Naturally, the worst things that could have ever happened, had to happen.
Claire's school was having a Zumba Week. Why? Why?
And naturally, it had to be on the week that her ankle was seen to be healed completely. That was so not fair. Claire was definitely not a fan of zumba.
The worst part? When Claire walked into school on the first day of Zumba Week, the so-called 'popular girls' were playing One Direction on one of their laptops. They had connected it to the interactive whiteboard so the music could blast through the speakers, making it even louder.
Leanne put her own earphones in and listened to her own music at full blast just to drown it out, and Claudia yelled "Far out!" and escaped from the classroom. As for Claire, she had to put up with Cailyn singing Perfect by One Direction at the top of her voice. Cailyn and Anna had both come into Claire's class, having heard all the commotion, and they had stayed, since at that time when they came in Drag Me Down was playing, and they both loved the song, so they had sung it, just to annoy Leanne and Claire.
Maybe it would be best if she backtracked a bit. It had been three weeks, after all. Okay, so here was the story:
Ever since Caitlin came back to school telling everyone how amazing her weekend had been with Cailyn and Anna at the fete, they'd all somehow gotten closer to Yao, since Cailyn had added her into the group chat. Surprisingly, Yao got along with Joy pretty well.
Throughout the next week, Claire had to spend her time walking into lifts and getting out of them because she was still on her goddam crutches. Leanne refused to go with her into the lifts - she was claustrophobic. So Caitlin and Theresa took turns accompanying Claire. From that week, it had taken her another two weeks just to get her ankle back to normal.
During that time, a few things had occurred...and not all of them were 'good'.
1. Claire had forgotten to tell Joy about the fact that she had a sprained ankle, so when Leanne mentioned it on the group chat, Joy's reaction had been enormous. Why wouldn't it? She was a very close friend of Claire's. She yelled at Claire on their private chat for what seemed like hours when really it was just minutes.
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? I'M YOUR FRIEND, YOU KNOW? YOU WERE DEALING WITH A SPRAINED ANKLE EVEN WHEN I SAW YOU AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME? WHAT THE HELL?!?!?
There were more messages, but Claire decided she'd rather not remember those, as Joy started swearing in all of them.
2. This was really weird. An alien must've landed on Planet Earth and tinkered with everyone's minds, because somehow, Julie - the girl they met when they were rollerblading that was a year younger than them - managed to convince Leanne and Cailyn (huge surprise there) to sing at the upcoming school Arts Festival with herself and her friend Erin.
Claire could still remember Caitlin clearly saying that she was 120% sure that both girls would not agree, but surprisingly, they did. Claire was really happy that they were getting confident enough to sing in front of crowds more, as they both had a wonderful vocal talent and they should share it, but it was also practice for their national singing competition, which was in the term holidays, Leanne told her.
Apparently at their singing lessons, there was no more time for mucking around. Yes, Leanne, Cailyn and the other girls - including that girl named Alexandria that Caitlin also knew - laughed and joked sometimes but most of the time they were working hard at projecting their voices in the best way possible.
Leanne had told Claire and Caitlin about how in one singing lesson they had to sing by themselves in front of the teacher and the other girls just for fun, and she had sung What Do You Mean by Justin Bieber. Cailyn had sung Half-Sugarism by S.H.E (Helina's favourite band), which had confused the rest of the class - except Leanne, of course.
The teacher had then laughed and had apparently suggested to Cailyn that maybe she should try and sing a Chinese song for the national singing competition, and Cailyn immediately rejected the idea, while being completely horrified by her singing teacher's opinion.
The group of friends hadn't been meeting up over the past three weeks since Cailyn's school fete, but they had still kept in touch through text.
Since it was Zumba Week, everyday, everyone would have this one specific class where they came down to the school hall to do zumba. The purpose of it was to get everyone to have fun and relax, but zumba was exactly the opposite of Claire's fun. How could you relax if you were forced to move around and dance crazily like a maniac?
Well, that's how Leanne acted, in Claire's eyes. Leanne was very energetic when it came to zumba. Luckily the whole entire year level was doing zumba together (in second period), so Claire could just stay with someone else who wasn't eager to do zumba, which was basically Helina and Anna.
In their first Zumba class, they didn't even have a five-minute introduction to it - they just started doing the zumba. Leanne and Rufina, who now hung out with the group sometimes, were really enthusiastic and did their best to follow the moves, while Claire just did what everyone called Tai Chi.
Cailyn and Caitlin were half-enthusiastic and half not, but they were dancing too. Anna went to join them, leaving Claire dancing really awkwardly with Helina.
"This is so weird," said Helina, gesturing to everyone else that was dancing.
Claire glanced at Leanne and Rufina as they started jumping around and following the teacher's zumba moves on the stage of the school hall - the same hall where the singing concert was held a term ago. "Yeah, I get what you mean. It's unfair. I don't have any excuse to not do this because my ankle has fully healed. The only good thing about this is that Joy can stop screaming at me for being so stupid and spraining my ankle in the first place...I think."
Helina laughed. "You sound like Cailyn when you say that. She gets really irritated when I keep bugging her about stuff. Like TFBoys, for example. Do you know them?" she asked hopefully.
