The Curse of Summer (BOOK ONE OF THE SEASONS TRILOGY)

Chapter 6

Alana

Thursday. Two days before my party and already the house was in chaos with the preparations. One thing I can say about my family is that they like to do things properly... as in massive and elaborate.

"You only turn eighteen once." my mother chimed whenever I complained about the amount of effort that was being pumped into the event.

I couldn't say anything in response - to do so would just crush my mother to shards. Instead I put my head down and did as I was told, decorating odd areas of the house with candles and drapes which made the house look as if it had been launched from the scenes of the Great Gatsby. I suppose that's a good thing seeing that Gatsby was the theme of the party, the one thing I did choose in the event. Usually I would be over the moon with my party being so close... but one thing, or rather one person put a damper on the whole thing – Rhett Douglas.

He had acted smug ever since he had rescued me from the clutches of my flat tyre and had held it over me as he teased me incessantly about being a "damsel in distress". It made me want to punch him again! Except I couldn't beat the living daylights out of him because he had been roped into helping with the preparations.

"Where did we put the candelabra your father's grandmother left us? I think it'll look grand in the dining room." Mom mused, waving a piece of paper in front of her face frantically as she tried to cool herself down.

Matthew stumbled passed carrying a large trunk of props for the photo booth which had been set up outside. "It's in the attic, Mom. Saw it there when I was up there earlier."

Mom looked around for her nearest victim, hoping to catch one of her sons unaware, but they were all too wary of mother in her commander mood which meant that Rhett was the victim she set her sights on.

"Rhett, please be a darling and fetch the silver candelabra from the attic." she lay on the charm thickly and I nearly smiled at his dim fate when the woman turned my way. "Alana will help you find it."

Great. Walking up a thousand stairs to find a dusty relic in a dark room with the guy I want to kill sounded oh so fantastic! Thanks Mom!

"Sure Mrs Summers." Rhett smiled goofily at Mom before he turned his gaze in my direction expectantly. "So? Where am I meant to be going, Red?"

Arg! The guy really was playing with fire and I imagined a thousand and one ways for him to meet his doom by the time we had finally reached the threshold of the attic. Pushing him backward seemed rather appealing as I looked back to see how far behind he was. He wasn't far behind at all... in fact he was so close behind me I could almost feel his body heat radiating against my skin. Was it even okay to be so aware of him that I could feel it? I chose to ignore it and let him pass me with the flashlight he held in front of him as if it were a light sabre.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" he asked me, flashlight hovering over a pile of dusty boxes.

I sighed and switched my flashlight on to speed up the search.

"A silver candle stick holder. It's pretty tall so it should be easy to find." I replied, letting the beam of my flashlight dart around the room.

We split up and searched for a few moments before I heard him chuckle aloud from the other side of the attic.

"You were so cute when you were little. What happened?" he asked sarcastically.

Confused, I found myself seeking him out to see what on earth he was talking about. Thanks to Mom's hobby, no photographs should be in the attic but there in Rhett's hand was a picture of me I had never seen before.

"Let me see that." I heard myself whisper as if from a far off place.

He looked down at me before he gently handed me the picture, careful not to bend the precious piece of paper. It was undeniable – the child in the picture was definitely me. I sat on a blonde woman's lap smiling with the same tattered doll I clutched in the photograph of my adoption day. The blonde lady looked sad and my heart ached for her for some unknown reason.

"There are others." Rhett said softly, passing me an envelope.

I darted him a suspicious glance but he met my gaze and held firm. Slowly I opened the envelope and pulled out a few of the pictures one by one, leaving the folded letter behind in its paper sheath. The first was of a little boy with terrified blue eyes holding a baby, the second of a red-haired toddler clutching the hands of a brown haired boy and a blonde girl of a similar age. The pictures made no sense to me, and reading the inscription on the back of each photo didn't help much.

"SAWS Project, year six." I read aloud.

"Any clue what that is?" Rhett's voice reverberated in the darkness, a strong sound which seemed to clear the cobwebs from my brain.

"None at all."

My parents had always been rather transparent about my adoption and had told me everything they knew about me... or so I had thought. These pictures sparked an interest in me that I couldn't quench. I carefully placed the pictures back into the envelope and slipped it into my pocket, determined to have a closer look in the privacy of my own bedroom.

"Did you find it?" I heard my mother's voice filter from downstairs.

"Not yet!" Rhett called back without skipping a beat before he turned to me.

In the dim light I could barely see him wink, but he did – a sign that he wouldn't speak about the pictures to anyone unless I wanted him to. My respect for him suddenly grew in leaps and bounds.

