I didn't want to answer. Of course, I didn't want to answer.

"Are you deaf?" Charles spat on the other line. He was so angry, I could practically hear him breathing fire. And I could feel that fire in my ear. "Who. The hell. Is this?"

"Uh," I managed to choke out. "Your uncle."

"Don't you fucking dare play games with me." My whole body was tingling that I didn't have the courage to even speak. To even move. Why was Charles calling me and why was he so mad? All these questions lead to Lilian but it couldn't be. She couldn't leave me to die with her ex-boyfriend.

"Okay," I said so soft and slow, I was begging for him to leave. With no voice heard, slowly, my hand brought the phone away from the ear when I heard a screeching noise.

"And," Charles added with a threat, "don't you fucking dare hang up on me until I find out who you are."

Now, I'm really scared. It's like he's watching me.

"What do you want, Charles?" I asked that I hoped sounded like I was being tough, standing up against him. But my words came out in a scream of plea. If he didn't think I was a wimp, he must've be crazier than he already was. Charles laughed. His laugh was deep and full of evil. I felt like my stomach was twisting, ready to puke.

"I know you've been talking to my girlfriend, you fag."

That was not okay. Anger started to heat up more inside of me than fear. He was not Nick or Gabriel so he had no right to call me that. Secondly, he broke Lilian's heart.

"Ex-girlfriend," I corrected in a straight of time. I didn't care if he was going to kill me, he already was through the phone.

Charles did his evil laugh again and a pain of uncertainty washed through me. "Stay away from her or else." With that, he hung up in a flash.

Indeed, that was not okay. Furiously, I called Gabriel since he should know how to deal with this as he had problems in the past with Millie's ex.

Thank God he picked up on the second ring. And thank God he wasn't with Millie.

"Gabriel!" I yelled through the phone before he even said a word.

"I swear I didn't do anything," Gabriel whispered. His voice sounded groggily and sore. Then, I heard him blowing his nose in a tissue. "Sorry."

"Are you sick?"

"Yeah," he answered with a pause. "That explains why I wasn't in school today so don't kill me like Nick, please."

I let out a soft laugh and the anger I had with Charles became less. "Get well soon, mate."

Gabriel mumbled a simple thanks when he asked why I was calling him. He told me he had a headache and I knew I had to make this quick. I told him everything about Charles.

"Son of a bitch," Gabriel said once I was done.

"Right?" I scoffed, looking outside my window. Then somehow, my voice softened and I was scared again. "So what should I do?"

"Text him." There was no hesitation in that. "But make sure your caps locks are on so it shows that the fury is on."

I laughed and wanted to tell him that was a nice joke when that bastard hung up on me. Once again, I was left alone to decide on what to do with myself. I thought about calling Nick but then I remembered that he's probably still miserable about this morning. Then again, I would also have to tell him the whole Lilian story from the beginning. That's off the list.

With a quick glanced at the clock, it was already 10:40pm. Everyone was probably asleep by now if they followed the rule. Nobody followed the rule. But sometimes, they do. So sneakingly, I crept out of my room and peaked through Alex's room.

The little rascal was sleeping. He had his head laid back directly on the pillow and his arms and legs were just stretched out, filling the whole space. He was wearing his Superman t-shirt and red boxers. I walked in, trying to be quiet as a mouse, and smiled at him. He looked so peaceful.
Only when he was sleeping.
Soft snores were escaping his mouth and realization hit me to know that my little brother was growing up. It's scary but I managed to turn off his side lamp and snuck back out of the room, closing the door behind me.

Next, I went to my sister's room. The door was wide open and I took a glance at her sitting straight at her bed, talking onto her phone. I really didn't want to listen but her conversation to her friend startled me.

"No, Lucy." Thea giggled through the phone. She twirled her hair as a huge shy grin was plastered on her face. "Miguel so does not like me." Then she was blushing and staring into space, as if she's day dreaming about this Miguel boy.

It kind of reminded me of what I did when I was talking to Lilian. But because I was a guy, I wondered if Lilian looked like that when she was talking to me.

