{Monday 3 July + Tuesday 4 July}

~ Charlie's POV ~

"How was school Adette?" Mum asks cheerfully. 

"It was great!" Adette replies grinning. 

"I got to see Iris and all my other friends and Miss Carter and we spent the whole day doing fun things because it was my first day back". 

"Wow, sounds like you had fun today" Mum says before kissing her on the cheek and putting her down. Adette beams at her before running back to the couch to watch the TV. 

Mum pulls me in for another hug, squeezing me tight. She let's go of me and we walk into the kitchen and she helps me make dinner. 

"How are holding up sweet pea?" Mum asks, giving me a sad smile. 

"I'm okay I guess, everything has just been very overwhelming today" I reply with a small smile. "But the real question is how are you holding up?". She sighs and looks at me, a tear sliding down her cheek. 

"Why'd he have to go?" She whispers sadly, looking at me. 

"I don't know" I whisper back, tears welling in my eyes. I walk over to her and hold her, letting her cry. She eventually stops crying and kisses me on the cheek. 

"Come on, Adette will be hungry and she shouldn't see us like this" she says with a small smile. I nod and go back to what I was doing. We continue to make dinner, talking about how my day at school was and how her conference went. 

When dinner is ready, we all sit and eat it at the dining table while listening to Adette babble on about how she missed everyone and how tomorrow they are going to go art and dance which are Adette's favourite things to do. 

We finish and I clean up and do the dishes while Mum puts Adette to bed. I finish and go up to my room and start on my homework. Time seems to disappear because when I look at the time on my phone it reads 10 pm. 

I decided to stop for the night and get ready for bed. I get ready and go say goodnight to mum before climbing into bed and falling asleep.

I wake up sweating and crying. I fumble around for my phone to check the time. It reads 4:30 am. I'm scared shitless. 

I'd just woken up from the reoccurring dream I'd been having, except this time, instead of the man just being dressed in all black, it was Ace. I can't sleep in here alone I think to myself. 

Suddenly I hear a thud and my hand flies over my mouth of stop myself from screaming. I get up and turn my light on before walking back over to the window. I open my curtains and look out into the night, but there is nothing there. 

Fuck, I'm going insane I think to myself. 

I close my curtains and grab my blankets off my bed and shuffle quietly out of my room and down the hall to my mum's room, turning my light off as I leave. I go into my mum's room and see her in her bed. 

"Mum" I whisper. She stirs and rolls over to face me. 

"What's wrong baby" she whispers, a hint of worry in her voice. 

"I had the dream again" I whisper back. 

"Aww bub, come here and sleep with me. You safe here" she says quietly. I shuffle over to her bed and climb in, pulling my blankets over top of me. 

She pulls me in for a hug and then kisses me on the forehead, rolls back over and goes back to sleep. I feel safer now and I close my eyes and fall back asleep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. I stir and open my eyes. I roll over and see that mum is still asleep. 

"Mum, it's 6:30, it's time to get up" I say quietly. She groans and turns her alarm off. She rolls over and looks at me. 

"Did you manage to get back to sleep bub?" She asks, a worried expression forming on her face. 

"Yeah, I did" I say with a small smile. 

"Good" she replies smiling. I watch as her smile disappears and she gives me a serious look. 

"Do you want to go see Dr Parken again Charlie?" she asks. 

"No, I think I'll be okay. He said the dreams would take a while to go away and to go see her if things start to get worse. I'm okay for now though" I reply quietly. 

"Okay sweet pea" she says, kissing my forehead. I smile at her and then get up and go get ready for school. When I'm ready I go downstairs and have breakfast and make my lunch. 

Mum is taking Adette to school today but as usual, I will be picking her up after work. I kiss mum and Adette goodbye before heading out to my truck and getting in. I sigh. 

Hopefully, I won't see Ace today. I start the engine and make my way over to Eden's house.

