Chasing the Browns

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

‘I love you,’ he whispered, his lips tickling my ear.

Eyes widening, I shrunk back. My mouth dropped but nothing came out. A warm feeling washed over me as he reached out for my hands, lacing his fingers in mine.

He smiled his signature smile. ‘Don’t look so surprised,’ he said, lifting our hands and tilting up my chin so our faces were a hair’s breadth away from each other. ‘I know you love me, too.’

I didn’t know what was faster, the rate of my breathing or that of my heart. I couldn’t help but smile a little, and I pulled him close, wrapping my arms around him.

‘Yeah,’ I said with a little laugh. ‘I love you, too, Nicholas.’

Then I woke up from the dream, surprised to find myself whispering his name into the dark.

I was alone.

It was dark, I was at home, and I was alone. I wasn’t in his arms anymore. It had all just been a dream.

But it had felt so real.

*

Two weeks had passed and it was the day of the auditions for the open mic competition. Rehearsals for Oliver Twist were cancelled for today, because the Drama Studio was needed for the auditions. Poppy had dragged me over to help the teachers and school council board set up. I didn’t bother stopping her; I’d gotten used to her taking me places seeing as my social life was declining.

All day I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the dream. Sure, I’d always felt something when with Nick – for some reason, whenever I was with him, I always got so nervous – but it wasn’t love. Plus, he wasn’t in love with me; he was in love with Rita.

They’d gotten considerably closer over the past few weeks. It hurt me to watch how much she liked him, and yet when he was with her he showed close to no interest, which made no sense considering he was supposed to be the one with crazy feelings for her. Sometimes it was different, though. Sometimes, when I walked down the corridor, he’d suddenly pull her close or hold her hand, like he was trying to taunt me.

It wasn’t working.

But there was always a twinge of hurt.

It confused me, though. Why was I dreaming about him – about him and I confessing our supposed love to each other – when he hated me and I hated him?

Maybe you do love him.

Ridiculous. If anything, the feelings I had for Jack were closer to love than the ones I had for Nick. I had no mercy for the boy. I’d been avoiding him ever since he’d shoved me against the wall and held me by the throat.

‘Hey,’ Poppy said, ‘can you help me set up the chairs?’

I walked over, still submerged in my thoughts.

Since the note I’d found in Angel’s hands two weeks ago, I’d been keeping such a close eye during rehearsals that my eyes were practically glued to her. Nothing had happened, though. I was prepared to let my guard down, but last time I’d done that, she’d disappeared and I’d found her behind the stage.

No, she hadn’t disappeared. The stage was too far away for her to have crawled; someone had definitely put her there.

But, who?

‘Lea! Don’t just stand there like a goon. Help me!’ Poppy took my arm and pulled me over to help with the chairs.

The seats in the Drama Studio were cinema-style. You had to pull the whole block of seats out first before setting up each row, making sure each seat was up properly. If you pulled them out wrong, they could collapse or something. Well, that’s what Mrs Jenson had said when she’d granted the school council permission to have their auditions in there, but I thought it was just to scare them into being organised.