‘Laura! Laura, time to wake up! Get up now! Rise and shine! Come on, lazy bones! Up you get, Miss Gallagher! We’re going shopping!’
Groaning, I turned over in the bed, facing my back to the annoying person trying to wake me up. I just wanted to sleep longer … Just a few more minutes … That wouldn’t hurt. ‘Leave me alone, Ryan.’ I mumbled sleepily.
The person laughed heartily, grabbing my shoulder and shaking it vigorously. ‘This is Gabby, not Ryan. Come on, it’s ten o’clock. We all know how long it takes you to get ready. Oh, and someone left some mail addressed for you … Rodney found it at the front door this morning … Pretty odd. Anyway, hurry up. We’re dying to see what’s inside the envelope. Get up and open it. I’m going to pour water over your head if you don’t get up. Chelsea, grab the jug. Okay, gonna count to three. One, two -’
Grumbling under my breath, I pushed my head up from the pillow using my elbows to look at the white envelope placed beside me. Why on earth did someone leave mail for me if I was at Katie’s? Didn’t they know where I normally lived? How did they know I was at Katie’s? Maybe it was something from Ryan, but he would’ve texted me, right? Extremely confused, I dug my finger into the paper of the envelope and ripped it open. Inside was a tiny note with a message written in block capitals.
ONLY ONE COLOUR, BUT NOT ONE SIZE; STUCK TO THE GROUND, YET EASILY FLIES. PRESENT IN THE SUN, BUT NOT IN RAIN; DOING NO HARM, AND FEELING NO PAIN. WHAT IS IT? – THIS TIME YOU CAN FIND THE ANSWER OUT FOR YOURSELF, SWEETHEART. HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR SLEEPOVER.
‘What the hell?’ I muttered, reading it over again. Another riddle? What was the answer? This was actually pretty creepy … and I was getting worried. What normal person sent other people riddles? Travis wasn’t that weird, or smart … He didn’t even know that I was staying over in Katie’s, so it had to be someone that did know … One of Ryan’s friends? Were they trying to freak me out, or something? They were sure doing a good job if that was the case. This was my second riddle in less than twenty-four hours. Why were they sending me riddles? The first one was about silence. Now this?
Nicole reached over and grabbed my note curiously. She read it out loud, her frown growing deeper and deeper as she read another word. ‘Laura, who on earth sent you this?’
‘That’s just pure weird …’ said Katie, looking at me worriedly. ‘It’s like a freaky version of a Valentine’s card … but it’s September. Whoever sent you that can’t be normal. That’s a riddle, isn’t it?’
Brianna nodded slowly, taking the note as she put on her glasses. ‘Y’all know what it means, though, don’t you?’ We all shook our heads, so she rolled her eyes. ‘My dad always tries to solve these riddles. I mean, he’s a pure geek. I’ve definitely seen this one before. The answer is a shadow. Shadows are one colour, not one size and they’re always on the ground when it’s sunny and mainly not when it’s raining. They just fly along the ground behind us, or whatever … It’s obvious, right?’
I could feel myself starting to panic, so I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It didn’t work. I was doomed. ‘Okay, this is freaky. Last night I got an e-mail with a riddle in it last night. It’s answer was silence. Now this is shadow. Do I have a stalker? Shadows follow people no matter where they go, right? Oh gosh, I’m being followed … This is horrible –!’
‘What on earth are you talking about? This is so cool!’ said Chelsea suddenly. ‘I’ve never known anyone with a stalker! I wonder who it is … Maybe it’s some nerd with a crush on you. Or you know that guy who dresses in black all the time? What’s his name? Davin Harris? Even his name’s weird … I heard he writes really creepy poems, too … It could be him. Imagine if that dude had a crush on you? I’d be so embarrassed for you -!’
‘Chelsea, what the hell is wrong with you?’ said Gabby. ‘This isn’t cool one bit! Do yous think we should tell the cops?’
I shook my head. ‘Heck no. Maybe it’s just someone playing a silly trick on me … They must know I’m creeped out easily … We definitely shouldn’t tell the cops. We’d just make a fool of ourselves. It must’ve been someone that knew we were going to have a sleepover. Who knew I was staying here?’
