A flashlight in the shadows.

Chapter 16: Practice makes perfect.

The note fell to the ground as I sat on the swing, trying to catch my breath. This meant one of two things; either he knew about Bennett and I jumping him, or he didn't and wanted to continue terrorizing me. Either way, it wasn't looking good for me. I weighed the pros and cons of fleeing the country, but decided that would look suspicious. Although it was currently snowing, I didn't feel cold. I couldn't feel anything, but fear. After 10 minutes of thinking, I decided to call Dina and have her help me. My friends had different purposes and jobs if I needed help. Kendra, for example, was a good person to call if I needed a ride or if I needed to beat the crap out of someone. Hannah was good for dating advice and last minute shopping trips. Dina, she was useful when I needed just general advice and a shoulder to cry on. She picked up on the second ring.
"Sup?"
"What're you doing right now?"
"Absolutely nothing." She said, yawning.
"Can you please come over? I need to talk with you about something."
"What kind of something?" She asked. I shrugged and said,
"I'll tell you when you get here, can you come?" There was a short pause on the other end. Then, she yawned again before replying,
"I'll be there soon, make me some food." She hung up and I sighed. I walked to the kitchen and pulled out the deep fryer and some chicken legs. I poured some butter, flour, and seasonings into a big bowl and tossed the chicken in it before dropping them into the deep fryer one by one. The oil made a crackling sound as the legs simmered inside. I took a deep breath and leaned on the counter. I looked over to see chestnut at the screen door, watching me cook. I smiled and pulled out some sandwich meat from the refrigerator. I set it on the ground just inside the door. Chestnut walked toward it, looked at me, took a few more steps, sniffed it, and snatched it away in less than a minute. Once he had it, he bolted around the corner. I giggled and took the chicken out of the fryer and tossed them in seasoning salt. I heard a car honk as Dina's parents pulled up to my house. I stepped off onto the porch and waved to Dina's dad, who was leaning across the center council to hug Dina. After she waved goodbye, she walked up the steps of my porch with an overnight bag.
"I'm staying here tonight, cool?"
"Yeah, sure." I stated, shutting the door after she got inside. She threw her stuff onto the couch and skipped to the kitchen, pouring herself some sprite from the fridge. She grabbed a plate from the cupboard and loaded a ton of chicken into it, sitting at the table and taking a few bites.
"Mmmm, I don't know how you cook so well, but this is heaven on earth!"
"Thanks, we need to talk about something." I said. She held up a finger for a minute before nodding.
"K, go ahead."
"Ok, well...I should start from the beginning. You know about how Carson was jumped by thugs?"
"Yeah?" She asked, chewing slowly.
"Well, that's not exactly what happened..." I told her about the whole story. I didn't say that Bennett helped me, I told her I hired someone to help me. When she asked who, I pretended not to hear her and she just dropped it. When I finished, her eyes were wide open and she was leaning towards me.
"Can I see the note?" I handed it to her. She took it and read it slowly, chewing at the same time. When she finished, she sat back and shook her head.
"He has some serious issues."
"I don't know what to do, Dina. What do you think?" She stroked her chin for a few minutes, thinking. Then, she sat up and smiled evily.
"Ok, I've got it."
"What!?" I exclaimed. She leaned on the counter so she was close to me.
"K, so, he doesn't know that you were the one who jumped him, right?"
"Right?" I said, not really seeing where she was going.
"Therefore, he doesn't see you as a threat."
"Yeah?"
"So, if you can get alone with him and show him what you can do to him, he'll leave you alone."
"Are you insane!?! He wants to be alone with me..."
"For a different purpose, if you use the element of surprise with some back-up, it'll be fine!" She exclaimed. I thought about it for a few seconds, then I shrugged.
"I just don't know..." Then chestnut came around the corner and meowed. Dina jumped up and bent down to pet him.
"OH MY GOD ITS A CAT!!!" She squealed, petting him. He purred and rolled over so she'd pet his belly. She giggled and continued petting him. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I left Dina in the kitchen to pet the cat while I got the door. When I opened it, Bennett stood on the porch and I realized something; she didn't know Bennett lived next door.
"Hey, have you seen chestnut-" I pushed him back and shut the door, spinning around. He tried saying something, but I shushed him and said,
"Dina's inside."
"So?"
"She doesn't know you live next door!" I whisper-yelled. He smiled a little and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Should I inform her, then?"
"No! Please, Bennett, I'm begging you to just hide and not let her know, please!" He stared at me for a minute, then sighed and nodded.
"Ok, fine. But have you seen chestnut?"
"Yes, I'll bring him over in a minute, just go, please." I pushed his chest and walked back in the kitchen where Dina was playing with chestnut.
"Look at how cute he is..."
"Uh, he's the neighbors cat, I've gotta bring him back."
"I'll come with you..."
"No! It's fine, just....wait here." I picked up chestnut and ran to Bennett's house, setting him on the porch. "Stay!" I commanded, then slapped myself for talking to a cat and ran back to my house. Dina sat on the couch, working on our AP calculus.
"Come here, how do you do this?" I sat down and looked at it. I smirked and shook my head.
"You honestly don't get it?"
"No!" She shouted, pushing me playfully. I giggled and we worked on our homework together. Once finished, she got up and said,
"I'm hungry."
"You just ate five minutes ago!" I exclaimed. She shrugged and got up, walking to the kitchen.
"Let's make dessert. I'm in the mood for something chocolatey, make something." She demanded.
