Invitation to a Stranger (2 page)

 

The next morning Jasmine and Katie closeted themselves in Ronnie's bedroom. Drake and Brod were their sole topic of conversation.

“What a dreamboat,” Katie sighed.

“
I'm not disagreeing with you,” Ronnie said dreamily.
"
What a pill his cousin is, though
.
"

“I spotted him earlier that night drinking out back and thought it was Drake because they are so much alike,” Jasmine said. “Drinking and nasty attitudes always end up in fights, my Dad says.”

“Drake's family bought that old mansion at the end of Castle Street,” Katie said.

“
He didn't sound to
o
enthusiastic about the idea of a pool party,”
Ronnie mused.
Her mind drifted. Pool parties were so romantic – full moons
,
music and lots of fun.
Surely he could be talked into giving
one.

“There's a weird older man who might be the grandfather, and talks with an accent,
and
the father, just as tall as Drake,” Katie reported.

“I spotted the
father
shopping the other day,” Jasmine said. “Drake must be right about living in a household without women.”

“Interesting,” Ronnie brooded.

“Women haters,” Jasmine suggested.

“
Men who don't need women,” Katie said.

“Capable men,” Ronnie said.

“No such thing,” Jasmine objected.

They looked at each other and started to giggle.

“We go past that place on the way to school,” Ronnie said. “Just interested.”

The mansion seemed
oddly
lifeless during the day. Ronnie, Katie, and Jasmine
were curious. They
changed their route so they could pass it on their way home from school. One day, they saw
that Drake
's
father
'
s car was gone.

They spotted
Drake in the backyard, scooping rubbish from the small swimming pool. They called out to him.
He looked up and sauntered down the drive.
Ronnie was struck again with how gracefully he moved.

“G'day,” he said. “Come on over and check out the pool.”

“So where's your cousin Brod?” Jasmine asked.

Drake grinned. “He's staying with a cousin on the other side of the city in disgrace, so it is sort of safe to visit.”

“Does the other cousin look like you and Brod?” Katie asked.

Drake's face darkened. “Solid family likeness between the three of us. Jerain
e
is as equally nasty as Brod.”

“So the family likeness isn't that solid,”
Ronnie
said, and Drake flushed and grinned at the compliment.

They strolled up the driveway, and checked out the pool, enclosed in its high fence just below the high veranda of the back of the house.

“Still green turtle soup,” Katie said
in disappointment
.

“So how's the cleaning going?” Ronnie asked.

“The pool's full of bottles, broken glass, and lots of rubbish,” he explained. “Might be a fair while before I can throw a pool party.”

“But you will?”
Jasmine
insisted
batting her eyelashes
.

“
It is an idea,” he agreed.
“But not until it is cleaned.”

“How come we never see you around anymore?”
Ronnie
asked.

“Night school, study, and sleep,” he said with a grin.
“There are compensations. Life really turns on after dark.”

“My brother Jeff goes to night school,” Ronnie volunteered. “He's still got time to muck around.”

“Yeah, but
my family
expects me to do extra studying to learn Granddad's language.” Drake's smile dimmed a little. “Not to mention all the ins and outs of the family business–but I want to be an engineer.”

“Can't be that much to learn about growing beef cattle,” Katie said.

“You'd be surprised,” Drake said with a sigh.

There was an awkward silence. Drake seemed to have run out of conversation.
Ronnie
nudged Katie and then
Jasmine
.

“We've gotta go,”
Ronnie
said. “Might see you around.”

“I usually drop into the Horseshoe Café for a coffee after night school,” Drake called after them.
His eyes found Ronnie
and lingered there
.
“Round about
eleven
o'clock
. Maybe you drink coffee there some nights?”

Katie, who was the fastest thinker, called back. “Late nights don't matter so much on a Friday night.”

The three girls continued their walk home.

“Mum shouldn't mind if we all go together,” Ronnie said. “I'll ask her Thursday night. That won't leave enough time for her to think up something against it.”

“It's just a local café on Main Street, so she shouldn't say anything,” Jasmine agreed.

Ronnie gave a delicious shiver. “Something to look forward to,” she agreed.

It was his eyes, she decided dreamily. It was the way he kept watching her with that incredible intensity.
He was really someone special. She only had to look at him to become aware of how connected she felt
with him. He must feel the same;
otherwise he wouldn't keep sneaking those looks at her.