Claire shook her head. "No offence to you, but I'm not fond of Taiwanese bands."
"TFBoys is Chinese. S.H.E is Taiwanese."
"Isn't that pretty much the same thing?"
"No! Why does everyone keep saying that?" Helina tried to look mad, but she couldn't manage it, making Claire laugh as well.
"Let's try and join in," Claire suggested. She had no idea why she decided to do this. Maybe it was because everyone else was doing zumba around her and she didn't want to look like a complete weirdo by not doing it. "Okay?"
"Okay," said Helina.
Surprisingly, Claire didn't find it that hard. Sure, there were parts when they were moving quite fast and there was no way for her to catch up (because Caitlin and Leanne said that she was too used to her Tai Chi moves. Seriously, Claire was going to smack them both one day).
Theresa, Leanne and Rufina turned out to be really good zumba dancers. Despite that, Rufina declared that no matter what, she was never going to be a zumba teacher when she grew up. Claire started laughing, and that was when she noticed Cailyn regarding her with a small smile.
Claire smiled back, but she saw something different. It was more of a lost smile than one that showed she was truly happy. Claire stared at Cailyn with a question in her eyes, and Cailyn apparently understood, as she gave a slight nod. Then she gestured with her head to the others and put a finger to her lips. Then as quietly as she could, she slipped out of the room. Claire was astounded by how the teachers didn't notice her.
Cailyn obviously didn't want her to follow her. But since when did Claire listen to her? She was older than her, after all. Mumbling a quick excuse that she needed to go to the bathroom, she left, although she doubted that anyone was listening. She looked outside furtively, and saw Cailyn heading out with her bag.
"Cailyn! Where are you going?" she demanded.
Cailyn turned. Her eyes became hard. "You were supposed to stay."
"Who said I had to listen to you?"
"Fine. If you must know, I'm leaving for today. I need to...never mind."
Claire raised an eyebrow. "You're skipping school?"
Cailyn glared at her. "Of course you're shocked. You're the typical school nerd. So are you going to be a real goody-two-shoes and actually tell on me? It won't work, you know. The office knows I'm leaving early, so they won't mind. I gave them a note."
Fake note, Claire muttered silently. She resisted the urge to whack Cailyn on the head. "Where are you going?"
"To pay someone a visit," she replied.
"Who?"
"That's none of your business."
Claire crossed her arms. If this was how the little stubborn girl played, she would play along the same way. "Then be prepared to have company."
Cailyn's eyes showed the faintest sign of shock, much to Claire's satisfaction. "Meaning?"
"If you don't tell me, I'm coming with you."
"You will not. I know you. You won't do anything against the rules."
"It's not against the rules if I wrote down a note myself and gave it to the office, is it?"
"They won't believe you."
"Ha, really. They believed you. Proves how gullible this school is."
Cailyn was silent. Claire smiled a little as she knew that the girl had no comeback to what she said. Then Cailyn shrugged. "Do what you want. By the time you even finish writing down that note, I'll be long gone."
Something had happened to Cailyn. She wasn't like this last week. She was all bubbly, smiley and happy...like her. This girl - the one who was cold, intentionally mean to her friends and acted as if she didn't care for anyone in the world - that wasn't Cailyn. It was somebody else.
But where had Cailyn gone? Where was her friend?
"You're being really mean right now," Claire told her flatly. Her voice held no emotion. "I mean, you're usually mean and with an attitude, but not like this. What is wrong with you?"
These words seemed to have an effect on Cailyn. She pursed her lips and stared at the ground. "I - I'm sorry...I didn't mean to act like that. I just have a lot on my mind." She shouldered her bag, and looked up at anywhere but Claire's eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Hey, who said you could go anywhere?" Claire demanded. "My threat still stands. I'm coming. You definitely need some comfort."
Her mind was in the process of gathering together arguments that she could launch at Cailyn when she told her that she couldn't accompany her, but to her utmost surprise, Cailyn gave her a little smile.
"Since you insist, I guess you can come. I need someone to talk to anyway. But," she added, "you shouldn't be missing school. Think of all the classes you'll miss out on..."
"Screw school. I never liked it anyway," said Claire, walking past a very shocked Cailyn upstairs to her homeroom, where she quickly scribbled down a fake note in her best writing of her mother's, packed her things, and rejoined Cailyn outside the office. The other girl had still waited for her after all that time, surprisingly.
Cailyn looked at the clock nervously. "We don't have much time. Second period ends in like, five minutes."
The plan was that Cailyn would leave first, then a few minutes later, Claire would go into the office, as to not make it look suspicious. Cailyn left without any trouble; the staff already knew she was leaving.
Claire's hands were literally trembling as she explained that she had an appointment. She showed the fake note and prayed that the teachers would buy her little white lie. They did, and she rejoined Cailyn outside of the school gates. Only now did she realize that she'd left Leanne and Caitlin behind at school, and wondered how on earth she was going to explain her absence to them.
"Dude, stop spacing out, we need to catch the train," said Cailyn, waiting impatiently for her to catch up a few minutes ahead.
"Train? Okay, what's going on?"
"I'll tell you later."
