A year after losing her older sister in a tragic accident, Charlie's Mom marries the father of the most popular boys in school. Still grieving, Charlie struggles to accept her new family and gets involved with her stepbrothers worst enemy, the capta...
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CHAPTER FIVE • CHARLIE •
We ended up having to leave Joe's car at the school as it refused to start. We figured that we may as well start walking home as it could have taken hours for our parents to finish work and be able to come and pick us up.
Not only that, but it was Friday. It wasn't like we had school the next day. We had all the time on the world to get back.
"I blame you for this, Charlie." Joe told me as we walk down the road.
"What did I do?" I replied.
Joe looked at me and placed one hand on his heart as if he had been genuinely hurt by whatever I had done. "You didn't have faith."
I rolled my eyes at his response. It was clear that he was just teasing me. Joe smirked at me whilst he fumbled around in his black leather jacket's pocket. Joe pulled out what he was looking for and I let out a sigh. In his hand, was a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I watched him with annoyance as he lit up a cigarette and brought it to his lips. Taylor was right, smoking was a nasty habit.
"You know, Joe, I'm starting to wonder whether you have a death wish."
"Oh yeah?" He asked, putting the cigarette to his mouth and then exhaling. "I guess this is just another thing I can blame you for."
"If I had known you would get addicted, I never would have asked Jason for that cigarette. That was probably the biggest mistake I've ever made."
"Nah, you've done worse. Besides, this little guy here is the one thing that helps me get through living with my Dad."
I turned to look at Joe, but he looked the other way. It made me feel sad that he was still having such a hard time at home. I didn't know whoever said that the police were the good guys because from what I've seen — they aren't always good at their job. When they miss one single detail it can have devastating consequences and Mr Hudson seemed to miss things all the time.
It was only when my sister died that I realised how crap Mr Hudson was at his job. He dragged out the whole case and made many mistakes. I had never forgiven him for the extra days he made us suffer as me and my family waited for an explanation of what happened. It was heart-breaking and sadly, I didn't think Joe had ever forgiven his Dad for the way he handled it either. Mr Hudson wasn't exactly delicate with the situation.
I felt the corner of lips twist into a sympathetic smile. "You know you can stay at my house whenever you feel like you need a break, right?"
"Thanks Charlie, but unlike you I don't like to run away from my problems." Joe said, but smirked at me slightly.
"Yeah, yeah. You should try it sometimes. It helps."
"I'll be at your front door when I finally do it."
