Uprising

Chapter 18

I drove for a good two hours before I recognised where I'd driven. Somehow I'd ended up driving to the beach in the other city, which was a good three hours, if not four hours, back home. I parked up and then ended up going for a walk down the beach.

The cool, fresh sea air seemed to blow away my anger and frustration that I'd had. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at it to find two missed calls from Dominic, then four from Eric and two from Jen and a message that told me I had voicemails. There was also a missed call from a number that wasn't saved, as well as a text message from the same number. I hit read on the text message to find it was from Jake.

Hey Iz, Eric gave me your number as he asked me to call you, thinking you'd pick up if you knew it was me. When you get this message, call me back. Jake.

I let out a sigh and found a rock to sit on. I looked out at the sea as the water crashed into the sand, but it came nowhere near me. I fought with myself for a few moments about what to do and then eventually hit the call-back number on Jake's number and raised the phone to my ear. It didn't even ring twice before Jake answered.

"Iz?" His voice sounded tense for a moment.

"What's up?" I asked him simply. I really hadn't wanted to speak to anyone and I had planned on sitting at the beach until I was ready to go back, whatever time that was going to be.

"Are you ok? Eric asked me to call you. He said you weren't picking up and he was getting worried." I could hear relief fill his voice.

"I'm fine." I told him. "Can I go now that you know I'm ok?"

"Where are you?"

"Are you planning on telling Eric where I am?" I hadn't meant for my comment to come out cold, but it had sounded just a touch icy to my own ears.

"Nope, I'm going to text him, saying you called me and your ok and that's all you told me as you hung up on me. I just wanted to know if you needed a friend."

I didn't say anything for a moment as I thought over his words. A friend? Did I need a friend right now or was it space I needed? With a friend, it meant that I'd be able to numb the pain that seemed to be itching to free itself for a little while.

"Iz?"

"I'm still here." I finally gave in and told him where I was. He laughed quietly at my comment. "What's so funny?" I was confused by his laughter.

"I had to go back to report to my dad after I left you. I've not yet left and I'm about twenty minutes or so away from you."

"Oh." I was a little surprised by his response and now I understand why he'd found it so funny. "I'm not leaving any time soon; if you want to come and keep me company, you'll just have to find me." I told him simply.

"I grew up on that beach, so I'll probably find you pretty quick." Jake laughed. "Give me twenty minutes or so and I'll be there." The phone line went dead and I couldn't help but laugh a little and then put my phone on the rock next to me and looked out at the sea again.

My head seemed to keep gravitating back to Cordelia and how she'd lied to me all my life. I understood; she probably did it to protect me, but in the same breath, hadn't I deserved to know the truth? Hadn't I deserved to know that my mum was still alive and the biggest kick in the stomach I felt was her telling me she knew who my father was. I clenched my fist again for a moment before I unclenched it, turned my face up to the sea breeze and closed my eyes to enjoy the warmth.

I had no clue how long I'd sat like that in my own little world when I heard a small laugh next to me. "I thought you'd be further down the beach, then again I did see your car and knew you couldn't be that far away." I opened my eyes to see Jake laughing at me a little holding three boxes in his hand. "I brought food and donuts, hope you don't mind. I was a little later than what I told you."

"I hadn't realised." I told him quietly as I picked my phone up and shifted up a little on the rock so that he could sit down next to me.

"Noticed." He laughed as he went and sat on the rock next to me. "I got some chips as I wasn't sure what you'd eat and since you were up at c***k of dawn and I know all you had then was coffee and no food, I'm not sure if you've eaten today or not." Jake passed me one of the boxes that was nice and hot on my lap.

"I've not eaten today." I blushed as I opened the box, took out a chip and then looked at him with a smile. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. Consider it my apology for earlier, both times." This time I laughed quietly at him and glanced over at him as he set the smaller box between us on the rock, opened his own box and began to eat. "So everything ok? Eric was frantic trying to reach you earlier."

"Yeah." I answered and looked down at the box. "I had an argument with Cordelia and if I know her, she'd have called him and asked him to check in on me and when I never answered, he'd have gone into panic mode."

"Pretty much." Jake laughed. "You know he's annoyed you called me and not him."

"You won't lecture me about arguing with Cordelia, as you know nothing, while Cordelia has probably told him what's happened so he has a lecture ready for me."

