Bully

Chapter 27

  “A key?” Emily said with confusion clear in her voice. “For what?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, pretending to be as clueless as she was. However I had a nagging suspicion that this was the very key that opens the safe that had had me so frustrated in recent days. It was in my pocket now – I didn’t want to go anywhere without the safe as I had felt it had held information that could be extremely important. Now that I felt I had the key to open it, I wanted nothing more than to settle my curiosity and open it now.

  But I couldn’t. Not with Emily here. For all I know it may not be safe, and also if I got the safe out I’d have to explain it to Emily. And that was something I just couldn’t do because then Emily would know about my secret life. That could be dangerous.

  However I knew that danger wasn’t the main factor as to why I wanted it to remain secret. I was scared that if she found out what I had been dragged into then she’d think I was a monster and would never want to see me again. That was something I didn’t want to risk.

   “I don’t know,” I lied, answering her question. “I’ll just take it home,”

  She frowned, looking disappointed that the mysterious envelope had held nothing more than a pointless key.

  “Oh, that sucks,” she sighed. “I was hoping it would be something cool,”

  I shot her an amused look. “Like what?” I wondered.

  Emily shrugged, her blue eyes sparkling as an impish grin played across her features. “I don’t know... something like a riddle or map that we’d have to decode. That’d be cool – it’d be like we were in a film or something!”

  I let out a snort of laughter, only to receive a playful elbow to the ribs. “Don’t laugh at me!” she protested, however I could tell from her expression that Emily was also struggling not to laugh at her childish words. “Anyway, how did you know where I live?” she asked, eager to move the conversation on. She deepened her voice, mimicking my own voice. “Are you stalking me?” she demanded mockingly. I chuckled, remembering when I used to accuse Emily of stalking me.  

   I felt my cheeks heat up because in all honesty, I had done a bit of tracing to find Emily’s house. It wasn’t merely a coincidence like how Emily had come to find my homes location as I had went out searching for hers.

  “Maybe a little bit,” I laughed, trying to sound confident but failing as instead my words sounded embarrassed and shy. She cocked an eyebrow at me, and I knew my cheeks must be a harsh red colour now. Refusing to let the embarrassment get to me, I continued to inform her of how I found out. “I went to the shop,” I admitted. “Your little admirer seems to be quite the stalker himself. He told me your address,”

  Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion but Emily’s mouth soon turned into an ‘o’ shape as realisation dawned on her. “You mean Jimmy?” she asked. “He’s always had a bit of a crush on me,”

  “A bit?” I scoffed with amusement. “That’s the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard. The guy stalks you,”