The Girl Who Sold Herself on Ebay

[29] Denim and Decisions

still more to come (: 

----------------------------------------------

C H A P T E R   T W E N T Y - N I N E

❤

It wasn’t until I woke up the next morning that my familiarity with the name ‘perry’ began to dawn on me. A wave of nausea began to churn in my body and I found myself swallowing back what felt like a foreboding upchuck rising in my throat. The name made me cringe and I wanted to punch myself in the boob for not asking Jasper for I.D sooner. I was an idiot waltzing up to his apartment (oh, I mean Mr and Mrs Stanford’s apartment) and believing every word he said like some gullible kid accepting candy from a guy in a creepy van.

          I sat up in bed and sucked in a deep breath, trying to slow down all the thoughts that were whizzing around my brain. I felt dizzy and the nauseating feeling in my stomach seemed relentless, but I managed to calm myself down.

          “Okay,” I said to myself, out loud, but keeping my voice at a hushed whisper, “so far, you know that Ethan Perry and Eli Perry are related. You know this is not Ethan’s apartment, and you know that both Eli and Ethan are involved in this pink post-it note thing. Jaime has answers, but you don’t know how much she knows and if she’s taking part in the note thing too. There’s a party tonight, that Eli, Jasper, Katie, Jeddah, Sydney and you are invited to. I assume that it’s at that party that you’ll find all the answers. But whether you want to go or not is another story.” I froze for a moment, staring intently at the wall while trying to make a hasty decision about what I was going to do   next.

                    1.       Stay here and look for more answers, then go to the party

                    2.       Go home and forget it all happened

           Me being the wimp I am chose the latter.

          I slid from my bed and flopped to the floor, beginning to scoop up random pieces of clothing, mostly old tanks and denim shorts. I bundled them in my arms before dumping them messily into onto my bag and scrunching everything down as tightly as it would go. I tossed in my cosmetics too, probably bursting tubes of moisturiser and covering my clothes in oily goo, but I didn’t have enough time to pack in everything neatly. Besides, I’d arrived as Candace, all my clothes were cheap so it wasn’t like I was going to be staining or creasing any Versace dresses.

          I didn’t even bother sifting through the wardrobe or grabbing anything I’d left in the bathroom, nothing besides my electronics or phone had any sentimental value to me at all. However I did quickly scope the underneath of the bed, and found Jasper’s wallet and Chase’s cellphone which I’d left sitting on the floor. I put them temporarily on the dresser, before quickly slipping into some denim shorts and a t-shirt. Even though my hair was so oily you could have deep fried some taties* and my face was breaking out in clusters of blackheads, I forfeited my shower to getting the heck out of there.  I knew I had to be fast too, it was 7:45 which meant Ethan would be up any minute and in the kitchen making marmite toast with extra butter –just how he liked it. So with a hefty tug I managed to zip up my bulbous bag and wheel it to the door, where I pressed my ear against the surface and listened. Besides the faint whoosh of a car passing by outside all was silent, so carefully and gently, I pulled open the door. I winced as it creaked, but thankfully everything stayed silent around the apartment.  

          Slowly, I wheeled my bag through the door before pulling it closed behind me –only to realise I’d left Ethan’s wallet and Chase’s cellphone on the dresser.  I don’t know why I was so attached to Ethan’s wallet, but I needed it. It gave me proof of his identity, proof that he lied, and proof that I could hold against him –surely it would come useful at some point. And Chase’s phone was locked so it wasn’t much use, but I wanted it anyway. So, leaving my bag at the door, I darted desperately and quickly back into the room and grabbed it, shoving it into my pocket with my phone. When I returned to the door seconds later, my bag was gone.