C H A P T E R ( 2 )
Charlotte could feel someone watching her. She shrugged it off as paranoia and continued chatting with her friend Stacy. They had just finished school for the weekend and were planning a girls night for Saturday; movies, chocolate the usual. As they exited out the front double doors of the school Charlotte couldn't help noticing the strange weather that afternoon. The sky was dark and cloudy, and there was a low rumble of thunder off in the distance which was so rare for that time of year. Kids were calling out to each other, laughing, happy that it was the weekend but Charlotte couldn't shake her strange, eery feeling. It had been seven months in their new town and Charlotte had finally felt comfortable walking to school by herself after countless talks with the detectives and counsellors to try and live a normal life. She tried to snap herself out of her little funk and turned to say goodbye to Stacy. She was being stupid, paranoid and needed to get over herself.
That's when she saw him.
Standing by the school gate, wearing a long black coat and dark beanie. He was staring straight at her, confused as though trying to comprehend the change in her appearance.
She felt an icy dread wash over her, like a cold bucket of water and she stood very still, their eyes locking across the grounds.
'Charlotte?' Stacy turned around and looked at her friend worried. 'What's wrong with you sweetheart?' She had noticed her friend had gone deathly pale, she looked like she was about to throw up.
Charlotte's hands were shaking and she felt frozen in her spot.
'Charlotte?' Stacy tried again waving her hand in her face.
'It's him,' Charlotte whispered to her, not taking her eyes off his face.
'What?' Stacy frowned following her gaze and looking around the grounds. 'Who?'
Suddenly his face broke into a broad smile and he started walking toward her. That was the kick in the guts Charlotte needed, she knew she had to get home to their safe room where they could call the detectives. She took off without another word, sprinting down the side of the school and clearing the small hedge on the border easily. She didn't turn back to see if he was following her, she knew he was. She hit the fork in the road and made the split decision to cross through the small wooded area, as it took minutes off the trip home. The other way was through suburban streets but was much longer.
'Wait!'
She heard his voice, and it was louder than she expected. He was closer than she thought. She turned her head to peer over her shoulder and spotted him only a few meters behind, Charlotte picking up the pace feeling that panic spread through her body when suddenly she tripped on a branch lying on the path. Her whole body fell forward with a smack onto the floor....
Charlotte woke up with a scream.
Grace was at her door in seconds, 'What? What is it?'
Once she acknowledged it was only a dream, her breathing returned to normal and Charlotte frowned at her mother. 'I had that dream again.'
Grace sighed and sat down on the edge of her daughters bed, 'Which one?' She could see Charlotte was terrified, every time she had these dreams they almost went back to square one.
'Where he showed up at school, when we were in Ranger Downs...' Charlotte sat up in bed wiping the visible sweat off her forehead. 'When he chased me through the woods, only this time I woke up when I fell just before he caught up to me...'
Grace frowned and rubbed her daughters legs through the blankets, 'You poor thing. I'm so sorry about all of this.'
'Mum, it's not your fault,' Charlotte shook her head.
'I just want to protect you sweetheart, we won't go into it again, not now.' Grace climbed into bed beside her daughter. 'I'll sleep with you tonight, you need your rest for school tomorrow.' Grace had a good feeling about this town, she wanted to make this work. They needed to keep their heads cool and not let any silly slips of the tongue happen this time.
The next morning her bad dreams were a distant memory as they got ready for their first day of school and work. The witness protection program had set up Grace's new job with a boutique firm downtown. You wouldn't think wedding planning would have plentiful jobs in a small town like Winchester but the firm was apparently buzzing and managed all events from birthdays, christenings to corporate. Weddings were just a small part of the company, but they were happy to have an expert in the area join them. Grace was quite excited to start back at work, she'd missed doing what she loved and they needed this to get some normalcy back into their lives.
Grace was going to drive her to school today, and they would do this for a few days until Charlotte got her head around the new town and felt comfortable going by herself. She fixed her pink top and critically assessed her straitened hair and skinny jeans in the floor length mirror wanting to make a good first impression.