"There it is." I whispered, my voice breaking slightly as I pointed out the monstrosity we had been sent to fetch in the first place.

Rhett picked it up with ease and lead the way to the staircase, letting me slip passed him first before he followed. He seemed to evaporate into thin air as he blended into the hustle and bustle of the preparations made even more chaotic by the arrival of Willow. My tiny best friend jumped from her brother's VW Beetle and instantly began changing things around, much to my mother's disgust but what could she say? Willow was more creative than all of us put together! Hell, even the way she dressed screamed "artist".

"I see he is here." she whispered to me, running her fingers through her long mess of black, purple, blue and pink streaked hair.

"Who is?"

"Him... the neighbour... dead meat." she pointed to Rhett dramatically before rolling her eyes.

I had to chuckle at her dramatics.

"He's turned out to be not as bad as I thought he would be. Okay, he's still an ass but he's a useful one so I guess I can't complain too much." I admitted, laughter tainting my voice.

"You like him?" Willow looked at me aghast. "You know you can't fall for him."

"Who said I liked him? I still hate his guts... just not as much."

She let out a deep, dramatic sigh of relief.

"Good, because you know you can't have a normal relationship as it is. You go off to school for three quarters of the year with no news at all during that time? It might have been normal in the 18th century but not anymore. He'd have to know about you-know-what and that's just asking for trouble."

I rolled my eyes dramatically in response, feeding off of her theatrics.

"It's not as if I'm planning on dating the guy, Willow. I can barely be in the same room with him without wanting to punch his face in so I'm safe on all frontiers. I'm not in any danger of falling in love with this one."

My best friend grinned stupidly at me before she stormed over to where the twins were setting up the photo booth to correct them on something they were apparently doing wrong. It was good to see her again... good to have someone I could confide in one hundred percent. Don't get me wrong, I love my family but Willow understood what my family could never. Willow knew that I felt like a burden to my parents and that it killed me inside. She knew that I spent every night that I was awake studying so that I could become a geneticist and finally figure out what was wrong with me. I hated this burden... and she was the only one on earth to know just how much.

"So, your friend is... interesting."

Rhett's smooth voice yanked me from my wondering thoughts.

"Yeah she is, isn't she?" I laughed. "She's cool though."

There was a moment of awkward silence as we watched Willow terrorise the twins into turning the booth to face a direction which suited her.

"Mrs Porter is expecting me home for dinner so I guess I should be leaving." he said softly.

"Let me walk you out... I need to speak to you away from other ears anyway."

Even though I sort of knew he wouldn't say a word about the envelope, I felt that I had to make sure of it. I didn't know why but I felt that those pictures needed to remain secret. Together we slipped out of the front door and trod in silence until we were out of view of both my house and his, sheltered by the shrubbery which grew along his long driveway.

"Listen, I won't breathe a word about what we found in the attic to anyone." he said softly, as if he read my mind.

"How come? I know you hate me so why would you keep it a secret for me?"

I was suddenly intrigued. He grinned stupidly and ran a hand through his hair.

"I never said I hated you... you just rub me the wrong way." he winked at me. "To be honest, there's something about you that makes you hard to ignore... maybe it's the fact that you have a stronger arm than I first thought possible."

I had to laugh at that. It was as if he had turned on the charm and expected it to work for him.

"Well as long as you keep the envelope a secret I won't slap you again." I teased.

He rubbed the cheek I had slapped and smiled at me again.

"Good because you don't hit like a girl."

I must admit, I was secretly proud of myself for that... even though my hand still ached in memory of the event.

"Thanks for helping out... you really didn't have to."

"Oh, I did. I would never have heard the end of it from Mrs P if I hadn't." he grimaced.

I found myself smiling again at him, almost entranced by his piercing blue eyes. Why had I never noticed how beautiful his eyes were before? I seemed to be stuck on that single thought when it happened. Those enchanting eyes came closer to mine and suddenly his lips held mine captive. I hate to admit it but I really enjoyed the kiss and I found my arms sneaking up around his neck and my eyes closing in wonder before I caught myself and yanked myself from his grasp. One glance in his direction was all I spared before I found myself running home, as fast as my legs could carry me. I didn't stop until I was in my room, the door firmly shut behind me.

"What on earth just happened?" I whispered to myself.

The kiss took over my mind and was all I could think of all through the evening until I crawled up into bed. As soon as my head touched the pillow I was reminded of the envelope which still secretly hid in my pocket. I slipped from my bed and reached into the pocket for the envelope, my fingers grasping it tightly.

"I'll read you tomorrow." I promised, lacking the strength to investigate further tonight.

With that, I climbed back into bed and placed the envelope under the corner of my mattress for safe-keeping.