Past, Present and Future

[Kellicopter]

Aw you guys  I'm feeling so much love. Afraid you'll have to wait a little while for the interviews, first one isn't until chapter 13  I've got very carried away with other little back and side stories. 

Anyways, I hope you're all having a lovely weekend (and those of you in the UK have a great Sunday!) Here's Chapter 3!

Chapter 3

When Brody went in to work for the Sunday afternoon shift, he took Raffy with him in order to find her a shirt for when she started waitressing in the holidays. They dug through the box and found a couple that fit. He also gave her $20, telling her “tomorrow after school, you'll need to go get some skirts or shorts to wear with them. I don't want you using what you've already got and then moaning if they get ruined.” Raffy pulled her sarcastic laughing face, informing Brody that the money was not enough. He reached into his pocket, took the twenty back and gave her a fifty.

Raffy smiled, pulled out her phone and began to walk away, new shirts in hand. She called her friend, Coco. “Hey, what are you up to?” she asked. Coco replied on the other end, “okay, see you in 5,” Raffy picked up the pace and started skipping down the stairs out of Salt.

In the diner, Coco was sat waiting for Raffy to arrive, with a milkshake in hand. Olivia had been around once already asking if she needed anything else. Coco was overwhelmed with how friendly everyone was in the bay. She struggled to understand why she didn't initially want to make the move. She had been suspended from school for bullying, she had no boyfriend, questionable friends, and not the best grades. Since being in the bay she'd made friends with Raffy, meaning she knew she had at least one friend she could count on. Raffy was also really intelligent and helped her get better grades. And she was definitely not bullying. The only thing she didn't enjoy was having her mum as principal. It was bad enough having her as a teacher at her old school, but being in charge of the new school was something else.

Raffy comes in and asks Olivia for a chocolate milkshake, and waves at Coco. She walks over to the table and chucks her new work shirts on the back of the chair. “Hey, how are you?” she asks.

Coco smiled at her friend “Yeah, I'm good. Spent all weekend on homework so wanted to get out for a bit. How are you?” she asked in return.

Raffy sighs, “ugh, so I've been roped into working at Salt over the holidays by my brothers. But they said they're going to help me with my story for English” she started, “long story, but they're going to let me interview them so I can write something slightly factual.” Coco stared at her. She hadn't even considered what to write for this story yet. Raffy continued, “But I get to earn some money, which will probably be a good thing.” The look of worry on Coco's face concerned Raffy. “What's up?” she asked.

“I, I just, I don't know.” Coco stuttered. “I don't know what to do for this English story, and I didn't realise people were so prepared already. And you're earning money but I don't have a job so I can't even do anything with you.” She put her face in her hands. Olivia came over, bringing Raffy's milkshake. “Everything okay?” she asked the girls. She looked around the diner, and pulled up a chair after seeing nobody needed her at that moment. Although a few years older, Olivia was pretty good when it came to girls in distress.

“Coco's just realised she doesn't know what to do for a school project over the holidays, and I have a job at Salt, but she can't do things with me when I've got money and she doesn't.” explained Raffy. Olivia looked at Coco, confused about why she seemed so worried about something so silly. “Well, your dad owns the pier, right? Can't he talk to Irene and Leah about giving you a job here over the holidays?” Olivia looked pleased with herself. “I have lots of uni work to do so I don't mind cutting back a few shifts to give you more hours if you need them.” Coco's look of worry turned into a slight smile. Raffy thought this was a great idea, as shown by the massive grin on her face. “Just think of all the things we can get up to when we have money!” Was that even worth thinking about? Two teenage girls working for school holidays, Everyone is sure they'll find some trouble to get into with their money.

Coco had cheered up a bit now so Olivia went back to work. But still the English story worries were at the back of her mind. “So, what's your story going to be about?” she asked Raffy. “I won't steal it, I promise!” Raffy laughed.

