Synopsis: Jonathan lived in Canberra. Now Jonathan lives in a country town in Victoria. He joins the local church's youth group. Jonathan falls in love. 

Abigayle suffers from CVS. Because of this she is fragile and small. Abigayle befriends the new boy. Abigayle falls in love.

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Jonathan had lived in Canberra his whole life. His earliest memories were filled with his father dumping a hot bucket of water of the car windscreen to melt the frost, and the layers he wrapped himself up in the frigid winter nights. And he always planned to stay there, graduate university get married, start a family, get an excellent job, until he was swept up to a country town in Victoria for his mother's job.

At only fourteen years old, he left his closest friends, Timothy and Noah, he had known since he couldn't walk, they left the Australian Capital Territory for the sheep-filled countryside for his mother to work at a specialist pharmacy. Jonathan barely had time to say goodbye to Timothy and Noah, and nearly puked on the plane trip to Melbourne, and actually had to barf up his lunch on the car ride from Melbourne to Tarrington.

With his father rubbing his back and older brother taking a pee in the bush, the Downing family all exhaled simultaneously.

"Come on," mother begged, "We'll let you sit at the front so you can focus on something still on the horizon."

She offered him a napkin to wipe the vomit off his face, and Jonathan looked doubtfully at the pile of his bile and undigested food on the side of the road. Hopefully some Kangaroo wouldn't lick it up and die because of his motion sickness.

"Thanks mum," he coughed.

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Their new house was modest, made of brick with dying rosebushes surrounding the patio. But it made him homesick, for his home back in Canberra. The moving van was late, so the Downing's walked around their empty home for three hours all wishing this never happened, except mother, who was on the phone calling clients already.

Jonathan sat on the floor in his new bedroom, running his fingers through the crusty carpet. Sighing, he stood up and gazed out the window to his overgrown garden, nothing seemed happy here. For one, the mobile signal was crap, so Tim and Noah couldn't cheer him up. To add to everything gloomy, there was a cockroach climbing across his ceiling, and he wasn't tall enough to grab it with a tissue and take away its life.

"Oh well it can live a bloody week without their heads," he muttered, picking at a hole in the carpet.

Father stood by the door looking at his miserable son, picking at the already disgusting carpet.

He cleared his throat, "Jonathan."

Jonathan looked up at his father with a completely bored expression, "Yes, dad?"

"I thought it might be easier to get to know some people," father started, "if you went to the youth at the local church."

"Church?" Jonathan asked, "At a church? So, we have to talk about bible stuff?"

"It's every second Friday, JJ, once a month there's a bible study and games, the other session is like board games and table tennis," he explained, "Please just give it a go, make some friends before you start school next week."

"Is William going?" Jonathan sighed, "I won't go if he doesn't. I won't know anyone, it'll be awkward."

"Your brother will go to the young adults' sessions Thursday nights, so no, he isn't going."

"I don't know then, I want to take some time to settle in and process everything," Jonathan considered, "but maybe you're right, maybe it would be good to get to know some people here in Tarrington."

"Think about it," Father nodded, "Your brother's going tonight, he has nothing else to do."

"So, the youth is on tomorrow?" Jonathan grunted.

"Yes, and..." Father looked out the window into the garden, "We're considering starting to go back to church again."

"Oh," Jonathan frowned, "I guess it's an effective way to become part of the community."

"Exactly," Father stated, as the moving van found its way into the driveway.

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Jonathan decided to go to youth in the end. It wasn't a hard decision to make, he would be able to escape the unpacking of the millions of boxes and talk of carpet replacement. He was dropped off by his father, feeling odd as they still had an ACT numberplate. The church was nice, made of brick with a small stain glass window, which made everything seem so elegant and beautiful. A school accompanied the church, he was too old to attend there, he'd got into another school because of his musical ability.

His father drove off, and Jonathan stood on the gravel, having no idea where to go. A car pulled into a park and

"Hey, are you here for youth group?" A woman in her twenties came out of the car. Long red hair and glasses with fake nails, "I'm the youth leader."

