Love Behind Lies (3 page)

Chapter 4

After my weird encounter that night I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened. I had finished the short walk home as fast as I could. I couldn’t wait to tell William what had just happened.
As soon as my hand touched the door, my mom opened it up. She looked worried.
“Oh my gosh! Catherine Grace! Where have you been?”
“I was taking a walk.” I said calmly, even though I was shocked by her outburst. “I’m sorry. I thought I told you,” It wasn’t a complete lie. I was on a walk, but I didn’t tell her where I was or what I was doing.
“You had me worried sick. I can’t believe you did that!”
“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. At least not without telling you!”
“I’d hope so. I am not letting you leave the house anymore!”
“What? I have places to go, friends to see. You can’t do that!”
“Fine. You can’t leave the house unless William goes with you.” I was easy to change my mom’s opinions on things like this. She is too sweet not to.
I smiled remembering that Brent gave me permission to tell William everything about what happened. So I was glad that mom gave me this punishment. Mom saw me smiling, so I stopped.
“Ok. Well can I go upstairs now?”
“Yes, and tell William that he has to make sure that you don’t leave the house without him. Other wise you are both grounded.”
I left the room and basically ran up the stairs. I couldn’t wait to tell William everything. I didn’t even hesitate when I came to his door.
I knocked and went in. He was doing some homework it looked like.
“Hey,” I said
“Oh hey, where have you been. Mom was freaking out. I couldn’t believe you left without telling her. I was about to—.” He said.
I cut him off. “Yeah I know. And now she won’t let me leave the house without you.”
“What? I am your punishment?” William was standing now.
“Yeah. But I am glad,” I said.
“Why? Are you ok? Why would you --.”
“I would like to tell you where I was and what I was doing, but you won’t stop asking questions.”
“Ok. I’m sorry. I don’t like it when my little sis is missing. I’m ready. You can tell me.”
So I went on and told him everything about what happened and what Brent said. I also told him about the encounter that I had with Loren and his friends. William couldn’t believe it. He thought it was weird that the same day that Margaret and I ran into Loren and his friends, was the same day that these boys came to me.
He was glad that I told him everything and he would be glad to come with me whenever I needed to. I did make him swear not to tell mom or dad or anyone. He promised. I left his room.
I passed Thomas’s room and hesitated. I told him that I would talk to him later. I knocked on his
door.
Thomas opened the door slowly and peeked around it. “Hey,” He said. Opening the door wide enough to let me come inside. Thomas’s room was a mess. I could barely see the floor. All of his drawers were open and there were clothes all over the place. “Sorry, about the room.” Thomas must have noticed me gaping as I looked around the room.
“No, it’s okay.” I said walking further into the room.
“You going to tell me what’s going on?” Thomas asked.
I took a deep breath. “Look, Thomas, I can’t tell you. I could only tell one person and that person had to be William. Since I left, Mom won’t let me leave the house without him, so it only made sense for him to be the one to know.” I looked up at Thomas.
“So why did you come here then?” Thomas asked.
“I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t think that I was blowing you off. I told you that I would talk to you later. So I am talking to you. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. I understand.” Thomas looked disappointed.
I walked over to him and gave him a big hug. He wasn’t expecting it. I usually didn’t give my brothers hugs. I just felt bad for Thomas.
“Promise me one thing,” Thomas asked, pulling away from the hug.
“Yes?” I asked.
“If things start to get out of control will you tell me?”
“Yes, if it ever comes to that.” I turned away from Thomas and left the room. I headed towards my room. I was so tired. When I got to my room I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep.

