Hunted (book 1)

Chapter 9

Lola and her family had only stayed three days before leaving again. I didn't even get a chance to introduce Lola to my new friends. She had been busy on Tuesday, but on Wednesday night we had gone to the pier. We went to the photo booth, and the bumper cars, and the roller coaster. We also got potato on a stick—my new favourite food. She left on Thursday morning, so I had had to say goodbye the night before. We promised we'd keep in touch, but I didn't think it was going to happen. Long distance is almost as hard to manage for friendships as it is for romantic relationships. Mum and Dad said maybe we could go to North Shores later this year, so fingers crossed.

~

On Thursday after school, I was at home and Mum and Dad were still at work. The doorbell rang and I hurried to answer it. I pulled the door open to find Liam standing on the doorstep.

I frowned in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"You sound disappointed." Liam's eyebrows knit together.

"I'm not disappointed, I just...You didn't answer my question."

"Your dad called and asked us to drop off some more bait." He held out a tub of bait that I hadn't noticed he was holding.

I took the tub and reached for my wallet. "How much is it?"

Liam turned to leave. "Don't you know the bait price off by heart by now? And anyway it doesn't matter; your dad paid already."

"I figured it would cost more with delivery," I said defensively. "And are you sure? How did he pay without getting the bait?"

"He paid online."

"You don't have a website."

"I meant over the phone."

"He hates giving his credit card number over the phone."

"Okay, fine." Liam relented. "He didn't pay for it yet."

"How much is it?" I opened my wallet.

The corner of Liam's mouth turned upwards. "You might want to put down the bait before trying to do something that requires two hands." He took the bait gently and put it on the floor.

I pulled a five and a ten dollar bill out of my wallet and handed them to him.

He tried to give the money back to me. "You overpaid."

"Keep the change." I picked up the bait and turned around. Then I remembered how he had thrown the dodgeball game. He had a way of making me forget what I wanted to talk to him about. "What were you playing at?" I put my hands on my hips.

He held up his hands. "What do you mean? I'm not playing at anything."

"Uh-huh. So you just lost the dodgeball game by accident, then?"

He grinned. "Yep. It was tragic. We were winning by so much, and then I arrived and our chances of winning just plummeted. I must be bad luck or something."

"Sure." I smiled and rolled my eyes. "How's your head?"

"You mean because you hit me with that ball? A little sore, but it'll be fine."

I tried not to laugh. "No, I mean because you got tackled and smacked your head against the ground."

Liam frowned at me. "I didn't get tackled, I ran into someone and fell over. Totally my fault."

"Are you kidding? Hayden planned that! He wanted to get you back for what you did to Ryan."

"Are you sure?"