When the film was finished, Dylan drove Alessia back to her house and left her with a sweet kiss to her cheek. It was nothing but a kind gesture to Dylan, but it was a heart-pounding moment for Alessia.
She entered her house smiling, closing the door and just standing there for a few moments to relish in what had happened.
"'Ere's a lovely lady, James." Someone said suddenly, a cold hand touching Alessia. She jerked away, gasping.
Her father appeared from behind the person who had touched her, stumbling through. "Ah, that's my daughter, but since we couldn't afford the hookers, just use 'er." He said, making Alessia's eyes widen.
The unknown man smiled, leaning in to place a sloppy kiss on her cheek.
Her dad grunted, stumbling back into the living room, yelling something about taking 'the other one'.
Alessia was soon dragged into the living room, where four other men awaited her. She stared at them, unmoving as they all drooled at her presence. As they tugged at her uniform, the doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
"Oi, mate!" One of the men yelled, "That another hooker?" He called.
Unfreezing, Alessia said, "I'll get it," before excusing herself to the door.
When she opened it, Dylan was there.
"Alessia," he said, smiling, "sorry, you forgot your–"
Alessia threw herself into him, making him fall back in shock as she locked her front door behind her.
She grabbed ahold of his hand. "We need to go, now." She said, running out into her drive and finding his car, watching him unlock it in confusion.
Getting in, she curled up in the passenger seat and began to cry. When Dylan joined her, he was confused, though pulled her in for an embrace.
"I think," she began, hiccuping, "I think that maybe I need somewhere else to stay for tonight." She said, sniffling.
Dylan drew back, brushing away Alessia's tears, "You've gotta tell me what's going on, Alessia." He said, eyes full of concern.
She shook her head quickly. "I can't." She said, staring deep into his eyes so that he understood.
Ruefully, he pulled back and sighed. "That's okay," he said, "my parents will be home tonight but I can sneak you through the window?" He suggested.
She laughed, though still sniffing. "That sounds perfect." She said, smiling, wishing that Dylan was always this kind.
Alessia noticed that in school, around his friends and around...me, Dylan was preoccupied, or just didn't want to look weird talking to her. For, what kind of reputation would he gain if he spoke to the most hated girl in school?
Alessia and Dylan sat in silence throughout the journey, the radio playing quietly in the background. Whilst Alessia was lost in her thoughts, she wondered what Dylan was thinking about. She couldn't gauge his feelings about her, and today's encounter with Ked made it all the more confusing. She didn't want to lose Dylan to me.
When Dylan had parked up on his drive, he shot Alessia a smile before shutting off the car.
"Right," he announced, leading her around to the back garden, which Dylan's bedroom faced onto. "I'll climb to the first floor and help guide you up, but you need to do the rest yourself. My window is open, and my door is closed, so you should be safe until I get up." Alessia nodded, apprehensive about scaling a wall.
Dylan smiled, "Okay, take notes." He instructed before he began to climb up the wall. I knew the route to his room via the wall.
There were times where Dylan's mum would advise me to leave to catch up on sleep or homework, but Dylan and I had always wondered if she was just cautious of us spending...intimate time together. This was, of course, a crazy idea; Dylan and I are very close friends, and not in love.
I didn't want to get on the bad side of his mum, and so would pretend to leave, much to Dylan's dismay, but I always returned. After that, Dylan and I made a habit of scaling each other's walls. Nothing could keep us apart.
Alessia watched as Dylan scaled to the first floor with confusion, which Dylan laughed at when he reached the top. "Okay," he said, "put your right foot on the piping line." With a few more instructions and hauling up from Dylan, Alessia made it to the first floor.
Having helped her up, Dylan was quite close to her, and it made her heart flutter. But then he pulled away, flashing a smile.
"Now it's all you," he said, steadying her as she toppled slightly. She glanced uncertainly up at the window which she was supposed to reach.
"It's okay," he said, "here," she turned to see him standing over by the wall. "I'll give you a lift up to the ledge, then you just have to push open the window and pull yourself in." He told her.
Alessia blew out a breath, before nodding. She accepted Dylan's step-up and was soon balancing upon the ledge.
"You can do it," Alessia heard Dylan whisper as she reached up to the window. She grinned, reaching up farther and pushing open the window. She grabbed onto the window sill, using it to pull herself in. When she was close enough, she grabbed onto Dylan's built-in desk, hoisting herself through and landing with a thud on his bedroom floor.
She thought she could hear Dylan cheering, but she couldn't be too sure, and so quickly shut the window, getting up onto her feet. She exhaled, brushing back her hair with her fingers, grinning.
