Deadly Secrets

Chapter 10

Much to my relief there wasn't any explosives hidden in Jane's pockets. "I'm still very disappointed and I expect more from you." In other words I have nothing particularly special to me to take away. "And I talked with Leo about this morning." I sighed,

"Okay then, I'm going to take a nap." Her heel tapped the hardwood. She wasn't done,

"You are going to school tomorrow and catch up on everything you missed." I waved her off and trudged upstairs. She stuck her arm out that held my phone.

"No keys yet, you can ask Bryn for a ride." I took it gratefully and went upstairs. I plopped myself on my bed just as my cell went off. A text message from Bryn

“Why weren't you here 2day? Psychology was dead as hell without you.” That's what I loved about her. She can talk about anything in the world and make it seem of the utmost importance. It made all the important, scary things unimportant in turn. Bryn is one of those girls who would wake up with her hair in perfect brunette ringlets. She was petite, but she could eat a truck if it was made out of donuts.

“So tired I passed out. The most eventful things happened to me!”

“YOU PASSED OUT? Are you okay? Wait-what kind of events are we talking about here?”

“Yeah I'm good. And in breaking news: Guess who was caught flirting on her birthday…”

“Yum! What's his name and is he hot?”

“His name is Tristan. I met him at the party on Monday.”

“Happy Birthday to you! Dish the dirt start from the legs and work your way up.”

“Ha-ha. Okay so he was tan and a few inches taller than me. Not over or under weight. Definitely works out! Brown hair, sculpted face, high cheek bones, and swoon worthy blue eyes!”

“Oooo honey, B want some of that!”

“He used the cheesiest line: These parties are always boring, well, they were.”

“Please dear lord tell me you got his number!”

“And vice versa. Then I got home and got my keys taken away.”

“Small price to pay for mister smokin’ oaken! You need to show him to me sometime or I will kill you!”

“Down Girl! I will for a small favor in return: Drive me to school for the rest of the week?”

“Sure babe. I'll talk to u tomorrow!”

I snapped my phone shut and buried my face in my pillow. I hear the home phone ring and I jump at the noise. Groaning I twist myself so I’m on my back.

“Eleanor, phone! It’s your uncle!” I hear Jane yell up the stairs. I reach over and grab the cordless phone from its receiver on my bedside table.

“Hey uncle Malcom, how’s Asia?” I ask half heartily.

“Good, good, quite hot this time of year.” Yeah, Malcom might be my brother and I’s guardian, that doesn’t mean he lived here though. Like my parents he never stayed in one place very long either. I never bothered to ask what type of job he held that would cause him to travel the world and never be home. He sold his small apartment when my parents died and took up the estate. It’s been in the family for generations from what I know, it’s hard to let something like that go. “How’s school, and your brother?” His voice his gruff but holds the same melodic vibrancy as my mother’s.

“Good, we’re fine here.”

“Good,” he grunts. I wait for him to say he needs to get back to work like he usually does at this point in our conversation. Malcom has always been a bit of a black sheep, even when my parents were alive. He came here for Christmas sometimes, but that apartment of his mostly collected dust. “I plan on making a trip back there next month.” I sit up slightly and switch the phone to my other ear.

“Oh?” He grunts again,

“Yeah, I would’ve preferred to be home for your birthday but,” he lets out a deep sigh, “work here has been unexpectedly busy.”

“Don’t worry about it, there’s always next year.” Well probably not, but it’s the thought that counts.

“Yeah, next year…” he sounds as unconvinced as I feel. “Eleanor?”

“Hmm?”

“Take of yourself, Leo too.”

“Yeah sure,” I paused, “are you okay uncle?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay, bye.” I hear the call end and I hang up the phone. I tuck myself back into bed and hug my pillow to my chest. That was weird, uncle Malcom isn’t usually so talkative. I can feel my eyelids struggling to stay open. What a weird guy. I quickly drifted off into some much needed, non-dreaming sleep. Suddenly the whole days exertions hit me like a tidal wave. One minute I have so much energy I’m about to bolt out of my skin, then it’s gone. I could barely keep my eyes open even if I wanted to.