 

Ronnie swung her bedroom window open and climbed out. The streetlight that lit her side of the house was out and the darkness was intense and absolute. It was also raining.

She crouched against the house and listened. Everything was very quiet. Just to be on the safe side she had bulked up her duvet with an extra pillow and tucked a doll under the covers, leaving its hair spread out on the pillow. There was no reason for her mother to check that she was sleeping, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

She shivered as she put up the umbrella. The mini skirt and crop top weren't really warm enough, but she and her friends would warm up quickly enough when they arrived at the cafe.

It was
11
o'clock exactly. Some of the houses were in darkness, but others had lights glowing from their windows. She skulked past lighted windows quietly. Not that anyone was going to see her in the heavy rain.

She reached the lane, and hesitated for just a second. The lane looked sinister, much darker and narrower than it looked in broad daylight. She took a deep breath and plunged in, trying to keep to the side of the fences and out of the puddles.

She didn't feel at all guilty about sneaking out after her bedtime to meet her friends. If her mother hadn't been so unreasonable she wouldn't have had to do this. When Ronnie said she was going to the Horseshoe Café because she'd promised her friends, her mother's reaction could only be described as uncool.

“You are not going out at that hour of night, and I don't like the crowd that hangs around that café.”

“Why not?”

“You are not going. End of discussion.”

“All my friends are going.”

“What Katie and Jasmine's mothers let them do is none of my business, but you are not going.”

“Why do you resent me having a social life?”

“
She's got the hots for Drake Demento,” jeered Jeff, her older brother.

“A nerd like you wouldn't know anything,” Ronnie sneered.

“I don't like him or his friends,” Mrs. Campion said. “Your father said he was drinking red wine out of the bottle at the school disco
dance.”

“That was his cousin Brod. He's a real pill. Mr. Purdue took him away for drinking. Drake's okay.”

“He's an unhealthy looking boy.”

“He doesn't get about in daylight because he is at night school and he studies all night and sleeps all day,” Ronnie defended.

“The entire family is weird,” Jeff said. “Their
father
had a go at us for using the short cut across their back yard.”

“Drake is perfectly normal,” Ronnie said. “He wants to be an engineer.”

“Living in a haunted house with bats,” Jamie, her little brother jeered.

“Keep your nose out of this,” Ronnie threatened.

“
Regardless, you are too young to be going to the café at that hour of the night.”

“I'm nearly fourteen.”

“I said no.”

“I hate you! You're so mean.”

“Veronica! Go to your room, immediately.”

Ronnie slammed her door, hard. She breathed hard, and wiped at the moisture in her eyes. Crying was babyish, and she was almost fourteen, and too old to cry. Why didn't her mother recognize that she was practically grown up?

That was when she decided she was going anyway, and it was all her mother's fault. Parents had no right to be so judgmental about her friends.

There was a lighter square ahead of her. She had reached the end of the lane. Two figures holding umbrellas looked up as she walked towards them.

The reason she had defied her mother towered over her two friends.
Ronnie's
stomach clenched, and excitement fizzed through her. They were going to have the most wonderful night.
She was going to find out more about the fascinating Drake. Did he feel the same way
for
her as she felt towards him
?

As Drake had said, life really turns on after dark.

 

The café was crowded. Ronnie felt better by the second. Why!
Lots of boys and girls
near enough to her own age were sitting around the tables drinking coffee. Why was her mother so
old fashioned
about everything? Drake steered them down the back to a table where two other boys sat
with
two large plates of chips.

“Sam and Dan,” Drake introduced. “Meet Ronnie, Katie, and Jasmine.”

“Goodness,” Ronnie said. “Twins! Can your mother tell you apart?”

“Hope not,” Sam said. “We have to cover for each other all the time.”

“Right now, we're both home in bed,” Dan explained.

Ronnie smiled as if they had said something funny, but she didn't think they were funny. Apart from being identical, the twins looked overweight, unfit, and tired, with deep shadows under their eyes. They looked as if they needed their mother around to push them into going to bed earlier and eating correctly.

“I'll get the coffee,” Drake volunteered as he turned back towards the counter.

“Are you at night school with Drake?” Jasmine asked.

