"Oscar asked me to ask you for your phone number" Penny smirked wildly towards me as we sat in the middle of Bio class on Wednesday morning.
"Are you serious?" I snapped towards her in a loud whisper
"He wants to ask you to the dance without going through me" She shrugged, sympathetic for the boy
"So going through a text message is a better way?"
"Well it wouldn't be necessary if you went up and actually talked to the boy yourself would it?" She spat back as our voices grew louder
I tried to concentrate on what Mr. Baits was blabbering on about, but I'd heard it all before, revision.
"Fine" I whispered lightly, giving in "During lunch I'll approach him"
"I will love you forever and more if you did" She smirked beside me, excited
I hadn't bothered talking to her anymore about the brothers across the street. I hadn't even told her about what I'd discovered they were up to. I did my best to push that part of my mind away, and so far so good, it was working. But tonight's events still lingered in my mind, and I knew Jett would be dragging his brother in by the ear somewhere between 11 and 3 in the early morning for a patch-up after his fight.
Sadly enough, Penny insisted on coming around for a 'sleepover' or as she liked to call it, a 'peepover'. I was pretty confident the only reason she was interested in seeing them was to make a judgment on what they looked like, and from what I'd told her, her affairs were fully invested.
"What time can I come around tonight?" Penny spoke again, almost reading my mind
I rolled my eyes "I wouldn't bother"
"You and I both know they're going to show up again"
"I doubt it, I haven't seen them leave their house in three days" I shrugged and lied, hoping she'd change her mind "Besides wouldn't you rather be hanging out with Brad?" I pushed
"Most certainly not" She held her head up, proud. She wasn't going to let go of it, not without a fight.
When the bell rang to end class, Penny was like a fly, following my every move to make sure I would approach Oscar. There was no escaping it, so I knew it was going to have to happen sooner or later. I plucked up my courage and scanned the school yard for his familiar blond mop of hair. He was particularly tall, close to six foot, so it wasn't hard to place him out as he stood in the far corner of the crowds, his head bowed down into a book about Urban Legends.
"Stay here" I told Penny with a pointed finger before I began to walk towards the lonesome boy. My palms began to sweat again, but not out of nerves, out of complete fear that this might actually be the right thing I was doing.
I'd almost dropped my voice box into my stomach when I stopped about a meter in front of him. His dashing gold eyes shot up from his book to meet mine, which I was sure weren't blinking. Way to go Eden.
"Hey Eden" He smiled awkwardly as he folded his book shut using his finger as a bookmark.
"Hey" I replied scanning over the mirrored freckles along his nose and cheeks
"What's up?" He nervously asked, averting his gaze every here and there
"I uh, Penny has been keeping me updated every five minutes about her chats with you and to prevent her from anymore annoyance, I thought It'd be best to talk to you myself" I explained, proud of my peeking confidence, something I was getting better at
He gave a short attractive laugh and glanced behind my back where I was sure Penny was standing with her eyes plastered on the scene
"Sounds like a good idea" He agreed with a glorious smile.
I was unsure of why he had no social circle, especially that including a line of girls. He wasn't a bad sort, especially when it came to looks. He was tall, rugged, slightly muscled and tan, somewhere along his bloodline there was Spain.
"I can give you my number if you want, and we can talk tonight?" I offered as best as I could, avoiding any awkward silence
"Sure, that sounds good" He nodded quickly, pulling his flash phone from his back pocket.
Something told me what I had just done, was completely right, and Penny was right, I was excited to be doing something normal and natural for once. Oscar was a nice guy, a good guy, and he would be good for me somewhere down the track.
"Tell me everything!" Penny demanded on her toes as soon as I reached her
"We traded numbers and are going to talk tonight" I shrugged casually
"I told you!"
I rolled my eyes and smiled. But I wouldn't thank her yet.
My day went by quicker than anticipated, it always seemed to happen that way, especially when something I didn't want to do came sprinting towards me. Deep down, I knew it was all because of what I knew was going to happen at 11pm tonight. I wanted to stop it, I wanted to tell Jett that what he and his brother were doing was crazy and that I would no longer help them if they ignored my warnings. But could I actually say no when it came to a wounded Phoenix? Somewhere, I couldn't stand seeing him hurt.
It was eight o'clock when received a text message from Oscar, something I was surprised and relieved to have gotten. I had been writing him messages all day, staring at them, then deleting them before I could hit send. So when he grew the courage to send me the first message, I was thrilled. I was expecting it to be awkward, not knowing what to write in return, but it seemed easier than expected and once we began talking, it was hard to stop. We spoke about school, what books we were into, what classes were our favourites, then after an hour, it became more personal. I told him about my sister and how alone I was most days and nights, he could understand, his father was a lawyer; his mother more invested in his younger brothers high sports achievements than Oscars academic ones. We joked about how upfront Penny was, and I explained as simply as I could that she was on her way over to stake out our neighbours in which I described as erratic and strange. He had assumed we were assuming they were vampires or mass murderers and that was okay with me, it was easier than explaining the real story.
"So I take it all is going well? What are you talking about? How long have you been talking for?" Penny fired towards me as soon as she stepped into my house, bags of groceries in both her polished fingered hands.
"He's nice, we've been talking for a few hours" I shrugged as my phone went off again as it sat on the kitchen bench.
"I think someone owes me" She winked as she dumped the bags down on the counter.
"What is all this?" I asked, digging through the bags as I pulled out ice-cream, packets of lollies and chips.
"I forgot the popcorn, I know" She rolled her eyes as I smiled and shook my head.
"But look!" She almost jumped as she buried her hands into her handbag to pull out a pair of binoculars.
