A life in the Dark

C h a p t e r T w e n t y T w o

F r i d a y 1 s t N o v e m b e r

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"Pinch, punch, first of the month, no returns!" I awoke to Keira shaking me, kneeling down on the floor by my sleeping bag. She had already changed out of the starry pyjamas from last night and was now in some denim jeans and a large, dark emerald jumper.

"Good morning to you, too," I murmured, rubbing my eyes that refused to stay open. "What's the time?"

"Seven a.m," she replied with cheery voice. Seven? I usually get up earlier, so why am I so tired? I guess we did watch movies until two in the morning, so I suppose that explains it. But then how's she not tired? How often does she do this?

"Come on, let's go get breakfast!" she cheered, chucking a pillow at my face, which I would've usually caught but was simply too tired to. My brain wasn't working properly; I let it hit me.

"Yeah, sure I'll be... Right behind you," I yawned, rolling over in my sleeping bag before eventually dragging myself to the bathroom to freshen up and splash myself with freezing water to wake up. I followed a few steps behind as we headed downstairs to take a seat at the dining table; Keira's mum was cooking up pancakes as we entered, and a plate piled high with them already awaited us on the table. Luke was already sat at the head of the table, stuffing his face.

"Mornin'" the woman smiled, sliding another panful of sweet, delicious bundles of joy onto the plate on the table.

As I took a few pancakes and put them on my plate, I returned the greeting, her cheeriness contagious. Listing all the toppings in front of me, I took my choice of Greek yogurt, maple syrup and berries-blueberries, raspberries and raspberries, to be specific. Then we all started munching through the pile for the next twenty minutes, after which Keira and I headed back upstairs and I grabbed my clothes from my bag and went into the bathroom for the second time his morning. I dressed into my plain black leggings and white, tight-fitting tube top with a thick, grey, knitted long sleeve cropped jumper; I quickly combed through my hair, starting at the bottom and working up to the roots. After debating whether or not to put my hair up, I chose to leave it down, hanging around my shoulders. Exiting the room, I found Keira slouched across her bed, scrolling down her phone. Smirking, I chose to sneak up on her; treading carefully until I was only metres away and was just about to pounce when she turned her head to look at me.

"I know you're there."

"Oh," I looked down before, feeling a bit like an idiot, sitting on the floor next the her. Her screen had a pink strip of colour at the top with a series of photos that she was scrolling through, double tapping one every now and again. "What is that?" I asked, curious.

"Instagram," she replied, not looking away from the screen. "I notice you haven't got it?"

"No. I never wanted to risk Jadyn having the opportunity to get at me on social medias."

"Make it private; block her; just try it. You could advertise your shop on your account, although then it would need to be public, I guess."

"I never thought about that," I gasped. "That's quite a good idea!"

*****

"Okay, just fill in all those then you'll have an account. I'll follow you."

"Okay," I agreed, following her orders. "Done." I looked up at her and she typed up something on her phone. A notification popped up on my screen and-as promised-it was Keira following me. I followed her back.

"Who else do you want to follow?"

"Erm..." My mind went blank. "Harley?" The question was unintentional.

"Okay." She looked up Harley and read out his name for me to search up. We repeated this a few times with Finley and Logan when mum rang the doorbell and I had to leave as early as I had arrived yesterday.

During the car ride back, my phone lit up with a notification from Keira.

keiraxjones: Welcome to Insta! Better post some pics of the shop asap!

I swiped across on it and after the app loaded I texted back a quick 'sure thing' before refocusing on the conversation.

*****

With half an hour left before we opened, I wasted no time after returning back home before helping by pulling down the Halloween decorations, beginning with the 'cobwebs' with spiders and then the window stickers and hanging witch on the broomstick, putting everything in a plastic box that I'd later put in storage to reuse for next year. Then I went to pick up all the pumpkins and candles that were scattered around the shop. Meanwhile, mum went around with our step ladder taking down the hanging cutouts and stuffed bats and rubbing the chalk pictures off of the specials board behind the counter and till. Like every year, we still had a handful of Halloween products to get rid of, which mum had already taken care of by putting them together alongside a 'Half Price Today' sign.

While doing all this, there was a knock at the door, and I turned to see it was Harley, motioning to get my attention. I got up from where I was kneeling and dusted down my apron, unlocking and opening the door to let him in. "Hey," I smiled.

"Hey. How was he party?"

"Good. It was so nice to be able to do that sort of stuff after so long," I explained, smiling to myself as I headed back over to the window.

"Good for you," he smiled back, holding my gaze. He helped me clear up the remainder of the decorations when we go over to the till and chat until there's a flash on the table; my phone lighting up. I reached over and picked it up and read the message, Harley reading over my shoulder.

logan.johnson: Hey 😘

"Logan?" he said, coldly. I was shocked. This was so unlike him! "I think I'd better be going."

"O-Okay..." I watched as he made his exit, shutting the door behind him. Wondering why he was talking to me, I typed back a quick 'what's up?'.

logan.johnson: wyd?

About to open up my mum's shop. You?

logan.johnson: not much.

Oookayyy? I thought at the same time as a series of numbers appeared on the screen. Confusion washed over me until his next text came through.

logan.johnson: call me 📞

I think not. Not right now, at least. Why is he suddenly acting all like this again? I guess I'll ask on Monday. Since mum had turned round the sign, I replied with a simple 'gtg, bye' before placing my phone in the draw under the table like always.

~~~~~~

Yay! Can't believe I actually stuck to my plan and updated twice in two days!

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