“Um, well I haven't told you this, but when I found my family, my whole life was turned upside down.” Coco stared at her, ready to take this story in. “My mum was my auntie, my sister was actually my cousin. My real mum was killed, and these guys, her kids they were in witness protection, and my dad, well he was their protection officer. And he was shot and killed not long after I found him.” Raffy's face looked down, Coco could sense the upset in her voice. “Oh. My. God.” Coco exclaimed. “I'm so sorry, I had no idea!” She took Raffy's hand and looked at her with a smile “you've got a great family now though, they love you!”

Raffy knew this to be true. She was grateful that her half-siblings took her in when they found her. With her 'mum' dead and 'sister' in prison, what else could have happened to her? I suppose there's always the question of her real dad when she found him, but if nothing changed and he still died? Foster care? She knew she didn't want that. As far as siblings go, she knew she had the best ones. And even better, she loved being an auntie to Ava. That's a whole different love she couldn't really describe.

She looked at Coco, smiled at her and said “you're right! Hey, how about we go to mine and start brainstorming for this English story. At least if you've got some ideas then you should be able to start writing something when the holidays start.” Coco frowned at the idea of doing more homework on the weekend, but she wasn't exactly going to turn down being a bit ahead. “You can stay too if you want. I think Mason is taking me to school tomorrow” she continued.

“Free ride to school? Count me in!” Coco joked, knowing there's also a free ride from home with her mum, the principal. “I'll text my mum and get her to bring my uniform to school tomorrow.” They both picked up their belongings and headed towards the door, waving goodbye to Olivia as they left.

[Ludub]

Aw, this is lovely. Really nice to have the focus on the two girls and their friendship. Very good of Olivia to offer some of her shifts too. Really enjoying this.

[Guest]

Great chapter

this is a really lovely story.

Loved Raffy and Coco's friendship 

it was nice of Olivia to offer Coco some of her shifts.

Update again soon  

[pembie]

I had to laugh when Raffy was telling Coco about her family's background It is a pretty ridiculous story when you think about it

[christine king]

Loved Raffy and Coco's friendship and Olivia is so nice offering some of her shifts too.

[Kellicopter]

10 hours ago, pembie said:

I had to laugh when Raffy was telling Coco about her family's background It is a pretty ridiculous story when you think about it

I kind of imagined it as one of those situations where you were trying to slide a confession into normal conversation by talking really fast! But yeah, explaining in no detail it is a very bizarre back story to have 

[pembie]

16 minutes ago, Kellicopter said:

I kind of imagined it as one of those situations where you were trying to slide a confession into normal conversation by talking really fast! But yeah, explaining in no detail it is a very bizarre back story to have 

That's exactly how I read that part rapid speed 

[Kellicopter]

Dun dun dunnnnn. Today I wrote the first interview. Not sure how I feel about it because I'm not sure what information we know as viewers and what I was free to make up (I know we can make whatever up, but I'm trying to keep it true to the show). I know they came to Summer Bay from Brisbane, and I assume they lived in "the city" before it all happened (due to Ava living there). We also know they came from Brisbane with the same names because of Lara (I rewatched her first episode this morning to check). We assume to them being scared to settle down in case of having to move again that they haven't only been to these two locations over 7 years. So yeah, now it's just a case of filling in those missing gaps.

Does anyone have any more information I may have overlooked? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

And also thank you everyone for the kind things you've said. It really means a lot.

[Ludub]

I don't think we have much more information than that. I think they said something about the number of times they'd moved, like 'x number of places in 7 years', but I don't remember when or in what context. I think you're free to make it up 

[Kellicopter]

4 minutes ago, Ludub said:

I don't think we have much more information than that. I think they said something about the number of times they'd moved, like 'x number of places in 7 years', but I don't remember when or in what context. I think you're free to make it up 

I went with 3. I just don't get how it all works. I watched Hiding recently so I was trying to take some info from that (conveniently James Stewart too), but I'm just not entirely sure how they decide to up and move again. Whether it's paranoia or if they're actually found and just starting the whole thing again each time. *shurg emoji*