The Lighter That Shone Like A Star (Story of The South) by Dan Cash Read Free Book Online Page B

journey to school talking jovially, like they used to. By the time they arrived, Max was happier than he had been for months. He had had a wonderful day with Sofia Vassallo, Light on the Landing was coming to Pipton on his sixteenth birthday, and his friends felt suddenly like his friends once more. The rumours that fell upon his ears, therefore, did not bother him.
     
    The week that followed was one of the best of Max’s life. Russell and Matthew were making more of an effort and their friendship was reverting back to how it was before, but Max suspected that it was because he was spending more time with Sofia.
    Ma x had quickly gone from being a relatively unknown boy to somewhat of a big name in school. Girls had conformed to Sofia’s opinion and decided that Max was one of the coolest and most handsome boys in Pipton. Max was sure that Anne-Alicia had not reached the same conclusion, as she usually regarded him with an icy glare, but she seemed to appreciate Matthew and Russell’s company nonetheless.
    The small group spent their rest-times relaxing on the school field, Sofia and Max hand-in-hand, Lornea with her head resting on Freddie’s lap, Anne-Alicia at Sofia’s side narrating her ScribblePad feed, and Matthew and Russell keeping more to themselves, occasionally chipping in to conversation.
    The seven had quickly found new friends in each other and the bonds had somehow strengthened between old friendships. The four boys in particular enjoyed each other’s company and often left the girls to chat while they helped make up the numbers in the multiple games of football taking place on the school field.
    It was clear to Max that Freddie would have preferred to spend every second with Lornea, as she would be leaving soon, but she urged him to go.
    He would need good friends when she’s no longer here , Max guessed.
     
    Max’s parents had also seen a significant and rapid change in their son and could not resist from telling him five times a day how happy they were for him. He was not yet a man but he had already found his woman, they told him. His dad had tried to talk to him about relationships more than once, much to Max’s embarrassment.
    “I’m not even a man yet, dad,” Max had told his father.
    “But you are soon and Sofia is already a woman. I just want you to be careful,” was his father’s reply.
    “We’ve only been together for a week, stop worrying,” he retorted, abruptly ending their conversation.
    One time, Max’s mother had tried to give him ‘the talk’, but she was even less successful as his father. Max didn’t mind, not really. He was just happy that his parents liked his girlfriend. Sofia had come for dinner one evening and after she left, Harvey and Kerry Myers declared how much they liked the young Terexian. Their son was happy and that was all they cared about.
    They had often worried that he was too shy or didn’t have many friends, but things were rapidly changing: Max was almost a man and he no longer felt like a boy.
     
    It was just over a week until Max’s coming of age and he could not have been more excited. Getting tickets to the Light on the Landing gig proved to be easier than he could have imagined. He and Sofia were in Jill’s café one evening after school, their revision notes untouched on their table when the owner approached them.
    If Max had to guess, he would have said Jill was mid-fifties. In truth, she was much older but she had aged gracefully. It was obvious that she was once extremely attractive, with her translucent ocean-blue eyes and long blonde hair, which Max assumed, once again incorrectly, that she dyed regularly.
    Jill told the couple that the boys from Light on the Landing had sent her four tickets to see their show because she had often let them play in her café to a small crowd, and had served them much cyder before they had all even become men.
    She would go with Mary, the other lady who worked in the café, but had no use for the