Lure To The Woods

VIII

Heather and I decided it was much too risky to talk about this in the bathroom- since somebody could come in any second- so we decided to bunk our classes and go somewhere private. It wasn't exactly hard to bunk class, since Sixthformers were allowed to come and go as they please (due to having free periods), so we just walked out of the school gates. 

"Where can we go?" Mike asked, "Our house is a no-go." 

"My mum should be at work, so we can go to mine. He's not following us, anyway." I offered, leading the way to mine.

"You can tell?" Oscar scoffed, looking at me incredulously. 

"It's crazy, right? He's dead certain, though." Heather jibed, making them all look at me. 

"I can just tell. It freaked me out at first too." I defended, feeling judged. 

On the way to my house, I revealed the details of what had happened so far to the rest of the gang. Heather asked a million more questions, not convinced that he wasn't dangerous. She really thought we should report him, but I was adamant he wasn't going to harm me. I could just feel it, it's hard to explain. 

I unlocked my front door, letting everyone inside. I decided it would be better to hang out in my room, since the rest of the house was pretty open. They called me paranoid, but it wouldn't be the first time he was outside my house... Xavier. 

It feels strange knowing his name. It was a good kind of strange, which just made it stranger. Whenever anyone said it, I got a round of tingles sent up my spine and my toes curled. I really needed to talk to him again, to see if what I felt really was attraction or if I was confusing it for something else. After all, I had never felt attraction, so I could be mixing it up with fear. 

Heather eyed the new lock on my window and pulled the curtains shut, taking a seat on my bed. I sat next to her, the rest finding places to sit on my desk, floor and desk chair. The room fell into silence and I cleared my throat awkwardly. 

"Ava, can you start by telling us everything you know about Xavier. I know his name, but he was a bit cocky when he presumed that we would know who the hell he was. I can't even picture his face." Heather took charge, directing our meeting. 

"I don't know that much, but it's definitely his account. He's twenty one, finished University and runs his family's business. Sorry it's vague, I only know him through other people. A few people in our Sixth Form work for his business. He's a pretty big deal in town, but very mysterious. It honestly doesn't surprise me that he's a creep- he's so secretive." Ava revealed what she knew, pretending to shiver jokingly. 

"Wait, family business? Is his dad's name Malcolm?" Mike asked, "I recognise the name now. I remember when Xavier was three years above us at school, but I didn't know he took over Malcolm's business."

"What do you know about Malcolm?" I inquired, my curiosity peaked, "What's the business?" 

"Well I'm not exactly sure, but I recognise the order name. At the store, we used to get massive orders placed by the name of 'Malcolm' for a company. It's nothing out of the ordinary, just food supplies. Recently, the order name changed. It wasn't changed to Xavier, though." Mike answered, "It was by the name of Evans."

"That's his last name." Ava inserted, "Xavier Evans. Malcolm Evans." 

The name sent shivers down my spine and I reached for my cigarettes. I'm glad we lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone, or this would be a lot harder. Everyone in our group smoked in some kind of capacity, so within a few minutes my room looked like the smoking room at a club.