Shared Secrets

Chapter 1

Grace's POV

Another Friday comes to an end with no plans or any human interaction at all for that matter. At almost exactly 11:30 pm I turn off the tv, grab my coat and take Chester, my puppy, out for a walk. It's a bustling summer night in London and Chester must be feeling extra rowdy tonight because he keeps pulling me along to every tree lining the park. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket notifying me of an unread text. As I reach into my pocket to retrieve my phone, I accidentally drop Chester's leash. Chester, sensing his newfound freedom, barks excitedly, taking off in a dead sprint. "Shoot" I mumble, pushing the phone back into my pocket.

"Chester! Chester, stop! Come here, boy!" I scream wildly chasing the dog through the feebly lit park. A few of the other late-night dog walkers give me sympathetic looks as I dodge by them. Finally, up ahead I see Chester come to a halt, riveted by a small puddle leftover from this afternoon's sun shower. I'm not paying attention to my surroundings when I run smack into someone.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I'm totally not paying attention! My dog, h-he ran off, and I've been chasing around the park. Are you alright?" I stutter out feeling my face flush red from the embarrassment. Chester, having investigated the puddle thoroughly, bounces back over to me. I snatch his leash up off the ground mentally scolding him.

"No worries, I'm fine." The boy I ran into responds, straightening his jacket I ruffled when I gracelessly crashed into him. He looks up and I realize I've seen that face before, those deep brown eyes, and that curly caramel-coloured hair.

"Tom?" I ask. "Tom Holland?" We were friends all throughout primary school. But drifted apart when I switched to the all-girls school in year seven. "It's Grace Matthews." Tom used to be a pretty quiet kid. He never said much to any of the other kids, but they all still loved him. He was even able to win over all of the teachers with his intelligence. By age seven the boy could pretty much talk his way out of anything. While his wealthy family could have been a key factor in that, it was his easy charm that ultimately got him out of stuff.

For some reason, Tom always included me in his schemes, like we were some sort of team. I don't know why he always stuck with me considering every kid in the school would've been ecstatic to be a part of his ploys. When Tom and I were nine he decided that he didn't want to be a part of the mandatory spring showcase at school so he created this whole backstory about how I was too sick to go on stage and he had to be the one to ensure my healing thus rendering the spring showcase an impossibility for us.

Bizarrely enough the teacher bought it and let us hang out in the library during the showcase. I had felt so guilty for lying. I cried quietly the whole time I was in the library then told the teacher the truth and Tom and I had gotten detention. Tom was never bothered though by my goody-two-shoes demeanour and never got mad at me for screwing up his schemes by my total lack of lying abilities. He always made sure to include me and slowly over the years I finally learned to just deal with it and to stop crying so hard when we broke the rules.

Tom always handled it anyway. I was just there. I don't know why he stuck with me for so long I was never on par with his cunning ambition. In fact, I was more of a liability than an asset. He could've easily dropped me anytime during, but he kept his circle small and I felt honoured to be a part of it.

"Ohh yea Grace! Of course, I remember! How could I forget the only person in Mrs Kane's class who complimented me on my Spider-Man lunch box?"

I smile at him, dumbfounded that he remembers our first interaction at age five. Memories start flooding back to me about all the fun we used to have when we were kids. In the first year of secondary school, we tried to remain friends, but pretty soon I started to make new friends and they didn't really mesh well with Tom. When I joined field hockey Tom used to come to the games with his buddies from school, but his only acknowledgement of me would be a quick head nod.