“We're supposed to be studying accountancy,” Dan said.

“Except I want to start up my own band,” Sam said.

“And I intend to be an artist,” Dan said.

“And poor Drake wants to be an engineer, not a farmer,” Sam explained. “And he works real hard studying.”

“Parents are the pits,” Katie agreed.

Ronnie sneaked a look back at Drake, and then nudged Katie. Drake juggled the coffees and smiled down at the two girls who had arrived and were standing in front of him. It was Ha
y
ley Bigham and her best friend Jenny Roll. They both wore black, and their eyes were heavily outlined in black, with matching black lipstick and black nails. Still very
G
oth
, Ronnie decided.

Drake seemed to have forgotten how nasty they were at the disco and was laughing at something
Hayley
was saying. Ronnie and Katie exchanged looks and turned back to the twins.

“My brother Jeff Campion is doing a marketing course at the night school, through his work,” Ronnie said. “Do you know him?”

“Big place,” Dan said.

“Met him in the library,” Sam said. “Isn't that him coming in now?”

Ronnie turned around. She felt the blood fade from her face. Her brother was walking through the tables with his coffee and cake in his hand, talking to Will
Smith
, Katie's brother. Then he spotted her and the other two girls!
He pushed toward her, Will following. Ronnie jabbed at Katie, hard.

“Hi, Will. Hi Jeff,” Katie said.

“Does Mum know you're here?” Jeff asked.

“It's Friday night. I should be allowed one late night a week,” Ronnie almost stuttered back.

Jeff shrugged, and then studied Sam and Dan. “Hi Sam. I suppose this is your twin Dan?”

Jeff had an unfriendly look on his face as he stared at the three girls. “Will and I will escort you all home.”

“We'll have to finish our coffees first,” Jasmine said
meekly
.

“Fine,” Jeff said. He and Will took a seat a few tables away from them.

Katie, unusually for her, was very quiet. Ronnie then realized that Katie also didn't have permission to come to the café.

Drake arrived back juggling the three coffees. “What was that all about?” he asked
.

“My brother Jeff and Will are taking us home as soon as we've finished our coffee,” Ronnie said glumly.

“There's always another night,” Jasmine said hopefully.

“Yeah, always another night,” Drake echoed.

“You know
Hayley
and Jenny?” Ronnie asked, curious if he had a crush on
Hayley
. They'd looked like they were getting mighty friendly with one another.

Drake grinned. “They thought I was Brod, so I didn't tell them different.”

Ronnie was relieved. If Drake was developing a crush on someone, the last person she'd want it to be was
Hayley
.

“Look as if they all need a good wash,”
Katie
said, referring to their black makeup and black finger nails.

Ronnie giggled. Drake's grin got broader. Actually she had thought their makeup was cool, but Jasmine was right. It did look more dirty than exotic.

They sipped their coffees slowly. Sam and Dan offered them some
crisps
and when they refused, concentrated on finishing the
crisps
by themselves
.
Drake was talking about how much he enjoyed his classes and how he liked all sorts of
m
ath when suddenly he stopped talking. He looked scared. He was watching something behind them.

Ronnie turned around. An older man was pushing through the crowded café, his eyes fixed on Drake. A black tee shirt strained across his broad shoulders. He was very tall and in the dim light of the café his hair, tied back in a ponytail, gleamed black, and his eyes glittered even blacker. He would have been a good-looking man if his face hadn't been set in such a mask of cold rage.

The noise level of the café dropped. Ronnie's stomach tightened in fear. There was something menacing about this man. She sneaked a look to where her brother and Will sat and felt comforted.

“Drake,” the man's deep voice whispered.

Drake scrambled to his feet. “Father.”

His father looked at Sam and Dan, then carefully studied Katie, Ronnie, and Jasmine, his gaze lingering the longest on Jasmine.

“You know Sam and Dan,” Drake said. “This is Ronnie, Katie and Jasmine
–
friends of mine. Meet my father.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Demento,” the girls chorused.

The man ignored them. “You are behind on your language studies,” he whispered. “And you will be tested at the end of the month. Do you wish to humiliate yourself by failing?”

Ronnie was sure that nasty whisper could be heard all over the café, as the sound level had dropped. In fact, she was sure the temperature had dropped as well. She shivered.