‘Barely anyone, as far as I know …’ said Katie. ‘I think I told Dan and Kevin, but they’re not that messed up. Dan could’ve told Rebecca, but she certainly wouldn’t have done that. She’s probably too busy fussing about how she looks. Although, if Rebecca found out she could’ve told anyone …’
‘Who would talk to her about our sleepover, though? It’s not a thing you normally talk about. If anyone wanted to know about it – which is unlikely – they definitely would’ve asked us,’ said Nicole, shaking her head. ‘Do you know who sent you the e-mail?’
I mentally slapped myself. If I hadn’t have deleted that e-mail, I would’ve found out who this pathetic freak was. ‘I thought it was just junk mail last night so I deleted it … I didn’t even check who it was from because I just wanted to go asleep … Ugh, I’m so stupid.’
‘Well that helps a lot.’ Brianna sighed, handing me back the note. ‘Maybe you should ask your friends in school if they know who it’s from. Gosh, I really hope you don’t have a stalker … but whoever it is must be quite a weirdo. Make sure you check that Davin Harris dude out. I even heard in my school that he’s odd. If the first one was silence and now this one’s a shadow … ? It’s like the person’s threatening you to keep quiet about something. Do you know something about someone that no one else does?’
I shook my head. Well, there was Travis but it was impossible for him to leave an envelope at someone’s front door without being noticed. As far as I knew, the neighbourhood watch was extremely keen around here. He was also supposed to be missing, too, so – if he was actually hiding – he wouldn’t show his face in somewhere like this. I didn’t know anyone else’s secrets except for the gang – but they knew I wouldn’t tell anyone, so they didn’t need to threaten me. Maybe it was really just someone playing a trick on me. There were no other logical answer.
But Davin Harris? I thought he was a nice bloke … He definitely seemed a nice bloke. When I first moved over to America I used to sit beside him in English and he helped me with anything I found hard. No, I didn’t think it was Davin. He was too nice, but I thought that about Ryan, Kyle and Travis when I found out that they were in gangs. Maybe I could talk to him, or at least watch what he’s up to. Still, I doubted that it was him. He did write really good poetry and he was different, but that didn’t mean that he should be suspected. The sender of these riddles could be absolutely anyone.
‘Maybe we should just get ready and go to the mall. If we notice anyone following us we can all confront him … or her. Whoever’s sent you these just wants you to be worried, so you’re better off just pretending that you never even got them. Come on, the quicker we get there, the quicker we can forget about this creep.’
~*~
We were in the mall at half past twelve, doing our first round of window-shopping before we got into the real stuff. We stopped by at an ice-cream parlour to meet the rest of our friends that were due to come, and I sneakily texted Ryan to tell him where we were. Our other friends arrived first – Samantha, Madison, Kimberly, Jennifer, Hanna, Lucy, Michelle and Leah – and then all our ice-creams arrived. Just as I tasted my cookies, cream and marshmallow ice-cream, it was suddenly wrenched out of my hand. I glared up at the familiar face and demanded my ice-cream back.
‘Mmm … This tastes gorgeous. I think I’ll have one of those, too,’ said Ryan, ignoring my protests. ‘Laura, you didn’t tell me you were all going shopping today! Drake just wanted to get a new pair of sneakers. I’ll be back in a second – getting an ice-cream.’
Now Kyle took my ice-cream and tasted it. I scrunched up my nose in disgust, watching him lick my favourite ice-cream. ‘Jeez, he’s right. You sure you want this back now, Laura?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Definitely not, now that your slobber’s been all over it.’
‘So you’re okay with Ryan’s slobber?’ he smirked. ‘Awh, that’s cute.’
‘Of course she is. She’s dating him!’ said Gabby, standing up beside me. She looked around at all of the lads. ‘Who are yous, anyway?’
‘Ryan’s friends,’ a few of them chorused, all smiling at my friends. I noticed that James wasn’t here – probably too busy with my sister – but the rest of them had certainly turned up. They all seemed quite thrilled to see that there were plenty of girls, and as far as I knew … all of them were single. There was nearly an equal amount of boys and girls … I really hoped that the lads would try and act normal. I could see Kimberly already checking her reflection in the screen of her cell phone … I couldn’t blame her, though. If I was single and didn’t know Ryan – I’d sure be getting excited about the lads. I had to admit it – they were all bloody gorgeous.
