Chapter Three

The redhead girl hadn't even thought to utter a reply. I strutted along to make it home before it went completely dark. The half-moon was already shining weakly in the late afternoon sky and it wasn't exactly chilly but it wasn't exactly warm either. I took long strides to quicken the pace along the sidewalk. The house loomed into view not very long after and I jogged towards it just as the first sign of darkness was about to show. My short legs quickened the pace going up the driveway and onto the porch before bursting into the house. I hadn't spotted Helen's car which meant she wasn't home as yet.

The house smelled highly of cheese pizza and beer and there was no sign of anyone inside either. I took the stairs two steps at a time to get to my bedroom which took more energy and effort to leap considering I wasn't very tall.

A little out of breath and slightly wheezing, I stopped to catch my breath at the top of the staircase, ignoring the stiffness in my leg muscles. There was still no sign of Adam anywhere. The house was in complete silence. He had probably left after I had gone to the park, but that doesn't explain the food smell coming from the kitchen. Finally, I had the house all to myself, this day just kept spitting out more and more surprises. I sauntered towards my room feeling thrilled, my heart still thumping from exhaustion.

I stopped outside the bedroom door in the quiet hallway. No sound came from Adam's room. I didn't have time to care if he was still alive or not. I was shocked to see that my bedroom door had been refurbished already. That was quick, and I thought I would have to wait another couple of days before it was fixed. Content and quite relieved, a grin stretched it's way across my face from ear to ear. I reached out my arm and gripped the doorknob turning it before pushing the door forward and it swung open on its hinges. The doorknob slipped from my loose clutch and the wooden door collapsed to the floor with a loud bang.

I gaped at it shocked and frozen in place.

"Ba ha ha ha ha!"

My eyes flickered towards the guffaws of two boys howling with laughter. Brett's cell phone was trained on me while he laughed, and Adam was next to him howling. I stood frozen with a look of complete disbelief on my face. These morons had been hiding out in my bedroom doing God knows what; waiting for me to arrive home to open the door so they could video my reaction as I  watch my bedroom door tumble to the ground before my eyes once more?

Adam the idiot did it again!

"You two better get out of my room or so help me God!"

I clenched my teeth and a burst of anger surged in my chest.

Grinning, and still videoing they hurriedly left the room before either of them could feel the full extension of my wrath.

Immature monkeys.

I would have slammed the room door only it was now on the floor. Infuriated I stepped on the door and stomped across the room before locking myself in the bathroom. I turned the tap on and splashed my face with cold water, trying to alleviate the resentment towards Adam and quite frankly everyone I've come across today.

I pulled off my jacket and shirt then my shoes and pants and finally my undergarments before stepping into the shower. The smell of bubblegum shampoo and body wash was enough to take my mind off of how upset I was. I stood transfixed under the shower just letting the warm water run down my face and body for a couple of minutes. Using a giant towel, I wrapped myself into it like a sushi roll before drying my dampened ombre honey gold and dark brown hair.

I walked back out into my bedroom while Adam's voice seeped up the stairs coming from the sitting room on the ground floor. I scoffed at Brett's hoarse laugh which was the epitome of irksome. Walking into the closet I grabbed a pair of baggy shorts and a tee-shirt, throwing them on after I had pulled on clean undergarments. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and scoffed at my baggy sleep-deprived eyes and matted hair. I got out a brush and pulled my hair into a high ponytail using a hair tie to secure it into place before using another to wrap the gold ponytail ends into a bun.

Stepping on the door on the way out, I headed down the hall and downstairs. Adam and Brett were in the sitting room as I had thought and I ignored them entering the kitchen. A steamy box of pizza was on the kitchen countertop. I was ravenous for not eating anything all day and the food was the only thing on my mind right now. I hurried through the kitchen grabbing a plate to put the pizza slices on along with a glass of the orange juice which I got from the fridge. I recklessly dropped them on the countertop and pulled the pizza box towards me throwing the lid open.

What the...?

I slammed the lid shut squashing the pizza inside then chucked it into the bin. That piece of human waste had taken a bite from every single slice.

Who's laughing now Adam? Now it's no one's pizza.

I quickly headed back up the stairs to get the cellphone that I had left in the pocket of my jeans. I dialled the Chinese place close by and ordered chicken chow mein then dashed back down to await the delivery and hoping I wouldn't die from starvation before they arrived with it a year later. Curled up on the living room couch, I fussed with each passing minute, and almost ten minutes had passed before the food had arrived.

Ding Dong!

I hopped on the couch almost losing my bed slipper in the process. Adam and Brett stared at me and I just ignored them walking to the door.

"You took your time didn't you..." I hissed at the delivery guy who was waiting outside.

My eyes met his and he looked taken aback by my abruptness. I paused, staring at the tall dark-haired boy standing in front of me. His mouth formed a visible 'O' as one hand stretched forward handing the bag of Chinese food to me.

"Here," I say handing him the cash, "keep the change."

He gave me a half nod then cleared his throat.

"Enjoy your meal, um Miss," he muttered as I took the bag and he pushed the cash into his fanny pack and turned to head back down the driveway.

I stood frozen in the doorway, watching him walk in his yellow shirt that was his uniforms. Only once did he look over his shoulder back at me while my eyes remained glued to his back. He scratched the back of his head and tucked one hand into the pocket of his khakis before getting behind the steering wheel of a car.

He was a bit decent on the eyes that's why I couldn't stop staring even after the car had gone. Oddly enough he looked a bit off. Or was it just the fact that he resembled that moron from earlier with his dark hair and mysterious green eyes.

