Fueled for Love

[Jen]

Type of story: Long fiction

Rating: T

Main Characters: Cassie, Matilda, Lucas, Drew

Genre: Drama/Angst/Romance (Mixture)

Warnings: (VD)

Is Story being proof read: Yes – by -Tess-.

Summary: When strange public displays of affection turn up at the school, Cassie, Drew, Matilda and Lucas endeavour to discover the truth. Not all runs smoothly when they become more involved than they intended.

A/N: This is the second fic I have written and the first left a little to be desired. Each chapter is written from a different point of view around the four main characters; Cassie, Mattie, Lucas and Drew (and a couple with Ric and Belle). If you find this confusing, let me know and I’ll give you a head’s up as to whose point of view the chapter is. Constructive criticism, ideas and theories are most welcome. Yep, I think that’s about it. All that’s left is for you to read and enjoy – I hope!

Fueled for Love

Chapter 1 – Seeing Red

“Whoa!” I exclaimed out loud as we stepped foot inside the hallowed halls of Summer Bay High. Plastered across the lockers in front of us were the three words ‘I LOVE YOU’ written in bright red spray paint.

“Whoever did this is going to get so busted,” Cassie said, “Hyde is going to flip when he sees it.”

I felt a small, soft hand take hold of mine and a voice to match said,

“I think it’s kind of romantic.”

Only Matilda could think this was romantic.

The declaration of love was obviously fresh as I focussed on a dribble of red paint. It ran down the harsh metallic background, gaining speed, as it’s bloody tail trailed along behind the head.

I was snapped back to the pending present by a grumpy voice from behind.

“Are you guys going to stand there blocking the doorways all day?”

Considering Drew’s unsuccessful run with relationships it was no wonder he was trying to avoid the subject completely. However, as a consequence he had begun to take out his frustration on everyone else. None of us had realised that while we had stopped to stare at the romantic graffiti in front of us, that we had planted our feet just inside the doorway and therefore were blocking the entrance for everyone else.

“Sorry,” I said apologetically, pulling Mattie out of the doorway.

“Get over yourself, Holden”, was all the thanks I got as Drew barged through.

“Someone obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Cassie said as she crossed the floor to join Matilda and I.

Suddenly a booming voice echoed through the hallways and you could see the scatter of students occur almost immediately.

“Nothing to see here,” Hyde said, ushering students into the nearest classrooms possible. Like a shark swimming through a school of fish, the minnows did exactly what the shark said.

My eyes had returned to the harsh colouring that was before us and its mesmerising effect took over as I continued to stand there. I so was captivated by its strong and universal meaning that I didn’t even notice that the shark had stopped circling and was standing in front of me.

“Don’t you two have a class to get to?” Hyde asked.

“Sorry sir,” Matilda replied as she yanked me out of the way.

* * * * *

[Jen]

Chapter 2 – A World of My Own

His lips gently touched mine and I felt as though I wanted him to suck my entire life out of me. I slowly pulled away, remembering that we were in the Diner and not a romantic tropical island as I had hoped. I stared into Lucas’ beautiful blue eyes and said,

“Would you graffiti all over your locker to prove you loved me?”

“No,” Lucas replied. My face fell, disappointed that my boyfriend was so inept in the art of romance. Lucas continued,

“There wouldn’t be enough room for all the things I would want to write about you.”

I lit up inside and smiled, (maybe he wasn’t so clueless after all), and then leaning in I kissed him once more.

“Get a room.” I heard a familiar voice joke.

We quickly pulled apart and I saw Cassie and Ric slide into the seats opposite Luc and I.

“People are trying to eat,” Ric continued.

I could feel Lucas shift in his seat next to me as he suddenly became self-conscious.

“Did Cass tell you about what happened at school today?” I asked Ric, quickly changing the subject.

“Yeah, how crazy is that? Did Hyde fully lose it?”

“Not yet,” Lucas said, “but this is just the calm before the storm.”

“Do you guys want to order?” I asked.

“Yep, I’m starving,” Ric said, picking up a menu.

