled my eyes and faced Jason. He seemed surprised to see me.

  "Hey, Cameron. Why are you here, dude?" He asked, patting me on the back and turning me around so we were following Brody into the house.

  "Just wanted to talk." I sighed.

  "You're such a girl." J snickered.

  "Don't be an ass." I pushed him slightly. He shoved me back, using only his shoulder, and I nearly fell over. He was too strong for his own good. I noticed a bandage on his hand, around his fingers. "What's that?"

  "Fight got nasty last night." Jason lowered his voice, not wanting his Mom, wherever she was, to know what he was talking about. Helen knew next to nothing about Jason fighting, and Brody was sworn to secrecy. The little brat probably would have told his Mom, if Jason hadn't threatened violence.

  "Right." I nodded. I opened the back door and stepped inside, looking at some skid marks on the floor from my sneakers. Oops.

  "So what did you wanna talk about?" Jason asked, throwing me a soda and strolling into the living room. "Because Farrah's kind of-"

  "Pissed off with me? I know. Wait, she told you?" I asked, confused.

  "Yeah. She's-"

  "I know, I know. I shouldn't have eaves-dropped. But I already knew half of it." I sighed.

  "Would you let me finish?" Jason groaned.

  I ignored him. I didn't want to hear about how much Farrah had told him. "We had a fun day at the mall, you should have come. I was thinking we should meet up and do some revision or something, maybe. Or something better- we could teach her to skate? I mean, I doubt she knows how to, she's so clumsy! The two of us versus her is hilarious."

  "Yeah, we did some more of it earlier." Jason gestured at the paper on the floor. I rolled my eyes in my mind at how he had left the paper on the floor after how ever long it had been since Farrah had been here.

  "You know you said she told you some stuff? Do you know where she is? Because her parents are freaking out. Well, her Mom is." I continued.

  "Yes, I tried to say earlier, she's-"

  "It's such a girly thing to do to run off." I grumbled. "Why did you call me a girl? You're girlier than me."

  "Says the guy who loves pink." Jason scoffed, smirking.

  "Why did you tell her that dude? She's gonna take the piss outta me." I groaned.

  "Oh please, you love her." Jason nudged me.

  "Uh, no. And she hates me, before you say anything." I laughed.

  "Nah. You know we hugged earlier. I was trying to make her feel better and she let me hug her. Was that a bad thing to do? Maybe I am girly." Jason mused, mostly to himself.

  "Yeah, you can be female. You've got the moobs." I winked.

  "Shut up, this is muscle. You don't like fighting, you're not in shape at all."

  "Am too." I shoved him. "And why do you keep saying, 'earlier'?"

  "Well if you'd let me finish-"

  "And when was she upset? Wait have you seen her today?" I quizzed. I didn't know why I was so worked up about Farrah. She was just Farrah Poppy Chambers, the girl I loved to tease.

  Were we even friends?

  "Cameron!" Jason slapped the back of my head. "Shut up! Anyone would think you freakin' like her!"

  "I do not! And she likes Tanner, anyways. Big mistake. He'll play her like a freakin' guitar." I protested.

  "Cam-er-on!" Jason pushed me off the couch completely. "Shut it! Farrah is-"

  "Aaaahhh!"

  My head snapped up, and both J and I leapt up, running up the stairs to see what the scream was about- and who made it. I was curious, especially as it came from Brody's room. Did the kid have a girlfriend?

  We burst into Brody's room to see Brody holding his pet tarantula, Helen trying to get it back in it's cage, and Farrah laying on Brody's bed with a packet of frozen peas clamped onto her head. Helen grabbed the hairy thing, and dropped it in it's cage, ignoring her youngest son's wailing.

  "That could have hurt him, Mom!" He whined, peering into ther tank.

  "That. Was. Terrifying!" Farrah panted. I blinked several times. She was here. I did see her on the roof. I hadn't been hallucinating about her!

  That would just be weird.

  "Brody, be quiet. You didn't need to put the thing on her nose!" Helen scolded Jason's little brother.

  "It woke her up at least!" Brody pouted, his eyes still glued to the tarantula.

  "She was unconscious !" Helen sighed heavily. "Oh, hello Cameron, sweetie."