Within half an hour, both Claire and Cailyn sat next to each other on the train as it headed towards the city. Claire kept waiting for an explanation, but Cailyn stared out of the window as if she was lost in thought.
Claire wondered what had happened to drag Cailyn out of school and all the way to the city, of all places. She knew Cailyn wasn't going to tell her in due time, so it looked like she would have to wait.
* * * * * * * * *
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Leanne yelled.
She'd been talking with everyone in the school hall, joking and having fun until Helina tapped her on the shoulder and asked her if she knew where Claire and Cailyn were. That was when Leanne actually realized the two had disappeared completely.
Helina told her that Claire and Cailyn had left nearly fifteen minutes ago. At recess, Leanne searched for them literally everywhere, but she couldn't find them, which sent her - and Caitlin - into a panicked rage. Theresa and Helina were trying to calm them down, but it wasn't really working.
"Guys, I'm pretty sure everything is fine, and that you're freaking out over nothing," Theresa said reasonably. "Right, Helina?"
Helina nodded, but she looked nearly as panicked as Leanne and Caitlin did. It wasn't like Claire to simply vanish from their sight at school, out of all places...and along with Cailyn as well.
Caitlin decided they all just had to find out where Claire and Cailyn went, so in the end only she, Leanne and Helina went to the office while Theresa stayed behind with Anna and Rufina, who weren't really that affected by the situation.
They asked the office about their friends' whereabouts, and they found out that Cailyn had to go to a funeral - her grandfather's funeral, apparently. This made Leanne frown, because she knew that the funeral had been ages ago. Claire apparently had an appointment at the doctor's, because of a last minute check on her ankle.
If it wasn't for Cailyn's excuse, Leanne would've nearly believed them. Nearly. She thanked the staff teacher and headed back out with Caitlin and Helina trailing behind her.
"Am I the only one that found that suspicious?" Helina asked.
Caitlin frowned. "What?"
"Cailyn needs to go to her grandfather's funeral. But it already happened," Leanne explained, "unless she was talking about another grandpa of hers, but it's unlikely."
"And if Claire had an appointment, wouldn't she tell you first?" Helina questioned pointedly. Caitlin slowly nodded, as if she finally understood.
"So you both think that they're lying," Caitlin summed up.
Helina looked at Leanne, who nodded grimly.
"So what are we going to do?" Helina asked uncertainly. "They could be on their way to commit suicide, for all we know!"
Horrifying images went through Leanne's head. "Holy moly, Helina, don't say that! That makes it worse!"
"Sorry..."
"If only we could use our phones, then I would call them," said Caitlin. "Do you think they left together?"
Leanne shrugged. "Most likely. I just wish they told us beforehand. We could've come with them."
"But they picked school hours to suddenly disappear," said Helina thoughtfully. "So I reckon that they're trying to do this without us knowing. They want to avoid us."
"But why?" Caitlin demanded. "I thought we agreed: no more secrets!" She pulled a snail that was on the brick wall off it in anger and was about to fling it into the bushes when she thought better of it, and placed it back on the ground.
"I don't know, but I don't like it. It's not like Claire to run off with no plan," said Leanne. "After school I'll walk to her house. It's not far from mine."
"Then I'm coming with you," Helina said immediately. Leanne smiled at her gratefully.
Caitlin opened her mouth, but then she groaned. "I forgot, I have tennis tryouts today after school. I wanted to try out because I can play tennis. I can't come. This is unfair!" she shouted.
"I can imagine Claire saying 'Don't pull a muscle!'," said Leanne, grinning.
"I won't, sheesh. Give me updates about those two, okay?"
"We're making it sound like it's like a police case," said Leanne. She imitated a policeman's voice. "We must solve the mystery of 'The Two Missing Friends'."
Caitlin reached out to pat Helina's head, but the latter screamed and scuttled a few metres away, leaving Leanne and Caitlin really confused.
"Helina, what's wrong?" Caitlin asked in the gentle tone that she reserved only for innocent shy girls like Helina.
Helina shook her head frantically as Caitlin came closer, followed by Leanne. Leanne frowned. Helina was acting really weird. No, not weird - afraid.
"Are you okay?" Leanne asked, a little worried that Helina was losing her mind.
"I'm okay," Helina said, but she couldn't keep the fear out of her voice.
"No, you're not," said Caitlin. She tried to pat Helina reassuringly on the arm, but Helina backed away. Not realising anything, Caitlin kept following her until Helina had backed up against a brick wall with Caitlin right in front of her.
Frowning, Caitlin reached out a hand.
"Don't - don't touch me," said Helina in a scared tone, trying to further the distance between them, but she couldn't.
"Why?" Caitlin tried to reach out again, but Leanne grabbed her arms.
"Caitlin, you're traumatizing her! Look at her! She's scared to death!"
Caitlin took a few steps backwards, and Helina let out a breath that she'd seemed to be holding.
"Did I do something wrong?" said Caitlin, looking a little hurt.
Helina didn't say anything, except: "Wash them."
"Wash what?"
"Them."
"What is that?"
Helina pointed.
"My hands?" Caitlin was completely baffled.
"You touched the snail with them."