Thea giggled again as she shook her head. She was obviously impressed to what her friend had to say. "All boys look at girls like that."

It was such a juicy gossip. I had to lean in more to know more. My sister was growing up too. But somehow, at that exact moment, God knows what the reason was... I decided to sneeze. It wasn't a cute puppy sneeze. It was a sneeze of death that sounded like a constipated elephant who can wake the whole universe up.
And I decided to trip as well.

Thea, who was looking wide, shocked at me, mumbled something to her friend and put the phone away. She was blushing like crazy and I felt bad for embarrassing her. So, I smiled and got up awkwardly, smoothing my shirt as I go.

"Get out, Simon," she hissed coldly and I nodded. I totally respected that and understood her privacy. Once I was a few steps away from her room, still able to see her, she was picking up the phone back onto her ear. "And close the door behind you." I did that.

With both of my siblings busy, I had no help whatsoever. I walked down the corridor, wanting to go back to my room, when I stopped. It was a picture on the wall. A picture of Dad in his younger days. I smiled at the tough looking man holding his huge catch of a fish in front of the lake at our grandparents' cabin house. He was smiling and looking directly at the camera. It was as if he was looking directly at me. He was strong and had a brave face. It was as if he was communicating with me in a nothing way.

"What would you do?" I asked the picture. But it just smiled at me. I knew I wasn't going to get anything back when Mum cleared her throat and I backed out.

My eyes met Mum in her bathrobe even though I knew she was definitely wearing clothes underneath. I hoped. She let out a soft laugh and walked towards me, next to where Dad hung.

"What would your father do what?" she whispered as she was gazing at the picture. I looked at her and I could tell she was recalling the memories. We both missed him and I could feel it.

And that's when I decided to break the knot to Mum about Charles.

Her expression was priceless. Her eyes widened and mouth flew open. Her grip was tight and she swore. "Who the fuck does that young lad think he is?"
I had to laugh at her comment and we had a moment. That's also when Thea came out of her room and told us to keep it down. We did that for a full second before laughing again. I was confident to stand up against Charles.

He picked up on the first ring. His voice was sleepy, as if I woke him up from a good sleep. Good.

"Or else what?" I spoke up loudly. Mum was next to me in my room, giving me a thumbs up to boost my confidence. A bit weird but it was all I needed.

Charles gave that disgusting laugh again and my stomach ties in a knot. I was prepared not to puke. "I'm the head of prefects if you have forgotten."

He's right. He had the power against me.

"So," Charles continued, ready to challenge me and beat me up, "I'm giving you two choices: leave her alone and we'll pretend we never had this talk and I won't try to find you or continue to talk back and I will find you and will ensure you that you will never see life again."

I gulped and gave a worried look at Mum. She shrugged her shoulders and tied her robe tighter. I decided to talk back. She doesn't deserve him. "Lilian doesn't love you and you can't kill me."

"The killing is a metaphor, little junior." I can picture him smiling like the villain he was. "And you think she'll ever love you, Simon Bell?"

I was shocked. I almost dropped my phone. There's no way in hell could he have find out who I was. There's no way he would ever mention this to Lilian.

"How did you-?"

Charles laughed. "You're Scott Bell's son. It's a shame you're not as amazing as your star rugby player father. He was the school's most famous." He kept on laughing and I was sure I was going to have nightmares from that. "I am in his spot."

There's no way he was this close to what Dad have been.

I was speechless. Charles noticed that so he ended the conversation and had the last word on me. "Here's the deal, you petty child, I don't know what you look like so I'm not gonna find you. But if I catch Lilian flirting with you again, watch your back." He hung up, instantly. My breath then came in ragged gasps and I was not okay.

Mum looked at me and she saw that I was shaking as I threw the phone across the room. She hugged me to assure everything's alright. Well, nothing can be alright if there's a jealous ex-boyfriend on the loose.
I still had no idea why he broke up with her if he still loved her. Over protective much, maybe.