Chapter 5

Friday morning was normal. I woke up got ready for school, ate breakfast, and left the house with all my siblings. It was about 11:00am when I realized that I had forgotten to call Brent this morning. Should I call him during the day or just wait until tonight? I decided to call him during free period. William had said that it was okay to take the job. But, he also said that if I ever feel like it was a trap , to back out and leave the boys alone. The only reason that we were even considering was the fact that my dad’s life was on the line. William didn’t want my dad to die either.
I was walking down the hall to the bathroom so that I could use my phone. It was weird because there was no one in the hallway. Usually there were a lot of people walking around trying to ditch classes.
I kept walking down the hall and came to the bathroom. I walked in and called Brent’s number. The phone only rang once.
“Hey, I thought you would never call! Aren’t you in school right now,” Brent seemed happy to hear my voice.
“Yeah, I forgot to call you this morning and remembered that I needed to call you when my friends were talking about Steven Brent.” I laughed at my stupid story. “And yeah, I am in a free period,” I said.
“Oh, so what were you going to tell me about?”
“Ok. So after I was scolded by my mom for going on a walk without telling her, I went up to my brother’s room and told him everything. My punishment for leaving the house is that I can’t leave the house without William, my brother. So I thought that everything worked out perfectly since you told me that I could tell William and that he could come with me to the meetings and stuff.”
“Yeah, everything works out great. So what is your final answer?”
“Yeah, I think that I can do it. Although I don’t know if William will let me come with you to places without him. So that I am kind of worried about, but this whole thing kind of seems like a scam. I mean it was just really random and everything.”
Brent sighed heavily and it sounded like he was going to tell me that I was right but he just let it go.
“Ok. So how about tonight at 9:00pm, you and William can meet us. We will be at the same street, by that light pole, and we can just talk. Although, make him promise that we can be alone with no one listening at one point during the meeting.”
“Ok,” I said not knowing what that meant.
I walked out of the bathroom and ran into someone.
“Oh, sorry,” I said, not looking up to see who it was.
“Hey, it’s no problem. You okay?” I looked up and saw Sam Knight. At first I was shocked to see him standing there. Then I realized how hot he looks when you are standing right next to him. I stared at him for a moment before snapping out of it. I guess I was just in shock.
“Oh, my gosh! I am so sorry that I ran into you. I won’t do it again. I promise.” I tried to walk away. I didn’t want Sam to beat me up or something.
“Don’t worry about it.” Sam said, calmly. He grabbed my arm so that I wouldn’t leave.
“What?” I asked in disbelief.
“I don’t care that you ran into me.” Sam repeated. I think that my heart was racing.
“Oh, okay.” I said.
“Where are you headed to?” He asked.
“Back to free period.” I replied.
“Oh, okay. Well I will see you later.” Sam said, and then laughed. I think that he knew something I didn’t know.
I gave him a questioning look, but just smiled back. “Don’t worry ‘bout it.” He said. Then turned and walked away. It was like he was reading my mind.
I was confused by the whole thing. I’ve never talked to Sam before, and now I am talking to him on a daily basis. And what did he mean, by “I’ll see you later”?
After my encounter with Sam, again, the day finished really slow. I guess that meant that I was a little excited for tonight, and worried about what Sam meant. I didn’t know what to expect. William could go all weird on me and try to protect me or he could just let everything slide. I had no idea what William would think about the whole thing. He seemed ok about it when I told him the whole story. The other thing that I was worried about was what Brent wanted to do. Alone. William would never let that happen. I was so worried.
I was thinking about this as I walked home, with Oscar and Thomas. They didn’t really have much to talk about usually, but today was different. Thomas and one of his friends were talking a few steps behind Oscar and me. Oscar had been talking to me the whole time about our really easy History test. Usually Oscar blows off the test as soon as it is over. Now, he couldn’t stop talking about it. He finally seemed like he was about to stop talking when he started talking really quietly.
“So, what really happened last night,” he whispered so soft that I could barely hear.
“Oh, nothing,” I lied
“You sure, because you like ran home as soon as you saw our house. You walked right in and then ran to William’s room.”
“Oh. So you were watching me.”
“Yeah, sort of. I wanted to see what you were up to.”
“Like I said, it was nothing.”
“Then why did you run right into William’s room. You never do that unless you really need help.”
“I just had a few questions for him.” Oscar knew I was lying. I could tell by the way he was looking at me. Like he was trying to scan my brain for information or something. Then, suddenly Thomas screamed. Thank God that conversation was over.
“What the hell,” Oscar and I said at the same time. I guess, that’s what happens when you have a twin.
“Oh, sorry. I just knew that Kate here needed to be done talking with you.” Thomas pointed at Oscar like he did something wrong.
“What?” Oscar and I asked at the same time, again.
“Never mind.”
I looked at Thomas. I smiled at him as a way of thanking him. He smiled back. Sometimes my brothers were alright. I was surprised that Thomas did something though. Last night he seemed really mad at me for not telling him. I thought that maybe he would take it out on me, but I guess not. He was still going to stick up for me. Maybe it was because he actually cared about me. Maybe it was because I promised him that if I ever need him, I would talk to him. Either way, I am glad that he is still on my side.
I was thinking this through when my mom interrupted.
“Katie? You ok?” She asked.
“Yeah. I was just thinking about something.” I replied.
“Kate, you just ran into me,” Oscar said.
“What?” I asked, still a little bit out of it.
“You just ran into me,” Oscar said again.
“Oh, sorry,” I said and walked up to my room.

