Eden Lake

Chapter 5

My breath hitches in my throat and my palms start to sweat as soon as my eyes land on Brett and Paige who are walking into my direction. I try to avoid them but to my dismay, they seem to have seen me already.

Brett has his arm around her waist as they walk, both of them having a smug look of superiority on their face, as usual. They come to a stop right in front of me, blocking my way. Brett raises his brows before winking at me, which makes me feel sick to the stomach. My eyes shift to Paige, trying to figure out if she saw Brett winking at me, because I can't imagine she would not have an issue with that. Yet, she seems to be completely oblivious to it.

I scoff in annoyance as I try to push past them, desperatly wanting to continue on my way and get as far away from them as I possibly can. All I wanted was one day without running into them. Just one day. Seems like the universe really has it out for me.

They don't budge and I hear Paige snicker in amusement.

I frown at her and slightly tilt my head to the side, "Move out of the way."

"Calm down, love." Brett laughs and as soon as he opens his mouth to speak again, I beat him to it.

"Don't call me love." I say, feeling disgusted. I wait for a few seconds, hoping, praying, that they will step aside to let me pass. But they don't. "I said move!" I raise my voice, feeling irritated, and before I can stop myself or even realize what I am doing, I give Paige a shove .

She stumbles, losing her balance and falls onto the ground, landing on her tailbone. She glares up at me, nothing but pure hatred in her eyes. Brett turns to me as well and I can tell from the look on his face that I've fucked up.

That tiny amount of courage I've just felt only moments ago, is now completely gone. My eyes widen slightly in both shock and fear as I watch her get up from the ground. I don't even think, I just run.

"Get that bitch!" I hear Brett shout.

I glance back as I run, seeing them following me, not too far behind. I feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins as I push past a few people, some of them giving me curious looks.

I run into an alleyway and stand with my back against the wall, holding my breath as I continue watching them run past. I sigh in relief and slowly start to walk, trying to control and slow my breathing.

"Thank goodness." I mutter to myself, panting.

I exit the alleyway and carefully look around to make sure they are not anywhere in sight, before moving into a different alleway across the road.

Then I hear footsteps behind me and I stop dead in my tracks, expecting it to be either Brett of Paige. As I'm about to make a run for it, I feel someone spin me around and push me against the wall and my eyes widen when I see Harry in front of me. Any moment now, he's going to call out for Brett and Paige that he's found me. I'm about to push him away from me, but before I can do so, he covers my mouth with his hand, silencing me. Confusion takes over me and I try to scream, but my voice sounds muffled.

He looks down at me and I'd say he almost seems to be panicking, which confuses me even more.

"Stay quiet." He whispers at me.

I don't know why, but I do as he says. I start to wonder what is going on and what he's doing. That is, until I hear Paige's voice somewhere near the alleway we are in.

"Brett! I can't find her!"

"Whatever!" I hear Brett shout back to her, "next time I see her, she's going to regret what she did! That little bitch!"

I hold my breath as I see the two of them run past the alleway. Harry removes his hand from my mouth and I let out a huge sigh of relief, before turning to face him. "Why?"

"Don't be stupid. You know why." He responds, "they would've beaten you up."

"Not that you would care." I mutter as I brush past him. Although, he might care. Why else would he have saved me? Not knowing what to make of this, I decide to shrug it off and I swiftly turn back around to face him. "Thanks, though."

Our eyes meet and I quickly move out of the alleyway, leaving him behind. I sprint the rest of my way home, constantly fearing that Brett and Paige will catch up to me. Fortunately for me, they don't.

I slam the door shut behind me and stumble into the livingroom, causing my mother to send me a questioning look. "Hey, honey. Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I pant, knowing my face is probably red from all the running. Don't judge me, I'm not a runner. I don't run unless there is an emergency. "Just went out for a run."

She chuckles, "you? Going out for a run? That's new."

I playfully roll my eyes at her, "figured I have to work on my condition."

I run upstairs and into my room. I look out of my window, peeking through the closed curtains. I spot Brett and Paige in the distance and I feel grateful and an enormous amount of relief that they don't know exactly where I live. A smirk finds its way onto my face as I continue to watch them searching for me. They won't get me this time.