"Yeah, we're new to Victoria," Jonathan replied in a small voice, nervous, as this was the first Victorian he'd talked to who wasn't a truck driver.

"I heard, your dad called up Thursday and inquired about the youth program," she replied and smiled, reaching out her hand, "I'm Natalie, Nice to have you join us."

Jonathan shook her hand, "I'm Jonathan."

"Cool, well youth's in the hall behind the church."

People started to turn up as they made their way to the hall, past the brick church and through glass doors.

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There she was. A small girl with large brown eyes hidden behind long black eyelashes. Full pink lips that slightly turned up at the edges. Tortoise shell framed glasses that made her brown eyes pop and seem even more beautiful. And pale, pale, pale skin, pale as in you could see the veins on her arms, pale as in in contrast to Jonathan's he'd look ridiculously tanned. Her honey coloured hair looked incredibly soft and fell a little way past her shoulder blades, which uncomfortably stuck out. She seemed very fragile, small, short and petite.

She walked in and joined some of the girls who were catching up in the corner. One girl has green hair and a tie dye shirt, and was hugging the girl with the glasses, the pale one.

"Hey mate," a boy, roughly around Jonathan's age, greeted him, "This your first time at youth?"

"Yeah," Jonathan replied, "in fact, I'm new to the state."

The boy smiled, "I'm Ernie, you are-?"

"Jonathan. Downing. Jonathan Downing."

"Do you like Victoria much?" Ernie asked.

"It's warmer than Canberra, but I only arrived yesterday. It's not long enough for me to compile a mental difference and similarity list in my mind."

"Why'd you move here?"

"Mum's job," Jonathan sighed, "Found out a week ago and moved with barely any notice."

"That's rough," Ernie pat Jonathan's back, "But hey, you'll suit Tarrington well here."

"So, who is everyone here?" Jonathan asked.

"Well in total, there's eleven regulars, but usually around fifteen who come once a month," Ernie smirked, he points to the group of girls, "The girl with the green hair is Leanne, she's mine by the way, she just doesn't know it yet... the tall one is Shaneah, the one in the patched jacket is Ally, goldilocks with the long frizzy blonde hair is Jane, then there's..."

He went on and on through six girls until he came to the petite girl with the tortoise glasses and pale skin, "That's Abigayle, she gets called Abbie by most of us."

"She so..." Jonathan started, looking at the small girl who was bent over is laughter.

"Small? Petite? Yeah. She contracted a disease early this year which meant she vomited everything that entered her body via the oesophagus. Even the water and medicine she was given, she was eventually taken to hospital and put on fluids but she lost heaps of weight and hasn't eaten very much since. She told me it's because she's afraid she'll vomit it up again," Ernie explained, leaving Jonathan open mouthed, "Sorry that was a bit heavy for our first conversation."

"Wow, she looks so happy now."

"It was a tough time for the whole congregation, she played flute in the church band and did a lot of advertising for services so she'd a real asset," Ernie cocked his head to the side, "She's quite pretty when you think about it. She's not the kind of girl most guys rush to though, which is a pity for her."

"Maybe she doesn't want-"

"Let me introduce you to her!" Ernie grabbed Jonathan arm and pulled him in the direction of the giggling group of girls, "Hiya fair maidens!"

"Ooh look it's our knights in shining armour," Leanne winked, she turned to Jonathan, and suddenly six pairs of female eyes were on him, making him red and flustered.

"You're new," Shaneah smirked, looking him up and down, and the laughing, "And I'm joking. It's great to have another guy to balance out the genders."

Jonathan spoke up, "I'm Jonathan."

"Hey," the girls replied in unison.

Jonathan's eyes fell on Abigayle, who pushed her glasses up her nose and tucked her hair behind her ear. She smiled a toothy smile at him, and undoubtedly, it made him feel the most welcome. 

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