The Girl Who Sold Herself on Ebay

[17] Secrets and Strawberries

Okay, a shorter chapter this time (: but don't overlook it.. cause it's probably the most meaningfull and important chapter so far. If you want to be an amazing person after reading and complete the little questionnaire thing at the bottom please do :) And someone requested more of Jaimie, so here she is! :D

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C H A P T E R   S E V E N T E E N

❤

“How is he?”

          I swear I jumped high enough with fright to hit my head on the ceiling.

          “Jaimie!” I gasped, closing the door behind me, “I didn’t see you standing there.” Jaimie did walk around like a shadow, but usually she wasn't a Waldo to find in her bright skinny jeans, thick makeup and band tees. 

          “Well I saw you,” she replied, a piece of minty gum squelching between her teeth, “checking up on your boyfriend.” 

           “He’s not my boyfriend,” I argued, pretending to rub my cheek in an attempt to hide the obvious rosy blush that was creeping up my neck.

          “Sure,” she said quietly, smirking at the floor.

          “Err, anyway,” I muttered quickly trying to change the subject and hide my growing embarrassment, turning to walk down the hallway, “do you know the number for Jasper’s work? I need to call him in sick.” I scooped up the phone, my finger poised above the glowing buttons. Jaimie wandered over to the mirror hanging by the table in the dining room, proceeding to tease the top layers of her fiery red hair.

          “The ice cream parlour?” She questioned, taking a sip of the cup of tea she’d made earlier and placed on the table. I was blown away with how sociable she was being, like all of a sudden she’d crawled out of her shell and the whole ‘I don’t care’ air I seemed to think she carried around had been shed with it.

          “Yup,” I answered, popping the ‘p’ “it is Thursday, right?”

          Jaimie nodded placing her steaming tea back on the table, “but I don’t know the number.” She bit her lip for a second, thinking, “Jasper doesn’t tell me much.”

          I felt my eyes widen with sudden realisation. This was it; this was what I’d been waiting for. It was my chance to talk to quiet, secretive Jaimie who I once thought was only fluent in Jasper insult. I could tell she was holding back something, and it was my chance to uncover it. I was a detective and she was my mystery. Slowly, I placed the phone back on the wall hanger, before pacing over to the table with my hands behind my back.

          “What do you mean, he doesn’t tell you much?” I asked, trying to find a sweet spot in my tone of voice, not too weak, but not too pushy. I slid slyly into a seat and placed my hands in my lap.

          Jaimie sucked in a breath, fiddling with the wristband she had strapped around her wrist. “What I mean is that,” she paused, trying to find the right word, “he speaks to me like he’s trying too hard to cover up the truth.”

          I blinked. You mean… Jasper’s trying to hide something? Well excuse me, miss don’t-talk-to-me-for-a-week I think you might be the one with the secrets here. I swallowed hard, realising what I’d just thought. I was accusing Jaimie of having secrets when she didn’t even know my real name. I shifted my gaze back to Jaimie as she continued speaking, “I mean I know some things about him… but don’t you think it’s weird, Candace, that he hasn’t even paid you yet?”