It took Caitlin a few seconds to fully understand what Helina meant, and when she did, she started laughing. "Helina! You're scared of snails?"
"They're gross!" said Helina, blushing bright red.
"I only touched its shell," said Caitlin, grinning. "I think you're fine."
"No! Don't go anywhere near me!" Helina said hurriedly.
"My daughter takes hygiene very seriously, unlike you," said Leanne to Caitlin.
"Hey! If we could swim in a pool of mud, would you go in it?"
"Are you crazy?"
"Well, I would."
"You are so dirty," Helina told her.
Caitlin slyly reached out and tapped Helina on the head before she could move away.
Helina gasped and let out a small scream. "Caitlin! Now I have to wash my hair! I don't want snail germs!"
"Sure, because I'll make you get snail infection," said Caitlin, rolling her eyes, but she was smiling.
Leanne was laughing too at this point. Seeing a freaked out Helina was hilarious in its own way.
Helina was saved from her snail torture as it was the end of recess, and she ran off without giving a second glance towards Leanne and Caitlin.
"She's adorable," said Caitlin, staring after her.
Leanne smiled. "Yes, I know. But she's right."
"Right? About what?"
"Wash your hands. Now."
"Ugh, fine, mudda asshole!"
"Hey, you cannot call your aunty such ugly names!"
"Sure I can. My mother permits me."
"I'll have a talk with my sister Anna, and then we'll see."
"She always sides with me, Aunty Lely. I think that's obvious."
"Yeah, right!"
The two girls bickered all the way to class (and at the taps where Caitlin washed her hands). It was unnecessary, but at least it was helping them forget about Claire and Cailyn, for now.
* * * * * * * * *
Claire followed Cailyn as she got off the train in the city and headed to McDonalds, which was only a few blocks away.
Cailyn then addressed Claire for the first time in forty-five minutes. "Would you like something to eat? I can pay, since I'm the one who dragged you out here."
"I'm fine," Claire replied politely. "But you have to tell me why you're here."
"No."
"I'll let you buy some food for me. And it is nearly noon...nearly lunchtime. I'm really hungry..."
Cailyn glared at her, knowing what Claire was doing, but she apparently decided that it wasn't worth it leaving Claire to starve, so she went off to order some fast food for them, and when she came back - Claire had already chosen a table for them to sit at in the meantime - Claire raised an eyebrow and said, "Speak."
"What about?" Cailyn asked.
"Stop putting it off, and just tell me."
Cailyn sighed. "Fine. The long explanation, or the short?"
"Long."
"Wait, really?"
"Well, I want to understand the whole story."
"Point taken," said Cailyn, tapping her chin. "I guess I should start from the beginning."
"Stop delaying it and say it already," said Claire, getting frustrated.
Cailyn gave her an icy stare before explaining. "Do you remember Caitlin's ex-boyfriend?"
"Oh, hell no," said Claire. She had a bad feeling where this was going. Cailyn looked grim. "His name is...what is it again?"
"Brian," Cailyn supplied. "Okay, so recently, I saw that he was stalking us. Like, all of us. I don't know how long he's been doing that for, but I first noticed him when we were ice-skating. He was one of the hockey players, so I didn't find it suspicious. Otherwise I would have beat the crap outta him."
"How do you know what he looks like?" Claire asked, baffled.
"Long story. I forced Caitlin to tell me his address and I went there - I was only spying, I didn't beat him up, honest!" she added when she saw Claire looking skeptically at her.
"You sound like a stalker."
"Well, I was one. Then I stopped, because he wasn't doing anything bad to Caitlin - but I changed my mind when I saw him at ice-skating. It didn't seem right."
"It was just a coincidence," said Claire reasonably.
"Oh, really? So it's perfectly normal that he turned up wherever we were? He was at ice-skating. He came to my school fete. When we all went out to the shops after school, he was following us. Now do you still call that a coincidence?"
Claire hated that Cailyn was right - especially when it was about something as bad as this. "So...he's stalking Caitlin. Why?"
"I have no idea. Nothing good, I guess."
Claire couldn't deny that she was surprised. She didn't realise that Cailyn cared about her friends so much that she would go to the extent for stalking a possible threat to them on her own without telling any of them. "What do you plan to do about it?"
Cailyn didn't reply, but instead busied herself with eating some chips. Claire knew that was a sign that she didn't want to talk, so she kept quiet - until she looked down and realised that Cailyn had given her food that she didn't really like. She complained about it to Cailyn, using her best whiny voice (Cailyn looked very amused), and in the end they both swapped their McDonalds lunches just so Claire could have some food she liked.
"Picky," Cailyn told Claire, giggling.
Claire laughed and began to eat her food - or Cailyn's food, more like (Cailyn hadn't eaten it yet, just the chips). They then ate in silence for a while.
The peace was disturbed as Claire slammed her hand really hard onto the table, startling everyone around her, and most of all Cailyn, who flinched so much she nearly knocked over her soft drink.
"What was that for?" Cailyn demanded. "I nearly had a heart attack."
"I'm sorry," Claire apologised. "I just killed a spider." She turned her palm up. She was clutching a tissue, and the smashed mess of the spider was on it. Cailyn recoiled and closed her eyes tightly, as if the spider had hurt here. Was she arachnophobic?
