Page 18 of The Two Halves of My Heart

Chapter 6

Grace Eleven Years Old

After the storm and the week of rain, summer finally arrived. But it went by in a flash. One minute, we were praying for sun, and then next, after it finally came out to play, it was the final few days before the start of secondary school. I was being dragged from shop to shop to complete my uniform list and getting more nervous by the day.

I hadn’t seen any of the other people from my class all summer. I didn’t need to because all I wanted was Oliver and Maddison. And soon, there wouldn’t even be school to get in our way. It would be all of us together again. But as I thought the words, the truth to them seemed feeble and weak.

The brothers were my best friends in the whole world, but their tolerance for each other was fragile. The spats had continued, and a handful of fights had occurred, each one more vicious and more drawn-out than the last. And with each one, it forced a fracture down my heart because I didn’t want to have to divide the time I had between them. We did a little of that when it rained, and it never ended well.

I wanted us to all get along. Happy to have each other’s company and enjoy it without fights. I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle, playing the referee, or worse, choosing between which one I’d spend time with.

When we made that pact to be best friends, I believed it meant our friendship was ironclad and would be strong enough to withstand anything we’d face next year. That’s how I’ve always felt about us, but now the time was nearly here to put that theory to the test, doubt began to creep into my faith.

The morning of the first day came around, and I said goodbye to Bob as if I might never come back. The welcome knock on the front door made me forget my fears because I opened it to see both Oliver and Maddison waiting for me.

“Ready?” Maddison asked, with a grin on his face. Oliver was waiting just behind him. It seemed as if Maddison had grown another foot overnight. He towered over Oliver now, despite Oliver being two years older.

All I could do was nod and grasp the strap of my bag a little tighter. Maddison put his hand out for me, and I reached out to clasp it. The moment we touched, my body flooded with his confidence. It warmed me from the inside and instilled a strength within me that I needed today. He all but pulled me out of the house, and we walked along the road towards the bus stop. Not once did he let go of my hand. I risked a glance at Oliver, who kept his eyes downcast.

It wasn’t the same for him. He was going back to his friends and teachers he knew. All of this was new to us, and at that moment, I couldn’t help but feel closer to Maddison.

Amongst the flood of other kids arriving at school, the three of us made a stand and entered together. In the swarm, I recognised a couple of the girls from our class at primary school. They offered timid smiles, and I twitched my lips in response. Maddison had held my hand tightly in his grip the whole way here, and I’d anticipated he’d drop the contact as soon as we were in sight of the school gates, but he didn’t, and now I could feel the hum of everyone’s eyes on us.

Oliver veered off towards a group of older, and much bigger students. They offered him smiles and handclasps, and it struck me then, that Oliver had his own set of friends that wouldn’t be ours. That our bubble of three, which we’d lived in for the summer, wouldn’t last in school and would be well and truly popped.

The first day went by in a blur of conflicting emotions. And it wasn’t just coping with the start of a new school. It was overwhelming, all the new people, teachers, and possible friends.

As those first days passed, the new routines became a distraction from the war that waged inside of my head. One minute I was happy that Oliver had friends he wanted to be with, the next, I hated that he’d moved on without Maddison or me. And I yo-yoed similarly with my feelings towards Maddison. He was happy to be my saviour on the first day, but when he realised that his popularity could reach an all-time high here, he soon found himself the centre of attention, and there was little room for me beside him.

What I thought would bring us all together, actually drove us further apart, and so I did the only thing I could—I studied and worked hard.

“Hey, are you coming to the party tonight?” Maddison asked as we left English together.

“No. I don’t think it’s really my thing.”

“How would you know, you’ve never been to a party,” he said accusingly.

His remark cut down my confidence, probably because it was true. “Who’s going?”

“Just some of the people from our year.”

“So, Oliver won’t be there?” I knew what Maddison was like. He was the most popular boy in our year and had a host of friends desperate to be by his side. If Oliver weren’t there, I’d be bored and forgotten about in five minutes.

“No, why would we want Oliver at our party?”

“We’ve not spent a lot of time together recently. That’s all.”

“Come on, Grace. Oliver has his own friends. We don’t need him.”

“Don’t say that. He’s your brother.”

“So?” He huffed as if he didn’t understand my point.

“So, you shouldn’t treat him like you do. Why don’t we give the party a miss? Just do something on our own?” It had been weeks since the three of us just hung out. Now, it was hard to spend time with both of them. We all wanted different things, and with winter approaching fast, there would be even less time.

“And I suppose you want Oliver to come along?”

“Forget it.” I brushed past Maddison and headed towards my next lesson. He never got it. Neither of them did, but it didn’t help me work out how to keep them both as my friends without hurting or upsetting the other.

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