Love At The Coral Reefs

Chapter 6

"I SAID COME AND EAT!" A voice bellowed from the dining table shaking the whole house.

However, the person that the voice was directed to, remain still at the entrance of the house unflinching under the piercing gaze.

"I have already eaten outside. Enjoy your dinner." Thorn tried to keep his voice at a minimum, not wanting to upset his mom.

As far as he could remember, the role of mom and dad was taken by his mom Dolly Thorn. She created her own fashion line to have regular income and brought up Thorn with it. Whereas his father Dylan Romero was focused on his scientist endeavors neglecting the two to achieve success and fame. All his money went into scientific research and crazy experiments.

"I heard you got into a fight hat was that about!" Much to his annoyance, Dylan continued to question him unrelentlessly. He knew his father was friends with the school board holders and he was most probably going to take their side again.

"Dylan, I told you he was helping another student why are you..." Dolly started, trying to defend her son from being accused when she was shot down by Dylan.

"SHUT UP, when has a women got any say to what men does!" Dylan shouted, glaring at Dolly.

"Both women and men have the same rights. Mom has even more rights to say since you left us to fend for ourselves since I was born. And don't you dare shout at her." Voice laced with hatred, Thorn stared icily at the man in front of him.

"What if I do, are you going to punch me too? Pathetic, only know how to bring shame to the family." Dylan scoffed.

"I guess I learned from the best, didn't I!" Thorn retorted, his blood boiling with rage.

"I don't understand why you would help a i***t person, you should ally yourself with the strong." At this point, Dylan was getting onto his nerves.

"Because I am not you, I don't neglect people because they seemed less strong. I take responsibility for my own actions and correct the wrongs of people like you. Mom, I think I am going back out again. if you feel suffocated here, just give me a call. I will come and fetch you."

Without listening anymore to his father's insults, Thorn made his way out of the house and rode his motorbike towards the direction of the dance studio.

~~~~~

Water was rushing into her nose, Eleanor tried thrashing out from the sea but she could not seem to shake herself out. There were whispers coming around from her, but she could not see who it was.

The pendant that hung around her neck seemed to glow even stronger when she went into the sea. It was like a magnet trying to pull her close to something that she did not want to find out.

She could not breathe, the tightening feeling in her chest returned once again, agitating her to swim upwards. But no matter how much she tried, she only seemed to be travelling downwards.

Pushing against the hold and the whisper once again, she succeeded and she woke up sweating heavily and gasping for air.

Looking around her, she found out it was just a dream, a recurring nightmare to be exact as she started having this dream since she was at the age of understanding. Eleanor was glad that she did not scream as she did not want to alarm her parents and wake them up from their night rest.

Clutching the pendant around her neck tightly, which was a bluish-purple pearl in the shape of a teardrop. She did not know what else to do, the sleepiness was knocked out of her head. She then decided to pick her phone up, it was 2am in the morning. She went to her contact list and her finger hovered above a familiar number and name deciding what to do. She was unsure if he was awake at this time, but after being friends with him for 2 weeks she knew that his sleep schedule was not the most healthy.

~~~~~

Thorn flopped down on the floor, his chest heaving up and down as he gasped for air. The music was still ringing out loudly from the speakers. He was dancing to a difficult routine over and over again until he collapsed on the floor, tired but still unhappy.

The rest of his buddies were also here, due to their problems with their parents, well mostly it was fights with their obnoxious and ruthless fathers. Thorn decided to stop dancing and stop the music when he heard all the other practice rooms quietened down. He knew they were now curled up on the floor, sleeping as they had successfully tired themselves out, and he did not want to wake them up.

Dancing to them was a way for escaping the 'home' that they live in and the dance studio was the only place they could pour out their feelings. Thorn was tired but he could not shut his eyes as he know the images of fighting with his father was going to play through his eyes. Therefore, he decided to scroll through his phone and play a few games.