“You’re always hungry,” Cassie laughed, giving Ric a quick elbow in the stomach.

At that moment I noticed that Miss Fletcher had come into the Diner. Cassie had obviously looked to see what I was staring at because she called over to Sally and asked,

“Hey Sal, do they know who graffitied the lockers yet?”

“No,” Sally replied, “You don’t know anything about this do you?”

“Nope, sorry” Cassie replied.

“Well, if you hear anything, let me know. Mr Hyde is considering getting the police involved.”

I nodded and Sally turned away to talk to Leah at the counter.

“They’re taking this all pretty seriously,” Lucas said.

“Yeah, I guess it is a pretty serious thing to do,” I replied, “I just hope whoever did it thinks it was worth it.”

* * * * *

[Jen]

Chapter 3 – Distractions

By the time lunch had ended and we were in class, cleaners had arrived to clean the graffiti so it wouldn’t “provide a distraction to our studies” as Mr Hyde had explained.

Round and round my pen went. The circle became darker and darker. Mr Baker obviously had no idea how boring his classes could be. I heaved a sigh and looked around the room. Drew was slumped in him chair staring at a blank piece of paper and out of the corner of my eye I saw Matilda pass a note to Lucas.

“Right. That’s it!” Dan snapped his book shut and slammed it down on the desk.

“I’ll take that.” He snatched the folded piece of paper out of Luc’s hand, “And I’ll see you both in after school detention.”

“What?” I spluttered, accidentally out loud.

“You can join them, Cassie.”

My jaw dropped. It was like a switch had flicked in Dan’s head and he had turned into the teacher from hell.

“Mr Hyde has instructed that there is to be zero tolerance until the person who defaced the lockers comes forward. I don’t like this any more than you do, but those are the rules.”

“Puh-lease,” Drew scoffed.

“Right, that’s enough.”

Drew rolled his eyes in reply.

“And you can drop the attitude. I’ll see you in detention as well.”

Saved by the bell. I picked up my file and got out of the class as fast as was possible, without actually running. Once out of Dan’s earshot the whining began.

“I can’t have detention. I don’t handle detention,” Matilda spluttered.

“It’ll be okay. I’ll be there with you,” Lucas replied calmly, as he tried to unnoticeably slip his arm around Mattie’s waist.

“Mum and Tony are going to kill us.”

“Unless they don’t know,” Lucas said mysteriously.

It was like I could see the clogs turning inside his head. Lucas wasn’t known for his scheming mind but if he put his mind to it I’m sure he could be pretty sneaky. I looked back to Matilda and watched the penny drop.

“I like the way you think Lucas Holden,” she said.

“Don’t you think that you guys are over-reacting slightly?” I asked.

Mattie looked from Lucas to me.

“Aren’t you worried what Sally is going to say when she finds out?”

“Finds out what?”

I spun around quickly and saw Sally appear in front of me. Think, and fast!

“Um…” I said, trying desperately to think of something to say. I glanced from Sally to my friends, who weren’t offering any support, then back to Sally.

“Um, Mattie, Lucas, Drew and I are working on a project after school, for Mr Baker’s class.” My head was working overtime. “I just didn’t know how you’d react, given it’s a school night.” I tried to put on my most convincing smile, when inside I felt like I was turning to jelly.

“Oh well, if the project has to be done.” Sally looked from me to Mattie and Lucas. “Just don’t be too late,” and she disappeared into the hallway and was lost in the sea of students.

I let go of a breath that I had been holding.

“Quick thinking,” Lucas said.

“See?” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt, “Piece of cake. I’m more worried about spending the afternoon with Drew.”

* * * * *

[Jen]

Chapter 4 – Cornered

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Keep the beat. I tapped my pen on the desk.

“Drew, cut that out,” Dan said, but he didn’t really have much conviction in his voice.

Matilda, obviously smarter than she looks, had picked up on Dan’s reservations to be here and went to work straight away.

“Mr Baker,” she began cautiously, “you obviously have better things to do than baby sit us.”

“Nice try Matilda,” Dan replied.

