The Winding Road

Chapter 17

"32!" I half shout as we drive into our town.

"32 what?" James says with a confused look on his face.

"There are 32 notes here. Each note is $200. That works out to...."

"$6 400." James says before I can even take out my phone to work it out. I'm not a maths boffin. James is...he's top of his class.

"Right," I say, a bit shocked at how quickly he worked that out, "I knew that."

"Sure you did." He says chuckling.

I slip the notes back into the envelope. "6 400 dollars. Wow. Why would you need that much money for liquor?"

"It's expensive nowadays." James says, turning the car into his street.

I nod and we continue in silence. James rolls up the windows as we stop in his driveway.

"Right," he says as we walk towards the front door, "you go up to Stacey's room and find some clothes. There's a bag in the bottom of her closet."

"I can't steal your sister's clothes, James," I say confused," she's going to notice they're missing."

"Don't worry. She's in varsity. She's only coming back in a few weeks."

"What! She's in varsity already? Damn, time has gone by so quickly."

I head upstairs to Stacey's bedroom and open the door. The walls are painted a light green colour and her bed is made up nicely with a beautiful blanket spread over the end. I walk to her cupboard, open it and take out the bag. I put it down on her bed and open the clothing section. I am astounded by the amount of clothes is stacked in her cupboard. There are four shelves. Each one is piled to the brim with different clothing items. I take out four T-shirts and two long sleeve shirts. Then I take a pair of shorts and two pairs of jeans. I take three jerseys, five pairs of socks, a beanie and a pair of sneakers that are surprisingly my size. I zip up the bag and swing it over my shoulder. I close the door again and walk downstairs.

James is in the kitchen packing a backpack with dry food. He turns and sees me. "Hey," he says, taking a packet of nuts out of the pantry and throwing it in the bag," you sorted?"

"Yep." I reply and put my bag on the couch," what's your mom gonna do?"

"She'll be fine. I'll leave a note at the door when we leave." He says and zips up the bag.

"Okay."

"Here," he says holding the backpack towards me,"go put the bags in the car. I'm gonna go get a blanket."

I take the backpack and my bag and walk to the car. I open the boot and throw them in but take the backpack out for on the road. I walk back inside and James is walking downstairs with two blankets and a pillow. He throws the pillow at me.

"I'm gonna write the note quick then we can go."

"Okay," I say and turn for the door, "but James, don't mention where we're going."

"I can't," he says, "I don't know."

I smile and walk to the car. I sit down and throw the pillow onto the backseat. My face stings and I flap down the mirror to examine my cuts. They aren't bleeding but you can see that they are there. I jump as James slams the boot closed. He laughs and opens the door.

"You alright there?" He says sarcastically.

I stick my tongue out and close my door. He gets into the car and starts the engine.

"Here," he says. I look over at him and he is holding an envelope towards me,"this could come in handy."

I raise an eyebrow and take the envelope. On it is his name, it's been written in a beautiful golden colour and the letters curl around in a neat and gracious manner. I take care not to tear it as I open the envelope. Inside, I see money. A lot of it. There are probably about 100 notes.

"James no," I say, looking at him and closing the envelope again,"I can't take this."

"You don't have a choice." he says pushing the hand break down and reversing out of the driveway, "this is a gift from me to you and it'd be rude not to accept a gift."

"James, this is a lot of money. I can't use it. You worked hard for it."

"No I didn't. I got it as a gift from my grandparents."

"Well then you can't give it to me." I say putting the envelope on his lap.

"Okay fine, I won't give it to you. I'll keep it. But I'll spend it on you."

"James..."

"Nope. You aren't gonna change my mind."

"You're an ass you know that." I say laughing.

"It's all part of my charm." He says, putting the envelope in my hand again, "how much is there?"

I take the money out and begin counting while James turns the radio on and begins humming to songs.

"73," I say looking at him.

"73 what?"

"There are 73 notes here. Each note is $100 so that adds up to..."

"$7300" we say simultaneously.

"So we had $6400 of my money, add $7300. That would be..."

"$13700" James says without a hesitation.

"Great. That should keep us going for a while."

"Yeah but we'll need more." James says with a smirk.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a credit card. "$15000 on here. That adds up to $28700."

He looks at me and smiles. "I think that'll be enough."