"Yes master," I said, walking to the fridge. She smiled and went to choose something to watch. I threw some chocolate almond bark into a microwave bowl and threw it in the microwave for five minutes. Then, I took out some strawberries and marshmallows and skewered them. I brought the bowl and skewered goodies to Dina, who was searching through our library of movies.
"So...I saw your name on the list," she said, smiling at me. I set down the stuff and frowned.
"What list?"
"The talent show one!" She exclaimed, smiling. I sighed and shrugged.
"Well, Bennett and I made a deal when we were practicing the other night-" I stopped, realizing what I'd said. Dina gasped and stared at me, wide eyed.
"You hung out with Bennett, alone!" She exclaimed. I rubbed my face and sighed.
"Uh, yeah. But we didn't do anything..."
"Bullshit! Tell me everything!!!" She yelled, jumping closer to me. I shook my head.
"Not bullshit and not a big deal, either. We had a project to work on, that's it."
"Not a big deal?!? Youhungoutwiththehottestforiegnboyinourschoolandheaskedyoutodothetalentshowand-" she stopped, thinking. Then she asked, "wait, did he ask you to sing?" I nodded.
"Yes, he did."
"Why?" She frowned. I shrugged and looked down.
"He told me my voice is awesome. I told him I didn't want to sing, but we made a deal..." I trailed off, chuckling at our deal. She scooted closer.
"What kind of deal?" I leaned forward and told her our deal. When I finished, she was almost on the floor in laughter.
"Holy shit, that's funny!" She said. We laughed for about twenty minutes before we finally got to watching a movie, which ended up being Scream. Dina hated horror movies, so I smirked as she covered her eyes.
"Where are you?"
"I'm right here-" then ghost face jumped out of a closet and chased her around the house. Dina screamed and I laughed. She kicked me and crossed her arms.
"Why do you hate me?!"
"I don't hate you, it's just funny when you're scared!" I laughed some more. She sat up and turned off the movie.
"Hey!!"
"We're done with that, let's practice for the talent show." She scooted closer to me and faced me. I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
"Fine, what're you singing?"
"Angles, you?"
"Feeling good by Michael buble." She nodded and we practiced for two hours. After I'd learned her song, I got up and started dancing around. She smirked and followed me, jumping on the couch. I head banged and jumped up and down. Then, I got a call from Kendra.
"It's Kendra, wait here." I went to the back porch and leaned against one of the columns.
"Articulate."
"Hey, I saw your name on the list, I wanted to know if I could watch your audition?"completely forgetting about Bennett being there, I said,
"Sure."
"K, bye."
"Bye," I hung up and looked over my back yard. The trees were barren and the snow was falling. I walked slowly to the farthest tree and sighed. I was about to go back in when my phone started ringing. I didn't recognize the ID, so I answered and said,
"Hello?"
"Hello, Sarah." Said a voice that sent shivers down my spine.
"Cassandra."
"Huh...I've asked you to call me mom," she said. I shook my head and felt my muscles tighten up.
"You have to earn that title."
"I gave birth to you, I think I earned it."
"That is the only thing you've ever done for us, do not call this number ever again." Click. I hung up and looked at the tree. I sighed and walked back inside to where Dina was lying on the couch.
"I'm tired, let's go to sleep."
"Ok." I agreed. We walked up the stairs together and were about to go into my bedroom, but I saw Bennett sitting on his bed. I pushed Dina back and said,
"My rooms messy, wait a second." I slammed the door shut and got on my computer and typed,
'Shut your drapes!' He opened his laptop and smiled.
'Give me a reason why I should?;)' I sighed in frustration and typed,
'Because I'll castrate you if you don't!' He rolled his eyes and shut them. I opened the door and invited Dina in. She stood there with her arms crossed.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Nothing, you gonna use the bathroom first?" I asked. She nodded and took her bag inside. I went to my closet and pulled out a black tank top and some blue pajama pants. I faced the door and shut it, taking off my sweatshirt as I did so. I turned around to grab a new bra from my dresser, but looked up to see a wide eyed Bennett peeking through the curtain. I looked down to see I was in my pink bra with red hearts all over it and jeans. I got on my computer and typed,
'Look away!' He typed back,
'Why should I?;)'
'Because your a fucking perv!' I exclaimed, frantic to have him look away. He read it and said,
'You don't have a reason to be self conscious, you know.'
'Look. Away. Now. Before. I. Kill. You.|:!' I typed. He read it, looked at me one last time, and shut the curtains. I threw on the tank top and pajama pants. Dina stepped out and laid on the bed while I took the sleeping bag and laid on the floor. Dina was out within ten minutes, and I was left alone in the room. Then, the computer dinged. I sat up and looked through the window. The curtains were still in place. I crawled over to it and looked at the email.
'Who were you talking to earlier?' From Bennett. I frowned and typed,
'When?'
'On the phone?' He asked, meaning Cassandra. I sighed and typed,
'No one important.'
'Your a bad liar,' he typed back. I smiled to myself and typed,
'What makes you think that?'
'The look on your face when I asked you,' he said. I looked over to see him looking through the curtains at me. I rolled my eyes and typed,
'You really are a stalker.'
'One of a kind, though, wouldn't you agree?;3' he typed back. I giggled and clicked,
'Yes, one of a kind.' It took a few minutes to get a reply, when I did, it read,
'I meant what I typed earlier.'
'About what?/:|'
'About you having no reason to be self conscious.:)' he typed. I rolled my eyes and typed,
'Goodnight, Bennett.'
'Goodnight book theif.'
'For the last time, my name is Sarah!' I clicked, smiling. Then, as I got up to go lay down, I was surprised to get another ding. I frowned and opened my computer. When I read it, I couldn't help but blush.
'Goodnight Sarah.'

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Hope you still have eyes and they didn't melt away at how horrible this chapter was, hope the next one is better, bye! :)