She shot her boyfriend a look, pleading for him to help her out.

“Yeah sir,” Lucas began, “we don’t really have to do this, do we?”

“’Fraid so,” Dan said. “Graffitiing school property is a serious offence.”

“But we didn’t do it,” Cassie piped up.

“Maybe so, but until the person owns up …” Dan trailed off.

Silence filled the room. I had deliberately positioned myself in the far corner of the room so I had a great view of everyone else and didn’t have to act social with anyone. I really wasn’t in the mood for playing best friends. The silence was broken by a muffled ringing sound. Dan frantically reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone. He glanced down at the screen then back at us.

“I have to take this,” he said. “No one move ‘til I get back.”

Satisfied that we weren’t going to go on an angry rampage through the school, Dan stood up and scurried out of the room.

The door clicked shut behind him and the room soon sprang to life.

“This is ridiculous.” Matilda was the first to speak.

“I know. But there’s not a lot we can do about it,” Lucas sighed.

“It’s all because of that stupid graffiti,” Cassie said.

“And it’ll probably stay that way until whoever did it owns up,” Lucas added.

I started doing my own bit of graffiti on the piece of paper in front of me, pretending not to care about the conversation that was unfolding in front of me.

“Then that’s what we’ve got to do,” Cassie said certainly.

“Do what?” Matilda asked.

“We have to figure out who graffitied the lockers.” Cassie gave a sneaky smile, obviously feeling pretty pleased with herself for coming up with this so-called “plan”.

“How exactly would we do that without getting into even more trouble.” Holden. Always the goody-two-shoes. Puh-lease.

“Your brother’s a cop. Surely you’ve picked up something,” Cassie replied.

“I’m not so sure about this, Cass.” Matilda was uncertain of her friend’s plan.

“It’ll be fine,” Cassie said reassuringly, “unless you’d rather spend the rest of the year going to school in a prison.”

The page in front of me was now covered in black scribble. I stopped for a minute to admire my creation. Not bad. I then realised that the room had gone silent. I looked up slowly from my page and saw three pairs of eyes staring at me.

“What?” I snapped.

“You in?” Turner asked simply.

* * * * *

[Jen]

Chapter 5 – All’s Fair in Love…

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Drew whined.

“Can you stop complaining for two minutes?” Lucas replied.

Drew had been complaining non-stop since we met him this morning before school. It was Cassie’s idea to get to school extra early to see if the romantic graffiti artist returned again. During detention last night I had thought this was a decent idea, but right now standing in front of the lockers with the words YOU LOVE ME plastered across in front of us, I was beginning to agree with Drew.

“Whoever is doing this, is definitely trying to get a particular message across,” I said.

“Thanks for stating the obvious, Sherlock,” Drew replied. I shot him my best evil look, but he just stood there and laughed.

“Well, this person must have a way of getting into the school after everyone has gone,” Cassie stated, not taking her eyes off the bright red letters.

Even though it was 7 am and the school was completely empty I kept having to look over my shoulder every couple of minutes to make sure a crazy person wasn’t going to step out of the darkness.

“But how would they get in once everyone’s gone?” Drew asked sincerely, “Surely Hyde or Sally lock the doors.”

“Maybe there’s a window or something they can climb through,” I offered.

There was a slight pause and I could see Cassie pondering this possibility.

“Right handed.”

This startled me slightly. Lucas hadn’t really said much but had been staring intently at the writing.

“Huh?” Drew said.

“The person who wrote this was right-handed,” Lucas replied.

“How did you figure that out?” I asked.

Lucas stepped forward to closely examine the dripping paint.

“See the way the paint flows. The joining of the letters is consistent with some who’s right-handed,” Lucas stated.

“That’s amazing,” I said. Lucas’ brilliance really surprised me sometimes. I stepped forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. Drew was not impressed with my own public display of affection.

“Ok Einstein,” Drew said cynically, “That limits us to, oh, 90 percent of the population.”

“At least it’s a start,” Cassie said folding her arms across her chest.

