The Burning Girl

Chapter 8 - A N N A

It's been a couple of days since Arran stayed over. I sit in the den, flicking through my phone, just waiting for a message to appear.

I sigh and shove my hat down further on my head. It is freezing. The weather had finally changed into that bitter chill, with biting winds and icy rains. Now it properly felt like winter, even though it was February. I play with my hair, plaiting tiny plaits into the ends, weaving it together.

School had been tough today, Arran was apparently home sick, or so I've been told. If he was sick, he would have texted me and asked me to bring chicken soup over. Yeah; sure he was sick. I roll my eyes.

The only thing I was looking forward to doing today was going out with Claire into the town after school had finished.

Claire is one of those girls who just gives off the vibe that she doesn't care what anyone thinks about her. She has shoulder length blonde hair, pin straight, and wide set brown eyes. She's slightly shorter than me, and we joke that she is my personal armrest. She is one of the three people in this world that I trust completely. Her, my mum and Arran. I know that none of them will do anything to hurt me.

We were going to go to this cafe along the high street called '95 degrees'. It has this cool grungy atmosphere and serves the best coffee. It's relatively small, with tables made out of old, thick planks, and varnished rich mahogany. The walls have this amazing wallpaper that look like there are these metal filing cabinet drawers in it. The skirting boards are a dark grey that seemed to lift the whole room. The lights are so cool. They are loads of different kitchen appliances, kettles, whisks, upside down pans, with these lightbulbs which have loads of lines inside it giving out light.

I sigh heavily thinking that I could have told Claire about all the things I'm worried about, especially the whole liking Arran thing. But she had to bail, as her mum needed her to help her out with some deliveries.

Claire's family own the village bakery and have done since it opened over a 150 years ago. Her Mum and Dad, Meredith and John, are like my second parents. They are two of the kindest people that I know. When Da died they really helped my mum out, Meredith helping cooking and cleaning, keeping Mum busy and happy.

My phone rings out the first notes to 'Smells like teen spirit' scaring me out of my skin. I look down at the screen to see who's calling, hoping that it's Arran. I see the cutesy picture of Claire and I smiling, with ice-cream all over our faces. I grin as I swipe to pick up the call.

"Alright missus?" She chirps down the phone. "I've done all the deliveries so you can come over to mine for a couple of hours and eat loads of ice-cream?"

How did she know exactly what I wanted?

"Sounds perfect," I laugh. "I'll start walking now, be 20 minutes?"

"See you then!" She sings.

I start to walk towards the field, climbing over fallen branches and jumping over the small stream.

Ever so slowly I feel a chill crawl its way up my spine. The hair's on the back of my neck stand up straight in unison. I'm breathing quickly, short shallow breaths. My heartbeat starts to pound as my eyes scan around the forest. I quickly switch the flashlight on my phone on, and sweep it around me. I can hear the snapping of twigs in the deathly quite around me. I hear a growl to the right of me and that does it. I run as fast as I can out of the woods, hightailing it across the field and run to Claire's house. I'm there in under ten minutes and bang quickly on her door, hopping from foot to foot.

That freaked me out, as I'm usually at the den with Arran so always feel safe. My breathing calms down as I breath in and out, relaxing again. I hear the locks on the other side of the door click, and it flies open. I'm crushed to death by Claire's bear hug, as she drags me into the house.

"I have got something amazing to tell you!" She says.

I'm busy kicking off me shoes and hanging up my coat. I stuff my hat into the pocket of it and follow her into the kitchen. Three large tubs of ice cream, two spoons and loads of sauces are on the island in the middle of the room. I eye it all dubiously, but Claire snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"Earth to Anna? Did you hear what I said?"

"Ummm...." I trail off, deciding not to guess.

"Ugh, you my adorable friend need to get your head out the clouds because I have news! You know that boy that I have been crushing on for like, ever?"

"Umm Jack?"

"Yeah, well when I was doing the deliveries , guess who I should bump into? Him! Except I literally did bump into him. I almost ran him over with my bike because I was talking to mum on the phone! Oops!" She laughs. "I swear to god my timings are so bad when I meet people. Great first impression. Crazy psycho blonde girl crashes into you, not going to forget that in a hurry." She rolls her eyes.

I'm smiling because I know that she is super embarrassed about this, but she never gives anything away. Yet knowing her for las long as I have, of course I had her all figured out.

"Well that's certainly a great story you can tell your kids about how Mummy and Daddy met." I laugh.

"Oh shut up, you're just jealous that my first encounter with my future husband was so dramatic." She giggles.

We open up the tub of Ben and Jerry's strawberry cheesecake and take big spoonfuls, savouring the sweet taste.

"So there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about." I start.

Here goes nothing I think.

So I tell her all about how I feel about Arran. All the crazy things I've been thinking. How the other night was the first time where I felt awkward around him. The strange feeling between us as we walked. She reacts just as I'd hoped, gasping in the right places, squealing as I told her about him chasing me and carrying me home.

"Oh my god," she squeals, "I knew this would happen, you guys would be so cute together!"

I laugh nervously, "You can't tell him though, I'm not sure he likes me like that any way"

"Well, we'll see won't we." She drops me a slow wink and twirls her hair around her fingers. "Right on to the Phish Food!" She exclaims holding her spoon in the air like a trophy.

We end up watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians for hours, and just laughing at how ridiculous it is. We snuggle up under a blanket on the sofa and slowly fall asleep.

~~~

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lots of love Tolly 😘