𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚊𝚢 𝙳𝚒𝚎 | The Goonies

Chapter Fifteen | The Truth

"I-I can explain." She swallowed thickly. "It's..."

"Well?" He asked, waving the paper at her. "You can't come up with an excuse, right?"

"How long has this been going on for?" Brand questioned, frowning.

Lacey shifted her feet, played with the hem of her top, then wove her fingers together. "Not long."

Mouth took a step towards her. "How long?"

She briefly considered lying, but then ruled it out. Instead, she diverted. "Don't you think this is what they wanted? To make us fight among ourselves?" She tried.

"Stop dodging the question, Nichols," Mouth growled.

She exhaled heavily. "Since last weekend."

"Last weekend?" Chunk asked, aghast. "But Brand only asked if we had had any communications on Monday!"

"You shouldn't have come tonight," Mouth said harshly. He clenched his fist at his side. "You can't just brush off death threats, Lacey!"

"Hey, that's-" Andy tried, having watched the entire thing from the door to the kitchen. She was cut off when Brand shot her a cautionary look, and she pursed her lips.

"Yeah, well you shouldn't have gone through my stuff in the first place," Lacey countered. "That's my privacy you just breached!"

"I looked because one of them fell on the floor when you took the popcorn out," Mouth clarified. "And at first, I thought it might have been the first one, that you might not have even seen it yet. Then I found the second one. When were you going to tell us?" She didn't reply, and he snorted. "Right. Never."

She threw her hands up and looked appealingly to the others, who gave her shrugs or reproving looks. "Come on. Seriously?" She looked back to Mouth. "It was my choice to get involved, and I have to deal with the consequences," she said firmly. "That's it."

"That's it? No, it's not! If you had just bowed out last weekend you wouldn't have a sniper shot trained on your chest like the rest of us. You had the option." He paused to take a breath, to analyse her, and she carved a poker face for herself. "You must be suicidal," he declared finally.

"Why do you care, anyway?" Lacey challenged, taking a step forwards herself, this time. "You don't even like me!"

"That's the problem! I do! And it makes me care too damn much!"

She opened her mouth, closed it again, and shook her head. Mouth had paled, anger still present but he smoothed his hair back awkwardly.

"Shame, shame," Chunk mumbled.

"Alright," Lacey said, cheeks tinged pink. She exhaled heavily and shook her head, picking up her bag from the floor. "Sorry guys, but I'm going to go home now."

"It's too dangerous," Stef said immediately, followed by echoes of the same sentiment from the others.

"I mean, it's dark," added Andy.

"There's no street lights!"

"It's, like, a mile to your house!"

Lacey folded her arms. "Do you want me to leave or not?"

Brand handed her her other bag. "It would be a good idea if you went home," he agreed.

"Brand!" Mikey said. "You can't just make her leave now!"

"They're only interested in you because you're hanging with us. If you go now, the Fratellis might leave you alone," Brand said to Lacey, ignoring his brother.

She fought the urge to laugh outright at that. The stabbed pillow said otherwise.

"You can't go on your own," Mouth said, moving to stop her.

She stared at him with raised eyebrows. "If you don't let me go, I'll call my dad, and you'll have to explain this whole thing to him," she said calmly.

He stared back at her. Eventually, very reluctantly, he stepped aside and let her go to the door.

Lacey smiled apologetically at Andy and Stef before she slipped outside. Once she was out, she sighed.

"Why did I even put them in my schoolbag?" She muttered, shaking her head.

She had walked less than a hundred metres when she heard a commotion from behind her. Some call about stop, some angry words. She hoped she hadn't caused too much discord between them all.

The next thing she knew, her sleeping bag was lifted from her shoulder. She span around, about to go into a defensive crouch, but relaxed only a little when she saw it was only Mouth, sitting astride his bike.

"You should be more aware of your surroundings."

"You shouldn't be out here," she countered, lifting her chin. "Can I please have my bag back?"

"If you stand on my pegs I can give you a lift back."

"I'm fine with walking," she said firmly. She held out her hand. "My bag? Please?"

"I'll give it to you when we get to your gate," he said. "Are you getting on or not?"

She looked him over, decided she didn't need her sleeping bag that desperately, and started walking home. "Not. Go home, Mouth."

She heard the bike gears whirr as he followed her slowly, but she stared resolutely forwards.

"You shouldn't be out here either," She pointed out after a few minutes.

"So let's pick up the pace and ride."

She glanced back at him with a wry look. "You just want my hands on your hips."

He grinned and took one hand off the handlebars to smooth back his hair. "Guilty."

She turned away so he couldn't see her smile and picked up the pace.

"You know the offer still stands," he tried again.

"I know," she replied. "This is my house. Can I have my bag back?"

Mouth handed it to her somewhat reluctantly. "You're going to stay away now, right?"

"Yes," she said.

"Promise?"

Lacey smiled ruefully. "On my life."

"Let's hope that's not too literal," he joked, but this time the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Goodnight, Lacey."

She swallowed thickly and nodded and went to turn around to walk to herfront door.

"Wait," he called out. "Uh, about what I said earlier. Are we... Still cool?"

She sucked her teeth. "Except from you being such an asshat, we're cool."

He bobbed his head slowly as he shoved his hands in his pocket. "Okay. I'll see you at school, right?"

Lacey heaved a sigh. "Go home, Mouth. It's not safe out here."

"Right. I'll just- yeah." He turned and swung his leg over his bike.

"Be careful," she said quietly. He wasn't meant to hear, but the pleased smile that spread over his face as he rode away said that he just might have.

WORD COUNT: 1075

PUBLISHED: 28/06/19

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