He did not really know what prompted him to open up his contact list and his finger hovered above a familiar number and name. Deciding against his better judgement, he rang the number up.

~~~~~

"Hey..." Thorn whined lowly surprising himself, something about the girl made him feel, think and act like a kid again,

"Hey...I hope I didn't disrupt your sleep...?" A soft and gentle voice of Eleanor replied, making him smile unconsciously.

"You didn't, I wasn't even sleeping...and I rang you up...!" He heard her sharp inhale and he knew he was going to get scolded.

"Why were you not sleeping? This is not a time for you to be awake!" She scolded then quickly quietened down as she realized that she was not sleeping too. 'But at least I slept earlier, he didn't even go to sleep!' She told herself, determined that she was still the right one.

"I could ask you the same, why were you not sleeping?" It was weird for him to know that she was awake at this timing, the girl that he now knew for 2 weeks had a really good sleeping schedule.

"...hmmmmmmm..." She did not know how to reply to him, suddenly feeling embarrassed that she was awake due to a nightmare and was talking to him as she could not fall asleep.

"...Nightmare? What was it about? Care to share?" He knew that here could only be one reason why she would be awake at this ungodly hour.

"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" She sighed, earning an amused chuckle from the other party. "I dreamt that I was drowning...it wasn't exactly drowning...but just falling into the sea...there were whispers and voices but I cannot really pinpoint where they were coming from...I know it is stupid..."

"It is not stupid, everyone gets nightmares. You should drink some water to calm yourself down." Thorn smiled as he heard the sound of a bed rustling and he could tell that Eleanor really went to get a cup of water.

"What happened for you to be at the dance studio so late? Care to share?" This time, it was him who paused, there was still a comfortable silence hanging between them, until the moment that he decided to speak up again.

"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" He teased, throwing her words back at her. "Had a fight with father dearest, didn't really want to face him...so here I am at the practice room dancing my heart out."

Eleanor could hear the tinge of sadness as well as numbness in the tone of Thorn so she decided to change the subject. "I was going to call you...even though I was hesitating if you were awake or not...then you call me before I did...?"

"Was I the first person that came to your mind?" He excitedly asked, she could almost picture his carefree smile in her mind, and she was relief that there was now a smile back on his face.

"Yes, why?" She answered truthfully, she did not even know why of all the others that she could call, she decided on ringing him up.

He was elated that he came to her mind just like how she came into his. "I am just so happy that you thought about me first...I wish you were here, Cupcake, at least then I can fall asleep calmly..."

The petname as well as the soft, genuine voice surprised Eleanor who could not help the smile forming on her face.

"I am here, aren't I, you should sleep, there is school tomorrow...!" She thought she was consoling a kid with that tone of hers.

"Cupcake...thank you for picking up my call and talking to me!"

"Mmmmmmm...now Mr i***t, please go to sleep, I will see you tomorrow alright! I am going to hang up now."

Eleanor hung up the call smiling to herself as she clutched the phone to her chest. Crawling back into her covers, she closed her eyes falling asleep slowly.

Thorn felt so much better, as he felt like all his troubles were cleanse out of his body after the call. Curling up on the floor as he used his bag as a pillow, he fell asleep with a smile adorning his lips.

~~~~~

"Eleanor, could you come here for a moment," requested Mrs Narin, the math teacher, after the bell rang to signal the end of her class.

Eleanor had a hunch about what it was going to be, it was most probably her math results from the previous math test which she did not do so well. Therefore, she made her way towards the front of the class with a heavy heart, oblivious to a certain someone following after her.

"Your math is going to pull down your overall grades, I suggest you get tuition for Maths." Mrs Narin suggested, for some reason she looked questioningly behind Eleanor's back. it was not that her parents could not afford tuition for her, it was just that she did not like another stranger to enter her life and she just hated the idea of spending time with someone she did not know of.

Before she could turn around, a familiar icy voice came out, "Mrs Narin, I am really bad at Literature and was planning to ask help from Eleanor, so maybe I can help her with maths at the same time. then I won't feel like I am owing her. What do you think about it?"

Mrs Narin furrowed her eyebrows for a few moments then looked at Eleanor then at Thorn. Eventually, she generously agreed, "I better see improvement in her maths, if not she has to go and find a tutor herself."

This was directed to the contented boy behind the perplexed girl. "Of course, she will be fine. Please excuse me!"

'Wow, confident much?' She thought to herself.

She wanted to turn around and question him about his intentions, but the sneaky i***t had already left the class without a trace.

~~~~~

"Do you not plan to explain?" Now that Thorn was back at her side, Eleanor took the chance to ask him before he could escape her clutches.

"What else is there to explain?" He questioned lightly still taking down notes that Mr Lucas, the literature teacher was writing down on the board.

"..."

"Ok, don't get angry..."

"..."

"I am really not doing well in Literature and I need your help."

"Mmmmmmm...then you will really help me with maths?"

"Cupcake, do I look like I give empty promises?" Giving Eleanor an offended look, Thorn went back to writing.

"Ok then, but next time tell me before saying anything that concerns me!" Trying to sound angry was hard for her, she was not mad at the male at all, rather she was feeling thankful but she needed to let him know that he cannot just make decisions for her without her agreement first.

"Noted, now get back to studying..." Glaring slightly at her, he tapped on her book.

'This i***t always acting like he is smart!' She thought as she scrunched her nose back at him, trying to look enraged.

"Absolutely cute Cupcake, except don't distract me anymore." Raising his eyebrows teasingly at her once again, Thorn smirked as the girl huffed in annoyance and returned to her book.