Puppeteer

Eight.

Yeshua and Jael walk inside the classroom. Instantly, I keep my guard up. Yeshua and Jael don't even have this class now.

I turn. Andryc Kaniel is gone, vanished.

I think to what he has just said before leaving. Was it only a dream?

They know something. Or at least, they know I know something.

"Do the both of you . . . um . . . have this class now?"

"Yes. You don't."

I think a bit and realize I just walked in here to finish an assignment.

"Right . . . yeah."

I pack up to leave. "Hey, you guys would like to grab a burger later, right?"

"I'm volunteering at the senior center," Jael immediately dismisses me.

I look hopefully at Yeshua. "You?"

"I have detention." Yeshua says.

"You do?"

"Yes."

But I know that he is lying. My best friends think I'm a dumbass. And my dumbass should be way more cautious around them.

Sighing, I leave to my first class and wait for the math teacher. I'll probably turn in my work at the end of the class.

An orchid note that has been slipped into my notebook reads "see you later."

I hope I do have reason to even trust this Andryc  Kaniel guy.

Barbie takes the seat right beside me.
"Hey, Willie."

I try my best not to throw my frustration at her.

"So . . . I'm thinking of getting something for Yeshua. You know, with his whole birthday coming up next week and stuff."

"What?!" I exclaim.

I instantly take out my phone and check the calendar. I totally did not remember that.

"Anyways, what's his favourite colour?" Barbie asks, looking me intently.

I smirk, "His favourite colour? It's white."

She writes it down somewhere and smiles dreamily.

Barbie irritates me with questions I give intentionally inaccurate answers to throughout Math class.

The rest of my classes make me feel like I want to kill myself and at the end of school, I realize I don't have a ride home because something is going on between me and my besties.

I stop by at Downie's and get a burger alone. I feel so down.

I go home and sit down at the kitchen counter. My phone rests on the counter and I contemplate texting Jael.

I pick it up and start . . . then someone takes it out of my hand and deletes what I've already started.

"The frigg?"

"Don't worry it's me." It's Andryc.

My heart instantly leaps out of my chest. Who is this guy and how did he enter my house? My parents aren't around and that is even more cause to worry. Plus, he's been sending me weird notes, and stalking me. Of course, I have the upper hand here. The stalker-slash-potential rapist has attempted to corner me in my house, in my kitchen!

I pirouette to one of the cabinets in a way I never knew I could, and slide a knife out of it.

"You said you were one of Barbie's friends right? You go to our school?"
"Please would you just calm down?!" He gestures for me to calm down in a whisper-shout.
"Why have you been following me?" My thinking goes back to Poppy. "You ... you work with Poppy? Why have you been stalking me then?"