Winter of Discontent (Four Seasons Book 1) (3 page)

Chapter Four – The Photograph

Sarah

I was so annoyed with myself. Yet again I’d allowed Kacey to pressure me into saying something I didn’t mean. I wasn’t laughing at the geek; I felt for him. I’d scraped the floor with my chair on my first day and, as the class laughed, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. He must have felt a little like that and I felt bad for him.

‘I’m starting to think that perhaps you don’t really want to hang around with us,’ snarled Kacey as we headed out of school.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, it seems that whenever the geek squad is around you are more interested in what they are doing than what we are.’

Kacey could be spiteful, I’d realised that almost from the first moment we’d met. I’d decided I would put up with it though. Making friends wasn’t easy especially when you are a newcomer part way through the semester. Kacey had sort of welcomed me into the fold on the first day and I didn’t want to argue about some geek that had snubbed me. Some geek whose name I didn’t even know!

I tried to convince Kacey and the rest of the girls that I couldn’t care less about what the geeks were up to but Kacey was clearly in a snide mood and was having none of it.

‘Prove it,’ she said firmly refusing to believe me.

‘How?’ I asked sheepishly.

‘You need to show us you don’t give a damn about Erik.’

‘Which one is Erik?’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ said Britney.

Britney didn’t say a lot but when she did she always cursed. Fuck this, shit that, bastard the other. I hated it but I didn’t say anything.

‘The geek that you were flirting with,’ she elaborated.

‘I wasn’t flirting with him,’ I protested again.

‘Well, if you don’t care for him then you’ll take up our little challenge,’ Kacey goaded.

‘Sure,’ I said, as
blasé
as I could.

‘OK. Then I reckon you should get a photograph of him in his underwear and then post it online.’

Kacey laughed out loud and the others lauded their approval.

‘Fine, no problem,’ I scoffed lightly, as we continued towards the parking lot.

As I got on Aunt Suze’s scooter, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t just told them to go to Hell. This was so unlike me. I wasn’t mean spirited, I didn’t mock others and I sure as heck didn’t set out to hurt people.

As I set off, I felt quite miserable. I should have gone straight home. I had plenty of homework to do, enough of an excuse not to take up their challenge today but I didn’t. I parked up a few hundred yards from the bus stop where Erik was stood waiting. When the bus arrived and he’d safely boarded I followed closely behind. I had no idea where he lived so I just pulled in each time the bus stopped and watched carefully to see who got off. It was a good twenty minutes out of town before we finally reached his stop. The road was quite open and not really busy so I held back quite a way. Fortunately, as he got off, he walked in the direction the bus was going and didn’t look back. About three hundred yards up on the right there was a lane leading up to a lone house set back from the road.

I remained where I was wondering how best to approach the challenge. I gave it another fifteen minutes and pushed the scooter up the lane. It was a bit old and the engine was quite noisy, as I didn’t want to be spotted I figured turning it off was the best way to go. Erik had clearly reached home by the time I got to the top of the lane and there wasn’t a soul in sight. It was already starting to go dark; this wasn’t great as I didn’t know my way around too well. Just then a light came on in an upstairs room. The house was quite big and there was a balcony on two sides. There may have been one on the back as well but I couldn’t see that from where I stood. Just then the patio doors opened and Erik walked out towards the railing that edged the balcony.

It was pitch black now; there was no lamp light in the lane. The weirdest feeling came over me. Just as he had at the end of my first day at Carterbrook he turned to look in my direction. He couldn’t have seen me, surely he couldn’t – I could barely see me, so there was no way he could. It was eerie though. Stood on the balcony to what was almost certainly his bedroom I could clearly make him out and I could swear he was smiling across at me.

I decided there was no point lingering, there was no chance of getting the photograph tonight, besides which Aunt Suze wouldn’t be too impressed with me. It was almost 8 p.m. and the sun had set a while back. I couldn’t believe what time it was. It felt like I’d left school no more than an hour ago. This was really weird. How could I possibly have been stood here for three hours? I checked my phone and sure enough Aunt Suze had tried to call me; she must have been worried, I wasn’t usually the sort to go AWOL without explanation. I pushed the scooter back down the lane before I dared start up the engine then set off for home.

‘Where the hell have you been?’ screamed Aunt Suze when I finally arrived back.

‘I’m sorry, I should have called – I had my phone on silent. I … erm, I went round to a friend’s after school.’

This was as close to the truth as I could get without blatantly lying.

‘Right, well next time, call!’ she said, with what was clearly a relieved smile.

‘I will. I promise.’

‘What on earth have you been doing? Or dare I ask?’ she said pointing at my legs.

As I looked down I could hardly believe what I saw. The front of my skirt was dirty, had at least a dozen pulled threads, and my pantyhose were torn to pieces.

‘I have no idea. Really I don’t.’

Now I was really worried. How the hell could I get in that state and not know how?

Aunt Suze just seemed to laugh it off so I didn’t make a big deal of it. Still confused I made my way upstairs, ran the bath, and lay back amongst the bubbles to try to work things out in my head. Unfortunately all that thinking did was give me a headache so I turned in just after 9 p.m. and exhausted fell fast asleep.

When I awoke the next morning, my head hurt like hell. I’d slept surprisingly well considering the previous evenings state of confusion but even so I woke up later than normal and had to rush round like a headless hen in order to get to school on time – I failed miserably! Fortunately for me my first period teacher was also late so I managed to get away with it.

Kacey was on fine form when I met her and the girls at recess. Within thirty seconds of saying hello she had snatched my phone from my hand and went straight into the photo app. I stood, almost speechless at her rudeness; however rather than protest I submissively started to shake my head.

‘I haven’t got it yet,’ I said apologetically.

Kacey just shoved the phone back at me and gave me a look of thunder.

