something,” she said. I stood up and moved away from Penny, I felt humiliated and even though I was angry at myself for my stupid blunder I was also upset that Penny had turned me down. On the other hand, Penny was right in not wanting to hurt Henry. It was not his fault he fell in love with Penny. I pointed to the door.
“Please go,” I said.
“Tyronne?” she said. I just pointed to the door again.
“I’ll be ok, but you need to leave, I don’t want you to hurt Henry,” I said sarcastically. Penny hesitated but finally left the room. I waited until the door shut before collapsing onto the lounge. As I sat there and stared at Penny’s plate of chips I chided myself for allowing Katherine to talk me into this embarrassment.
The Choice
Choose your love, love your choice
Thomas S. Monson
Marcus Jones slid his hands through Piper Jackson’s, hair as he kissed her. His hands moved to her shoulders and continued down her back but before they could reach their destination Piper pulled away.
“Why’d you stop?” Marcus protested.
“Because I knew exactly where your hands were headed,” Piper said as she reached for her phone.
“We’ve been together nearly a year, Piper,” he said. “Is it so wrong that I want to touch my girlfriend?” Piper rolled her eyes. She’d had this argument with Marcus several times over the last month.
“You had a little more than touching on your mind,” she muttered, just barely loud enough for him to hear. She pressed the button to turn her phone on and grabbed her shoes.
“Whatever,” Marcus said, leaning back against the lounge cushions. Piper sighed as she pulled her shoes on.
“You’re still going to come over tomorrow right?” he asked as she checked the time.
“Can’t,” she said.
“Why not?” he asked.
“I’m going to that literature festival, remember,” Piper said as she grabbed her bag from beside the door. Marcus groaned.
“Why are you even going to that thing?” he asked. “Not only do you have to get up at like three am but it involves books.”
“Some of us like books and you know that I want to meet that author,” Piper said.
“Will I least see you Saturday?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said as she kissed him on the cheek before heading to the door.
As she crawled out of bed at three o’clock the next morning, Piper had to remind herself exactly why she wanted to go to the literature festival. She’d wanted to be an author as long as she could remember and listening to some of the great writers who were going to speak at the festival was the best way to do that. The hot shower helped to wake her, so that she was feeling almost human as she went downstairs. Her mum was in the kitchen buttering toast and Piper inhaled the delicious aroma of brewed coffee as she accepted a mug but shook her head at Mum’s offer of toast.
“I’ll get something to eat when we stop,” she said.
Her mum drove Piper the short distance to her school. It was half past three when they arrived but the bus wasn’t there. Piper noticed about twenty students in various stages of wakefulness hovering at the bus stop.
“I’ll see you tonight,” Piper’s mum said as she climbed out of the car.
“See you,” Piper replied before crossing the road. She had barely reached the other side when the bus appeared. It was cold and the teacher in charge of the trip, Mr Waters, allowed the waiting students to board the first bus. Many students had brought their pillows with them and were asleep as the buses departed the school at quarter to four. However, the caffeine had kicked in and Piper knew she would not be able to sleep so she pulled out her iPod.
As Piper watched the sunrise, she realised that this was the first time she’d been up early enough to see it in two years. With the sun in the sky, gradually the other students began to rouse and everyone was awake when they arrived at the breakfast stop at seven am. “You have half an hour” Mr Waters advised students. Piper grabbed herself a couple of chocolate bars and a coffee. She slipped the chocolate bar into her pocket and sipped her coffee as she watched the rest of the students from her class. By seven thirty everyone was back on the bus. They would be travelling for another two hours before they reached the school that was hosting the literature festival. The bus was fairly quiet for the remainder of the journey as students listened to iPods or read and a couple went back to sleep.
When they arrived at the school, Mr Waters herded them off the bus and into a courtyard to give them instructions. Somerset College on the Gold Coast was the biggest school Piper had ever seen. As she listened to Mr Waters she looked around in amazement. Mr Waters checked his watch.
