[ 52 ] 2014

-

"You'd better not look down her shirt."

-

"The boss asked me to watch over you." He replied.

Harley groaned out in frustration. "Why is he doing this to me? I'm not a child."

"He's your dad. He just wants to keep you safe." James pointed out. "Dads always want their kids to be okay. If you were my daughter, I'd have done the same or something worse to Saris." He confessed with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "I could have made her skull explode to bits with a blink, but that would have startled my guests." He said. While Harley found it to be completely absurd, he seemed to find it entertaining.

Harley sighed after she pushed the mental images of Saris' head exploding into pieces out of her mind. "I suppose you're right." She said in regards to his previous words about dad wanting to keep her safe. "But he never watched over me before."

"He did. You just never noticed." The fair skinned young man informed her. "Why do you think I was best friends with Billy?"

"You said you didn't remember me." She argued.

"All part of the act. But I always kept an eye on you all through high school until you moved away." He grinned, clearly proud of himself. "Dumb jock by day, hunter by night. I pretend I only care about basketball and girls, and the students of Applecross completely buy it." As Harley heard those words, it all made sense to her. All the time James would spend at their house because he was friends with Billy. It was all to keep an eye on her. Harley concluded Arthur was more smart and secretive than she thought.

Gesturing to her beer soaked clothes, she spoke, "I should probably go home now. I smell like beer."

"At least whoever smells you will think you had fun at a sick ass party." He joked.

"Loads of fun." She rolled her eyes at him.

"And," He added, before she turned to go in search of Phoenix and her cousin Rory, "I hope you understand that I'm only doing my job. Paul, Dempsey, and Michael have told me you can get pretty difficult."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You know them?"

He nodded in response. "We all know each other."

-

Harley saw James around the cafe where she worked often, though he was better and more understanding about giving her privacy. He would come around just once each day and ask how she was doing. Then he would play some tricks on Saris before leaving.

During the time she was working there, her grandparents paid her, and she had made some money of her own, which made her feel more independent. For two weeks, which was the total amount of time she spent visiting in Perth, she never received a text message or even a call from Calum. Harley was worried that something had happened to him. Or maybe he was still so mad at her that he didn't want to answer her texts. She hoped it was the latter, but she knew he hadn't even read her messages.

She returned to Sydney the night before school would resume for a new semester at St. Genevieve's. Her final six months of high school before she would graduate.

Harley got back to her house in Sydney tired from the trip, but she was relieved that she was back. For one, she missed her family, and her friends. And also, she would get to see Calum at school and he would have to talk to her. They had all the same classes and he wouldn't be able to avoid her.

She quickly changed into her pajamas, got into bed, and called Ashton over. Cuddling with Ashton was one of the few things they could actually do together, but it was one of her favorite things. He would just hold her close and she would snuggle into his chest, breathing in his scent. It was like a mixture of mint and ice, cold yet soothing. Harley willed herself to fall asleep quickly, to make the time pass faster. She was eager to get to St. Genevieve's Academy, but she was eager to see Calum and make sure he was okay.

-

After getting into the shower and changing into her formal uniform for the first day back at school, Harley practically ran out of the house. Her expression dropped when Calum wasn't there to pick her up, as he normally was.

She ended up getting a ride with Michael and Hazel instead.

At school, she counted the minutes in home class, the only one she didn't share with Calum, and wished them to speed up. When the dismissal bell finally rang, she grabbed her book bag, and half-ran out of the room. Her first class was in the english hall, which wasn't too far from the history hall where her home class was located.

Harley Quinn entered the classroom with a hope that was immediately crushed. In her class of eleven people including herself, there was only one person missing on the first day back at classes. It was Calum.

She spent the rest of her school day anxious, waiting and hoping that Calum would show up any minute.

But he never did.

The whole first day went by without any of them seeing Calum. Instead of going to cheerleading practice, Harley stopped Niall and Andrea who were on their way to practice in their respective sports. "Have you two heard anything from Calum?" She wondered. As mad as he could be at Harley, he was fine with Niall and Andrea. Harley was almost certain they would know something.

