Blackmailing Isn't cool

8. Cover blown

Caylie's POV

I am home for (literally, it's not a metaphor!) about 5 seconds, before my phone rings. It's Grace.

"Hello" I say, answering it.

"Ashlyn just left, and you will never believe what happened!" she says, laughing.

"What happened?" I ask, making my way towards my room.

She explained to me what happened. It shocked me. Why was Ashlyn laughing at Braeson with everyone else, if she knew Grace didn't have a crush on him? She must've laughed for the same reason as me.

"Wow" I say, speechless.

~~~~~~~~~page break~~~~~~~

Kate POV

We are walking to Grace's house. It's Friday after school. We are planning to have (yes, another one!) a slumber party again, so we can finish our group project.

Something I have noticed since going to Grace's house everyday after school, is her dad is never home. On Wednesday, we stayed until, like 8:30, but he still never came. It's starting to make me wonder if something is wrong. If he doesn't come tonight, I'm going to ask Grace what is happening.

We walk down to Grace's room, and get working. We are almost finished. We just have some finishing touches to add.

Mostly, we do the work, and Grace tells us what to do. She isn't very good at actually constructing projects like this, but she is pretty good in theory.

We finish it up, in about an hour.

"So, what do you guys want to do now?" Grace asks us.

"Let's go outside, and do something." I suggest. "We don't get sunshine very often in April. We should enjoy it."

We all agree. "Where are we going?" Cheryl asks.

"Let's just go walk down by the river. Get some fresh air" Caylie suggests.

We yet again, agree.

About, half an hour later, we are crossing the street towards the river. I glance at the person in the car, that stopped for us. When I see who it is, I am surprised. It's Grace's dad. He didn't notice us, because his face is looking down at the cell phone, held in his hand.

When we are across the street, I notice that Grace's dad isn't headed in the direction of her house, but toward a hotel. He parks in the parking lot, and gets out of the car.

"Why is your dad going into that hotel?" I ask Grace.

"What?" she says, following my gaze. When her eyes find her father, they bulge.

"I- um, well, I-" she stutters. "It's complicated." She finally says.

We continue to walk toward the river. "You know you can tell us, Grace" Ashlyn says, her voice full of concern.

Grace POV

Should I tell them? I can't keep this secret forever. I have to tell them eventually. Why not now?

I take a deep breath, and begin. "My parents, they-" I take another deep breath. "They're splitting up" they all stare at me, with pity in their eyes. This is exactly what I didn't want.

"I don't want you to feel bad for me. I don't want you to treat me with sympathy. I want you to treat me like a normal human being, okay?"

I glance at Caylie. I can't tell what her expression means. Is it Pity? Confusion? Awkwardness, maybe? I can't tell.

The others notice me looking at her. "Did Caylie know?" Kate asks.

"Yes" Caylie says. "And, Grace. I think you left out something kind of important."

Right. The blackmailing. I should tell them. "Right. Umm, I've kinda been, umm, someone is blackmailing me"

"What!?" Kate, Alex, Cheryl, and Ashlyn say together.

"Who?" Cheryl asks.

"That's the thing." I say "I don't know"

"Well, we need to find out, now, don't we?" Ashlyn says, smiling.

"We do" I say, the corners of my lips turning up slightly.

"How were you being blackmailed?" Alex asks, curiously.

Suddenly, I burst out laughing. It isn't that what she said was particularity funny. It's just, I needed to laugh right now.

"You know when I said that I had a crush on Braeson?" I say between giggles. "That was because that person told me to"

"Really?" Cheryl says, smiling. "Have you been, you know, been blackmailed again?"

"Yes" I say "but I haven't done it yet. I don't know what I am going to do about it, because I really don't want to do it"

"What is it?" Kate asks.

I'm silent. I don't want to answer that question. I look at Caylie, with pleading eyes. She nods.

"She has to ask Draytin out" she say.

Kate bursts out laughing. I stare at her. How is this funny? It isn't. Kate knows how much I hate Draytin, and she is laughing that I am being forced to ask him out.

"Do you really want your secret hidden that bad?" Ashlyn asks, not paying attention to Kate's historical outburst.

"I don't know" I say. "I don't want people to pity me"