As Grace unlocked the car doors Charlotte heard the unmistakeable sounds of an appreciative wolf whistle. She spun around to find Max leaning against the fence between the two houses with a smirk on his face.
Charlotte threw him her best glare, trying to keep the blush off her cheeks.
'What are you looking so pissed off about Charlotte?' Max smiled at her. 'That was totally directed at your Mum,' he looked over at Grace. 'Looking good Mrs Avery!'
Charlotte's mouth dropped open in surprise as Grace threw her head back and laughed. 'Thank you Max, exactly what I need to hear on a Monday morning.'
She turned to look at Max who was grinning at her innocently.
'Do you need a lift to school honey?' Grace asked him as she reached the car door.
'No, I'm fine I usually drive myself,' he replied. 'I'll take Charlotte too, it'd be silly not to, we're going to the same place.'
Grace beamed at him, 'That would be fantastic thanks, I don't want to be late to my first day.'
'Oh,' Charlotte was taken by surprise. 'I guess so then,' she turned to Max and returned his smile. 'Thanks.'
'No problem, come on then,' Max opened the passenger door for her. 'Quickly now, we don't want to be late.'
Charlotte raised an eyebrow and climbed into the car, something about his tone made her question that. As he sped out of the driveway and down the street, Charlotte knew her mother would be watching the car fearfully. She always hated speeding and unsafe drivers, no doubt she'd get a mouthful tonight about it.
'So what is the senior year group like?' Charlotte asked him, watching as he fiddled around with the dials on the car speakers.
Max shrugged, 'You met all the cool people last night.' Then he shot her a sideways grin, 'Everyone else isn't worth mentioning.'
'Cocky little one aren't you,' she replied rolling her eyes. 'All I met was a bunch of dudes, are there any nice girls?'
Max's eyes gleamed, 'So I was right, you are a lesbian.'
Charlotte hit his shoulder, 'Shut up, I am not. I just miss all my girl friends from back home. It's hard moving all the time.'
'So you move around a lot? How come?' Max asked curiously.
Charlotte clamped her mouth shut, she shouldn't have said that. That was too much information, she had such a big mouth and that was part of the reason they had to move so much.
'Oh you know...' She trailed off trying to think quickly. 'My mother's career.'
'Event planning is a mobile career?'
She looked over at him wide eyed and realized he was making fun of her. She opened her mouth to retort something smart back at him when she noticed they drove right past the school.
WINCHESTER HIGH SCHOOL
She read the sign quickly as the car sped past and when it was clear Max wasn't turning around she frowned at him confused, 'What are you doing? We drove past the school.'
'Oh so we did,' Max grinned at her and turned back to the road.
'Max!' Charlotte tried to get his attention. 'We're going to be late for school.'
'We're not going to school today Charlotte,' he winked at her. 'Much more important and fun things to do.'
'Eh...' She didn't even know what to say to that. Skip school on the first day? That would certainly be setting a new record for herself. 'I don't think that's a good idea Max. My mother would kill me.'
'Relax, no one will notice. I'll have you back for lunchtime, you have the perfect excuse being brand new you can say you got lost or were settling in.' Max grinned. 'The school barely notices when I don't turn up.'
Charlotte sunk back into her seat, she had a feeling she didn't really have a choice now anyway. Plus hanging out with Max for the day wasn't the worst idea in the world. She smiled back at him shyly and he chuckled.
'I knew you'd come around. I thought you were cool when I first saw you.'
'Oh get over yourself, it's not like I have much of a choice, you're clearly kidnapping me.'
'Hardly,' Max smirked at her. 'You're completely willing.'
'So what are we doing today then?'
'I am going to show you all the fun things to do in this town.'
'There's enough things to do here until lunchtime?' Charlotte joked.
Max laughed, 'No there's not actually. That's why we have to do just one little thing before I show you all the sights.'
He pulled the car into a small car park with a large abandoned looking building at the end of it. It was grey in colour and looked as though it may fall down at any moment.
'Where are we?' Charlotte peered out the window confused. The building was so old and creepy she was beginning to wish they'd gone to school.
