The Diary of Holly Campbell

Two

At 8am the next day, Holly's alarm went off. Her reaction to it was straight out of a movie: she groaned and rolled over and fumbled for the button on the clock, before she sighed and sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes and smoothing back her messy hair. She looked over at the mirror hanging in front of her desk and scrunched up her face, disgusted of how she looked. At least no one was around to see her.

She climbed out of bed and headed to her wardrobe. When she slid the mirrored doors aside, they banged against the wall, making her jump. She rolled her eyes at herself and pulled open her second of four drawers, where she took out a pair of denim shorts and a white buttoned shirt. She opened the bottom drawer and reached to the back, looking for her togs. She pulled out a pair of black bikinis and headed to her door to flick the lock before she changed. As she put on her shorts over her bikini bottoms, she struggled to get them over her hips and sighed as she looked in the mirror. 'They're getting too small,' she murmured.

Holly sidled over to her desk and sat down on the little chair she'd had since she was a child. She let her frizzy chocolate-coloured hair out of his messy ponytail and gave it a brush, before letting it hang loose over her shoulders. She looked indecisively at her makeup, and thought to herself, 'No, I'm going swimming, it'll just get washed off.'

She stood up an put on her white beach shirt, only buttoning the middle buttons up. She tucked the hem into her shorts and reached for her sunglasses, which were sitting in the corner of her desk. Before leaving the room, she took a quick look at herself in the mirror, and with a confident smile, she unlocked her door and headed downstairs.

Charlie was sitting on the couch with his Xbox remote in his hand, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth in concentration as he stared at the television.

'Charlie,' said Holly. 'Can I watch TV?'

He pressed a button on his remote and looked up at her. 'No, I'm playing Fortnite. Do something else.'

'But I want to watch TV. And you've probably been up since the crack of dawn playing that stupid game. You should get off it and have breakfast or something.' His reply was a simple 'no,' and Holly rolled her eyes and went to the back door. She slid her feet into her glittery thongs and went outside to the chicken coop and the rabbit house. She opened the hatch for the chickens, and they both came running out and began to explore the yard. Then she reached into the rabbit house and pulled Clover out.

'Hi, Cloves!' she said, sitting down and crossing her legs. She placed him in her lap and he sat there, staring blankly at her. 'You're such a Debbie Downer, Clover,' she said, before pulling her beloved fluffy rabbit into a hug.

'Holly!' came her dad's voice from inside the house, and she sighed and said to Clover, 'Right. I have to go inside, I'll try to play with you later, but you're just so lazy it might not happen.'

She put him back in the rabbit house before hurrying back inside. 'Yeah?' she said, sliding off her thongs.

'Hols,' said Ben, 'What time are Chloe and Annie coming around?'

'9,' she responded. 'So, half an hour.'

'Okay. Do you need me to drive you?'

'Nah, it's all good, we can walk. It's not too far.'

'Okay. Well in that case, I'm off to the gym. See you Holly. Bye Charlie,' he called over to his son, who was still staring at the television, a pair of headphones placed over his scraggly blonde hair. He looked over and lifted his headphones for a moment to say, 'bye,' before returning his attention to Fortnite.

MUM:

Hey Holly, I've just gone to work for the day, I'll be home later on. DO NOT let your dad buy you takeaway, OK??? Have a good day!

YOU:

Aww ok. Thanks, see ya later

She responds.

Then she flicked to her group chat with Annie and Chloe and looked through the messages before responding to them.

ANNIE:

I'm just having brekkie then I'll be on my way

CHLOE:

Kks. I'm just leaving now.

ANNIE:

What do I need

CHLOE:

Idk, I have spare clothes, my sunnies, my water bottle and my phone, but you bring whatever you need.

YOU:

Hey, what's everyone's eta

CHLOE:

Five minutes

ANNIE:

I'm at ur front door lol

YOU:

Oop ok coming

Holly got up from the stool and went down the hallway, where she saw Annie's grinning face looking through the windowpane.

'Hollayyyy!' she cried as Holly opened the door, and wrapped her arms around her. 'Are you feeling better?'

'Way better,' Holly replied, smiling at Annie. They waited until Chloe turned up soon afterwards, and Holly went inside and yelled at Charlie, 'I'm leaving! Dad will be home soon, okay?' He yelled back a quick 'yep' and she stepped back outside and locked the door. 'Okay,' she said. 'Let's go.' 

They set off down the road, walking side by side along the footpath. 'How was school yesterday?' asked Holly.

'Eh, same old, same old,' said Annie. 'Nothing really happened, as per usual. The most exciting thing was Izzy Green's tuckshop order wasn't processed properly so she went hungry for the day.'

Holly laughed. 'Honestly, she deserves that. She's so rude to everyone. Did she get mad at the tuckshop ladies?'

'Mm, it was more at her mum,' said Chloe. 'She absolutely lost it. She was at the bus stop on the phone to her mum, and she was screaming at her. Her poor mother. But then again, she's the one that let it get to that.'

'For real,' said Holly.

'So, how was your day at home yesterday, Hols?' asked Annie, with genuine interest.

'Not bad. I slept in, which was good. I didn't really do much; I did some schoolwork and watched TV but that was it, really. Oh, but actually last night something happened.'

'Oooh,' said Annie and Chloe in unison, then giggling with each other.

'So,' began Holly. 'I had just finished dinner and Mum told me pop outside and get the mail, so I did. I came back inside and I was looking through the letters and I saw a letter that was addressed to me, from a Peter and Alice Woods. Mum said she had no idea who these people were, so we just threw it in the bin.'

'Oh,' said Annie, disappointedly. 'I was expecting something much more exciting.'

'Sorry,' said Holly.

'I thought it was interesting,' piped up Chloe. 'If you and your mum, and possibly your dad, have no idea who these people are and they're trying to get into contact with you, that's definitely something you shouldn't just forget.'

Holly frowned at her. 'Why?'

'Well, I'm not sure, but you can never be too careful. Just stick to yourself and be more conservative, Hols. They might be trying to find things out about you.'

Chloe's words made Holly's heart skip a beat, and as Chloe and Annie chatted together, she walked alongside them in silence. Maybe Chloe was right, maybe she was wrong. But she was right about one thing: you can never be too careful.