"Why did you kill the spider?" Cailyn asked, completely shocked.
"It would've gotten into your food," said Claire, raising an eyebrow. "I was protecting your precious potato chips from it."
"Yes, but you didn't have to kill it!"
"You're seriously worried over a spider?" Claire questioned. She hadn't thought that Cailyn was the type to care for all creatures.
"Hey, a spider is a living being like us. It is as important as we are. All those tiny creatures are important!"
"Cailyn, they're called insects - or arachnids. And spiders have lower intelligence."
"It doesn't matter! Spiders are essential to this world!"
"That spider would have died one day anyway."
"You gave it an early death! It could have lived longer!"
At this point, Claire was about 99.999999% sure that Cailyn was going to turn into a vegan when she grew up. Who knew she cared so much about a single spider? "On the bright side, I saved it from the birds and other things that eat it."
"You're heartless."
"You're pathetic."
Cailyn's gaze dropped. "Thank you, for lowering my self-esteem."
"Dude, I'm only joking." Claire didn't know why she was taking it so personally.
"You are?" Cailyn sounded genuinely surprised. Was it not that obvious that Claire was only joking? Apparently not.
"Yeah, did you actually think I meant it?"
"Yes, because I can't tell if you're joking or you're serious. You sound exactly the same."
"I'll make it clearer for you then. If I'm saying something mean to you, I'm usually joking. Okay?"
"Okay. I was only joking too."
"You didn't need to say that. I knew that already." Cailyn smiled at her. Claire continued speaking. "You know, in the first few weeks of first term, Leanne would get so mad at me. I would say things and she would just get mad. But really, I'm just joking. It took her a while to get that. But my point is, don't think that I really mean it. I don't."
Cailyn nodded. "But next time, don't you dare kill another spider."
"No promises made."
"Claire!"
"What? I find this very amusing."
"AMUSING? It's supposed to be THREATENING!"
"Sorry, it sounds very funny to me."
"Ugh, I hate you!"
"Don't worry. The feeling is mutual." Claire grinned broadly at Cailyn's frustrated expression.
After they finished their lunch, they headed to a tobacco shop. It looked warm and lively on the outside, but as soon as they stepped in, the atmosphere seem a whole lot colder. Claire looked nervously at all the smoking products being sold and wished that she was anywhere but there. The shop was empty except for them, which made her more suspicious. This was definitely not her type of store, and she hardly shopped.
Meanwhile Cailyn had gone up to the counter and asked the boy that was working there, "Excuse me, can I talk to you?"
Puzzled, Claire read his nametag. Brian. So that was why Cailyn wanted to skip school to go to the city. So she could have a talk with this stalker dude. But she was completely stupid if she thought that she was going to do it alone. Lucky Claire had gone with her, otherwise anything could have happened...
"Why?" he asked in a defensive tone. "Are you the little daughter of the police? Am I getting arrested? In fact, you shouldn't be here. Two little girls, all alone..."
"For your information, we're nowhere near little, and you don't look any older than eighteen," Claire countered. Then she frowned. Caitlin, you actually dated an eighteen year old guy? What the hell were you thinking?
"I'm a friend of Caitlin's," Cailyn told him in a deadly tone.
Brian's eyes narrowed and the side of his lip curled mockingly, although Claire thought that she was the only one who noticed, because when Brian gestured for Cailyn to follow him into the back room behind the store, she did it without even thinking. Seriously, was she that dumb? Claire's instincts were screaming at her: GET OUT.
She was about to follow them when Brian turned to her and said coldly, "Wait. We'll only be a minute or two." It obviously wasn't true, but Claire didn't argue, for fear he would get really angry if she refused. If a fight broke out...it was most likely that she and Cailyn were not going to be okay by the end of it. No, it was certain, not just okay. Two girls against a man...oh, why did she let Cailyn drag her here?
She didn't drag you to do anything. You came willingly, her mind told her. Why must her mind be always negative?
Shut up, she scolded herself.
The door of the room that Cailyn and Brian were in was shut, so she couldn't hear any of their conversation, except for a few murmurs.
Claire watched the clock on the side of the shop. One minute ticked by. Two minutes. Three minutes. How long were they going to take in there? They were scaring her.
Then suddenly there was a yell, a shout and then a scream. Claire immediately dashed to the door and flung it open just to see a mad Brian advancing towards Cailyn, who looked angry herself.
"You bitch! What makes you think you can stalk me? Stay away from my business," he snapped as a warning, and then he reached out a hand and slapped her, hard, across the face. Cailyn just stood there, absolutely shocked.
"Whatever you do that includes Caitlin in any way, it's our business," Claire retorted, grabbing Cailyn's arm. She didn't know why she had spoken up; maybe it was because she didn't want Cailyn getting even more hurt by getting slapped more.
"Well, I don't care. Just don't interfere with my affairs again, or something bad will happen to you," he replied. "You hear me? Stay away from me, or else. And you - " he said, looking directly at Claire -" - get your friend out of here before I kill her. You're lucky I'm not raping her in revenge for stalking me," he added, "but that's only because I've got my eye set on someone else."
