Dawn

"There's another one!" I called through the house. 

The little letter lay on the welcome mat, attached to a small box, which turned out to hold a cookie. Aria tumbled down the stairs and Kat appeared beside me, holding a packet of chips. I glared at her. 

"That's your fourth packet today," I whined. 

"I'm craving them," she said around another mouthful. 

Our little trio had been spending a lot of time at my parent-free house, still hiding behind the same excuse- I needed some comforting. I knew for a fact my mum was much better now, but still not quite ready to make the journey back to Sydney, meaning I would probably be alone until approximately the second week of school began.

Recently, I'd been receiving little notes just like the one on the mat, attached to some little object, like jewellery or food. In the beginning, I hadn't touched the food, but now, after Kat had become our test subject, and had turned out fine, I gladly accepted them. The notes came almost twice a week, and kind of freaked me out- the person delivering them knew who I was and where I lived and what I liked- but my friends had told me to be reasonable and said that since my social media accounts didn't say much about me, they'd concluded it was somebody from school who may have a (slight) crush on me. 

I really felt sorry for whoever it was. 

The gifts had become a kind of joke- Aria would tease me, Kat would try to steal the object if it was food, and we had some fun guessing who was sending them to me. 

"We should call Jason to come over next time; maybe he knows who's sending them," Aria chirped as I removed the note and tossed the cookie to Kat, who caught it with the chip packet. 

The note was a usually smiley face or- in one case- a heart (which I cringed at while my friends poked fun at me), and today was no different. I dropped it into the bin, watching Kat gobble up the cookie, then return to her chips.

"Good idea," I replied, closing the front door. 

 It was kind of awkward when Jason came around, I reflected as I flopped down onto the couch. Knowing how close him and Noah were, I made a point to tune out whenever Aria whispered to him, "Does Noah feel bad after what he did?"

I didn't want to know the answer to that- or at least not right now anyway. 

"Actually, why don't I get him to come over now? If he's free?"

I rolled my eyes. Aria probably only had one reason why she wanted him over- and it wasn't because of the note. 

"Fine," I sighed. Kat balled up the packet and chucked it at Aria, mouthing "beach ball".

Ten minutes later, Jason rung the doorbell and we let Aria run to answer it. 

I fished the note back out of the bin and handed it to him, fighting a blush as he scanned the smiley-face. 

His eyes widened fractionally. "There's only one guy who likes drawing these kind of faces. I'm friends with him- sort of." 

I blinked. "You know him? You know who's been sending me these little notes?"

"Yeah. Ever heard of James?" 

"James Beckett?" Kat exclaimed. "Tall, white-blonde hair, dreamy blue eyes?"

Aria's eyes widened. "Dreamy eyes?" She mouthed to me, grinning slyly at Kat. "Do you think she likes him?"

I grinned and elbowed Kat, who tagged on with a whisper, "I used to like him. Before I realised that that was a stupid idea. Feminism all the way!" 

Jason rolled his eyes and said, "I used to be close to him and Noah. But when Noah started hanging out with you... he kind of just... drifted away."

"They both liked you." His eyes landed on me. I winced. "Well," he amended, indicating the note, "one clearly still does. Not sure about the other." 

I shrugged off the building hope on my shoulders when he implied that Noah didn't like me anymore. The hope shouldn't have even been there- but it had, and now it was gone. Why I wanted Noah to still like me, I had no idea.

"Oh... well, that's too bad," I managed in a small voice as I processed the new information given to me. 

Jason grimaced. "I guess he decided to take the opportunity. Not that it worked..." 

"I'll just tell him when I next see him or something," I decided, throwing the note back into the trash. 

Aria attached herself to Jason and dragged them both away to my bedroom upstairs, leaving Kat and I to deal with an empty chip packet on the floor.

"Dawn Parker, seducer of all mankind, evil mastermind plotting bring the world to it's knees with a single click of the fingers-"

"Shut up, Kat," I said loudly over her teasing muttering as she grabbed the packet and hurried into the kitchen.

"He was probably trying to make you feel better, as well as put his plan of getting you to like him into action," Kat reasoned.

"I know... but now I'm going to hurt his feelings too..."

"God, stop being so nice. You'll all forget it in a year."

*

noah

It hurt.

Every goddamn part of me hurt.

I couldn't even begin to question myself. I'd done something unforgivable, something Dawn would never forget...

The cafe girl had left the moment I asked her to. I was surprised she was that willing to go- but maybe that was because she'd seen how horrible I was.

The box I hadn't opened was still there. Mocking me.

With a sigh, I dragged myself up from my bed and threw open the lid, fully expecting to see a photo album.

Instead, a novel that I loved sat nestled comfortably between the velvet walls of the box.

"What the heck?" I whispered to myself, drawing the book out. "Who put this here?"

I looked wildly over my shoulders, wondering if this was a prank.

The book sat, waiting, in my hands.

I rifled through it, feeling a smile break over my face as the familiar characters jumped out at me. Who had replaced the album with this instead?

Wait- the only person I'd given this box to was Dawn.

