Fine Line

chapter one

Corruption Introduced

Friday nights were a big deal for teenagers around here, and I definitely wasn't the exception. No, this isn't the story of a timid girl who avoided all social interaction with her school peers. But then I wouldn't really call myself a social butterfly.

My best friend, Kat, and I enjoyed joining the rest of the class in their extravagant fun. We even caused a little havoc now and then, but not enough to be seen as having bad intentions.

The club, nameless to everyone, but we all knew what we were talking about. It was for teens only, a bar for the underaged, no alcohol involved. Or, at least that was their intention, but it definitely wasn't what had happened. Many of us figured out how to sneak some in. I wasn't one of those people, I just drank what was brought.

But tonight was a club-free Friday. It was getting decorated, apparently, and I hadn't heard plans of any alternatives to the evening events, so I stayed home.

It was a nice change to my usual plans, and I quite liked being able to spend my night in peace. My father was downstairs doing his work, so he didn't mind me ignoring him all night. And my mother was on a six month London trip for her lawyer work. I missed her, she was a lot better company than my dad, but I dealt.

Hours of the night passed by peacefully, like the calm before the storm, because soon it was all ruined by a certain boy with a bad reputation.

Jaden Campbell. He was known for his bad choices, his drinking and smoking, and his wealthy father who was just about the richest man in all of Belmack. My father worked for his father, although I couldn't remember what his role was. He did something to do with finance, but we had never really spoken about his job.

My attention was drawn away from my book at the sound of tapping. Three taps, then silence. Four taps, then silence. It was coming from my window.

Panic shot through me; someone had gotten up to my window, likely from the tree that stood in front of the house with a branch that reached out to my window. I wanted to scream, there was someone trying to get into my house, and it probably wasn't a robber or burglar if they knocked for entrance. Probably a murderer.

But my thoughts were eased when I opened my curtains to reveal a bloody, brown-haired boy looking back and forth between the street and my window. His face seemed to relax when he saw me standing looking at him through the glass. He mentioned for me to open the window.

"Fucking hell, Chloe, you took your time," he mumbled as I lifted the window up. I didn't reply, and so he spoke again when the gap between the window and window sill was large enough to climb through. "I need your help," he whispered.

"What are you doing?" I snapped in a whisper, not realising that he had called me Chloe until after I had spoken.

"Well?" I prompted, but he didn't seem to be listening. He was just staring at me, but he didn't seem entirely here doing that, either.

His eyes were a bright blue and bloodshot. Drunk? Crying? I doubted that was it, his eyes weren't puffy and he definitely didn't seem the type to cry, alone or not. But what did I know? It might have been from anger, although I wasn't sure that that could actually cause bloodshot eyes.

He seemed to be angry, though, and stressed. The skin around his eye seemed to be a light shade of pink in the dim light; Jaden had previously been in a few fights, that was probably what had happened. And why he was so conscious of what was lurking behind him whilst he was waiting for me to open the window.

"Please, Chloe, I promise I'll be gone by morning."

Who the fuck is Chloe, and why is he calling me that?