Claire had a bad feeling that she knew who the person was, but she didn't say anything. Brian looked a little amused.
"No comments? Nothing? I would've said you were mute, but I know you're not; you just talked before. Maybe it's because my looks are changing," he said, sighing dramatically, although Claire didn't find it funny or reassuring at all. "Aren't I a hot guy?"
It was probably a rhetorical question, but Claire answered him anyway. "You wish. I'm not that type of girl who fawns over boys like they're gods. I don't think you're hot; in fact, to me you're a corpse, because you are dead to me."
Without a word, she dragged Cailyn out of the tobacco shop, with the inner satisfaction of seeing the shocked and very surprised look on Brian's face. Once they were out, Cailyn seemed to finally come to her senses and she fought against her until Claire put her arm in an arm lock, pushing her elbow into the other girl's arm muscle hard to make it hurt. Sure enough, Cailyn squirmed.
"Claire, let go. It hurts," she complained, trying too hug her arm out from under Claire's, but Claire didn't budge, and instead pushed harder.
"Yeah...no. I'm not falling for that. If I do, you're going to march in there and make the situation between us and Caitlin's ex-boyfriend worse. He already hates us, okay?"
"Do you think that I'm just going to let him stand there and let him slap me across the face?" Cailyn fumed. She was really angry. "Well, I did do that, but now I am going to whop is ass so hard - "
"I have no doubt that you will, but think about what's important!" Claire said, dragging Cailyn further away from the tobacco shop while Cailyn attempted to break free.
"What is so important? Can you give me a good reason as two why I shouldn't go in there right now?"
"Because you have to think of yourself!" Claire shouted, attracting the attention of passerby, but she didn't care. "You care for us so much, to the point where you go and do something like this. But what's the point for going to such lengths to look out for us if you don't allow us to care and look out for you?"
At this, Cailyn subsided. "I..."
"I know," said Claire. She was still furious, but her anger was slowly ebbing away. She couldn't stay mad looking at a hurt and broken Cailyn. "Come on, let's go to my house and get an ice-pack."
"An ice-pack? Why?"
"Your cheek. That f*cking bastard slapped you so hard you have a bright red mark on your cheek. It might turn into a bruise if you're not careful. Are you busy today?"
"No, it should be okay."
"Good, let's go - " Claire proceeded to drag Cailyn along with her to the train station, since she still had the other girl in an arm lock. "After all this time, after a breakup, Brian is still stalking Caitlin, so we have to look out for her and warn her at some point - "
"Wait, don't you want a drink first?" Cailyn produced a bottle from her school bag - with difficulty because one of her arms was in an arm lock by Claire. "You've been screeching so much that I think your throat is really dry by now."
"It is, actually," Claire admitted. She took a sip of water. She noticed it was a Bank of Melbourne drink bottle - a bottle that Cailyn had gotten from her school fete for free after Caitlin left. "ありがとう."
"どういたしまして. Now can I walk freely? You can trust me, I swear." Seeing that Claire looked uncertain, she added, "I gave you water...you owe me."
Claire was going to say that she still had water in drink bottle when she realised that she had forgotten to bring it to school today. Damn. "I'm already repaying you back by giving you an ice-pack." But she let go of Cailyn anyway. Cailyn massaged her arm.
"Ow," she said. "You have got to teach me how to do that."
"What? The arm lock? That's easy. You just press your elbow into the muscle."
"Can you show me?"
"I would, but it would hurt, because I'd have to do it on you."
"Oh...never mind, then," said Cailyn, skipping towards the train station while Claire walked behind her, shaking her head. After all the events of today, Cailyn still had a little bit of weirdness left in her.
Claire was really worried for Caitlin. She couldn't exactly call the police to arrest him for stalking, because there was no evidence, and the bastard could probably lie his way out of court anyway.
It was scary, knowing that someone close to you was being watched - not all the time, but at some crucial times. She decided not to tell Caitlin about Brian just yet. It would make her way too scared, and she didn't need the burden. Brian hadn't even done anything remotely bad yet. There was still a bit of time left to stall for.
But now would be a good time to pray for Caitlin.
It took another forty-five minutes for the train to get from the city back to their suburb, where they walked to Claire's house, which was only a fifteen-minute walk. By this time, it was about an hour before school finished.
Cailyn's cheek was pretty much still bright red. A few people in the train were staring at her because of that, but they quickly turned away when she glared daggers at them. As soon as Claire and Cailyn got home, Claire walked to the freezer, grabbed an ice-pack and threw it at Cailyn, who caught it and placed it against her cheek.
"ごめんなさい. For being such a bother," she added, because she saw that Claire looked confused.
"It's fine, really," said Claire. "It was a new experience. But remember, you have to be grateful to me, because if I wasn't there, you and that ex-boyfriend of Caitlin's would be wrestling each other in cold blood, and you'd most likely be dead by now."
Cailyn pondered this. "Yeah, you're right."
Claire looked in the fridge. "Really, mum? Black spaghetti?"
"Ooh, spaghetti," said Cailyn, walking towards her, looking interested, with the ice-pack still in her hand.
"I have this every week," Claire groaned. "I'm sick of it!"
