Payback? H.S.

Chapter 1

Unedited

When I started driving, I knew I wasn't the best, but I never thought I was this bad. Currently, I am standing on a stranger's porch waiting for them to come home so I can let them know that, yes, it was in fact me who drove through their garage door. But that makes me sound so irresponsible- let me explain...

Today started out off like any other day, I woke up, ate breakfast, got in my car and drove to school. Except it was the first day of school, a new school, I might add.

I just moved here to Illinois, all the way from California. I spent The entire weekend unpacking boxes for my new house. We didn't even have time to meet the neighbors, but my dad tells me that there's a boy who lives across the street who's my age- how fun.

My first day of school went as expected, I spent the entires day listening to teachers talk about what we would do that year and I even managed to make a few friends in PE class. We bonded over our hatred of dodgeball, but overall the day was fine, and I was relieved when the dismissal bell rang at the end of the day. I was in a rush to get home so I raced to my car and drove home as fast as I could. I've only had my license for about a year now- I'm 17.

My parents trusted me with my own car and I'm sad to say I did not validate their trust. We live on a dead end street so as I was making a quick turn to park in my driveway, I lost control of the car and ended up crashing into one of my neighbor's garage doors.

So that leaves me where I am now. Sitting on their doorstep in my preppy school uniform like a complete idiot. Did I mention I also forgot my house key? Yeah, I know, I'm a genius. After about an hour of waiting, I see a black Honda civic pull up at the house. A woman with black hair gets out of the car and I stand up, getting ready to explain why she can no longer use her garage door.

"Hi honey, I'm Anne," she says as I get up to greet her, "can I help you?"

"Yes, actually," I say, "I just wanted to apologize because I accidentally ran into your garage door with my car. I swear I didn't mean to and I can find a way to pay you back I promise."

"It's ok, things happen honey. I didn't catch your name?"
"Oh, sorry," I laugh nervously, confused about why this woman isn't furious with me ,"I'm Heather. I live right across the street, actually."

"Nice to meet you Heather! I don't expect you to pay for the door but since you live right across the street I would love it if you could come help me with some work around the house after school instead of paying me."

"Thanks so much for understanding!," I say with a smile, " I would love to come help you, I still feel awful about wrecking you door."

"Nonsense," she says, "maybe you could come over after school tomorrow?"
"Sounds great! See you then!," I say but when I walk over to my house and try to get in, I remember that I don't have my house key. I walk back over to Anne's house and knock on her door. A tall curly haired boy with pretty green eyes opens the door and I assume he's Anne's son.

"Hi," I say ,"I'm Heather. Is Anne still here?"
"Yeah, she's in the kitchen. You can come in, I guess."

"Thanks!," I say cheerfully, trying to ignore this boy's harsh looks. I can feel him judging me as I make my way to the back of the house, looking for the kitchen. I turn around to speak to the boy again and he is staring straight at me with those piercing green eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't get your name?," I say.
"Harry," he says then turns around and walks upstairs. What a peach, I think. But a damn good looking peach I have to say.

"Heather, is that you sweetie?," I hear Anne calling for me.
"Yes ma'am," I say, trying to sound polite.

"Come back here to the kitchen," she yells to me. I travel towards the sound of her voice and find her stirring something around on the stove.
"Mhm, that smells delicious," I say.

"Thanks," she says,"I'm making spaghetti for dinner, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"
"Well," I stammer, trying not to seem as embarrassed as I feel, "I forgot a key to my house so I'm locked out right now. I don't exactly know where else to go."

"Oh honey," Anne chuckles, "it'll be ok, you can just stay here until your parents come home."
"Ok," I sigh, relieved, "thank you, I really appreciate it."

"Well as long as you're here," she says," maybe you could start helping me around the house now."
"Sure, what do you need?"

"Well, right now," she says, "I'm just trying to get dinner ready so if you could help me with that it'd be great."
"Ok, yeah. I'm actually pretty good at cooking so I can take over from here if you want."
"Sounds good! It'll feel good to relax and not worry about cooking for once- I'm sorry to say that I'm a dreadful cook."

"Well maybe one day I could give you a few pointers?"
"Absolutely!," she says, "Alright, I'm going to go do some laundry. Will you be ok down here by yourself?"
"Yeah. I'll call for you when it's ready."

Anne walks away and disappears upstairs to do the laundry. Now I can relax, I love to cook. I stir the spaghetti around for a while and I get started on the sauce. I hum my favorite song, "Human" by The Killers as I prepare the tomato sauce. I find it soothing to be alone and in my element, only having to worry about the taste of the food. I'm interrupted when I hear footsteps on the staircase.

"Anne, I'm almost done," I call, but then the boy from earlier, Harry, I think, walks into the kitchen.

"Oh. Hey," I say but he doesn't answer. He just walks towards me slowly with those mesmerizing green eyes. He's being weird, so I decide to ignore him and go back to cooking. I stick my finger into the tomato sauce to check the temperature, and I feel him grab my wrist and seductively put my finger into his mouth. I feel him suck off the sauce and run my finger over with his tongue, then he removes my hand from his grip and I pull it away, confused as to what had just happened.

I look at him and he shows no emotion, as if nothing had happened. He steps towards me again, this time putting his mouth by my ear, so close I can feel his hot breath on my skin.

"Needs more salt," he says then walks off and disappears again.