“I was just spending some time with a few friends,” Drake whispered back. “Isn't that permitted?”

It was very odd. He also had the same penetrating whisper that seemed to vibrate right through them.

“You know the rules,” came the whisper back.

His father turned to leave. Drake looked miserable as he stood up. He walked after his father as if he was being towed by an invisible string. The noise level of the café raised to normal.

“What was all that about?” Katie asked the twins.

“Creepy guy,” Sam said.

“Creepy family,” Dan said. “Yet he and the old grandfather made us very welcome when we dropped in for supper one midnight.”

“Some midnight feast though,” Sam remembered. “And they kept on insisting we stuff and stuff, and I was too terrified not to eat. Had indigestion for days afterwards.”

“Pizzas, take away chicken
,
and Chinese and chocolate and cream éclairs. Seem to remember I fell asleep at the table,” Dan said. “Put me off eating for days.”

“Enough food for about ten people, not just two,” Sam remembered.

“I suppose Drake was around to help you eat?” Ronnie asked.

She was curious. Drake's family didn't give the impression of being over friendly. They had yelled at her brother Jeff for taking a short cut, and Drake
seemed nervous about them meeting his family.
The twins must have been very bad mannered to fall asleep over their supper.
Or perhaps they had been drinking?
What was going on?
The two boys looked at each other
blankly.

“Maybe he was at night school,
” Sam or was it Dan said.

“At that hour of night,” the other boy said.

Curio
u
ser and curio
u
ser, Ronnie thought to herself. Why would the twins visit if Drake wasn't around to
visit
?

“Time to leave,” Jeff said as he took Ronnie by the arm and yanked her to her feet.

Will was doing the same to Katie and Jasmine, only more politely.

“Bye twins. Nice to have met you,” Ronnie, Katie, and Jasmine called back as they were towed out of the café.

The rain had stopped, and Jeff and Will walked fast with the girls towards their turnoff.

“You won't tell on me,” Ronnie begged.

“Only if you can be trusted not to do this again,” Jeff warned.

“I'm not doing anything wrong,” Ronnie grumbled.

“Nothing wrong with going to the café for a coffee and a gossip,” Katie argued.

“Don't like the company you're keeping,” Will said.

“The twins? We just met them,” Ronnie said.

They had reached the lane. This was where they separated. Will would walk the extra block to Jasmine's place, before returning to the house back from the corner where he and Katie lived.

“It's the Dementos,” Will explained. “They don't smell right.”

“I don't believe this,” Katie yelled. “What are you, the family dog?”

“Explain to Ronnie, will you?” Will said to Jeff. “Come on. It's time you both were home.”

He turned and walked down the street, still holding Jasmine and Katie's arms.

“Well explain it, then,” Ronnie said, grateful for Jeff's firm arm as they walked down the dark lane.

“The twins are just stupid and
bone lazy
with their silly ideas of music and art
, but we don't like the crowd Demento hangs around with.”

“Why?”

“They all have too much money and no sense, and spend their nights
prowling around
at night clubs
or getting into mischief because they drink too much.”

“What sort of mischief?” Ronnie demanded.

“
Nasty vicious things like assault and vandalising places.”

“I bet Drake doesn't,” Ronnie defended. “He works hard at his studies.” Although where was he at midnight when the twins visited
his place
?

“He must be about eighteen. Do you think he knows that you and your gang are just thirteen?”

“You're such a nerd.”

“If there's a next time I'll tell Mum, and that's a promise.”

“All right! I won't go out to the Horseshoe Café again.”

“That a promise?”

“All right,” Ronnie agreed sulkily.

In the darkness, she crossed her fingers. That didn't mean that she and the others weren't going to keep friendly with Drake, the most interesting boy to ever shift into their district
.
He was just so different from all the local boys.
He was so good-looking with his flashing dark eyes and graceful way of moving
. He was attracted to her,
she
just knew it. His background
sounded just so exotic
she mused
. Fancy having a grandfather who came from a castle
.

“I'm warning you that if there is a next time Mum will hear of it,” Jeff reminded her, annoyed at her long silence.

However, the next week a more important matter took up their time.

Ronnie and Jeff's Golden Labrador, Billie, had gone missing. Katie and Will's German Shepherd, Rex, had gone missing too, as had Jasmine's two Siamese cats Wing and Sing.