The Complexity Of This

• Chapter 4 •

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When I was 10, I jumped out of a tree and broke my wrist in 4 places.

I was at school, enjoying my Vegemite and cheese sandwhich, minding my own business when I saw him. Mark Tazz.

Mark Tazz was an... interesting guy. He was tall and thin and was the schools bad ass. He literally would steal people's lunch.

I saw him, strutting towards me, eyeing my sandwich. He had a huge toothy grin plastered on his face. I knew what he wanted and I wasn't going to let him have it - so I ran. I shoved my sandwich into my bag and took off. Eventually I was cornered against the school fence on the far side of the oval. My only escape was the huge jacaranda tree. So what did I do? I climbed the freaking tree. I'm not sure what possessed me to do that but I did and then... I got stuck.

I looked down to see Mark making his way up the tree extremely quickly and I panicked. I literally flung myself out of the tree and landed on my wrist causing it to basically shatter.

From that day on I swore never to climb a tree or anything. No bungee jumping, skydiving, rock climbing or abseiling.

I broke that promise.

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"Braxton you are freaking insane!" I stared up at the troublemaker who was currently sitting in a huge tree. His arm was extended out to me with a great big smirk on his face.

We had just ran throughout the entire school with Mr Hill following for a good 10 minutes and after discovering the school was not made for hide and seek, Braxton thought a tree was the next best thing.

"Come on Lorolei, I won't let you fall."

I raised an eyebrow, seriously questioning him.

"I promise."

I could tell he meant that and I trusted him.

Suddenly Mr Hills voice could be heard once again, screaming cusses at us.

I grabbed Braxton's hand and he pulled me up into the tree. Once again I was in a tree with the schools bad ass. But this time he wasn't trying to steal my lunch.

My breath hitched as I saw Mr Hill walking past the tree. He stopped in front of it for a minute and looked around. I was actually really scared - I had never gotten in trouble before. I looked over at Brax to see him peering down at the teacher.

I noticed that Brax had a small tattoo on his shoulder and as I moved to look at it closer, my foot slipped.

"Fuck!" I whisper yelled as I felt myself begin to fall.

Suddenly Brax hooked an arm around me and pulled me back onto the branch and he cupped a hand over my mouth.

Surprisingly Mr Hill didn't hear anything and he actually walked away. I heard him mutter more curses under his breath as he stormed off.

What a deaf fruit bat.

"How on Earth did you manage to catch me?" I exclaimed when Brax finally took his hand off my mouth.

"I promised I wouldn't let you fall." He replied as he stared into my eyes.

I looked down as I felt his hand still on my waist and I started blushing like an idiot. He hooked a finger under my chin and brought my face up to look at him. At that point, my mind was filled with different thoughts.

Was he going to kiss me?
Do I want him to kiss me?
Is he going to trick me and push me off?

I had no clue. Until he started leaning in.

"Rori, Brax!"

He snapped his head away as we heard Paige yell out to us. She had ditched school with Hunter and was hanging around the fence.

"Give us a sec!" Brax spat back.

I was just sitting there, dumbfounded. It wasn't like I had never been kissed, my first kiss was with a guy at a party that I went to. How cliché of me. The thought of Brax kissing me made my heart feel like it was hungover.

He smirked slightly as he dropped down out of the tree. I finally snapped out of whatever daze I seemed to be in and tried to make my way out of the tree. I was unsuccessful. I stepped off the branch down onto a lower height but that was about as far as I got.  I was literally stranded on a branch - talk about history repeating itself.

Just as I was about to jump and probably break a leg, I felt Brax pick me up from my waist and drop me on the ground in front of him.

"All in good time." He whispered as he took a leaf out of my hair.

Oh my lord this boy will be the death of me.

With my head down, blushing uncontrollably, I strolled behind Brax over to where Paige and Hunter were standing.

"I'm not even gonna ask what you guys were doing in that tree but do guys wanna come ditch with us?" Hunter chuckled with his arm draped around Paige.

"I don't ditch." I said bluntly before Brax could answer for the both of us.

Brax looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I stiffened and took a step back, ready to run before I was dragged to suspension.

"RORI GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" My head snapped around to see Mr Hill bounding across the oval. I felt the colour drain from my face as I prepared myself for expulsion and possibly death.

Or not.

All of a sudden, Brax threw me over his shoulder and started running towards Hunters car. I didn't have time to protest to the fact that what was currently happening was actual kidnapping. All I could see was Braxton's back and I was not happy.

"You are a meany." I sighed as I lightly punched his back.

He laughed and put me down on the other side of the fence.

Paige dragged me over and into the back seat of Hunters car. After everyone was in, Hunter put his foot down and the school was long gone.

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