A Month To Live

A Month To Live (19)

'Hey guys I need to quickly go drop off Tommy's car keys to him,' Kyle announced once we were all congregated in the kitchen again. He was tying off a plastic bag full of the broken mugs.

'Who's Tommy?' I asked. I hoped it wasn't someone I'd already met and forgotten about.

'I forgot you haven't met Tommy yet,' Remi said. 'Well he's another one of the group... I guess, he had a fever the past two weeks and couldn't come into school... he managed to make it to the party last night though,' she snorted. 'He's on the team too but couldn't play in that game.'

'Oh right,' I said distractedly, spotting an opportunity to get Kyle alone. 'Hey, Kyle I'll come with you. I want to grab some real coffee on the way because obviously this attempt didn't work,' I said, gesturing to the bag in his hands. He narrowed his eyes the slightest amount, obviously working out my ulterior motive.

'Only if you get it from Charlie's,' Bradley said. I'd driven past that coffee shop a few times but never been in.

After taking everyone's order, I turned to Kyle, wanting him to hurry up.

'Okay let's go. Kyle you're going in for the coffee because I can't possibly leave the car like this,' I said, waving a hand over myself. I was wearing some of Remi's sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. And I wasn't getting changed.

'Sure thing,' he chuckled.

'Wait a second while I get some shoes,' I added, darting out of the kitchen and up the stairs to Bradley's room.

I took me a minute to locate my bag but I found it on his desk chair eventually.

'Last one,' I muttered, wincing.

I debated whether or not to take it, rolling it around in the palm of my hand. Perhaps I should save it. But then again, I guess it didn't matter. I'd run out at some point in the near future anyway. I may as well have a good night without worrying about a headache hitting me at the wrong time.

I dry swallowed it and left the bottle on the desk next to my bag without another thought.

'Hey, nice car,' I said as Kyle and I left the house.

'It was my brother's,' he said. 'He's a mechanic so he bought it old and fixed it up. Didn't have to pay a cent.'

'He can fix my car up anytime,' I snorted sliding in the passenger side. He pulled out of his parking spot and I saw him glance at me with a frown.

'Okay, let's cut to the chase,' he said after a long minute of silence. 'What exactly is going on?'

'I like the way you think,' I said, unable to hold back a laugh at his direct style. No wonder he and Remi got along so well. 'How did you even get in a conversation with Benny? I thought the guys on that team were your ultimate rivals.'

'After the game when we were shaking hands,' Kyle said with a shrug. 'He pointed you out in the crowd, said something like "is that Raegan Townsend, you know her parents have been looking for her everywhere".'

'He actually said that?' I gaped at him.

I should have realised earlier than my parents would have asked pretty much everyone I'd come into contact with about my disappearance. My mom had most likely asked some of my friends and classmates. The girl with cancer suddenly disappearing was definitely a story that'd get spread around.

'Yep. Anyway I decided to play along with it. I almost thought he was joking but... I don't know. You just moved here and you live on your own. The story kind of made sense,' he said slowly, looking over at me as we hit a red light. 'I asked him why you'd left... he said that he'd heard about... well you having cancer. And you reacted pretty badly and, um ran away,' he said the last part in a rush and looked away quickly.