  "Cameron?" Farrah squeaked.

  "Uh, hi." I waved at her. She got up, her packet of peas falling to the floor.

  "Thank you." She muttered, wrapping her short, little arms around my waist, hugging me. "For being a good friend. And I'm sorry."

  For a minute I stood, confused. Then I hugged her back, just quickly, and peeled her off of me.

  "So we're friends?" I quirked up an eyebrow, feeling a smirk coming on. She sensed this and hit my arm. No change there.

  "Yes, friends." She nodded.

  "Ugh, cheesy. Why are you even here? Do you all have to be in my room? Get out!" Brody shooed us from his room. Out in the hallway, all eyes were on me. Helen left us to go downstairs, but both Jason and Farrah looked at me.

  Her big blue eyes blinked. "I agree. Why are you here?"

  Chapter 20

  *Farrah*

  Cameron's eyes swivelled to Jason, and then back to me. He shrugged.

  "Nothing, really. Just came to talk." He told me.

  "You're such a girl." I giggled.

  "That's what I said!" Jason laughed. Cameron scowled at us both.

  "Wipe that scowl off of your face, boy. I'm supposed to be upset, not you." I smiled sadly, prodding his arm.

  "Don't be upset!" Jaosn wailed. "I thought you were feeling better after the game on the roof!"

  "So it was that game." Cameron chuckled.

  "You knocked me unconscious." I frowned at Jason.

  "No, you knocked yourself unconscious." J replied. "You and your awful balance."

  "Ah, whatever." I groaned, swatting at him with my hand, only using half of my energy.

  "You do have awful balance." Brody interrupted, poking his head out of his door.

  "Get lost!" Jason pushed him back inside his room, closing the door on his younger brother.

  "You're the ones talking loudly outside of my room!" Brody yelled from his side of the door.

  I giggled. "You guys are funny."

  "You feeling better now?" Jason asked hesitantly.

  I paused, before nodding. "Yes, I do. Thanks, guys. I'm gonna head on out and go home, I think. See you tomorrow at school."

  "See you tomorrow." Jason nodded, walking off to his own room, leaving Cameron with me.

  "I'll drive you back if you like." Cameron offered.

  "Sure thing, Cammie." I grinned.

&
nbsp; He cringed and I laughed fondly. "Let's just go."

  "Bye!" I called as we headed back downstairs.

  "Bye Farrah!" Two simulatneous replied from both Brody and Jason called.

  "Bye Cammie!" Jason added.

  "Jackass!" Cameron yelled back. I smirked to myself at his little face, all screwed up in annoyance.

  Hopping down the Evans' staircase, I had an irritating thought that we had forgotten something. But I couldn't put my finger on it until we got outside.

  "Uh, Cameron?"

  "Yeah?" Cameron asked me, in exactly the same tone. Looked like he put his finger on it too.

  "Where's your car?" I closed my eyes, waiting for the answer which I already knew.

  "It's in the mall's parking lot." Cameron sighed, face-palming.

  "Right..." I looked around awkwardly. "I think I'm going to walk home."

  "Oh, no, no, no." Cameron wagged his finger at me, right in front of my nose.

  "No what?" I put my hands on my hips. "I'm walking home, Cameron. See you tomorrow at school, like Jason."

  "No way!" Cameron protested. "Farrah, I don't wanna walk all that way on my own!"

  "Aww, is Cammie scared of being on his own?" I teased.

  "Farrah Poppy Chambers!" Cameron frowned. "Come with me now or I swear to freakin' God I will embarrass you so bad you will never live it down- not even if you change your name and appearance!"

  "What a mouthful that was." I smirked.

  "Farrah!"

  "Cameron Carter!" I mimicked him, enjoying our role reversal. "Hey, what's your middle name?"

  "Don't have one." Cameron said quickly, looking away.

  "Uh huh, sure. I'll be looking into that." I noted to myself aloud.

  "Pervert."

  Roles really had been reversed.

  "Look, why can't you go on your own? It's not that far." I complained.

  "Please?" Cameron begged.

  "Why? Will wittle Cammie wammie get lonely?"

  "Quit it!" Cameron growled.

  "Not so nice, is it?" I raised my left eyebrow at him. He sighed.