‘I knew you wouldn’t. All mouth.’

‘I’m not all mouth,’ I said, rather pissed by the insinuation that I’d chickened out. ‘I went round after school but didn’t get chance.’

‘Yeah, of course you did.’

‘Are you calling me a liar?’

Kacey didn’t answer. She simply turned her back on me and walked off with the others leaving me stood alone like an idiot.

The bell for class went and I have to confess to being more than a little relieved that none of my classes this morning were the same as Kacey and the girls.

Lunchtime, however, gave no such relief.

I’d sat at a table on my own over on the far side of the canteen. I’d been there for just a few minutes when the geeks walked in, then not far behind them were the girls. I really hoped they’d avoid me; I was in no mood for another standoff with them. No such luck though. The geeks had sat a couple of tables away and I don’t know whether that was what spurred her to come and sit with me but my quiet lunch suddenly turned into yet another bitch-fest.

‘Right then, Trump,’ spat Kacey, after she’d finished pulling apart what the geeks were wearing today, ‘when are you gonna try again?’

I wanted to tell her to stick it but I didn’t. I don’t know whether it was because I’d been so wound up that she’d thought I’d bottled it but I felt really determined to go back and try again. In the end I just shrugged my shoulders and suggested I try again later that day.

As we were leaving the canteen the geek, Erik, looked across at me. I fully expected him to blank me again so was really thrown when he actually smiled. I’d have smiled back but was conscious of Kacey giving him daggers and I could really do without another argument.

Later that day when school had finished, I text Aunt Suze to tell her I was going to see a friend after school, there was no point getting on her wrong side again after all.

As I had done the day before, I followed the bus all the way to Erik’s house. Once he’d been gone up the lane for ten minutes I parked the scooter about halfway up and walked the rest of the way. I’d figured that the balcony closest to the lane led to his bedroom as I’d seen him standing looking out from there last time. I decided to wait until it got a little darker.

I was starting to wish I’d bought a proper camera with me. If I’d had one with a decent zoom then I wouldn’t have to climb the trellising, I could have taken it from where I was stood. The thought of going up there was quite worrying.

I thought back to last night, again trying to figure out how I’d gone home in such a mess. I looked up at the balcony and wondered whether I’d attempted the climb last time, whether I’d taken a fall, maybe knocked myself out. If I had, then that would explain why I couldn’t remember getting into such a state. I dismissed this idea pretty quickly though, as I clearly remembered waiting in the lane, watching the house for signs of life.

It was dark again now and I was starting to get cold. I looked down toward the scooter wishing I hadn’t left my jacket on it. I hadn’t seen anyone moving about upstairs and there was no point climbing the trellising unless he was actually there.

I checked my phone for the time and it was just after 7.30 p.m.! What the hell! 7.30 p.m.? I’d told Aunt Suze I would be late back but I didn’t expect to still be here at this time.

I was just thinking of heading home when the light came on in the bedroom, the patio doors opened and Erik walked across to the edge of the balcony as he had yesterday. This felt every bit as weird as it had before. Looking out into the darkness he stared over in my direction, just like he was staring right at me. I felt really uncomfortable and started to edge backwards further into the shadows. I was pissed at not getting the damn photograph and the thought of facing Kacey without it the next morning made me feel quite sick, that wasn’t the worst of it though, when I got back to the scooter some bastard had nicked my fucking jacket!

When I finally got home Aunt Suze had gone out for the evening with friends, leaving a salad in the fridge for my dinner. I was pretty pleased. Not about the salad, about Aunt Suze, I really didn’t want to lie about what I’d been doing so now I could just avoid the subject altogether.

I got my dinner out the fridge, poured some juice, and sat down in front of the TV to watch Ellen. I put the plate on the coffee table and pulled it towards me. As I did so I noticed my pantyhose were ripped; again! I sat for a moment trying to think back to how this had happened. I could have sat there all night and not been certain but in the end I figured I must have caught them on the bracken hedge on the way back to the scooter in the dark. I felt a bit better at this point as this could well have been how I’d gotten in a mess the previous night.

The next morning was every bit as bad as I thought it might be. Kacey almost spat venom at me when I told her I still hadn’t got the photograph.

‘For Christ’s sake, give me a chance. It’s not easy. I’ve been stuck up that lane for two nights running waiting for the chance, someone stole my best jacket and for what? Why the hell do you want a photograph of a geek in his underwear, anyway?’

‘I don’t want it; I just wanted you to take it. It’s just a bit of fun but clearly you aren’t up to it.’

We bit back at each other for a few minutes until I couldn’t take any more.

‘Well, stick it, Kacey. I didn’t wanna do something so stupid in the first place. You only want it to humiliate the poor bloke on Facebook. You’re such a bitch. I really don’t need this or you.’

She shouted spiteful abuse after me as I walked away but I really couldn’t have cared less. The rest of the day I sat alone and I ate alone, it really dragged by. I was more miserable now than any first week of school ever.

Despite my misery what I decided to do next was really shameful. Without any goading or pushing from either Kacey or the girls I decided I would have one more go at getting that damn photograph. I think this time I just didn’t want to admit defeat; I always was very competitive and the thought of letting something beat me didn’t sit well. This time however I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I had to wait until it went dark again but eventually he came out onto the balcony, in his underwear! Bright red boxers – I was elated.

I waited until he went back inside, crept up the trellising, took the photograph from outside the patio door and then climbed triumphantly back down again. I knew what I’d done was childish and immature but what I did next topped even that. I uploaded the picture to my email and sent it to Kacey. The very minute I pressed send I pressed recall but it was too late. Anyone that’s ever tried to recall something knows it doesn’t always work and it didn’t work this time either. It took Kacey just under seven minutes to open the attachment and upload it to Facebook.