She switched Dylan's bedroom light on before moving over to his bed, placing her phone on charge before removing her shoes and tucking them into the corner. As she waited for Dylan, she sat atop his bed and investigated the drawers beside his bed.
She mainly found little trinkets, memories from the past. She found Christmas cards and birthday cards, some old photos and keychains. Opening the second drawer, though, she found a pile of small notes.
She frowned, picking one up and reading it.
'Cute hair'
It read. She frowned, picking up the rest and reading them.
'You're so so funny'
'Thank you for my C in biology'
'Thank you for buying me food :) love you'
She frowned, her heart stopping as she read the last one over and over. 'Love you'. She rummaged around some more, finding one that was signed off.
'Dylan, you're my most good looking friend,
O xx'
And that solved it. The notes were from me, Olivia Clark.
The notes were something Dylan and I began in primary school, back when he was too scared to ask me to be his friend, so he just wrote it down. Most of them these days were just 'buy me food' or 'yours tonight?' or, more famously, 'I'm tired'. My ones from Dylan are stashed in many different places in my room, some long forgotten, but Dylan had made an actual place for mine. He'd kept all the good ones in pristine condition, tucking them away next to his bed.
I had never found these before, partly because I don't go snooping around my best friend's drawers for no apparent reason, but also because, when I stay at his house, Dylan tends to sleep on the side closer to these drawers. I leave the space vacant for him just in case he decides he wants to join me since he hates blow-up beds so much.
It was sweet that he had kept them all, and it made me miss him even more.
When Alessia heard footsteps, she collected up all the notes, stuffing them back in the drawer and closing it gently. She turned as the door opened, revealing a smiling Dylan. She smiled back, trying to appear casual after she had found, what she thought were, love letters.
"Hey," Dylan said.
"Hey," Alessia responded with a smile, eyeing whatever he was holding.
Dylan noticed this, "I snuck out the back door and grabbed your school bag, and then stuffed this plastic bag with so much food I think you'll die."
Alessia laughed but slapped a hand over her mouth to halt the sound.
He shook his head, smiling as he shut the door and set the bags down.
"Thank you," she said, watching as Dylan pulled out his phone.
"My mum said that Olivia called me by the house phone..." he said, trailing off as his eyes widened.
"What is it?" Alessia asked, watching as he stared at his phone screen.
"Olivia called me 43 times. Something's wrong," he said, suddenly very panicked, "I just need to ring her," he said apologetically, before dismissing himself and disappearing into his bathroom.
Alessia couldn't help herself—she listened in on the phone call.
"I know," she heard him say, "yeah," he paused for a few minutes. "Okay, Olivia, it's okay, calm down," he said, sounding soothing, with an underlying tone of deep concern.
"No, Olivia, not tonight," he said, "I know–no I know, I'm sorry, Olivia." Hearing the pain in his voice, Alessia squeezed her eyes shut, sighing.
She knocked on the door before walking in, making Dylan turn and raise an eyebrow.
"Give me a second, Liv,"
Alessia swallowed. "Did you need me to leave?" She asked.
He sighed, closing her eyes. "She's freaking out, Alessia, I don't know what to do." He said, sounding hopeless.
She nodded. "I can go, she can come 'round here."
Dylan ran a hand through his hair with frustration. Suddenly, he stood up straight.
"I have an idea," he said, "but I won't do it unless you feel comfortable with it." He said.
Alessia took a deep breath. She was actually sacrificing herself for me.
But, then again, I could feel that it wasn't on my account—she just hated to see Dylan so upset, and for it to be her fault.
"Okay," she said, "what's your plan?"
_________________________________
Alessia taking the bullet
That's revolutionary
:))))) Dylan :)))))
how y'all feeling about him?
gimme the loot
-nvm I got a juice
FABULOUS SONGS
Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Logos - Ludovico Einaudi
Run For Cover - Gabrielle Aplin
Maybe You - Say Lou Lou
Escape - Megan Nicole
Ocean - Lauren Aquilina
Salty Sweet - MS MR
My Blood - Ellie Goulding
White Coats - Foxes
The Other Side - Ruelle
Dead of Night - Ruelle
Vincent - Ellie Goulding
END OF FABULOUS SONGS
Date written:
23/09/18
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Next update: Friday (I KNOW: SNEAKY. basically, it's the 3 month anniversary so I'm going for Friday :). No double update, bc I secretly want this book to last forever, but yah. Enjoy this info.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE SPOILER: (have I said new era yet?!!)
Alessia makes a sacrifice for her nemesis, Olivia.
Yet, she ends up better off than she originally assumed she'd be.
🕊