Chapter 3

Clementine

“Dad, I’m not a teenager anymore,” I grumbled, looking away from the pity bound to be displayed in his eyes.

“I know, Clem. It’s just, people in this town can be cruel.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I thought we moved here because this town would be good for Vinny?”

“It will be.”

“But you just said it can be cruel.”

“Yeah, to outsiders, it can be.”

“And I’m an outsider?” I watched as the tops of my father’s ears turned pink. He was getting stressed.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying, Dad?”

“I was just trying to be supportive,” he rushed out. “Your mom just died, you dropped out of med school, you moved to a new town where you don’t know anyone. I just want you to know I’m here.”

“If people are cruel?” I added.

“Something like that.” God, my dad could be weird at times. He was avoiding eye contact, and his ears were still flushed. He closed his eyes and appeared to be trying to calm himself down, before setting his gaze upon me once more. “There is a small university about an hour out of town, you know.”

“That’s nice.”

“If you wanted to go and have a look–”

“I don’t.”

“What are you going to do, Clem? You need to get your life back on track.” His voice was soft.

“So, you think throwing myself into studies will do that?” I bristled.

“You love to study.”

“Loved. Past tense. Textbooks just smell like chemo and vomit now.”

He looked pained. “Clem.”

“There’s a bar and grill place hiring in the middle of town. Maybe I can get a job there.”

“You want to wait tables?”

“What’s wrong with waiting tables?”

“Nothing is wrong with it. But Clem–”

“Hey, Penis Breath, are you coming or what? Hurry your ass up!” Vinny shouted, breaking through Dad’s passive-aggressive lecture.

I looked toward the front door and sighed. “Dad, you didn’t want a second born, right?” I asked innocently before I turned and left the house.

Blackfern Valley looked like something out of a movie. I had no idea small towns like this even existed in the real world until we’d moved here. I grew up in an apartment in central Vancouver, so having cute little houses popping out of the forest as we walked up a black-paved road was surreal. We turned onto the next street and walked in silence. I should have said something to my brother; given him words of encouragement, or even an earful about doing drugs. Instead, I stayed quiet. We’ve never been close, and I didn’t think it would change now that we lived in the sticks.

“Dad said he needed to talk to both of us,” Vinny broke the silence.

I looked over at my brother and took him in. His hair was the colour of wheat, and his face was covered in pale freckles of the same shade. He was the male replica of my mom but with my dad’s emerald eye colour. My eyes were emerald at one point too, but sometime around my fifteenth birthday, they turned a weird turquoise colour and shortly after that, my eyesight started to deteriorate severely.

Vinny had grown much taller over the last few months. He was gaining a little muscle on his arms, and his baby face had sharpened. Maybe he would be built like my dad, not short and curvy like me.

I adjusted my glasses and flicked my braid off my shoulder. I really needed to cut my hair. “Sounds ominous.”

“He said he’s been meaning to talk to me for a while, but Mom was sick and…” his voice trailed off.

“Did Dad say what it was about?”

“No, just that it was important.”

“Did he say when this lecture was going to happen?” Vinny shook his head. I rolled my eyes at his lack of knowledge. What a pointless conversation.

My brother scuffed his feet as he walked. He was trying to find something to talk about. Maybe he wanted to discuss what was actually going on with him?

“Do you want to talk about it?” I offered.

“No.”

“I’m here, you know.”

“I don’t want to talk.” He closed up, and I swore his emerald eyes were ringed with silver before he looked away.

When he looked back, they were fully green and looking at me with disgust. It must have been a trick of the light. Eye conditions ran in the family. Each one was unique, though. Mine was deterioration. Dad had an eye condition that ringed his eyes with silver, almost like an early onset of cataracts, but it never appeared to get any worse. I really didn’t wish eye conditions on anyone. For now, I would just have to keep an eye on my brother and maybe talk to my father about getting him to an ophthalmologist. God knows losing your eyesight as a teenager sucked.

After twenty painfully silent minutes, we walked up to the front gates of the local high school. Waiting against the gate with his arms crossed was the most ridiculous teenage boy I had ever seen. He was insanely bulky, as if full-on steroid usage was the culprit.

“That’s Sean,” Vinny mumbled. I looked confused. “The guy Dad was talking about. The one who is going to babysit me.”

“Holy shit. That kid does not look fifteen.”

“I think he’s sixteen.”

“Not my point. He’s far too jacked to be in high school,” I mumbled, eying up the juiced-up-looking teenager with disgust.

“Ew, are you checking him out?”

I gagged. What?

“I think I vomited in my mouth a little bit.” Sean hadn’t noticed Vinny yet. He seemed self-righteous as he checked out some young girls heading toward the school.

“At least Murdoch isn’t around,” Vinny mumbled, and I looked at him. My brother looked angry.

I sighed. Murdoch must have been the kid giving him a hard time. I wanted to offer him support, but I didn’t know how. I wasn’t exactly popular, and I’ve never stood up to my bullies before.

I continued to watch Sean’s pathetic peacock display. He flashed the girls a smile, and the sound of giggling made me shudder. Sean ran his hand through his short blond hair and flexed his muscles toward the group. Great, all I needed now, on top of everything else, was my stupid little brother getting onto the steroids and turning into more of a jackass. Reticent memories were threatening to burst forward.

I need to get out of here.

“Ok, well um… be good, I guess.”

My brother flipped me the middle finger and stomped over to where Sean was. I turned to walk away and smacked directly into something hard.

What the actual fuck?

My hand went to my nose, which took most of the hit. A numbing pain shot up my nasal bridge, making my eyes water. It hurt to touch, and I gave myself a few seconds to pull myself together.

I opened my eyes to see what I had hit, and my gaze scaled up to find the warmest brown eyes staring down at me. My gaze watered behind my glasses, but I could have sworn I’d seen the guy smile, which made my heart flip.