On the way, I think over everything that happened yesterday and how the guy who saved us made me feel safe. It was a funny feeling, kinda of similar to the feeling Ryder gave me. 

Except Ryder's was colder. At first, I thought it was a bad vibe but then I felt drawn to him and now at this point, I am really confused as to how I felt about Ryder. As I pulled up in front of Eden's house, I contemplated telling her about everything that happened yesterday but I decided against it as she already has enough on her plate. 

I bounced up the stairs like normal, knock obnoxiously loudly on the door and wait for Eden to open the door. She opens the door and hugs me and then we head back down the stairs and off to school. 

We get to school and go to the lockers. I get my stuff for Health and my English stuff so I can do it during study second period. I wait for Eden and then we walk to our tree. We talk for a little and then the bell for homeroom goes so we get up and head to homeroom.

 We get there and I expect to see Ryder there but he isn't and I feel slightly empty, like something is missing. I shrug it off and go sit down. Tutor flies by quickly and before I know it, I'm on my way to health. I don't want to admit it but I'm secretly hoping Ryder is there. 

I walk into class and sit down as the bell goes. No Ryder to be seen. I start to worry, I hope he's okay. Health and my study period both fly by and before I know it, it is morning tea. 

I pack up my stuff and leave the library to go to the lockers and find Eden. I get to the lockers and find Eden at her locker, exchanging her stuff. I go to my locker and exchange my Health and English work for my Art stuff and my makeup kit for Performing Arts Technology. 

I walk over to Eden and link arms with her and we walk to our spot. 

"Have you seen Ryder today?" she asks we sit down. I shake my head. 

"Why?" I reply. 

"Because I was going to ask him if he could help me with business studies because my teacher said he is excelling in that class" she says smiling. I nod and eat my food. The bell rings and I drop Eden off at her drama class. 

I make my way to class and as I get close to the door I become freezing cold and I know Ryder is in class. I walk in the door and instantly spot him in the chair next to mine. He looks up and gives me the most amazing smile in the world, like he's relieved to see me and I melt a little inside.

 At this point, I don't want to admit it but I think I may be starting to like him. I go and sit down next to him and pull out my art things. Miss Oscar starts the class and when she is done talking, I turn to face Ryder. 

"Good morning angel" he says, flashing me another amazing smile. 

"Morning" I reply quietly, blushing a little as I look down at my art book. 

"Pose please" I mumble, looking back up at him. He nods and leans back in his seat and looks out me, the smile fading from his face. I look at him and do a rough sketch before starting on the detail. 

I study him hard. Oval face, sculpted chin and jawline, angular cheekbones, dirty blonde hair swept to one side, deep chocolate brown eyes, beautiful long eyelashes, shaped eyebrows and that signature pair of lips. 

He's gorgeous, angel-like even. 

I draw what I see and before I know it I am done. I look down and my work before holding it up in front of me. I look at him and then back at the drawing. 

My drawing is identical to him. I smile and turn my book to face him. His jaw drops open before being replaced with a grin. 

"It's perfect" he says locking eyes with me. 

"Thanks" I say blushing. He brushes his hand against mine as he takes my book from me, and I suddenly become warm, my skin hot where he touched me. 

I smile as he studies the fine detail. He continues to grin as he studies the drawing. He hands me back my book before pulling out his phone. He hands me it and nods. 

"Put your number in" he says, his voice becoming husky. I give him a small smile and find myself putting my number in his phone. I hand him back his phone as the bell rings. He stands up and flashes me another amazing smile before walking out of class. 

I sigh and pack up my stuff before walking out of class and going to PAT.

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Hey Guys,

I hope you guys, enjoyed this chapter. I'm so so sorry it's so late! Things have been really hectic at school lately as we are having term 2 assessment week at the moment so I've been doing assessments all week and haven't had time to sit down and write. Things should settle down now so hopefully more chapters will be on the way soon!

Thanks for being patient and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Love you all! xx

-Allamy14