-- Chapter 34 --

The shift started quietly, the way most real changes do.

He had heard it first from Constable Leggatt, the day he visited the house. Someone from the parties – the one at the sports ground and the one at the quarry – had finally dared to speak up. There was no loud declaration, it was just enough of a whisper that the story began to gather steam, and generate a life of its own.

The ears of people who had not been in attendance pricked at the words spoken; that it had been Casey who had been seen near the wreck of Matt’s Commodore in the hours that had followed the accident. Casey who had been the one pushing hardest. Casey who had been the one with something to prove. Casey who’d had his sights set on Levi all along, and had been determined to show everyone else just where he stood in the local hierarchy of Thompson boys.

When Constable Leggatt had advised Matt and Levi that Casey’s name had been mentioned, that was just the first time. It was only a matter of days later when Levi had heard it many more times, and the more he heard it, the more upset he was becoming.

Once those whispers started, it wasn’t long before all the links finally began to fall into place; the wrecked car, who had finished off the job, and above all, what Casey’s plans regarding Levi actually were. Everyone knew who was pulling the strings, and finally Levi was beginning to be seen as a victim – even if a somewhat naïve one at that – rather than an instigator of any trouble. A lamb following a wolf and not knowing the danger he was in.

The version that reached Levi was simple and consistent: yes, Levi had been in the car when it crashed, but had been long gone when it went up in smoke. Nobody cared about that, but they did care that Levi might be blamed for torching his father’s car. What they were finally seeing, and what they did care about, was that Casey had an agenda, and everyone outside his immediate circle was starting to admit it.

By the middle of the week the atmosphere at school had changed. The smirks were still there, but they belonged to a smaller group. Most of the other kids were looking at Levi differently – not with sudden friendship, but with a kind of neutral acceptance that felt new to Levi.

He found Casey near the bike racks after the final bell on Wednesday, while he had been waiting for Jimmy and Dan. Dylan and Jarrad were with him, as usual. Levi hadn’t planned the confrontation. He simply stopped walking when he found them; standing a short distance away, unnoticed until he finally spoke.

‘Was it you who torched the car?’

Casey turned slowly. The usual half-smile flickered, then steadied.

‘People here at school have finally named you. And the cops have also been asking about you,’ Levi continued. His voice stayed level. ‘Everyone is now saying you were seen near the crash that night. Around the time it went up. Seems you’re the one whose name is on everyone’s lips now . . . not mine.’

Casey eyed him for a long second. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Yeah, you do.’

Something reckless moved behind Casey’s expression. He glanced at his two friends, then back at Levi.

‘And so what if I did?’ he eventually said. ‘Like I already told you . . . there’s no evidence now, is there?’

The urge to hit him rose so fast and hard that Levi’s hands curled into fists at his sides. He forced them open again. Hitting Casey would solve nothing and would hand the school, and possibly the police, exactly the story they didn’t need.

‘You’ll get what’s coming to you,’ Levi finally said, through gritted teeth.

Casey laughed, short and sharp. ‘From who? You and your fag friends?’

Levi felt the old heat rise, but this time it came out clean.

‘Pot, kettle, black, Casey.’

‘What the fuck is that supposed to mean?’

‘It means who’s the real fag around here? Who’s the one who likes having sex with other guys in public?’ He looked past Casey to Dylan and Jarrad. ‘And I suppose the two of you are fucking each other as well? Or is he the one fucking you both?’

Casey’s face went dark. He drew his fist back, and for a split second the punch was coming, but Dylan grabbed his arm and hauled him backwards.

‘Don’t!’ Dylan hissed. ‘You’ll only make it worse. You don’t want another thing like what happened with Steven hanging over your head.’

Casey snarled something under his breath, but he let himself be pulled away. The three of them disappeared around the corner of the building.

Levi stood alone by the bike racks, heart slamming against his ribs. The name sat inside his head.

Steven!

Steven who?

That afternoon, on their way to the beach, bags slung over shoulders, he asked Jimmy and Dan if they knew the name. When Levi repeated Dylan’s words both of them looked blank.

‘Never heard of any Steven,’ Jimmy said.

Dan shook his head. ‘Not from around here. Or if he was, it was before us.’

‘Are you sure that’s what they said?’ asked Jimmy.

‘Yeah. I am.’