'Oh just one quick stop,' Max replied cheerfully. 'Here he is,' he said and Charlotte followed his gaze and spotted a familiar figure dressed in black.
Eli.
As he approached the car he did a double take when he spotted Charlotte sitting in the passenger seat. He slid into the back without acknowledging her and hit Max in the back of the head.
'What the hell is she doing here?' He sounded furious.
'Jeez Eli, lovely to see you too,' Charlotte rolled her eyes. 'What is your problem?'
'I wasn't talking to you,' he narrowed his eyes at her and turned back to Max who was humming along to the radio with a cheery smile still plastered to his face.
'Why did you bring her? Are you crazy?'
'Why?' Charlotte frowned at Max. 'What are you guys doing?'
'Nothing, don't worry yourself,' Max replied catching Eli's eye in the rear view mirror shaking his head. 'We just have to drop off one little bag to a friend in a store and I'm all yours for some sightseeing.'
Eli let out a short burst of laughter and Charlotte was surprised as it was the first time she'd heard him laugh. 'Sightseeing in Winchester? Is that a joke?'
But Charlotte ignored his question more concerned about this drop off... 'Drop off what bag? What's in it?' Charlotte had a bad feeling about this, but Max was so cheerful and relaxed she had a feeling she was overreacting.
'Nothing to worry about,' Max pulled out of the car park driving down a main road. 'I thought Char here could bring in the bag,' he told Eli pointedly.
'What?' Charlotte interrupted him. 'Is this illegal? It sounds illegal! Why can't you two drop off the bag? What the hell is in it by the way?'
'You ask too many questions,' Eli rolled his eyes. 'But interesting plan Maxy, we hadn't really taken into account how to bring it inside seeing as we're both banned.'
Charlotte was definitely worried now, this was a completely surreal situation. Was she a part of a drug deal? She couldn't believe Max was into this kind of thing! 'Hold it right there,' she warned them angrily. 'What is in the bag and why can't you drop it off yourselves?'
'It's just some old phones, and we can't drop it into the shopping mall because we're banned from it for three months...' Max trailed off with a wry grin. 'It was a complete misunderstanding regarding some popcorn from the cinema, and we need to drop the bag off there because that's the only place our friend will take it.'
So they were banned from a shopping centre for something to do with popcorn? That didn't sound too bad, she reasoned with herself. 'Who's the friend? And are the phones stolen goods? Because you don't understand, I can't get into trouble with the law...' She shook her head fearfully. 'No way, no more police stations...'
She saw a flicker of interest in Eli's face before he spoke, 'Of course its not illegal what do you think we are?'
'I don't really know you at all,' Charlotte pointed out as Max pulled up to the front doors of the mall. She took the bag off Eli reluctantly and turned to Max. 'So who do I give it to?'
'Tall Asian guy at the phone stand in the middle,' Max replied smiling reassuringly. 'You can't miss him.'
Charlotte rolled her eyes and climbed out of the car, very aware both boys were watching her every move. She definitely didn't think she'd be doing this when she got ready for school this morning. Entering the mall she spotted the phone stand right away and marched up to the guy they described figuring it would be better to get it over with quickly. He smiled at her glancing down at the bag.
'Is that for me?'
She nodded and held it out to him, watching as he looked through the contents quickly. She turned to leave when he called out to her.
'Wait!'
Charlotte spun around slowly to find him holding out a black envelope. She guessed she was meant to take it and did so, quickly heading back out for the door. The boys were parked exactly where she left them and she slid into the car handing over the envelope to Max who took it without a word.
'Thanks Charlotte,' Max smiled at her and she couldn't help smile back. He was so darn charming.
'No problem, what's the envelope for though?'
Eli snatched it out of Max's hand and frowned at her, 'None of your business.'
'Chill out,' she muttered getting a little tired of Eli's act. 'It was only a question.' She turned to Max, 'So where are we going now?'
'Just as I promised, a fun filled morning of sight seeing,' Max replied with a twinkle in his eye.
'Drop me off at school,' Eli rolled his eyes completely uninterested.
...