Three evenings a week in the pool and one early morning session, we shared lifts with parents to the pool. We ate lunch together at school once or twi...e each week, discussing diets and nutrition for swimmers. We were a pair, but never a couple, when I stopped swimming to concentrate on my school work, it was Em that I missed more than anything. We still met and talked in school of course, but within the year I was off to university and in terms of our being so close, that was just about that. . She had accompanied my sister and Nathalie when they returned from the distraction. Where had this warrior come from? How did she know so much about the amulet about my sister's neck? “Me and you'll head this way. Zanyia, take Nathalie and head the other way. Kora...”My sister caught my eyes, giving me a sad smile as she hugged Aingeal. The faerie's purple eyes brimmed with tears. She looked so...normal now without her wings. Those graceful, sweeping butterfly wings that thrust from her back. I. He was talking about Nao."My gut tightened."So?" I managed evenly. "Why should I care?" Seriously? Are you that fucking dumb? None of the rest of us are." I don't know what you're talking about." Fuck off, you don't. I was with Sarah on Saturday night, and she got a text from Tammy saying that she was Central and she'd seen Josh and Nao getting all goo-goo eyed in the food court. Then later when Tammy was leaving she saw his car heading up the coast road."The coast road led to a stretch of. ’ And with that he took his leave of us. I sat there for a few minutes feeling numb. I couldn’t believe how cold and indifferent he had seemed. This was exactly why I’d left, because I suspected that I mattered far lesser to Max than he did to me. So why was it that instead of feeling satisfaction at knowing that I did the right thing by taking a step back when I did, was I feeling absolutely gutted instead? Because you hoped you were wrong. ‘Oh, just shut up.’ I yelled out loud and walked.