A life in the Dark

C h a p t e r T w e n t y S i x

W e d n e s d a y 1 8 D e c e m b e r
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Last day of school before the Christmas holidays! Wow, the term has flown past!

I came to school in a fluffy jumper and thick wool leggings, as it was non-uniform day and brought in my present for secret santa; a specially made bath bomb of a pretty girl with a more orange complexion than most. I'd been lucky (hint the sarcasm) enough to pick out Jadyn's name a few weeks ago when we were finding out who in the form we would give a present to. And it was specially made to (a) go off like a rocket when exposed to water, thus send water everywhere and (b) under the outer layer of the girl, I added a ton of dark red and black colouring, which will turn the bath water the same colour as her heart.

I couldn't wait for her to use it. If I was lucky it might stain her skin for a bit and she'll have to come to school like that!

"Okay, Jadyn, Jessika, please can you hand out the presents while I go through the register?" Miss Evergreen spoke, with the two student obeying...suspiciously calmly, I would say.

A few minutes later, Jaydn came round with mine and Keira's gifts, her's wrapped in red wrapping paper with Christmas trees and presents and 'merry christmas' printed all over it; mine was in plain brown parcel wrapping with string tied in a bow on top with a white gift label with loopy writing that read 'send to the north pole' with a hand-drawn candy cane in sparkly red gel pen.

On three, we opened them together. She got sweets and chocolate and art supplies while I got a few books I've wanted for ages. No doubt it was from Finley, who was blatantly obvious when it came to asking what I wanted for Christmas. I loved them.

"Hey, what's this?" Keira pointed out a slip of paper in my mess of brown paper that was strewn across my desk. Curious, I picked it up and looked at it. Scrawled across it was the words 'fuck off and never talk to me again, slut'. "Finley?" Keira breathed, shocked.

But something didn't add up. "No," I thought aloud. "Look, the handwriting is different to the label, which we can assume is correct and was here first, but this slip could have been slipped under the wrapping where there are gaps in the tape; it's probably Jadyn when she was handing them out. Besides I can't imagine Finley being so cruel."

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Then Finley came round. "Hey guys."

"Hey," we replied in unison, turning round and me catching sight of Jadyn, who was smirking as she watched. It was definitely her.

"What did you think of your gift?" he asked me, smiling.

"Thank you so much for the books, Finley, I love them! But, er... Just for clarification, it was Jadyn who added this note, right?" I produced the slip of paper, and his eyes grew wide as he read it.

"I would never write something like that! Especially not to you!" he exclaimed, and of course I believed him.

"It's okay, in that case it was Jadyn." I looked round to look calmly at her. "You know, her attempts to get me away from you are getting more and more transparent and desperate."

*****

Later on the bus, Harley and I stayed on after our stop to go Christmas shopping in town; as there was no Rachel, he came and sat right next to me. It was nice being able to talk to him on the bus.

He was going away for the first week or so of the holidays, so I had a present that I was planning on giving him in town in my bag, smiling as I thought about it. Then he pulled a small gift out his bag; he wasn't a fan of wrapping things but it was delicately wrapped in tissue paper.

"It's for you," he said, pressing it into my hands. "Open it."

I carefully balanced it on my leg, getting out his gift, wrapped in white tissue paper with snowmen that I'd printed onto it. I gave that to him. "You first."

"On three?"

"Three... Two... One..." I tore the wrapping off to reveal a silvery box with a silk bow, which turned out to conceal a beautiful pair of intricate earrings, each the shape of a snowman; perfect. "They're...gorgeous," I breathed, speechless.

"Glad you like them," he grinned, holding up the revision cards and multi-coloured highlighters and chocolate I'd got him. "Thanks a lot for all this too, I wonder how you knew I needed to start revising?"

"Yeah I know, it's a mystery!" I joked, a smile ranging from one ear to the other forming on my face. It's been so long since we last hung out like this.

The bus pulled into the station and we got off, thanking the driver as we went before heading into the first shop. It was a stationary shop, so I was looking out for a few things I could get to either organise the shop or get Keira. Harley found a golden mesh that made a intricate paper holder; I could totally imagine it on the front desk in the shop. He picked out a few boxes of chocolates for presents, probably for Rose and Zach. We paid for our items and left.

Next we went into a shoe shop, where I bought mum a pair of amazing knee-height boots that would go so well with some black skinny jeans and a big jumper. Afterwards, I forced Harley to follow me to Primark, where I got the remainder of said outfit and-because, who can resist it?-I also got myself a selection of jumpers too. A wide variety of colours and designs, just waiting to be worn for the rest of winter. Then we went to one or two more shops, where I got a video game Harley suggested Zach would like and a make up and nail polish kit for Rose. We spent another hour or two in town before catching the next bus back.

At home, I slipped through the shop quickly and stealthily to ensure mum missed her gifts; I wasted no time wrapping them up neatly and labelling them before going to help the shop.

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