They talked about it some more as they sat on the sand, watching some surfers, but nothing came to either of his friends; no memories were jogged. The mystery stayed unresolved, but Levi filed it away with all the other unfinished things he had been hearing in this town. Someone would know.

***

Work with Zack remained the steady part of Levi’s weeks, with the pair of them falling into an easy rhythm after school and on weekends, as the need arose. With the trailer loaded, mowers fuelled, and the quiet satisfaction of clean lines being cut across other people’s lawns, Levi was glad to have found something to focus on.

Zack didn’t ask many questions about school – or anything else – and Levi didn’t really offer many either. The partnership itself was enough, working quietly side by side, each seemingly having an innate understanding of the other. They didn’t need to talk while working, and usually, by the time they packed up each afternoon the worst of the day’s static had usually drained out of them both.

It was during one of these afternoons that Levi learned that Callum had moved on.

They were finishing the grounds at the centre, and while bringing them water, the live-in carer mentioned it in passing. Social workers had located an aunt in another town who was willing to take him, and so Callum had left two days earlier, with a small bag and a chance at starting over.

Jamie was still there though. And now he was alone.

Levi saw him sitting on the back steps, knees drawn up, watching the trailer being loaded. The younger boy lifted a hand in a small wave. Something in the gesture felt more exposed than before. Levi waved back, and then he walked over and sat down beside the boy.

They spoke for a few minutes, before Zack indicated they needed to leave, and then after a quick hug Levi walked over to the work ute and climbed in.

On the drive home Levi said, ‘Callum’s gone.’

Zack nodded. ‘Yeah, it happens a lot. Most of them only stay long enough for the social workers to find someone else to take them, or somewhere else where they can go to. Jamie’s been harder though. Not many options left.’

Levi stared out the window for a long time as the coastal country flashed by.

He mentioned it at home that night, carefully, while Matt was stretched on the couch with his leg still elevated and Luke was making coffees after dinner.

‘Jamie’s still at the centre,’ he said. ‘Callum left. They found him an aunt or something. Jamie doesn’t have anyone like that.’

Matt looked over. Luke paused with the kettle.

‘He’s only thirteen,’ Levi added. ‘Doesn’t have many friends. Just . . . stays there.’

No one answered immediately. The idea sat in the room without being pushed in any direction.

Over the next few days it kept surfacing. Levi brought it up again after a weekend visit to the centre. Then again while they were eating dinner. He didn’t demand anything. He simply kept the reality of Jamie’s situation visible.

It was Levi who finally said the practical sentence.

‘What if he came here some weekends? Just to start. Give him somewhere normal to go. Could we do that?’

Matt and Luke exchanged a long look. The conversations that followed over the following days was quiet and careful. Matt and Luke spoke with Tony. Tony spoke with the youth workers and the relevant case manager. There were forms, checks, conversations about boundaries and support. Nothing moved quickly.

But it did move.

The first weekend stay was arranged for a fortnight later. Jamie would come Friday afternoon and leave Sunday afternoon. Avalon would be a trial placement – ordinary meals, a bed that wasn’t in a hostel, ordinary conversations.

When the weekend arrived, Jamie was quieter than he had been at the beach bonfire. He carried a small backpack and looked around the house as if measuring exits. Levi showed him his bedroom, and the fold-out bed that had been added for him. Matt did his best to keep things light. Luke made sure there was always food within easy reach.

Saturday morning involved a trip into town, with Levi and Jamie wandering around the lake foreshore, while also spending some of their time on the water, pedalling a floating trike around the lake. By lunchtime, any stiffness had begun to ease, their friendship, which had begun at Bayview, was beginning to firm. After lunch with Matt and Luke at the café on Main Street, they then walked to the lighthouse, where they used the telescope to check out the town, and the passing boats on the water, before eventually walking down to Hidden Beach, then back to the house. In the evening they watched a movie and Jamie fell asleep halfway through, curled in the corner of the couch. No one woke him.

On Sunday, before Tony came to collect him, Levi found Jamie sitting on the back step looking at the scrub between the house and Hidden Bay; where you could sometimes catch glimpses of the water if you looked closely enough.

‘You can come again,’ Levi said. ‘If you want. I spoke to Matt and Luke about it.’

Jamie nodded without looking at him. ‘Yeah. I think I’d like that.’

After the car pulled away, Levi stood in the driveway for a few moments watching it, until it went around the bend in the road. The idea that had started as a passing mention was beginning to look like something more solid. He could already feel the next suggestion forming – that weekends might not be enough, that a real foster placement might be possible if everyone kept moving carefully in the same direction.