"What the hell are those for Penny?" I sighed as she spied through them towards me.
"For spying!" She whispered, glancing around the room with them plastered against her head.
"Where did you get them?"
"My dad's garage" She shrugged casually
After unpacking all her rubbish, we settled into the lounge and put on a generic horror movie that would leave me yawning in not time. Penny on the other hand would be on the edge of her seat. I was getting more and more nervous as the time drew forward, every five minutes I found myself looking above the large flat screen TV at the ticking clock taunting me as ten o'clock neared.
"Has Oscar said anything to you yet about the dance?" Penny asked, crunching on BBQ chips as she glued her eyes on the movie.
"Not yet" I admitted, still in casual chit-chat mode to Oscar through texting
"Have you got a date or is there another reason you keep looking at the clock?" She busted me, still not looking directly at me.
It was hard to get anything by Penny. She had eyes in the back of her horns.
I racked my brain for a lie, something that would be believable, but it was hard, and I was taking too long to answer her
"What time do they usually end up on your doorstep?" She continued, knowing exactly what was going on
"This isn't a joke" I mumbled, more to myself as I glanced up at the clock again to see it hit ten o'clock directly on the mark
"Its fun though, isn't it?" She smiled menacingly "We're like the spy kids, except, we're both girls, and the scenario is completely different.." She began rambling to herself
I moved up from the lounge towards the front door where I peaked out the window. I could see nothing, no lights, not sign of life, and that only made me panic more.
"Anything yet?" Penny's whisper caused me to jump as she spoke directly behind my ear "Do I need the binoculars?"
"No, there's nothing" I whispered back as we stood in silence watching out the window. It was dead silent until a scream sounded from my living room, causing both Penny and I to jump in fear, we quickly began laughing once we realized it was just the movie.
We were becoming paranoid.
I dawdled back to the lounge and settled myself in. If the fight had gone on as planned, Jett and Phoenix wouldn't show up on my door until a good two, three hours later. It was best to distract myself up until that point, give my brain something to work on to pass the time by.
Penny leaned back into the lounge and yawned, giving me some hope she'd be asleep by the time the boys returned, but it was likely enough to end up the other way around. I was already groggy and fighting my eyes as I stared at yet another text message from Oscar.
"So guess what?" I spoke towards Penny
"What?" She mumbled, uninterested.
"Oscar asked me to the dance" I admitted with a small smile as I watched her expression change
"And what did you say?" She now smiled wildly
I just nodded, feeling a natural smile spread across my lips. I was proud of myself and the steps I'd taken. Besides, he didn't have to be my boyfriend, and we didn't have to get involved in any kind of relationship. He was great to talk too, and we got on really well, having an extra study buddy wouldn't be all that bad, along with a male that wasn't into illegal activity and underground fighting.
"I'm so proud of you!" She beamed, diving into me for a hug, near crushing me.
I struggled to stay awake, and after it hit midnight, my brain gradually shut down unwillingly. An hour earlier I'd said goodnight to Oscar, and Penny was still engrossed in horror movies that had her gripping the lounge in fear. I tried my best to let myself stay awake, even two cups of coffee from Gracelin's professional machine, but it was inevitable, impossible and I dozed off into a dark slumber before I could stop myself.
-
"Eden" Someone's frantic voice spoke from above me as I lightly awoke from my much needed sleep.
"Eden" I recognized Penny's voice bringing me back to the reality on the other side of slumber
I struggled against my eyes, pulling them open, forcing myself upright as the living room lamp came into view, darkness still surrounding the outside windows.
"What's wrong?" I grumbled huskily as I rubbed my eyes.
"Nothing, sorry for waking you, but it's three in the morning, I'm going to sleep in the spare room, you should go to bed too, you were right, no one is going to show up" She told me, yawning as I slowly realised what she'd said
"Three?" I repeated, dazed as I looked at the microwave time. She was right, it was half past three in the morning, and by now, the boys would have shown up.
"Okay" I mumbled
"Goodnight" She mumbled back groggily before sauntering down the hallway towards the spare bedroom opposite my own.
I leaned my arms on the arm of the lounge and gave a sigh. Maybe they hadn't gone on with the fight? Maybe they were smart this time, or maybe someone had gotten really hurt, what if Phoenix was in prison? What if he was in hospital fighting for his life? I had no idea, but it was worrying me.
Suddenly, I wished they had shown up just so I would know what had happened.
I gave up thinking about all the possibilities and went with one that seemed the most likely. He hadn't gone on with it. With that in mind, I flicked the living room lamp off and began to throw all Penny's empty packets of lollies and chips into the bin, the moonlight shining in through the windows.
I picked my phone up from the kitchen bench, it was quarter to four in the morning. I checked I had no new notifications before heading towards my bedroom down the narrow long hallway.
Suddenly, a faint knock on wood stopped me mid-stride. I froze. It wasn't real. I waited another ten seconds before taking a slow step forward, but again the noise repeated, this time slightly louder. I felt a shutter run through my body. I turned around and listened to yet another knock, this time more frantically. Instantly, I knew who it was, and what it was. I took in a rigid breath before quickly walking back through the kitchen and into the front hall where another knock thumped on the door.
I peaked out the window, just in case, but of course, it was two familiar faces I'd been worrying about seeing but also not seeing again.
In fear Penny would hear and come running through with her best haystack hair on flirtatious display, I unlatched the door and swung it open to reveal a damaged Phoenix being held up by his unimpressed brother Jett.
I quickly stepped aside, letting Jett drag his brother in with draped shoulders and blood dripping fast down a soaked cloth held against his face and into the carpet. I was in panic mode, but I needed to remain calm so Penny would stay asleep, so I could help Phoenix.