"No lecture from me. I pretty frequently argue with my dad if I don't agree with what he's doing." Jake grinned and then glanced over at me. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really; all I'll say is that she lied to me and I lost my cool." I shrugged a little. "But I had to leave before I lost my temper and did something that I knew I'd regret. I figured that was the better option."

"Yeah, in fairness, I'm on your team for that one. Your better off leaving before things get really bad and something happens that you know you'll never be able to fix. I very often get in my car and just drive rather than having a full-on fight." Jake laughed and then looked out at the sea as if he were lost in thought for a moment. I tore my gaze away from him and went back to eating. After a few heartbeats of silence, I looked back up at him.

"So what did you have to report back to your dad?" I was a little confused.

"Mmm, my dad is the one who runs this branch of hunters, if you will." Jake looked over at me. "We have one main base for the hunters in big cities and then in the smaller cities and towns, they're overseen by the bigger city hunters. If that makes sense."

"Perfect sense." I laughed as I looked down at my chips again and picked at them a little. "So does that mean that you've solved your business?" I wasn't sure why I'd asked that; I guess I was just curious about where he was up to with his job.

"Kinda." Jake let out a sigh that made me look up at him. "I told him what I've found out and he's given me my orders on what I'm to do until this all either blows over or happens."

"And what is that? Keep watch over Cordelia?" I asked him, a little amused at the idea of Jake trying to keep watch over Cordelia, as that is what Dominic had been for and he took his job very seriously.

"Nah, I don't need to worry about that part. My dad is going to try and figure that part out. I'm just keeping watch over everything else. That's all, so I'll be around for a little longer and then I'll be coming back here." He looked around the beach with a sigh.

"You don't sound too happy about that." I put the lid back over the box, put it on another rock and shifted myself so I was looking at Jake. I don't know why I was so curious and worried about his problems when I had my own to deal with.

"I guess I'm enjoying being away from the house and left to deal with it rather than having my dad on my back all the time." He laughed. "That and it's been a while since I've actually had time to unwind to some degree and hang out with Eric. I know Eric's probably told you horror stories about me, but I have actually missed just kicking back a little from time to time to do what I want."

"Why don't you just leave then if your not happy?" I could feel myself frowning at the comment. "Surely it's better to be doing something that makes you happy than something that makes you miserable and not have a life."

"Believe it or not, I do actually like this job." Jake laughed quietly, looking at me. "It's just... I have more to prove than the rest of the hunters; being the son of the head... everyone expects that I have everything handed to me. All the easy jobs... When the truth is that it's actually the opposite, my dad expects more of me than everyone else because one day I'm to take over him."

"And is that what you want?" I could see in Jake's face that the question had struck a nerve with him, as if it had been the one thing he'd hoped I wouldn't ask him.

"I don't know, Iz." He looked out to sea and went quiet on me for a moment or two, as if he were mulling things over in his mind. "If I become the boss, I can't help but wonder if it will be the biggest mistake ever."

"Why?"

"Because I feel like I wouldn't be able to help as many people as what I can now." He let out a sigh and then ran his hand through his hair and then laughed. "Listen to me, getting a little personal and probably too familiar with you."

"It's fine." I told him quietly as I looked out at the sea as I let out a small laugh as well. "From the short time that I've known you Jake, I think you'd be amazing and I think you'd probably be able to do more good being a boss than what you do now."

"I'm not so sure about it."

"You wouldn't turn anyone away and you'd make sure that all the hunters under you had the same morals. So I think you'd do more good than what your doing here." I lowered my head, looked down at my hands and let out a small sigh.

"I've still got a long way to go to prove myself, and a long way until my dad decides to hand the place over to the next hunter." I heard Jake's voice more turned towards me, so I glanced up to see him watching me closely. "Anyway, so you and Eric..."

"What about him and I? I told you..." I shrugged, unsure why we were rehashing an old conversation all over again.

"I was just curious what you two got up to." Jake grinned.

"Stuff that teenage kids get up to." I shrugged. "You know, cinema visits together on the weekend, going out to eat together from time to time. Ummmm... Going to the beach together and laughing at my rubbish sand castles." I couldn't help but laugh a little at the last comment.