Cailyn sighed. "Just eat it. Who turns down black spaghetti? Can I try it?"
"Sure," said Claire. She took out the bowl of black spaghetti and put it in the microwave to heat it up, while Cailyn took some strawberries out of the fridge that she'd found, and with Claire's permission, she began to wash them.
"Want a strawberry?" she asked.
"No, thanks," Claire declined politely. "I don't eat strawberries."
"Are you serious? Who doesn't eat strawberries? They're the best!"
"I don't know why. I just don't," said Claire, taking the now heated black spaghetti out of the microwave. She put the bowl next to the strawberries on the dining table and gestured for Cailyn to eat it.
"Oh, hell no, I'm not eating all of that by myself!" Cailyn protested, sitting down at the dining table. "You're eating it too."
"No."
"You're so stubborn sometimes."
"Says you!"
"Shut up. But if you don't want to eat black spaghetti..." Cailyn got off the chair and walked to her school bag, which she had left by the door, like Claire, and took out what she was planning to have for lunch at school, but didn't. "I have some pasta."
Five minutes later, Claire and Cailyn were both sitting on the dining table, having more food. Cailyn was eating black spaghetti and Claire was eating Cailyn's pasta. Cailyn was trying to coax Claire into trying a strawberry, but she failed.
They were home alone, since Claire's parents were at work. Her sister was still at school, like her friends.
As if she could read her thoughts, Cailyn said, "I bet you a million bucks that someone from school is going to come here trying to find us."
"I bet it's Leanne and Caitlin," said Claire.
"I say all of them, plus Helina."
Claire rolled her eyes and went to wash the dishes. While she did, Cailyn was fawning all over Lucifer and Michael, who had been in another room all this time. She picked Lucifer up - he was the favourite - and cuddled him.
"You're so cute," she told him. Lucifer purred in response.
"You know, he walked into the school once when we were in class," said Claire.
"Really?" Cailyn asked. Out of all the classes, Claire only had two classes with Cailyn - Music, and Food Tech (the latter with Caitlin as well). Cailyn had to sing in Music, which had made her really embarrassed, but the teacher simply told her there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
"Yeah. I was in Art. Claudia noticed him first. She pointed him out to me and Helina, and I left the class, pretending to go to the bathroom, but really I went to Lucifer and carried him right out of the school. Just in case something happened to him."
Cailyn nodded. She then motioned for Claire to wait, gave her Lucifer and walked up to the bookshelves on the side of the room. She took out a purple album. "What's this?"
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Claire yelled, but Cailyn had already opened the album.
She gasped. "It's so cute! You and Elaine are just adorable!"
"Please don't look at it," Claire pleaded, but naturally, Cailyn didn't listen to her.
* * * * * * * * *
After school, Leanne and Helina said their goodbyes to Caitlin, who headed off to play tennis. She obviously didn't want to, but what could she do?
Claudia was staying behind in the library to study, and Anna and Theresa were going together to Theresa's house to do...something. Probably look at Theresa's bunnies (Theresa had three bunnies. One white, one black, and one a cream-brown colour) or do their nails with all sorts of nail polish.
"Hey, have you seen Claire?" a voice asked. Leanne turned around to see Elaine.
Leanne shook her head. "She left early."
"Why?"
"She said she has an appointment."
"What? No, she doesn't!"
"Knew it," said Leanne in an undertone to Helina, who nodded.
"Where is Claire?" Elaine demanded. "She's supposed to be here!"
"No idea," Leanne supplied. "I can try ringing her if you want..."
Elaine frowned. "You said she left early. Maybe she's at home now. I'll go and check, and if she's not I'll call her."
"We're coming too," Helina interrupted. She turned beetroot red as Elaine stared at her for a few seconds, then she shrugged and walked off, with Leanne and Helina following behind her.
Leanne hoped that Claire and Cailyn would be at Claire's house so 1. She could be sure that they were okay and 2. So she could murder both of them for leaving the school to who-knows-where without telling anyone.
"I will kill Cailyn," Helina muttered. "Not Claire, because she's nice."
"You'll change your mind once you get to know her," Leanne warned her, but she was only joking. Claire was pretty nice; she just had these times where she blurted out insults and things that could hurt others, but it wasn't her fault - not really. She just didn't really see their emotional reactions to what she said. But it was getting better now, and Leanne was already used to it.
"Come on," Elaine called behind her impatiently, and Leanne and Helina rushed to catch up.
"Claire!" Leanne and Elaine screamed at the same time as Claire opened the door. Leanne gave Claire a big hug - which Claire obviously didn't like - and Elaine just started hitting her as hard as she could.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Elaine shouted. "Leaving school early! Who do you think you are? You're not a rebel, and you're supposed to stay at - "
Claire gave her the bird as a sign of exasperation and turned on her heel, heading straight back inside.
"Well, that was a warm welcome," said Helina, glancing nervously at Elaine.
They headed inside and found Cailyn flipping through an old family album on the couch and Claire sitting with her two cats on the floor. Elaine glared at Claire, who ignored her. Elaine gave Leanne a look that plainly said: She's all yours, and she headed into her bedroom, where she slammed the door as hard as she could, making the walls shudder.
