Blue Letter Night

6. Mason is a snoop

The art of snooping requires a couple of key things. First you need a subject, and I'm sure any one could guess who my subject was.

Second thing you'll need is a spy in the form of a genius yet gullible little brother. It might've been beneath me but, I sent Max to ask if Beth was going to take a shower soon. When he asked why I told him I was planning on taking one and needed to know. It was a genius excuse, and I didn't even share a bathroom a bathroom with Beth and Anne.

"Good, you need it" he said before he went to ask. I frowned. In my defence I had traveled all day the day before without a shower. Either way, he managed to report back with good news.

"She was just about to head to the bathroom," I told him thanks and he went off to do whatever he did in that room full of science experiments.

The third thing you'll need is a solid plan. You can't just rush in all willy-nilly. No, that'll get you caught with little to no information. Lucky for me, I had a genius, fool proof plan.

Earlier I had seen Beth bring a load of laundry into her room but left quickly which meant it wasn't folded. Clothes say a lot about a person, assuming she had shirts with bands and tv shows on them. But, the first thing I was going to look at was her desk; any persons desk was a cluttered mess and I was bound to find something in and amongst the junk. And if it wasn't a cluttered mess, well that would tell me a completely different thing about her.

It was easy to know which door was hers. Each door in that weird house was different colour, hers was pale yellow. I opened the door, and it seemed like a pretty standard teenage girl room. A white steal bed in the corner a desk in front of the window, a couple of been bags in the corner with a few books on them. On the wall the headboard was against, three bookcases which were entirely filled with books, occupied the rest of the wall. Part of me wondered how, in only seventeen years of life, she managed to get so many books— the other part didn't care.

And so, my mission began. I be-lined to the desk and was happy to see that, as much as she tried to come off as put together, Beth was still a mess just like everyone fourteen and up. Sticky notes were stuck to the desk, boring stuff, like chores, a few pictures. She had a schedule, and in three weeks she was set to "show work at gallery". I hadn't heard any thing about that but I would keep an eye out for it.

It was almost frustrating to be reminded once again, that she had talent. On the desk were a bunch of rough sketches that I knew she spent no time on, but still looked good.

I moved on and opened one of the drawers and was filled with anger up to my ears upon see that stupid blue paper she kept around when we were younger. When I would throw some of it at the back of her head she would write a message on the paper saying that the blue paper was special, and that I wasn't allowed to throw it at her. Then I'd write a message on the same piece of paper, whatever insult I could think of, and throw it back at her. Repeat cycle.

There was some stuff written on the paper in the drawer but I didn't have a lot of time. I moved into to the other drawer which was locked. Mark my words, I would get into that drawer by the end of summer, I was sure of it.

The bed was the next stop, or more specifically the clothes. There was normal girl clothes I guess; jeans, shorts, a couple dresses which was weird sense when we were younger I had only seen her wear overalls. I picked up a few of the tee shirts- the Beatles, Panic! At the disco, Young the giant. She didn't have bad taste in music, I'd given her that.

As I was staring at the blue Beatles tee shirt I remembered that I should be listening for the shower, and when I didn't hear any running water I panicked! in Beth's bedroom.

"What are you doing?"

I whipped my head around and Beth was standing in the doorway. Her hair was dripping wet and she had a towel wrapped around her. I tried my best not to stare, I had already gotten in trouble for that at breakfast, but it was hard. I hated to admit, but Beth had gotten a "glow up" as the kids were saying, and it irked me deeply.

I must've looked like a damn deer in headlights, because I just stood there.

"Uh, helping with folding?" I said pathetically at an attempt to joke.

Beth marched up to me, being sure to hold her towel so it didn't fall. I could've sworn she was blushing, but it might've just been her pale skin turned red from the hot water. She snatched the shirt from my grasp.

"Get out," She ordered.

"Right," I turned and left, closing the yellow door behind me.

I went back to my room, and with a now free day, I was planning on finding my old grade school friend, Eddie Akiyama. Stanmore was so small, everyone knew where everyone lived, I could probably just walk up to someone and ask. I already used my favour with Max for the day, and I wasn't going to talk to Beth, so that left Anne.

Anne was just like when I left. Her hair was always down in tight curls hitting her elbows, she dressed in bright colours that made her stand out, and she was chatty, not as chatty as Max, but nearly there.

"Hey Anne?" I knocked on her open door which was a fire red, just like the rest of her room. She was laying on red sheets scrolling through her phone.

"Yeah what's up," she answered without looking up from her phone.

"Listen I need a favour,"

"You need to get into Beth's good graces? I can help with that,"

"What? No," I rejected. She looked up from her phone, "sense I'm going to be living here, I'm gonna need friends. And I was wondering if you could tell me where Eddie Akiyama lives?"

"Piece of cake," she told me, "he lives down Becker street. It's a big red house, can't miss it. But my offer still stands on the whole Beth thing. You might need it considering you did just brake into her room," I almost stuttered.

"How did you know about that?" I asked suspiciously. She waved her phone telling me Beth had already texted her. Anne went back on her phone.

"Also I herd you; you walk like an elephant,"

"Right well, I owe you," I wasn't sure if that was the smartest thing to say considering I was sure Anne would hold me to that.

And with that I went on a mission to find a big red house on Becker street.