Collateral Damage

3) Catastrophe Implied...

Well, I thought it was about time for an update! I could have split this into two chapters, but the pace would have been so slow and I promise a more exciting chapter for the next one! :)

But for now, VOTE if you like, COMMENT if you want to tell me :D xx

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Catastrophe Implied...

I arrived at Jace’s house ten minutes early, as usual. I let myself in through the back door to find the owner of the house himself, perched on a bar stool tapping furiously at his laptop.

   ‘You’re early,’ he remarked, as per usual.

   ‘I know,’ I sang back. ‘What’s on the schedule for today?’ I moved into the lounge and lay across the sofa.

   Jace followed me in and shrugged, leaning heavily on the doorframe. ‘I don’t know. Verde hasn’t showed up yet.’ I rolled off the sofa and reached for the second laptop on the coffee table. I’d scrawled my name across it in Tipex - this one being the only one with all the keys still intact - and so it permanently lived on Jace’s coffee table now. I switched it on and tapped in my password.

   ‘Are you making tea Jace?’ I called out as I heard the kettle ping.

   ‘No; coffee. Do you want some?’

   I grimaced. ‘No thanks,’ I shouted back.

   I heard him shuffling around in the kitchen, fixing up the cheap, bitter instant excuse for coffee.

   ‘Gotcha!’

   I shrieked as Haydey materialized in front of me. He rolled back on his heels laughing. Catching my breath, I scowled. ‘Would you stop doing that? It’s getting annoying more than anything now.’

   Jace appeared in the doorway laughing as well. ‘What’s the score now, Hay?’

   ‘About a million to one,’ Haydey smirked at me. I made a face.

   ‘Did he get you again, Bekah?’ Zari asked absentmindedly as she strolled into the room, flicking flyaway strands of russet hair off her shoulder

   ‘Perhaps,’ I spat out, still scowling at Haydey.

   Zari smiled tolerably and cast her eyes back down the magazine in her hand. She fell onto the sofa next to me and I glanced over her shoulder.

   ‘Verde here yet?’ she asked, noticing me looking.

   ‘Nope,’ Jace replied for me, before disappearing back into the kitchen. Zari nodded slowly, still engrossed.

   Haydey frowned. ‘What on earth are you reading? I’ve never seen you this focused.’

   Zari looked up sharply. ‘Just a magazine,’ she said vaguely. Haydey reached over and snatched it from her hands.

   ‘Hey!’ Zari shouted, leaping to her feet in pursuit.

   ‘Look magazine? Is this a fashion magazine?’ Haydey laughed.

   Zari’s heart-shaped face fell. ‘That’s what normal girls read, right?’

   Haydey looked back at her with a strange, unreadable expression on his face, still clutching the glossy magazine. He shrugged, his mood dipping suddenly. ‘How should I know?’ He tossed the magazine back at her and she caught it without looking. Her cool gaze still rested on Haydey, her eyes like stone.