Rebels Chapter 22

Yay, here we go:)

I bite my lip as the door opens and Hayley's eyes go wide. 'Whaaa- Shelly!' she yells over her shoulder to her sister. 'What's happening here?' she asks me.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. 'Well, Nate kinda got kicked out and we all just kinda came along too...'

She laughs. 'Sounds like you guys are getting on great with your parents at the moment.'

'Yeah, I know,' I say ruefully. 'It's all a bit stupid, really.'

Shelly comes to the door and gapes at us. 'Erm, hey guys.'

Nate winces. 'We were wondering if you guys could put us up for a while? Please? It won't be long- we'll find somewhere to stay.'

'Uhmm, yeah, I guess you can,' she shrugs. 'We'll have to share, though.'

I shrug. 'That's not a problem.'

'I swear it's only a few days,' Nate puts in quickly and glances at us. 'We'll find somewhere, won't we?'

I nod, smiling encouragingly. 'Yeah, course we will.'

'Come in then,' Shelly invites us in, but I can't help noticing she looks like she's going to start panicking in a minute.

I sigh and bite my lip, hoping she's okay. We're stressing her out, and she's pregnant, which won't be good for the baby.

'Okay,' she runs a hand through her hair. 'Nate, Josh and... Zac?'

He nods. 'Yeah.'

She smiles. 'Awesome. I love that name, actually. Anyways, you guys can sleep in Hayley's room, if that's okay. And then I'll share with Hayley and Izzy, okay?'

'Yeah,' Izzy grins, obviously delighted with the sleeping arrangements. 

I glance at Nate, who smiles. 'Yeah, that sounds great.' He starts up the stairs. 'We're just gunna dump our stuff, is that okay?'

We follow him up to the top of the stairs. 'Izzy, that's your room there,' he points at the door on our right. We'll be in here.'

She nods, smiling. 'Okay, that's fine.'

I go into Hayley's room and smile. I've always loved her room. 'You guys can share the bed if you want,' I point at the double bed. 'I can sleep on the floor or whatever.'

'Are you sure?' Zac frowns. 

I nod. 'Yeah, yeah, that's fine.'

He smiles, dumping his bag onto the bed alongside Nate's. 'It's not actually all that bad,' he glances around. 'I was expecting her to have a really small room.'

'Shelly's is even bigger,' Nate chuckles. 'They only have two rooms upstairs, which are their bedrooms. I think their Dad sleeps downstairs, in the living room.'

'Oh,' Zac nods. 'That's cool.'

The door slowly opens and Izzy's head appears around the door. 'I'm scared,' she whispers, suddenly running into my arms. 

'What is it?' I ask comfortingly as he buries her head in my chest.

My little sister glances at me fearfully. 'What if they come after us, and then it all goes wrong, so it's worse than it was before?'

 'It won't be,' I assure her. 'We're going to be fine.'

She looks right into my eyes, troubled. 'But, Josh! What if they come after us? What if they come here?'

I bite my lip and glance at Nate. 'I... I can't guarantee they won't, Izzy. But I can guarantee we'll all protect you.'

'Thank you,' she whispers into my chest. 'But what about you? What if Dad just comes along and gets mad at you?'

I shrug. 'Then we'll just have to deal with it.'

'Josh-' Nate frowns at me.

I roll my eyes. 'Is there any point hiding the truth? If they come, then they come, and telling Izzy they defienetely won't will make it worse if they do.'

Nate turns to Izzy. 'Izzy,' he says gently. 'You're going to be fine, okay? Josh is just really pessimistic.'

'Realistic,' I mutter angrily, but don't really bother putting up a fight.

The door opens and Hayley appears. 'Hey, sorry Josh, can I just talk to you for a second, please?'

I nod silently, and follow her outside the room. She takes me down the stairs and outside, into their garden.

'What is this?' she asks, concerned. 'What's happened with you guys? I mean, why have your parents kicked you out?'

I sigh and run a hand through my messy hair. 'Well, Mom told Nate she didn't want him around anymore, and then I planned to leave with him. We tried to tell Izzy and Zac that they couldn't come, but they insisted. Jon stayed at home.'

'But what provoked your Mom to say that?' she persists.

I bite my lip. 'I'm sorry if this is causing you trouble. We honestly will find a place of our own soon.'

'That's not what I'm worried about,' Hayley tells me gravely. 'I'm worried about your family situation. I mean, aren't you worried they kicked you out?'

I sigh. 'Well, not really. I guess we were kinda thinking they didn't really want us around. I think Dad was getting really mad, and-'

'Josh!' she snaps. 'Don't you see what you're doing here? I mean, you're lucky that you actually have a proper family!'

I wince, knowing what she's getting at. And in all fairness, she's completely right. I know that she hates the fact we've just walked out on our family and a big part of me hates it too. 'I know, it's just-'

'No, Josh,' Hayley says quietly. 'I want you to go back to your house. I just think it's ridiculous that you're walking out on your family that you're lucky to have.'

'I know,' I sigh and glance at the ground. 'It's kinda difficult to go back now, though. I mean, Nate just punched Dad-'

'JOSH FARRO!' she screams, as tears begin to pour down her face.

My eyes widen in surprise and I step forwards to give her a hug. 'Hayley, I-'

'Get away from me,' she hisses, shoving my chest. 'You're so selfish, you complete jerk!' she yells, pushing past me as she runs back into the house.

I stand on their garden path, in complete shock. Wait, what just happened there?