Just then the bell rang for the start of class and the halls flooded with people. Most of them would stop to admire the vandal’s handiwork. As soon as one foot stopped moving in front of the other, Mr Hyde would strike. Anyone who even looked as though they were dawdling had to suffer the wrath of Mr Hyde. Cassie, Drew, Luc and I were forced back into a classroom.

“We’ll meet at lunch,” Cassie hissed, before she wandered off to inconspicuously join the crowd.

* * * * *

[Jen]

Chapter 6 – It’s all a Conspiracy

If there was a captain for this mission, it would be me. It wasn’t just for the good of SBH but to solve this mystery had become a challenge. I gazed around the Diner. Anyone of these people could be the person who broke into the school. The guy sitting at the table across from us, the girl ordering a coffee from Leah, even Leah was a suspect. But why would Leah graffiti the school?

“Cass,” Ric prodded me.

“What?” I snapped back, maybe just a bit feistier than I had intended.

“What’s wrong with you? You’ve been daydreaming all afternoon.”

“Sorry,” I extended my hand across the table and held Ric’s, “I’ve just have lots of stuff to think about.”

“You’re not still spinning conspiracy theories about the love messages at the school are you?”

I just shrugged in reply. I looked up to see Colleen rapidly approaching our table with our orders, but also with intentions to tack on to the end of our conversation.

“I couldn’t help but overhear,” Colleen said as she placed the two plates with burgers in front of us, “They’re vandals! It’s hard to feel safe when the bay is full of bandaids!”

Bandits.

“I’m sure you’ve got nothing to worry about Colleen,” Ric said.

“Yes, well, the sooner the person is locked away, the better.” Colleen nodded and scurried back into the kitchen.

Colleen was right. The sooner I figured out who was graffiiting the school, the better.

“You’re doing it again.”

“Look, I’m sorry okay. This is really important to me. And if you can’t understand that then maybe we should forget about things for a while.” I hated saying this to Ric.

I quickly stood up from the table and began to leave.

“Cass,” Ric reached out to grab my hand, “I just wanted some time for us, without having you daydreaming about this stupid graffiti.”

“I’m sorry, I have to go.” I pulled away, “Don’t want to bore you with any more of my conspiracy theories.”

Ric looked hurt, but I didn’t stick around to find out.

* * * * *

[Jen]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Sorry for the late update. Thanks Rosey for proofing!

* * * * *

Chapter 7 – Where Your Loyalties Lie

I stared into her beautiful blue eyes. I reached across the table and whisked a piece of hair from across her forehead. Mattie was my everything. If anything was to happen to her … I don’t even want to think about it. I forced myself to break my stare and take a sip of my juice. Noah’s wasn’t busy so when Cassie burst in both Mattie and I looked over with a start. She ran in and saw us sitting there and made a beeline for us.

“Cass, is everything okay?” Matilda asked when she reached our table.

“Yep.” Cassie replied quickly, but I could tell she was really just trying to blow us off. “We just have a lot to discuss that’s all.”

“Discuss what?” I asked, though I thought I already knew what the answer would be.

“The graffiti at the school,” Cassie said, suddenly hushing her voice. She pulled up a chair to join us at the table.

“Look Cass, maybe we should forget about it,” Matilda said cautiously, “I mean, we’re not really getting anywhere.”

I could tell that as soon as she finished, Mattie regretted saying it. Cassie seemed shocked that her best friend would try to tell her that she was wrong. It wasn’t that Matilda was trying to be disloyal, but that’s how Cassie saw it. She opened her mouth to reply but I instinctively jumped in to defend Mattie for fear of what Cassie would say.

“Maybe Matilda’s right. Maybe we should just leave it to the experts.” I spoke quickly without giving Cassie the opportunity to reply, “Hyde’s called the police and they are working on it. Maybe we shouldn’t interfere.”

I stopped. Cassie stared at me with disbelief. She looked from me to Mattie and then back again.

“I can’t believe this,” she finally spoke, “You’re just going to bail on me. Just like that?”

My eyes met Matilda’s. Neither of us knew what to say. I tried to reconcile.