Not that I cared much.

"Seen the UFO that's gonna bring you back home?"

I turned and came face to face with Adam standing at the door.

"Believe me if I did, I would gladly hitch a ride."

I stomped past him, knocking his arm with my shoulder because I wasn't as tall as he was then I walked back to the couch. The door slammed shut then Adam came strolling back to the couch.

Brett was staring at me as if he had seen a ghost.

I hissed at him, "why don't you just move in already?"

He gave me a nasty look and I rolled my eyes before collecting the food from the bag and digging in.

If I had waited another second I would have definitely died from starvation. Adam pressed play and the television screen lit up. I almost choked when I realized what they were watching.

Again I let out another hiss and held the box of Chinese food in my clutches before storming out of the sitting room to finish eating in my bedroom.

                                                                      👑

"Secret! Get your ass out of bed now!"

The shout came piercing through my early morning slumber and I groaned loudly into the pillow refusing to get up.

"Secret! Out of bed or I'll drag you out myself!"

I ignored Helen's shouts and continued sleeping making sure to add some fake snores each one getting louder. Bony hands gripped my ankles and my body was being dragged from the bed. I clutched the sheets and pillow dragging it along with me, in a couple of seconds, the bed would disappear from beneath my body.

"Arghh!"

My five feet four inches tiny feminine body collapsed to the ground with a thud, along with the sheets and pillow.

"Get up!" Helen yells at me sprawled out on the bedroom floor.

I grimaced sitting upright as aches and pains shot throughout my body feeling as if I was being pricked by a million needles.

"Do you ever knock?" I mutter with a tired hoarse voice, rubbing my aching elbows desperately trying to ease the pain.

"I did. I stepped on the door on the way in."

I pouted looking pass her to where the door was supposed to be. I had successfully managed to erect it back in place after many failed attempts, finally succeeding at the brink of giving up. Now the door was lying on my bedroom floor once more.

Helen eyed me suspiciously reading my facial expression and body language. At the moment it screamed the obvious fact that I was going to kill that son of a bitch.

"Downstairs in an hour or you're walking missy," she hisses and with that, she turned and left the room.

"Is that how they taught you to say 'good morning'?" I call out to her.

"What's so good about the morning?!" She replies pissed.

I chuckled and got up walking to the bathroom. After a quick shower, I threw on some denim and a tee-shirt that hid anything that was remotely feminine about my body. I quickly redid my bun and headed down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Two pieces of buttered toast with orange juice and an apple was waiting for me. I ate alone quietly then washed the toast down with some more juice. The clock read 10:30 AM as I left the kitchen to go grab my cellphone and satchel.

Just as I was leaving my bedroom I glimpsed a human form moving around through my opaque bedroom window curtains. I walked over to the window and shifted the curtains slightly. The window next door was wide open allowing me to see the person walking around in the room. It was the neighbour's son, Emmett, who was not wearing a shirt as usual.

Quietly I peered at him through the window, discreetly managing to slip the curtains fully open. The open curtains allowed me to spy on the muscular nineteen-year-old sex machine that was pacing around his room with a black headset hanging over his ears. I gripped the cellphone in my hand, watching him as he stared down at his own cellphone. Trying not to be caught lurking, I tapped the phone screen then raised the cellphone about an inch above the window frame to get a good view then quietly snapped a photo.

The flash of light from the camera glistened and his head snapped in my direction almost immediately. I threw myself to the floor in an attempt to hide despite being certain he'd seen me so hiding was useless. After a minute I raised my head an inch and saw him staring through his window into my bedroom.

I ducked my head and slumped back to the floors. I could tell he was moving closer to his window without even looking.

"You know I can see your hair right?"

"Crap..."

I had forgotten about my bun that had probably given it all away. I got up slowly, mindful to leave the cellphone on the floor then turned to face him.

"Hey...Emmett," I call awkwardly.

My brain scoffed at how completely stupid and ridiculous my heart was making me feel considering I had a crush on the guy. Worst of all I couldn't even have a decent conversation with him without acting the way other girls do.

"Eh what's your name again?" he asks taking a seat on his bedroom windowsill.

Both his arms folded behind his head showing off his impressive set of abdominal muscles and his bulging biceps and triceps. In a bid to act as normal as possible, I did the same hopping up onto the windowsill in my bedroom, sitting comfortably and looking over at him.

"I can't tell you it's a secret."

He cracked a smile, "Secret, right."

I too cracked a smile at the sight of his dimpled cheeks before looking down at my own hands that were lying in my lap.

"Hey wanna hang out sometimes?" He asked looking across at me.

"Only if you want to." I shrugged before remembering the cellphone lying on my bedroom floor, still hoping Emmett hadn't realized I was snapping photos of him from my bedroom.

"We should," He replies which pulled me out of my daze a bit.

There was silence between us for a second. 

"Um, I was just wondering..." I began to say before his mother's voice came ringing through the air like a tune.

"Emmett, can you come down here for a minute?!" She had yelled.

With his stare still trained on me from his windowsill, he waited for me to finish what I was about to say, but I only grimaced and shook my head.

"Guess I'll talk to you later Secret," he says and my name rolled off of his tongue like something Beethoven would have written.

I nodded and watched as he left his bedroom shirtless. Only after the door closed behind him did I hop down from my seat and grabbed the cellphone from the floor. On the screen was the picture I had managed to snap of Emmett. I smirked at my triumph.

I bet he didn't even notice that time either.