Ryan came back over with his ice-cream, sitting down beside me and swinging an arm around my shoulder. Brianna’s mouth dropped as soon as she looked between the pair of us. ‘T-that’s your boyfriend? Wow.’
‘I know, right? Once in a lifetime opportunity to find someone so perfect … She’s so lucky …’ Katie laughed, and then she turned to the lads. ‘Um … you guys can all sit down beside us, too. We don’t bite.’
‘Well, not just yet,’ said Chelsea, giving one of them a wink. Ugh, this was sure going to be fun. They were probably going to be doing more flirting than shopping.
The lads soon ordered their ice-creams, and I got Kyle to buy me one as he stole my first one. When we were all finished, the whole lot of us left the parlour and went into the perfume store next to it because there was a sale on. I did actually need new perfume, so I brought Ryan over with me to a girl standing in front of a huge amount of shelves stacked with all the perfume samples. I already had one in mind that I wanted, so I requested that one first.
‘Does this one smell nice?’ I asked Ryan, holding out my wrist for him to have a sniff of the perfume I had just tested. ‘One of Sinead’s friends told me to get this a while ago. I like mainly sweet scents … but I’m not sure if I smell like an old woman, or not … What do you think?’
Ryan frowned, smelling the perfume. ‘Why do you need perfume? You smell pretty tasty to me.’
I shrugged. ‘It’s just a nice thing to wear … I like smelling extra-nice. Do you like it?’
Ryan also shrugged. ‘I don’t really care how you smell, to be hon–’
‘Will you just tell me if it’s nice or not?’ I snapped, getting impatient. ‘I need a second opinion, and since you’re my boyfriend it’s your duty. Thumbs up or thumbs down?’
‘Up,’ he said finally.
‘See? That wasn’t hard at all, now, was it?’
‘I know something in my pants that’ll be hard in a few more minutes if your friend keeps it up.’ Sam mumbled, appearing beside us and looking over his shoulder at Nicole. ‘Damn, she sure is hot.’
‘Will you at least try to control yourself?’ I growled. ‘She just got dumped yesterday. Nicole isn’t ready for another boyfriend yet. She doesn’t look it, but I know she’s really upset about it. I swear, if you try anything I’ll make sure you’ll be sorry.’ Shooting him a stern glare, I turned back around to purchase my new perfume.
Katie came rushing over then, grinning madly. ‘Laura! Oh, Laura! Guess what? Drake just asked me out! Oh my gosh, I feel like freaking screaming this whole mall down! Can you believe it? He is so hot -!’
‘Hold on for a minute.’ I told Katie and headed over to Drake before she could try to pull me back. ‘What the hell do you think you’re up to? You don’t get my best friend all excited about some hot guy that’ll only stay with her for one night!’ I screeched, poking his chest with my finger at every word. ‘Katie doesn’t deserve to be treated like a piece of shit! You’re being so selfish! You’re going to pretend that you’re all caring and then just break her heart! You said it yourself on Thursday -!’
Drake, grabbing my wrists, pulled me as far away as possible from Katie, who I guessed he was hoping wouldn’t hear. ‘Laura, please be quiet for a moment,’ he whispered. I couldn’t read his expression – it was definitely something I hadn’t seen before on his face. ‘I actually really like Katie, not just because she’s good-looking, but because she’s really funny. I’m not going to treat her like a piece of shit – I’m not like that. On Thursday I was only joking, I wouldn’t do that to any of your friends. I know how important they are to you. I want to get to know Katie better, and, you know, bring her out on dates and stuff … the proper way. So when I asked her she said yes, and I promise I won’t just forget about her. There’s just something about her that’s really … well, I don’t really know. I suppose I just like her. Is that normal?’
‘Are you lying to me? I swear, if you are -!’
‘No! Laura, I’m not -!’
‘- I’ll snap your bloody neck, Drake! If I hear one word about you breaking her heart – I’ll make sure you break every single bone in your body! Katie is one of the nicest girls I have ever known. How on earth will you manage to be with her, anyway, if you’re in that stupid gang? You can’t have both!’
‘Ryan can have both!’
