Somebody Else ✔

Almost even.

Jace.

Edited.

La pluie a toujours apporté les meilleures vagues -- fuck.

My struggle with bilingualism was always worst in the early morning and late afternoon. Not only did speaking French just leave me confused as I stared at English signs, it just made me depressed -- missing the icy streets of Quebec, and coming home to find mum and dad laughing in the kitchen with Damien dancing around them. In Australia, even in winter, it was too hot for fresh crêpes or croissants. It's not like dad could make them like mum could, but I often found myself with the phantom taste hanging on my tongue. Like sometimes how I could still smell her perfume. I guess that was all semantics though.

After she died, I dunno. I started praying. Not to god, fuck him, but to her. I would have conversations with her in my head -- until her voice faded. Her smell though, of apples and sugar and jasmine still lingered -- it was dizzying. My mum had a saying, somebody else always has it worse. In the days after she was gone, in my childish way, I couldn't imagine anyone who did.

It was chill though, because in Australia I never had time to think about any of that. Cole and Alex made sure of that. If they weren't occupying my time and my house, they were attacking my brain cells with alcohol. Like, always. They managed to make up an excuse to drink everyday. It being after school on a Friday, was reason enough to go down to the beach and have a drink, even if the weather was miserable. The only thing affordable in Western Australia it turns out, was the alcohol. The only thing to do in Western Australia, especially coming from Quebec, was to drink.

The boys were complaining it was cold, even though it really wasn't, so Alex and Finch managed to make a small bonfire. Amory watched with a smirk as they made attempt after attempt, flicking through his book. Fed up, they ignited the fire by tearing out the back pages of Amorys book and using it as kindling when he went to the car to get the food we'd forgotten to bring.

I rose an eyebrow from where I was, waxing down my surfboard. Alex protested, "Doctor Who says tearing out the back page adds an extra adventure anyway." Finch howled with laughter, the fledgling fire crackling from the shallow pit they had dug.

"Can youse be quiet?" Cole snapped, his face twisted into a grimace.

"Wow, you get shitty when you haven't had your beauty sleep, don't you princess?"

"Fuck off, Princeling." Cole spat, and I dug my nails into my palms at the mention of that fucking nickname.

Cole crouched down beside the fire, jabbing at it with a stick. The flames reflecting yellow against his dark skin. "You've been pissed all week, what's wrong with you?" I asked, and my nails slid from my palms, now pulsating and dented.

Cole came up beside me, resting his hands on either side of my face. I shoved him off. He slapped my shoulder. "Nothing, I'm sorry okay. Let's not fight in front of the child." Cole nodded toward Alex, who rolled his eyes so hard all we saw were the whites for a minute or two.

Amory brought back the food, and more people. Maddy, Tex, Matty, Vinnie and Bodhi followed him down the rocky trail through the bush to us, on the shore. Despite the odds, Tex and Maddy had continued to see each other after the shit show of a footy party.

Doritos and lollie snakes were passed around the fire, with the lollies used as stirrers in drinks. Alex got shit because he was wearing a One Direction tour t-shirt. Ostensibly, his sister had forced him to go once. He admitted begrudgingly, to wearing it because Sam loves them and I couldn't help but scream along with the boys. We made whipping noises and lamented the loss of Alex's dick. They couldn't give him too much hassle though, because the day before he'd won them the interschool football premiership. Alex was just one of those people who had a natural aptitude for any sport he tried. Matty and Tex were decent as well, and together those three boys single handedly won Easts the interschool swimming championship every year. Well, that's what they had done this year anyway. Cole though, he was borderline terrified of the water, and stayed with his feet firmly planted in the sand.