Miss Braxton: Home and Away Fanfic

Chapter 11

For a few days now I had been trying to avoid Brax as much as humanly possible. Recently, within several seconds of us being anywhere near each other, we ended up arguing about school and my future. He wanted me to apply to Summer Bay High but I was resisting as much as I could, my stubborn Braxton genes kicking in. Brax didn't give up easy either though.  I was constantly telling him to drop the matter and he was relentlessly bringing it back up, hounding and badgering me about it all of the time whenever I was with him to the point where we both ended up getting angry about it.

I knew that my brother just wanted what was best for my future. During our debates, I noted that he had some very valid points on why I should go back to my studies and pick up where I left off at age thirteen. I understood that it was important to him that I was given an education, especially considering he was never given the choice when he was my age and in my shoes. This was a very important subject to him and I could see that it meant a lot.

All the same, I just couldn't face up to the thought of school. I wouldn't be able to hack it. Not after all this time. The idea of going back to my education and sitting in a class of thirteen-year-olds filled me with dread and made my stomach churn. I lay up at night worrying about it, tossing and turning and resisting the urge to fling open my bedroom window and run for the hills, away from all the crushing pressure building up in my chest. No. I couldn't go to school. It was only a little while longer until my sixteenth birthday. Surely I could hold out till then... right?

As a distraction, I busied myself with spending my time in Angelo's, hanging out with Kyle and Phoebe and Olivia. Kyle seemed like the only person who was completely impartial to the whole matter of me going to school. Brax had got Heath, Bianca, Ricky, Ash and Phoebe onside, but Kyle had remained neutral. He didn't bother me about it. He said nothing about how going back was 'for the best' or how getting my HSC's would 'open loads of doors for me', or that Brax was 'just looking out for me' and 'had my best interests at heart'.  I felt like I could talk to Kyle without being judged or pressured. Most importantly, the conversations we had weren't centered on school. They were just normal, average brother/sister conversations.

 My brother had carried out the promise he’d made the first night I came to the bay to teach me music properly. He ran me through the basics of playing a guitar and then helped me with writing my own music. Kyle was self-taught in this field too, so he could only teach me what he’d learnt himself. That was fine by me. I was just enjoying the time I spent with him.

Olivia had aided in being another brilliant diversion from what I had to deal with at home. She helped me to forget all about my worries by just sticking by me and being a good friend. We went for days out together and had fun at the beach or the surf club or the Diner. She took me out to Yabbie Creek and we entertained ourselves with watching films and generally having a laugh.

Most nights she worked as a waitress in Angelo’s, so I took to keeping her company on her shifts and helping out whenever I could, even though Kyle told me he couldn’t officially give me a job without me talking to Brax first, who we all knew was no way going to let me start working at Angelo’s rather than focusing on my education first and foremost. Nevertheless, my oldest brother couldn’t stop me from hanging around at the restaurant when Olivia was rostered on and assisting when I could. Well… sometimes assisting. Other times, I was just bored and playing around.

“Hey, you’re doing it wrong!” Olivia whined, laughing as I messed around with a ball of pizza dough in the kitchen. We were at Angelo’s and I had accompanied her to her Sunday morning shift after a particularly bad argument with Brax at breakfast.

 In an attempt to cast the quarrel with my brother out of my mind, I had decided to be in high spirits. I was in one of my annoying, playful moods and was basically just clowning around and distracting my friend during her shift. I loved the way Olivia took things relatively serious and was always trying to follow the rules. She got this cute, little annoyed crease between her eyebrows whenever I stood in the way of her and her work. I found that kind of amusing, especially when I was bored.