That meant that she'd been meaning to give the box back because she didn't know another way to show that the book would be from her, especially since she wanted to remain anonymous and yet easily guessable at the same time. 

Because mine was easy- it had photos of us, so only I could've given it to her. But anyone could've given me a book, so she had to make sure she'd given me something I'd given to her so I would recognise it.

I felt incredibly stupid. I'd kissed a random girl over a wonderful Christmas present. Dawn didn't deserve every hurtful thing I'd done to her. I deserved it.

Scowling, I ran a hand through my hair and felt like shooting myself.

Then I sat down at my desk, grabbed a piece of paper and pens, and got to work.

*

Dawn

Three hours later, I decided to check in on Mum. 

"So," I said into the phone, beaming from ear to ear. "How are you?" 

"I'm great, Dawn. Getting better."

"That's really great," I replied, feeling satisfied with her response. "When will you return? School starts in few weeks." 

"We'll be able to return to Sydney once the doctor says I can, but since it may be a bit hard for you to go to school all by yourself and make all the food, you might miss out on the first week of school while you fly over to here and we can put you with Dad's hotel until I'm ready to fly home, so we can all arrive together. It's just that we haven't seen you in way too long."

"Sure, sure," I agreed. Being away from everyone for a week wouldn't be too bad. The late afternoon glow from the sun slanted into the living room. It was nice hearing Mum again. Though I couldn't begin to imagine how awkward it would be once we got back to originally how she'd gotten into such an accident- Noah and I. 

Surely she'll be happy that you broke up with him, I reasoned with myself. It'll be fine. 

There was a contented silence on the other end of the phone. Clearly, she hadn't put any thought into just why she was sitting in a hospital bed. Though of course, it wasn't completely mine or Noah's fault, she could've probably avoided getting some of her worse injuries if she'd been paying attention to the road.

"I have to go now, I have lunch arriving." 

"Oh, okay. Talk to you tomorrow morning?"

"Fine with me. Dad might call you later this evening."

"Cool. See you."

"Stay safe, and don't neglect your piano and holiday homework I've given you!"

Ugh. Of course she had to mention that. 

"Of course, Mum..." When was the last time I'd practiced the piano? Last week? I cringed. 

"Alright. Talk later." 

I hung up and averted my eyes from the piano patiently sitting a few metres away from me. "I'll do it later," I told myself sternly.

Two hours later, I was curled up in front of the TV, food in a bowl and eyes glued to the screen. 

It was called procrastinating. I was very good at it. 

*

The next morning, I decided, with nothing on my plate except a few hours of solid piano practicing, I began to pack for my trip to Melbourne. What would I need for a week of Melbourne in summertime? Shorts, tops, sundresses, sandals, and a bunch of hair ties went into the suitcase. What else? 

Books. 

I hurried over to the sad looking bookshelf and plucked out a few of my favourites. For a moment I thought of my gift to Noah, then dismissed it from my mind as the books sailed into the suitcase too. 

Makeup? Nah. 

I added pyjamas. A sheet of math homework just to please Mum. Then halfway through my packing, I went down for a snack. I was on my way up the stairs with a slice of apple pie that I'd baked when the doorbell rang.

Frowning, I made my way to my parent's bedroom at the front of the house and peered out of the window. There was somebody waiting at the front door- but I couldn't see who...

Shrugging, I walked down, checked my appearance, then pulled open the door. 

"Hey," James Beckett said nervously.

I blinked. I stared at his dreamy- Kat had definitely gotten it right- bright blue eyes and soft smile. His blonde-white hair that was dying to have somebody run their fingers through it. 

"Would you like some apple pie?" I said stupidly.

He smiled. "Thanks?"

I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

"What... are you doing?" I finally asked, surprised at his visit.

"Jason sent me over because he left his sweater on the couch," he replied. James himself looked pretty good in his sweater. Though of course I didn't say that out loud.

"Oh, uh, I'll just get that. Wait a sec."

I left the front door wide open as I hurried to retrieve the blue sweater that I'd just noticed and then wrapped up two slices of apple pie- one for him and one for Jason, because I was nice.

"Here you go," I appeared at the door again and passed over the objects.

"You didn't have to give me the pie, I was joking," he said, looking pleasantly surprised.

"You keep it. I have plenty."

"Well, thank you anyway. Have a nice day."

I smiled in reply and watched him walk down my driveway and up the street.

Suspicion rose inside me as I closed the door shut slowly.

Wasn't there something I had to tell him...?

Oh, damn. I had been meaning to find him once school started and tell him that sorry, I wasn't into dating anybody just at the moment. But he seemed so sweet...

The little notes popped into my mind and I blushed though there was nobody around.

"Get a grip," I scowled to myself.

Hello there!

Sorry for not updating earlier! I'm just really busy at the moment, with school and homework and other stories I'm working on! How was your week? What are you all up to?

Please vote/comment! It makes me so happy to see you guys doing it! <3

What do you think about James? Should we start thinking about ship names for Dawn and him? Or should we perhaps start shipping Kat with someone? ;)

It's up to you!

Xxx,
HalloPhoenix