“Look Cassie, we didn’t mean …” I trailed off. Nothing seemed adequate enough.

“Forget it,” Cassie replied getting up from the table. “First Ric, then you two. I would have expected more from my so-called friends.”

“Cassie, wait,” Matilda called after her as she stormed out. Cassie didn’t even look back when she bumped into Drew on the way out.

“Hey, watch it!” Drew exclaimed as Cassie barged past.

I turned back to Mattie.

“What do you think she meant about Ric?” Mattie asked.

I could only shrug in reply. I knew that catching whoever was vandalising the school was important to Cassie, but she was becoming … obsessed.

“We did the right thing didn’t we?” Mattie asked.

“Course we did,” I replied. I extended my hand across the table and gave Mattie’s a little squeeze.

* * * * *

[Jen]

Chapter 8 – It’s Us against Them

“Hey, watch it!” I exclaimed as I was bowled over by Cassie storming out of Noah’s, as I walked in. She didn’t even say sorry but just barged past. I looked over and saw Holden and Hunter sitting at a table nearby. They turned to look when they heard the commotion, but didn’t come over. I expected Matilda to follow after Cassie, but she didn’t. Holden extended out his hand out to hold hers.

Fine, if they weren’t going after her, then I was. I don’t even know why I became so concerned all of a sudden. Maybe it was because no one else was. I followed Cassie outside. Her back was to me as she leant on the wooden fence and looked out over the ocean. I slowly wandered up beside her and just stood there.

“Are you okay?” I asked cautiously.

Cassie nodded.

“Then you have no excuse for bowling me over,” I said smiling.

“Sorry,” Cassie replied without cracking a smile. She wouldn’t even look at me.

“You know you’re pretty strong,” I paused, “for a girl.”

Cassie turned. I couldn’t tell if she was going to deck me right there and then. She was trying so hard to be serious but I could see the corners of he mouth slowly turning up. Finally, I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I gave Cassie my biggest, cheesiest smile. She looked at me strangely before finally cracking a smile. She let out a slight giggle before turning away. She was probably wondering what she had done to end up with a complete dork standing next to her.

Ok, time to get serious.

“What was going on back there?” I asked.

Cassie let out a sigh.

“It’s nothing really,” she paused, “it’s just …”

“Just what?”

“Just that no one seems to get it,” Cass turned and looked me straight in the eye. “It’s the principle. We are all being treated like criminals for something we didn’t do.”

“And everyone is now losing interest,” I finished for her.

“Yeah,” she replied, “Mattie and Lucas are too busy staring lovingly into each other’s eyes and Ric, well he couldn’t care less. He’s left school. It has nothing to do with him.”

Cassie had become really fired up about this. It was becoming infectious, like the flu. She’d given this fighting spirit to me.

“That’s what so great about you,” I heard myself say.

“What? That I’m completely obsessive. Not many people would agree with you,” Cass said smiling.

“No,” I replied sincerely, “that you’re passionate. And I don’t think that’s a negative.”

Cassie smiled and she seemed to light up. The bright and bubbly person I had always found incredibly annoying to be around, especially of you were having a bad day, she was smiling because of me. And this made me smile.

“Whoa,” I said after an awkward silence, “this is getting way too deep and meaningful for me. Do you know what you need?”

“What?”

“A chocolate milkshake, my treat, before we go back to fighting the baddies.”

She smiled again.

“Okay,” Cassie replied and we wandered off towards the Diner together.

* * * * *

[Jen]

Chapter 9 – Day of Reckoning

The school was buzzing when I arrived. I spotted Cassie straight away. She had strategically placed herself in the corner of the corridor out of the way of the commotion but she had a 180 degree view of everyone around. I made a beeline for her.

“Hey,” I said when I joined her in the corner.

“Hi,” she replied.

“I had fun yesterday.”

“Yeah me too,” Cassie replied and gave me a small smile.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I saw a fully uniformed Jack Holden walk past us.

“There’s something in A16,” she replied nodding over towards the classroom, “Hyde’s only letting the cops in and anyone looking the least bit suspicious is getting questioned.”