“It’s nine thirty now,” he said. “Our first session is at ten, so, you have half an hour free to have morning tea and browse the bookstore. We will meet in front of the bookstore at ten. Don’t be late!”
As everyone headed for the food stands, Piper walked in the opposite direction to the bookstore. She’d been happy to learn that an author she was really interested in meeting would be at the festival. It didn’t take her long to locate the book she wanted, as far as Piper was aware Rebecca James had only written two books but what she lacked in quantity, was made up by the quality of her writing. The one Rebecca James book that Piper had read was one of the best books she’d ever read. She’d seen reviews about the other book, Beautiful Malice, and knew she had to read it. Piper was reading the story synopsis on the back of the book when someone spoke to her.
“Good choice,” a voice said. She turned around to see a girl with black hair and blue eyes behind her.
“What?” Piper said. The girl smiled.
“The book,” she said. “It’s great. I’m so excited that Rebecca James will speak this year.”
“I wish she was one of author’s I was seeing,” Piper said. “But we’re going to hear Matthew Reilly, James Phelan and Randa Abdel-Fattah.”
“Matthew Reilly is a good author too,” the girl said. “My school is seeing him as well.”
“Oh yeah,” Piper said. “Have you read any of his books?”
“One or two,” said the girl. “My name is Katie, by the way. Katie George.” Katie held out her hand and Piper shook it, feeling a little zap as she did. She quickly pulled her hand away.
“Piper Jackson,” she said.
“Well, Piper Jackson, I have to go,” she said. “I hope to catch you at Matthew Reilly.” Piper watched Katie walk over to a group of students before joining the queue to pay for her book. As she walked to the meeting point, Piper wondered what she was getting herself into. Although she had just met Katie, she felt something she had never felt before and had to quickly remind herself that she had a boyfriend.
Katie was right, the first author they saw Matthew Reilly was really interesting. Piper noticed Katie at this session but made no attempt to speak to her. The morning flew by, after listening to Matthew Reilly, Piper’s school went straight to their second session with James Phelan. So, it was lunch time before Piper had another chance to talk to Katie.
“It’s now one o’clock,” Mr Waters said as they arrived back at the courtyard. “As our last session is at one thirty, you have half an hour to eat lunch and have any books you’ve bought signed. We will meet back here at one thirty.” Piper glanced over at the tables behind them that were set up for author signings and was pleased to see that Rebecca James was already there.
Piper had just joined the line for Rebecca to sign her new book when Katie appeared.
“So what brings you to the festival, Piper?” Katie asked as she slipped into the line behind her.
“Mostly Rebecca James,” Piper said. “Even though I’ve only read her first book, I already love her writing.”
“She is a great author,” Katie agreed. “But you can’t expect me to believe you came here just for one author.” As Piper glanced at Katie, she found herself conceding something that she had never told anyone before.
“I wan
t to be an author,” she said and quickly covered her mouth with her hands.
“What sort of stuff do you write?” Katie asked.
“A little bit of everything,” Piper said. They had reached the front of the line and Piper was grateful for the distraction as she turned. She handed her book over to be signed.
“Name?” the author asked.
“Piper,” Piper replied.
“Remember that name,” Katie said. “She’s gonna be the next J K Rowling.” Piper glared at Katie while Rebecca James looked up and smiled.
“Do you like to write?” Rebecca asked Piper.
“I dabble,” Piper said. “My stuff isn’t very good.” She accepted her autographed book from Rebecca James.
“Maybe one day you’ll be sitting here and I’ll be asking you to sign my book,” she said. Piper allowed herself a smile.
“Maybe,” she said as she moved out of the way for the next person. Katie grabbed her hand and slipped a piece of paper into it as they walked away.
“My phone number,” she explained. “Give me a call.” Piper watched Katie walk away and was tempted to throw the paper in the bin but at the last second slipped it into her pocket.
It was almost nine o’clock by the time she arrived home that night. Piper dropped her bag on the floor by her door and stripped her uniform off before slipping into pyjamas. The next day was Saturday and Piper welcomed the chance to sleep in.
Piper crawled out of bed close to nine o’clock