Dear Diary,

8

Dear Diary, I am going to find out what Antonio is hiding. No matter how long it takes I will find out, because I can't sit around and always be uncertain about when I'm gonna see him next. We haven't actually spoken since I saw him last week and overheard him talking to that other Italian guy, I don't know...this is really getting to me and I gotta do something about it, Lydia even says I should too. 7:59am.

"Nat do you wanna come out for dinner tonight with my family?" Ally, my best friend taps my shoulder whilst we're in class. I turn back to look at her, "Uh, I'll have to ask my step mom, but it'll probably be a no." Ally rolls her eyes and leans back into her chair.

"What? I ask.

"You've been using your step mom as an excuse a lot recently whenever I ask you if you can come out somewhere with me, I'm pretty sure it's actually something to do with that sketchy Italian guy you're seeing." She says harshly.

I stare at her for a few seconds and then turn and rip a page out from my exercise book, quickly writing out a small note instructing Ally to meet me in the unused classroom on the top floor of school. Once I fold it neatly and pass it to her, I check the time. Only ten minutes until the end of class.

I raise my hand and wait patiently for my teacher to notice, which doesn't take very long. "I'm really sorry but can I please go to the bathroom? Girl problems."

She smiles kindly at me and nods her head, quickly carrying on with the lesson. I swiftly make my exit after grabbing my bag and work and head to the elevators. As soon as I get inside I pull the blind on the door down so nobody can see inside the little window.

Not too long after, there's a knock on the door. I peek through the blind and see it's Ally so I let her in. "OK what?" She says.

"Antonio is hiding something and I need your help to find out what it is." I tell her, urgency in my voice. "It is why you haven't been hanging out with me any more? Because you've been obsessing over this fucking guy!" Ally yells, her face holds an angry expression.

I shake my head, "Ally please, that's not why I haven't been hanging out with you, I really haven't been able to recently. It truly is because of Lydia."

She scoffs and folds her arms, "Yeah I'm sure." her voice drips with sarcasm.

"Ally seriously!? Right fine, even if you don't want to help me and spend time with me, then I'm still gonna figure it all out on my own." I can feel myself begin to get mad too so I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a second.

"Fine I'll help you," Ally says quietly, after a long and uncomfortably tense silence. I let out a sigh of relief and I'm quick to wrap my arms around her, "Thank you Ally, for real."I feel her relax into my embrace as she hugs me back.

"You better not get us into any trouble, I really don't have a good feeling about this Nat," she whispers, her voice is shaky and small. I pull back and look at her face, it's fearful.

"I promise we won't get into any trouble, I just wanna find out what he's up too." I give her another quick hug and we talk for a little bit until the alarm goes for class again.

-

Lydia says I can go to dinner with Ally and her family, and I was kinda pushing my luck but I even asked if I could stay over there and surprisingly she agreed. So long as I get to school on time tomorrow and do all my homework if I have any. I do but it isn't due for at least a week so Ally and I are gonna start our little investigation.

I walk over to Ally's house around 6pm, the dinner is at 7:30 so we have a little time to talk about what's going to happen when we get back from the diner. I knock on her front door and her older brother, Finn answers it.