‘Yeah, because he told me the truth about it all. You can’t tell Katie the truth because she’ll run off and tell someone else!’
‘She’s just the same as you! How would you even know if she’ll tell anyone?’
‘Because she’s my best friend!’
‘Well, if she’s your best friend she should definitely know how to keep a secret! That’s what friends do! You’re keeping Ryan’s secret – why can’t she keep mine?’
I huffed angrily, stomping my foot childishly on the ground. ‘How can you trust her? You only met her fifteen minutes ago!’
‘Yeah, exactly! You’re the one who should be trusting her! You’ve known her much longer than I have!’
‘Fine then, tell her. But you remember this, Drake. If this goes wrong – everything about the gang will be told. The cops will know exactly who each one of you are. They’ll know exactly what each one of you have been up to and you’ll all have to face the consequences. If that happens I’ll never be able to talk to any of yous again, or see yous. I’ll never be able to go near Ryan again. You’re ruining so many lives if this goes wrong.’
Drake sighed. ‘Well, maybe I won’t tell Katie anything, then.’
‘What? You can’t do that! She’ll just think you’re cheating on her if you’re gone for a few hours everyday.’
‘It’s not even like that, Laura. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyway, last night I spoke to one of the leaders and asked him when I’d be able to leave it. I’m exactly the same as Ryan, it’s the exact same situation. If you don’t agree with this then you’re just being a hypocrite.’
‘But you don’t know if Katie will be able to keep quiet about this! Anyway, if you do start dating her – you’re dragging her into all of this mess! What’ll happen if the other gang finds out about her? They’ll be after her, too? Seriously, Drake, are you thinking straight? You’re going to make problems even worse!’
Suddenly Ryan grabbed my hand, squeezing it. ‘Will you two quit arguing? Your friends are starting to notice, and if I hear Katie say “Oh my gosh, Drake’s so hot” one more time, I will literally strangle her. Seriously, you don’t know how annoying it’s getting.’
‘Well, why don’t you tell Drake how dangerous this is if Katie gets involved in the gang?’
Ryan looked at Drake grimly. ‘We can talk about that tonight.’ Then he turned back to me. ‘Wanna go on a walk?’
‘A walk?’ I repeated, confused.
‘Yeah. When you put your right foot in front of your left and your left foot in front of your right and –’
‘Okay, okay.’ I snapped. I told my friends that I’d be back in a minute and followed Ryan out of the shop. We strolled in silence for a few minutes, hand in hand, just like the other couples walking by us. It was a strange feeling to know that I was now one of those lucky people who were part of a couple. Ryan stopped at the mini fountain in the middle of the mall and sat down at the edge of it. Pulling me down beside him, I rested my head on his shoulder.
‘What’s the matter with you today?’ he asked me after a while. ‘You seem very stressed, or something … Anything happen last night?’
I sighed, guessing I’d have to tell him about that weirdo sending me those riddles. ‘I’m just … Well, I’m just a bit worried. Last night I got an e-mail. It was a riddle, and the answer was silence. I forgot to check who sent it, and I deleted it because I thought it was just a stupid piece of junk mail. But this morning I got another one. This time it was in an envelope addressed to me and Katie’s dad found it. This time the answer was a shadow. I don’t know if it’s someone playing some creepy joke on me, or if there’s a meaning behind it … Brianna thinks it’s someone threatening me to keep quiet about something … But it can’t be Travis, could it?’
Ryan shook his head. ‘No. Jeffrey was in Boston yesterday and he nearly caught him. Travis hopped in some car before Jeff could get his hands on the bastard. Jeffrey spotted him walking out of a house so we’re keeping an eye on it now. It couldn’t be any of my friends, either. They were all at the meeting last night, except for Sam. He was in his house, but he was minding his daughter so he wouldn’t have been able to –’
‘What?’ I gasped, wide-eyed. Did I hear him properly? ‘Sam has a daughter?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah. Do I need to explain to you how it happened?’ Ryan smirked.
