Chapter Four

Chapter 4

 

‘What the hell? Why are you sitting out in the rain?’ Becky’s voice made Lili look up, and she wiped her wet fringe from her face.

‘Holy pie! Are you okay?’ Becky sounded worried, and came over to sit beside Lili.

‘Uh, no, I'm fine. Why aren’t you in English?’ Lili asked, changing the subject.

‘Oh no you don’t. What’s wrong �" and don’t say nothing, your red eyes and cheeks tell me your lying.’ With a sigh, Lili told her everything that had happened. By the end of it, Becky’s jaw was practically on the ground. She sat there staring at Lili for several seconds.

‘Are you trying to eat flies or something? Close your mouth and answer me, woman!’ Lili looked at her friend, her eyes pleading, begging for some kind of answer.

‘Am I insane?’ Lili asked, looking to the ground.

‘No.’ Becky replied.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, I’m sure.’

‘Okay…’ Lili began, but the sound of footsteps in puddles distracted her. She turned to find Gabe, walking towards them, a questioning smile on his face. Lili scowled, and turned away from him, as Becky jumped up.

‘Gabe! What are you doing here?’ she asked, her voice high with delight. She bounded over to him, leaving Lili sulking on the floor.

There was nothing bad about Gabe at all. He was the golden boy, did whatever he was told and was nice to everyone, and was definitely loved by the teachers.

Where everyone else found him amazing, Lili just thought he was annoying. It wouldn’t kill him to be bad for once. Be a bit more fun.  He had a bad habit of protecting Lili when she didn’t need protecting, and stopping her when she was having fun.

But most of all, he had a habit of stealing Becky.

‘So Goldie, why aren’t you in school? Is Mr Golden Boy breaking the rules for once?’ Lili asked, her voice heavy with sarcasm. Gabe looked at her and laughed, turning his attention back to Becky. He lowered his voice so only she could hear, and Lili stood up and walked over to them. She reached them just as Becky let out a little giggle, her cheeks a bright red.

‘Hope I’m not interrupting.  So, Gabe, why are you here?’ Lili asked, standing in the middle of the pair. Before he answered, Becky gave her an evil look, warning her to “shut the hell up”.

‘Its lunch, and I have a free lesson next. Thought I’d see where little Becky ran off to.’ He gave Becky one of his huge smiles, and winked at her. Lili turned to look at Becky. She looked like a cross between the Cheshire Cat and a tomato.

‘Well, she’s right here.’ Lili spoke to Becky next. ‘And I suppose I’ll leave you with your friend while I go and solve my own problems. Who needs friends?’ Gabe looked confused, and Becky gave her a pleading look, which clearly said ‘please, let me stay. We’ll talk later.’ Lili sighed, nodded, and walked off.

Looking back at the two of them, she found Becky looking down at the floor, and Gabe with a huge smile on his face.

No matter how down she was, it always made Lili smile to see how easily her friend was embarrassed.

And then she remembered what had happened only minutes before.

Shivers crawled up her spine, and she hugged her arms to her chest. Looking away from her friend and Gabe, she headed down the street, away from the woods. She kept her eyes wide, looking everywhere for a cloaked, hooded figure. The feeling in the pit of her stomach eased a little after a few minutes �" after nothing had jumped out and ate her �" and she turned, and found Gabe and Becky were gone.

Lili was curious as to where her friend had run off to. Was she still with Gabe? If she was, what were they doing? Pulling out her phone, she stared at the screen for several moments, cupping her hand over the screen in an attempt to shield it from the rain. After much deliberation, she decided to leave Becky in peace �" the girl deserved to have some fun, and Gabe wouldn’t hurt her.

Putting her phone away and hugging her arms to her chest, Lili trudged on, her feet barely lifting off the ground, her eyes alert looking for anything dangerous or unusual.

The houses around her were scarce, only one every twenty paces. They were spread out, and all were manor houses. Lili had no idea of when they were first built, but just one glance would tell you that they were old. The woods kept the houses even more private �" cut off from the rest of Gravesville. Wounded Sky Comprehensive was just three streets away from Lili’s home. The house neighbouring Lili’s was the only empty manor house in the whole of Gravesville, and had been that way for many years �" long before Lili had moved up from London.

Stopping, Lili realised she was meant to be at school. After slowly spinning in circles a few times, she decided to go home and lock the doors. She’d ring Becky a few minutes after she was inside, and ask her to come over. She ran through Becky’s time table �" what she knew of it, anyway �" and remembered that she also had a free lesson next.

So, Becky and Gabe would be together for a while. Lili wanted Becky to be happy �" after all, the girl was her best friend �" but she wished she wasn’t happy with Gabe. Any other guy would’ve been better; even the local bad-boy Chase.

Chase and Lili went way back �" further back than her and Becky. They’d met each other in London, when Chase was on holiday with his family. Both Lili and Chase were in the same Pod on the London Eye, and were both laughing at The Mystery Machine parked near the entrance. After that, they just clicked. They kept in contact, and it was pure coincidence that Lili’s mum had chosen to move to Gravesville. Her dad’s managed to get a local job, but after his promotion he was rarely home. He was often off in foreign countries, doing business and holding meetings. Her mum had a job at the local store, and Lili would often go and see her after school for a while.

Thinking about it, Lili couldn’t imagine Becky and Chase ever being friends.

In fact, they were total opposites. Most people would tell her that ‘opposites attract’, but Lili had always believed that having nothing in common with someone usually just meant many arguments and conflict.

Sighing, she turned the corner and began walking down her street. She passed Chase’s house, and waved at Miss Rain as she passed. Miss Rain smiled and nodded, scrubbing at a china plate over the kitchen sink.

Lili walked on, her Doc Martins splashing in several puddles as she went. Walking up the drive, she pulled off her bag and began to rake for her keys. When she got to the door, she found herself frozen in mid-stride.

The front door was ajar.