The Secret Apocalypse (Book 1) Read Free

friends as well. This alone was reason enough to hang out with them. I’d never made friends easily and yet there I was making two friends on my first day at a new school, in a new country. I could barely string two words together I was such a nervous wreck. I remember Jack trying to shake my hand to greet me but my hands were so sweaty I refused to shake his hand back. I just sort of bowed my head. I personally thought it was a divine miracle that we became friends at all. There was just no other explanation
     
    So I started hanging out with them. They took me under their wings and showed me around Sydney. Jack is a really good surfer so he started teaching me how to surf. Maria is really into fashion so she would take me shopping all the time. She would go on and on about how she wanted me to take her to the New York fashion show.
     
    On the one hand it was kind of weird. I mean, no one wants to be the third wheel right? It’s awkward. The couple is usually making out or calling each other pet names like sweetie pie or honey bun, while the third wheel has to sit there and pretend not to be disgusted. But with Jack and Maria I never felt awkward. I never even felt like I was a third wheel. 
     
    When Jack gave me surfing lessons Maria would chill out on the beach listening to music. Sometimes she would stand at the water’s edge with a white board. She would write a score out of ten and hold the board up, rating how good I was. And when we went shopping, Jack would pretend to be a world famous fashion photographer. He would borrow his father’s old camera and take a whole bunch of photos of Maria and me.
     
    He would say silly things like, "Pop darlings. Pop your hip. Make love to the camera."
     
    I know it sounds stupid but it was fun. And I hadn’t had fun in such a long time.
     
    Maria’s phone rang. "It’s Jack," she said to me. "Hey, where the hell are you?"
     
    She tried to sound angry even though her blue eyes lit up and a smile crept across her lips.
     
    Maria once told me that they liked hanging out with me because it took the pressure of their relationship. "Sometimes I feel like it's too intense," she said. "That I’ve fallen too hard for him. If he ever left me or whatever, I don’t think I’d be able to cope. I’d shut down. I don't think I could live without him."
     
    So having me around kept them from getting too intense I suppose. I was like a buffer of sorts, someone to keep their feet on the ground.
     
    It was hard to imagine either one of these guys being lost on their own. They were both extremely popular, fun loving, people persons. You might think it was like they were using me but it wasn't like that at all. The truth was I liked hanging around them. I really didn't care that I was a third wheel. The best thing about these guys was they made me feel better about myself.
     
    Maria hung up her phone and immediately started sending a text message, probably to Jack.
     
    "So where is he? I asked. "Don’t tell me he slept in on the first day?"
     
    "No, his sister was asked at the last minute to give a speech at assembly this morning. So they’re carpooling."
     
    "Oh. What do you think her speech will be about?"
     
    "It'll probably be about joining the cops. It could involve handcuffs. It might get kinky."
     
     Jack’s sister Kim was a real life action hero. She’d finished high school last year and had since joined the police force. She was the kind of person who rode a bike everywhere instead of driving a car because it was great for your core strength. She was constantly training for a half marathon or full marathon or triathlon. Sometimes she could make you feel like a slacker.
     
    Despite this, I was actually looking forward to her speech. She had the same great sense of humor as Jack and it sure beat listening to the principal talk about the school motto and how we