"Dare I ask about the last one?" Jake asked with a grin, as if he were pleased with himself for some reason.

"I can show you if you want and you can decide." I jumped down from the rock, sat on the sand and began to improvise like I used to do with Eric. I built a big mound of sand and attempted to shape it into a castle, but it looked more like a child had made it. "Last thing." I looked around until I found a stick and then shoved it in the top of the castle and looked up at Jake, who seemed to be laughing and shaking his head at me.

"Wow, I can see why he'd laugh at you." Jake grinned from where he was.

"Well, you come and make a better one."

"Then let me go and buy a bucket."

"THAT'S CHEATING!" I yelled, laughing at him as he jumped down from the rock and then paced around for a moment until he found what he was looking for. He took off my stick and put a seashell on top instead, as he looked at it as if he were impressed by the improvement he'd made.

"Now it's a castle." Jake laughed and went back to the rocks. "Why don't we have donuts and then go for a walk?"

"Sounds good." I dusted off my hands of the sand and went and sat back on the rock. Jake took the small box that had been between us, opened it, and handed it to me.

I took out a donut, thanked him, and began to eat as I looked out at the sea. I began to wonder about moving to the big city to be close to the beach. There was just something relaxing about just sitting there without having to worry, at least for the time being.

"So you want to go for that walk?" Jake's comment snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked over at him with a smile.

"Sure." I picked up my phone and rubbish and jumped down from the rock. Jake and I went and put our rubbish in the bin and then walked together along the beach. We spoke about nothing in particular and I had to admit it was a welcomed change from how conversations had been the last few days. By the time we got back to where we'd started, the sun was beginning to set.

"Want to go and get some food together?"

"Ummm..." I began but then heard my phone blurring out. "Excuse me." I fished my phone out of my pocket and answered it as I lifted it to my ear. "Hello?" I hadn't bothered to look at who it was; I'd just answered it.

"Izzy! Are you home? I went around to Dan's to try and find you and..."

"What did he tell you?" I asked simply feeling my good mood begin to crash around me, thanks to my friend Tori.

"That you and him aren't together anymore; tell me it's not true, Izzy, please..."

"It is true." I muttered a little as I lowered my gaze to look at the sand. "Anyway, did you want anything, Tori, as I'm busy at the moment?"

"Oh, umm, I have your stuff. Dan asked me to give it back and I wanted to talk to you about your birthday..."

"Forget it; I'm not going out. I'm staying in and watching bad TV and eating ice cream."

"Hell to the no you are. I'll call around in a few hours and I'll tell you the plan."

"I told you it's not happening. Anyway, we'll argue this out when I see you. I'll be home soon." I shrugged and looked up at Jake, as my comment seemed to have caught his attention.

"Fine... See you later." I pulled my phone away from my ear and then looked at Jake. "Can I take a rain check on getting food together?" I asked him, feeling guilty now as I had been looking forward to the idea.

"Sure, there's always another day." Jake grinned but his grin didn't match what I'd seen earlier. It had looked more deflated and almost sad. "I better walk you to your car then, hadn't I?"

"If you want." I answered, laughing a little at his comment.

"Hmm... I suppose." Jake laughed again and gestured towards the steps I'd come down on to the beach. We walked together in silence until we got to my car.

"Thank you for this afternoon. It's been exactly what I've needed after everything today. I'm just sorry, I have to bail on you."

"It's cool; I should head back too, in fairness." He seemed to let out a sigh. "A hunter's work is never done." He laughed quietly to himself. "Message me when you get home so I know you've got back safe."

"I will, I promise." I went and unlocked my car, slid in, and got ready for the drive as Jake shut the door on my side, so I rolled the window down. "We'll have to sort out a day that's good for that rain check."

"We will." Jake laughed quietly. "Now get going before you hit the bad traffic and it takes you a lot longer than it should."

"Bye Jake." He moved back from the car and I pulled away and started the drive back. I could help but feel so much lighter just from talking and laughing with Jake. I shook my head, laughing to myself a little at how things had gone. The one person I'd vowed to stay away from had been the one who had brought me comfort. I let out a slow sigh.

"Let's not make a habit of this." I told myself. "He's trouble." I wanted to believe the last part but I just knew I wouldn't be able to in the slightest.