The blondes shook their heads. Andrea was the one who spoke. "We haven't. I thought he would have told you something since you two are like a thing."

Harley bit her lip. "Calum's mad at me. But the last thing he mentioned was that his uncle was visiting from Brisbane."

"His uncle is not a very nice guy." Niall commented.

"I should go check on him." Harley suggested. "Will you two come with me?"

Neither Niall nor Andrea hesitated to accompany Harley. Calum was their only real friend and they wanted to make sure he was okay.

-

Harley called Michael to let him know she was getting a ride with Niall and Andrea. Michael knew Andrea hadn't been very nice to her in the past, and warned her to be careful around them, especially since she would be alone with them. But Harley knew she would be fine as long as Niall was around. He was the more calm one and Andrea listened to him.

The three went in Niall's car, which had actually been borrowed from Calum's house, and they drove to the property a few blocks from St. Genevieve's.

From the outside, the house looked empty, like no one was around.

As Harley got out of the car and walked to the security booth at the front gate, she found it was indeed empty. They couldn't see into the house, but Harley assumed there had to be something wrong if the men from the security booth were gone. There was no other way to open the gates from the outside, unless one had a small control keychain, like the one Calum had attached to his keys.

Harley could think of only one other option.

"We have to jump over the wall." She told them.

Andrea gestured to her school uniform. "In this?" They wore button up white shirts, light brown plaid skirts, knee high socks and church styled shoes. It would be seemingly impossible to climb in them.

The blue haired girl looked to Niall. "You'll have to climb it and open it from the inside. Please Niall. I need to talk to Calum."

"That wall is twice my height." He pointed out.

"What if..." Harley started. "We boost him up like we do with Dempsey during cheer practice?" Now she was eyeing Andrea.

"No offense, love." She said to Niall with a shake of her head. "But I think you probably weight like twice what Dempsey does. She's small and petite, like a feather. You're tall and eat like you've been starved all your life."

"She has a point." Niall agreed.

But even so, Harley convinced them to try it. They stood by the wall that surrounded Calum's house, and the two girls did their best to lift Niall as though it were a cheerleading stunt. They were barely able to lift him, while Niall looked down in fear that they would drop him. "You'd better not look down her shirt." Andrea warned him.

Nervous, Niall asked, "Can I look down your shirt?"

"Sure." Andrea huffed, using all her strength to push him up.

"Stop bending your knees!" Harley yelled at him. "It makes it harder for us to lift you."

Eventually, they pushed him high enough where he was able to grab on to the top of the wall and climbed the rest of the way by himself easily. Then he went into the security booth and opened the gates for them.

The three ran up to the house and knocked on the door. When no one came, Harley twisted the doorknob and found the door was unlocked. They pushed the door open to see the house was also empty. Calum's belongings were gone, and so was anything that looked of value. But the furniture and heavier things were still there. It looked like he had packed up and left.

Harley eyed her surroundings carefully. Her blue eyes welled up with tears because everything indicated that Calum had left his home.

On a small coffee table in the living room, she saw a folded sheet of paper.

She took a step closer to it and saw something written on it.

For my friends.

Harley picked it up and quickly unfolded it. Her eyes scanned over the page, reading the handwritten words.

I'm leaving Sydney. Don't try to look for me, and don't worry about me. I'll be fine.

Goodbye.

-Calum

E N D O F B O O K T W O

-

dun dun dun...

exciting end to book two? book three is next! i will probably post the little blurb thing in a few minutes, or early tomorrow morning.

but here is the update as promised. my team won, and im very happy, thus i wrote the last update for this book. thank you all so much for reading and supporting. thank you for being there for me. thank you for making my days better with your comments ^.^ for everything, thank you loads!

you are all sweet, and lovely, and FAB.

and i just want to close this book with the following: WITHOUT U THIS WOULDNT BE POSSIBLE. i would have zero votes and reads, i would be a total loser without you.

so thank you!

bless you each and every day of your life ^.^

clary xx