Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

I sat in one of my classes next to Henry and actually also next to Charles, but he had stayed on the sofa since last Friday when we all slept over, and now we constantly alternated who stayed with him overnight.

Most of the time, Carter stayed with him overnight.

Weston explained that he didn’t have it easy at home with his parents.

Aria and Henry and Weston, and I constantly alternated, but this week Aria wasn’t in Eastburgh, but at the coast of New Jersey in Easthill because our swimming hall was being renovated, and there was not a drop of water in the pool.

Ethan’s room was now empty as well.

I wanted to clean his room by myself and took some boxes from the move that were already empty from home.

Weston and Carter drove the boxes I was gradually filling with his stuff to my house, and for now, we put them in the basement.

It took some effort to empty his room because it was my brother’s stuff, and it was strange to pack all his stuff after his death. It felt so final.

A lot has happened since last Friday.

Not only that Charles didn’t leave the sofa anymore, but also that my Mom got help.

I brought Weston home with me after the night we all slept together in the living room, and the two of them talked.

I was starting to get closer to normal again.

It will never be like it used to be because Ethan was gone, and because of him, a big piece of my heart broke away, but I had a person who took care of that hole in my heart and filled it.

As if Weston had inexplicably sensed that I was thinking of him, he burst into the room in the middle of my class.

‘Is Luna Montgomery here?’ he gasped, looking for me in the hall full of students.

I glanced over at Henry, who was watching yesterday’s hockey game on his phone, and when I looked at him questioningly to see if he knew anything about it, he just shook his head.

‘You do know I teach classes here right now, Mr. Sinclair?’

‘You might as well continue them, but I must kidnap my girlfriend.’

It was clear on my professor’s face that she found this anything but funny. I stood up, and Weston’s eyes met mine as I pushed through the seated people in my row and pulled him out of the hall with me.

I closed the door quietly and crossed my arms in front of my chest. ‘What are you doing here? Don’t you have practice?’ I asked indignantly because I still couldn’t quite realize what just happened.

‘I’m not allowed on the ice yet because of my broken ribs, and I missed you, Hazel Bug.’

Weston tucked a strand behind my ear, pulled me close to him by my waist, and kissed me.

‘Get your stuff.’

‘I can’t go in there, get my stuff, and leave class again.’

I didn’t understand why he didn’t wait until my class in journalism was over.

‘Wait here.’ He let go of my hip, opened the door to the hall, and at that moment, I knew I had to work out a punishment paper.

What I did know was who was going to help me with it.

With my fingers, I pulled nervously on the thin skin of my bottom lip and waited in the corridor for Weston to come out that door with my stuff.

‘You owe me one,’ I said to him after he came out of the hall with my bag and jacket.

‘Believe me, I’ll fulfill that with much pleasure,’ he grinned  before holding out the jacket for me to slip into.

He insisted on holding my bag as we quickly ran out of the building. I had no idea where he was going, let alone what he was up to, and why that couldn’t have waited until the end of my class.

‘By the way, your professor told me to tell you to visit the principal’s office.’

‘Are you serious now?’ I looked at him in amazement.

I followed Weston to a car that belonged to his Dad, which he was driving because the Jeep was still in the mechanic’s workshop. Weston held the door open for me, and I turned to him again before getting in.

‘I promise you showing up at Mr. Thornton’s office will be worth it, and besides, he always has such yummy cookies there anyway, and if you ask him how his cats Kitty and Katty are doing, he’ll forget the reason you’re in his office anyway,’ he added the tips on how I could best get out of this whole thing.

‘Sounds like you’ve been in that office pretty often,’ I replied.

I didn’t even know if I wanted to know how many times he sat in one of the chairs in front of Mr. Thornton’s desk.

‘Once or twice.’

Weston pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the main street.

The main street led only to the exit of this little town.

‘Are you going to tell me why we’re leaving Eastburgh?’ I asked curiously.

‘Not until we get there.’

I turned around in the car and saw a travel bag, which was quite bulging.

‘Come on.’

‘Absolutely no chance of persuading me,’ he laughed, focusing on the traffic.

‘I hate surprises.’

‘You love them,’ he contradicted me.

He was right. I loved surprises.

I thought about where he might be going, and as we drove, I didn’t get a single piece of information out of Weston. My patience was short and got shorter the longer we drove because he didn’t have a GPS where I could guess where we were going.

I was still just happy to be in the car with him.

Jude and I had once talked about wondering if we would have that moment when we would realize that everything could get better again. I had that moment the first time Weston and I kissed again when we slept at Charles’ house.

Since then, he slept at my house non-stop because I didn’t want to leave my Mom alone, or we slept together at Charles’ apartment.

I have resolved to have conquered my fear of the deep-end pool by the start of the new semester. Aria and I will practice together in the evenings after the renovations in the pool hall, and I was looking at it positively and hoping I could do it.

It was evening by now, and dusk was setting in. It was raining, and you could hear the hailstones hitting the car.

We drove along the coast, and by a sign, I knew we were in Easthill, and Weston pulled onto a driveway and brought the car to a stop.

‘We’re here.’

I unbuckled my seat belt. ‘You going to tell me where we are now?’

‘This is the beach house Dad and Camilla just renovated. It’s finished, and I wanted to show it to you,’ he explained.

We got out, and while I was already walking to the covered porch, Weston got the gym bag, came after me, and unlocked the house.

Through the small light next to the front door, I saw that the beach house was painted white and light blue.

We took off our shoes and jackets and stood in a typical beach house. The walls were decorated with thin wooden panels painted in white. The floor, as well as the individual pieces of furniture, were chosen in light tones.

The kitchen was open, and the side facing the coast was adorned with large floor-to-ceiling windows. Although it was already dark, I was sure you had the most beautiful view of Easthills Beach here.

‘What do you think?’

‘It’s so beautiful here.’ I couldn’t help but be amazed.

‘Come with me. I want to show you the bedroom.’ Weston pulled me up the stairs by my hand, and we entered a small bedroom that had the same white wood paneling as downstairs.

In the middle of the room was a large double bed covered with a beige bedspread.

Weston set the gym bag on the bed and pulled out the clothes.

I was shocked at how neatly he pulled everything out of the bag.

‘When did you do this?’ I sat on the bed, flopped back on the mattress, and watched him as he took the things out of the sports bag.

‘I skipped practice today and went to your house and packed our stuff.’

We quickly realized it would have been easiest if Weston would bring some clothes from his house to mine. So I emptied a drawer in my dresser for him.