Red Leather (Book 2)

Chapter 9

He looked slightly put out. "Uh, I think so."

My frustration at him grew. I wanted my answer questioned properly, and even that he couldn't give me.

"I'm sitting with Bec and Yuri today, alright?" I threw over my shoulder before marching away, leaving him standing in bewildered silence.

Sal was sitting with her sister, and I took advantage of that immediately, scooting in beside her. She gave me a deliriously happy grin. "Oh, hey!"

"Hi, Sal," I kissed her cheek in greeting. And of course, that opened up a flood of mindless blabbering. I flashed the rest of the girls a smile, which they returned, keeping a very steady eye on a certain one in the corner of my eye.

She was doing it again, just like she did every day – sitting very close to her best friend, blowing bangs out of her eyes, which hid them whenever they started to wander. She was wearing a very tight mini skirt paired with a Rolling Stones singlet. Her fingers were gripping her tub of yogurt, and every smile and laugh seemed to speak wonders.

I lagged behind when the bell rang, hoping, and yet knowing, that I would walk into exactly what I had walked into days ago.

Their footsteps were fast now, and definitely not heading to the same direction as the lockers. I put plenty of distance between the three of us, walking with light footsteps, and trying to stick to any shadows that I could find.

I could just pick up what they were saying.

"Do you think anyone noticed?" Georgia May spoke in a hushed whisper, her light hair whipping around her. I kept my hearing on high alert, feeling and tasting the energy running through me.

"They haven't noticed before. Why would they notice now?" Shanelle was walking several steps ahead of her, and became so impatient that she gripped her best friend's arm.

Georgia was nervous – she was the nervous type. Her wide mouth moved a lot, even when she wasn't talking. "I don't – I don't think I can do this anymore-"

"What do you mean you can't?" Shanelle cried, then froze. I kept myself pressed flat against the building behind me, feeling her eyes dart around. But I had followed people so many times that I was almost an expert.

She licked her lips. "Georgie. Please – not here."

Georgia nodded. "Okay. Okay."

I followed them to the gym, past the fountain and the art centre, where I knew they would dive straight into the girl's locker rooms. Exactly where I'd walked into their little secret.

Because after all, how would the town pastor react if he found out that his daughter was a lesbian?

I took no pleasure in what they were about to do in there, but I carefully made my way to the newly painted yellow door. They had been sneaking around for weeks, possible years – Sal even mentioned that they were neighbours. They had gotten sloppy with covering their tracks, and an accidental walk-in after my cheer audition was all it took for the seed to plant inside my head. I'd found them kissing frantically, straddling each other, shirtless, almost naked, and I had left immediately, a strange sort of malice weaving into my smile.

Carefully, I unlocked the door, not necessarily wanting to come in but hoping somebody would. The large, spacious gym was eerily quiet, and I slowly walked back to the Campus block.

The camera would catch whatever I needed, but until then I had to be patient.

If I had known then, striding across the basketball court that he had been there, hiding, smoking, watching, would I have reacted differently? Would things have happened the way they did?

There was nothing I hated more than open-ended possibilities.

I made a foolproof excuse to my Psychology teacher about being late, and handed in the paper I had finished a while ago. I chatted and laughed with my friends, just like I always did. Keeping up the pretence that I knew so well, playing footsie with Trevor under the table, wondering, like I did every 5th period, where Shanelle Fraser was.

And after school, I headed straight to my assigned gym locker and pulled out the iPhone carefully hidden in a dent I'd made. Daddy picked me up, and we drove home in loving chatter. I did the duties that any perfect girl would do and set up the table for dinner, then washed the dishes afterwards. Daddy's eyes swelled with pride, and I kissed his forehead on the way to my room.

I then booted my laptop on, logged into the fake email address I had made under Wendy Wu's name, and uploaded the video. It managed to capture exactly what I needed – Georgia and Shanelle were in full view for a full 20 minutes, and I stopped watching as soon as the bras came off and wrote the opening words to the email I was about to send.

No. Somebody else deserved to see this.

To: GilbertMay.alistairgospel@gmail.com
From: wu-wendy-bab3y@hotmail.com
Subject: Your Darling Daughter

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