"So," said Leanne. Cailyn looked up and her face brightened as she saw them. She got up and hugged Helina and Leanne, one at a time. Claire stayed sitting cross-legged on the carpet, patting Lucifer on the head. As for Michael, he had followed Elaine - who had let him into her room, it seemed. "Where were you two?"
"Do you know how much we freaked out?" Helina added.
"Chill, we weren't kidnapped," said Claire, rolling her eyes.
"That was a suspicion of Caitlin's," Leanne remembered. "And by the way, why does Cailyn have an ice-pack in her hand?"
Cailyn's ears turned scarlet red. "Um...I was feeling hot, so I'm using the ice-pack to cool down."
Leanne suspected that there was a whole lot more to it than that, but Claire changed the subject by saying, "Cailyn, do you want your container back? I washed it for you."
Helina was puzzled. "Hold up. You took Cailyn's container?"
"She ate my lunch," said Cailyn idly, still staring at the pictures from the album. Helina went to sit next to her and gasped as she saw the cute photos, which Claire pointedly ignored, although she was blushing.
"She ate your lunch?" Leanne asked.
"We swapped food - twice."
"Twice?"
"Once at McDonalds and the other time: here."
"Oh, that's...wow."
"It's only because both times Claire was too picky to eat her own food," said Cailyn, grinning as Claire made a sound of protest. Lucifer jumped off her lap and walked around the room.
"You were the one who ordered the food at McDonalds for me!" Claire folded her arms.
"You were the one who made the deal. You made me buy food for you."
"Well, you didn't leave me with any other choice!"
"Backtrack a bit," Leanne interrupted. The two girls weren't making any sense, and she began to wonder what they did after they left the school grounds. "What deal?"
"You tell. I suck at storytelling," said Cailyn, giving Claire a look before resuming looking at the album with Helina, although Helina's attention was more on Claire than the album.
Claire recounted their story. Apparently she had seen Cailyn sneaking out of the school hall during their zumba class and she had gone after her to see what was wrong. Cailyn told her that she felt trapped and cooped up inside school (well, who wouldn't) and she wanted to be free, even if it was only for a little while. She wanted to run wild.
So she and Claire had gone on the train to the city. Claire had gone with her because she wanted to give Cailyn some company. They went to McDonalds for lunch, and then they walked around the city for a bit before returning home.
"And you never bothered to tell us any of that," said Leanne. "Failure on your part."
Claire stared at Cailyn, who said, "I didn't want to create a huge fuss."
"Where's Caitlin?" Claire suddenly asked.
Cailyn flinched a little, and Helina frowned at her. The former than hurriedly went back to flipping through the baby photos.
"Tennis practice," Leanne answered.
Weirdly, Claire's face turned white. "Te - tennis?"
"Yes, why?"
"Hasn't she been playing tennis for years?"
"Yes, why?" Leanne repeated. She didn't see what the big deal was.
"So if anyone was looking for her, they would know where she is," Claire said slowly. "If they knew her for a long time, I mean. Like how we know that she has tennis nearly every day of the week after school."
"Yes," Leanne said uncertainly. She shared a sideways glance at Helina, who seemed as bewildered as she was. "But why - "
"Oh, shit," Claire nearly yelled. "Her tennis thingy lasts for an extra hour, right?"
"Yes, but why - " Leanne asked, but she was interrupted again. She was starting to feel like a robot.
"Roger that," Cailyn said as she leaped from the couch. The album hit the floor, where Lucifer went over to check it out before Helina picked it up and put it back on the couch. "I'll go and make a phone call."
"What?" Helina called after her, but Cailyn had already disappeared off to another room.
"Okay, what is going on? Answer," Leanne said angrily, walking right up to Claire.
Claire hesitated for a while. Leanne could almost see the gears in her brain working as she said, "Caitlin's boyfriend has been looking for her. He was really...worried when we saw him in the city."
"The city? Wasn't he at school?"
"No, Daniel took a day off."
Leanne nodded, satisfied. They then spent the next hour talking and chatting and recounting stories of things that had happened in the past. Even Elaine joined them - after Leanne and Helina made her apologise to her sister - and tried to come up with a few jokes, but failed.
They were almost as bad as Rufina's really lame puns that she kept coming up with at school. They made Anna laugh, but everyone else found it very un-amusing.
By the time Claire's mother came home, Leanne, Helina and Cailyn decided it would be a good time to leave. Leanne simply walked home while Helina and Cailyn both got picked up. Spending an hour having fun with Claire, Helina, Cailyn and Elaine - plus Lucifer and Michael (who had come out with Elaine) - had left her feeling happy. But then that feeling slowly evaporated.
Some people said she was psychic. Maybe it was true.
Because she had a hunch, and her sixth sense - if she even had one, that is - was telling her: Claire and Cailyn were hiding something.
"If you want to remember someone you care [about] then you don't need to say anything or do anything but if you want to remember someone you don't care [about] then you do."
- Yao
Glossary:
~ ありがとう (arigato) - thank you
~ どういたしまして (doitashimashite) - you're welcome
~ ごめんなさい (gomenasai) - I'm sorry