He didn’t say it out loud yet. But the shape of it was there, and eventually it would be brought out into the open.

***

That night, lying in bed, the two threads of the recent weeks lay side by side in his mind.

Jamie, thirteen years old, with almost no one, was beginning to take up a small careful space in the world of Levi and his dads. While Casey was also still present and dangerous, and capable of damage. There was also the added weight of his history, of what had happened between him and Levi, and others before him, like that boy Steven – whoever he was.

Levi understood, with a clarity that surprised him, that one of those things was the one he wanted to build upon. The other, he would simply have to survive.

He turned over, closed his eyes, then let the ordinary sounds of the house, and the distant waves, settle around him and carry him off to a land where things were far less complicated.

***

At lunchtime the following day the boys were once again graced with the presence of Brooke, who was still hanging around when it suited her. They were on the far bench at lunch when Levi decided to ask her if she knew anything about Casey and some kid named Steven?

‘Duh!’ was her reply. ‘Why do you think I was trying so hard to warn you about Casey?’

‘So, are you going to fill us in?’ asked Jimmy. ‘ We’ve got no idea what it’s all about.’

Brooke thought for a few moments, turning her bottle of water slowly in her hands. ‘I don’t think the complete details were ever made known, but there were enough stories that went around that we were able to piece together the details.’

Dan frowned. ‘What stories? What details?’

‘It was a few years ago, well before Levi arrived and before any of us were hanging out. We might have been in year seven, so Casey was maybe a year older. There was a kid called Steven. Quiet. Kept to himself. His family hadn’t long moved here when Casey got fixed on him the same way he got fixed on you, Levi. Started with attention. Little comments. Trying to get him alone.’

Levi felt his stomach tighten.

Brooke kept her eyes on the bottle. ‘It didn’t stay at that. From what filtered out afterwards, it went a lot further than anyone first realised. There was an assault . . . an attempted sexual assault that also led to a bashing . . . at least until Steven submitted. It was off school grounds, but there were witnesses . . . other boys laughing as Casey did whatever he did. It was serious enough that Steven’s family packed up and left town not long after. They didn’t want him anywhere near Casey, or anyone with the Thompson name, and they didn’t want the whole thing dragged through the town.’

Jimmy sat forward. ‘Are you serious?’

‘As far as the school could prove, the only part that happened on school property was the bullying leading up to it. So Casey got suspended for that. Everything else was outside their reach. The police were involved, but nothing public ever came of it. Just whispers around town. I remember hearing my parents talking about it. Over time people pieced bits together – who saw them leave a party, who heard Steven was hurt, who noticed the family disappear. Nobody ever got the full official version. But enough of the picture formed that some of the older kids still talk about it if his name comes up.’

Dan looked faintly sick. ‘And Casey just . . . kept going to school here?’

‘After the suspension, yeah. His family has enough pull that things got smoothed over. Steven was gone. No witnesses willing to stand up once the family left. So it sank into the background. At least until Dylan opened his mouth the other day.’

Levi stared at the ground between his feet. The pattern was sickeningly familiar – the fixation, the pressure, the way Casey tested how far he could go. Only with Steven it had gone further. And Casey learned that the consequences could be survived, so that meant it could be repeatable.

How many others were there, Levi wondered.

‘So that’s why Dylan stopped him,’ Jimmy said quietly. ‘He didn’t want another Steven situation landing on them.’

Brooke nodded. ‘Yeah. I think a few of them still remember how close it came to blowing everything wide open last time.’

No one spoke for a while. The usual noise of the playground felt distant. Levi could still hear Casey’s voice from the bike racks – What if I did? – and the casual way he had said it. Like doing anything wrong was easy. Like it was something that could happen every day. The success of what had happened with Steven had clearly taught him something. It had taught him he could get away with it.

Dan broke the silence, voice low. ‘He’s worse than we thought.’

‘Well, he’s worse than you guys thought. I already knew the story, which is why I tried warning you all,’ said Brooke.

Levi said nothing. He was thinking about Jamie, about the careful way the younger boy was starting to trust people again, and about how close he himself had come to becoming another name that only got spoken in careful, disgusted whispers years later.

The four of them sat there until the bell went, the weight of the old story settling over them like something that had been waiting for the right moment to surface.

To be continued . . .