“Are you serious?”

Cassie nodded before continuing,

“I haven’t worked out what exactly it is, yet. Everyone, including Sally, is being really tight lipped about it.”

Constable Holden and Harper disappeared into the classroom in question followed by Hyde who closed the door behind them. Before Hyde closed the door I tried to sneak a peek inside. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just the corner of a desk and chair. What had I expected? A glowing neon light to seep out of the room when the door was opened just a crack? I think not.

When I looked away from the now closed door, I saw Belle right before me. It was too late to walk away now as I had been doing very successfully up until this point.

“Is this getting weird or what?” Belle said.

“Oh, so you’re talking to me now?” I retorted.

“Drew,” Belle almost whined, “that’s not fair.”

“You’ve been giving me the cold shoulder for weeks now. Why should I be civil just because you want to?”

“Hey, you’re the one who dumped me for my mother!” Belle raised her voice, “Or had you forgotten that.”

Lucky for me everyone was too busy trying to work out what the state secret was in A16 that they couldn’t care less about mine and Belle’s little domestic dispute. Meanwhile, Cassie silently looked on.

“Forget it,” I replied.

Belle and I had been having this same argument over and over. I couldn’t care less what she thought anymore but I wasn’t about to suck up and pretend to be friends because she felt like it.

“You coming Cass?” I turned to Cassie.

“Sure,” she replied and followed me, leaving Belle.

* * * * *

[Jen]

Thanks Liam. The plot thickens ...

Also, unfortunately my proofer can't continue, so I'm not sure when I'll be getting a new one, hopefully soon, so should have more updates then.

Enjoy!

-

Chapter 10 – A Gaping Hole

I can’t believe he had tried to make it my fault! After my encounter with Drew before school this morning, it had totally ruined my mood for the day. I had tried to be the bigger person and be civil towards him, yet somehow it turned into another fight. I walked into the Diner feeling that I had a big black storm cloud following me around.

“Have you spoken to her yet?” I overheard Lucas ask Matilda as I slid into the booth behind them.

“No,” Matilda replied sounding disappointed, “but she’s got Drew now so why should I care.”

Ah, Cassie, that’s who they were talking about. My ears continued to linger on their words. I knew eavesdropping was wrong, but this wasn’t technically eavesdropping because they were talking loud enough for me to hear. So it wasn’t really my fault. I picked up a menu and pretended to look at it while having one ear cocked to the conversation occurring behind me.

“Can we talk about something else, please?” Mattie asked, not too comfortable with the Cassie topic.

“Okay,” Lucas said, “I managed to talk to Jack. He wouldn’t tell me what all the cops were doing at school.”

“Did you see Cassie? Standing in the corner, acting like she was part of the investigation herself.”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about Cassie.” Lucas being a smarty-pants.

I could feel the glare Matilda must have given him for that comment. I smiled to myself.

“Are you worried?” Luc asked.

No reply.

I must have looked really odd staring at the same menu for the last 5 minutes. Irene decided to waltz up to my table and strike up a conversation.

“G’day Love, can I get you anything?”

“No thanks Irene,” I looked up and put the menu down, still trying to keep track of the Lucas-Matilda conversation.

“You sure you don’t want a sandwich or something?” Irene obviously didn’t get the hint.

“I guess I feel bad for not doing something.” What did Matilda feel bad about?

“No thanks,” I said to Irene.

“I can get you a muffin or a milkshake?” Irene persisted.

“We could always go look,” Lucas said behind me. Look where? What? I missed it.

“Love, are you okay?”

I must have been pulling some pretty strange faces. I stared up at her blankly.

“Belle, is everything okay?”

“Yep sure,” I replied and gave her a not so convincing smile.

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Irene said and wandered back to the kitchen, though I don’t think she actually bought my reply.

The murmuring behind me had stopped. I turned around and looked over my shoulder to see the booth empty. They’d gone. Something strange was definitely going on. Matilda, Lucas, Cassie and Ric were tight and suddenly there were cracks the size of the Grand Canyon everywhere. Curious.

* * * * *