‘N-no.’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘It’s just hard to believe … I mean, it’s Sam. The annoying little pri–’
Ryan laughed. ‘You should actually see him with the baby. Sam was a jerk about it at first … He broke up with his girlfriend and left her there. We all thought he wasn’t going to go near the baby at all, but he did after she was born … He minds her whenever her mom wants to go out and stuff. He won’t even let any of us hold her, though – that’s how protective he is over her …’
‘Awh, that’s so cute.’ I smiled, picturing Sam holding a little baby. ‘I still never would’ve thought he’d be the fatherly type. He certainly doesn’t act it … It’s a pity that he broke up with his girlfriend – I’m sure it’ll be pretty hard for that little girl to grow up going back and forward between her parents.’
‘You get used to it after a while,’ said Ryan, scowling slightly. ‘Anyway, let’s stop talking about Sam and start talking about Mr Riddle.’
‘It has to be someone playing a stupid trick on me. None of the other gang could’ve found out that I was in Katie’s, and even if they did – they’ve nothing to threaten me about. I don’t know any secrets of theirs … I just know about the gangs and they’d have to understand that I wouldn’t tell the cops because that means I’ll lose you. It has to be a joke …’
Ryan frowned, and stayed quiet for a long time. Then he shook his head and ran a hand through his chestnut hair. ‘Whoever it is will get a good kick up the rear end when we find out. Stupid idiot worrying you like this. You know what? I want you to forget everything. Right now. Don’t even think about the riddles. It’s just some brat trying to get you all worked up. We have enough on our plates to be fretting about this creep.’
‘What if it’s a stalker?’ I asked him, biting my lip. ‘It could be some psycho trying to kidnap me or something …’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘I think I’m letting you watch too many horror movies, Little Laura.’
After that, we met back up with our large group of friends and began shopping. I watched Ryan carefully, hoping to find something in a shop that he was interested in. He glanced at a few t-shirts and stuff like that, so I made a mental note to buy him a few for the next present-giving occasion. I bought myself an outfit for Chris’s party – and got the approval off Ryan that the dress wasn’t too short or too long. Gabby and Kyle seemed to be getting on brilliantly … In fact, nearly all of my friends were paired with one of Ryan’s friends.
For the first time ever, I actually had a serious-ish conversation with Sam. He was telling me all about his daughter, and (even more surprisingly) he wasn’t afraid to tell all of the other girls, either. He showed me a picture of his baby girl and she was absolutely adorable. For some unknown reason I actually had a bit more respect for Sam. It was nice to know that he had time for his little baby girl, rather than being like the jerks on 16 and Pregnant. I wondered how Ryan would’ve reacted if I was pregnant, not that I ever was going to get pregnant. I seriously couldn’t see myself as a mother, especially not before I went to college and got a job and a lovely house …
‘Today had to be the best day in a long time,’ said Katie, pulling me away from my thoughts. ‘I mean, I haven’t had so much fun in ages. I’m so glad we bumped into yous.’
‘I know exactly how you feel,’ Nicole laughed, giving Sam a grin.
‘Well, there’s plenty more where that came from,’ said Kyle, throwing Gabby a wink.
I rolled my eyes, but kept walking towards the exit. I checked my pocket for my phone, and to my horror, it was nowhere to be found. Panicking, I froze and tried to remember if I had left it down anywhere. ‘Ryan, I’ll be back in a minute.’ I told him, and sprinted off to the clothes store where I bought my dress. I was sure I left it in the changing room, so I headed there first.
Lucky enough, when I ripped open the curtain, my cell phone was sitting there on the small stool. Surprised by my luck, I shoved it into my pocket. Then my eyes widened. What was that on the screen? I pulled my phone back out and stared at the message before my eyes. It wasn’t sent, or received – just in my notes.
Pronounced as one letter, and written with three, two letters there are and two only in me. I’m double, I’m single. I’m black, blue and grey. I’m read from both ends, and the same either way. What am I? – Here’s another puzzle for you, baby. And yes. I am watching.
*****
Hello! So, this chapter’s quite small compared to the last few – I was in my friend "Clara’s" house on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I got like no time to write at all … So who do you think is sending the riddles? Do you think they mean anything, or are they just a joke? Hmm … you’ll have wait to find out ;) I’ve actually decided that Laura, Ryan and Sinead won’t be going to Ireland until the next book (yes, I will be writing another book) because there is going to be an extra-special event coming up :) Then I’ll end the book and start the next one :) Don’t worry – it’s probably going to take me forever to get to the end of this one :D