Chapter 6

It wasn’t until Margaret knocked on my door that I remembered about what Nick, Nate, Sam, and Loren had told Margaret the day before. I felt so bad about forgetting.
“Hey,” I said. Letting Margaret know that she could come into my room.
“Hey,” she replied.
“How was your day?”
“It actually wasn’t that bad. The boys stopped me in the hallway and asked me why I left and I told them that I had to go to dinner. They seemed to believe me because they left me alone for the rest of the school day.”
“Well that’s good then.”
“Not exactly.”
“Why? What happened?”
“They came up to me at the end of the day and they told me that they were still mad at me for leaving them. I ignored them and left, but the whole way home I felt like I was being watched. It was really creepy and I think that they followed me home.”
“Yeah, that is kind of creepy. I am going on a walk tonight with William so, we will check everything out and make sure that everything is ok.”
“Ok. Thanks. Did you tell William about yesterday?”
“Yeah, he knew the bullies, but not very well. Otherwise he had nothing else to say, really.”
“Ok. Thanks again. I’ll see you later.”
“Ok. Bye.”
I didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened between Sam and I the last two days. I guess it didn’t seem as important.
When Margaret opened the door she jumped because William was standing right outside the door. I guess my room will be very busy for a while. Margaret gave William a questioning look and then left the room.
When William came in and shut the door, he looked angry.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you about Brent and everything,” he replied without sounding angry at all.
“Oh. Ok, then. Ask away.”
“So did you call them back this morning?”
“Yeah, I told them that I would do the job. We are meeting them at the same street at 9:00pm. Brent wants to talk to you but he is making you promise that Brent and I can be alone to talk for a little bit.”
“Yeah that’s fine. Wait, What?”
“I don’t know. I think that Brent likes me or something. He kept talking about how partners need to know each other pretty well before they can work together.”
“He must like you, then. Well I’m not going to let him hurt you, but you can be alone with him.
Only for a little while though.”
“Ok. Thanks. Anyways, on our way home we need to check all around the house.”
“Why?” William sounded a little nervous.
“Margaret, thinks that she got followed home by those four boys.”
“Ok. That’s bad. I think that we should tell an adult.”
“NO!”
“Why?”
“Ok. Well let’s just figure out some more information and then we can turn it over to the police, if that’s what it comes to.”
“Fine.”
Then there was a knock at my door. I groaned because I knew it would be Thomas or Oscar or both.
“Come in,” I said.
“Hi,” Thomas and Oscar said.
“Hi. Do you need something.”
“Yeah we wanted to talk to you about the walk home.” Oscar said. Thomas just rolled his eyes. I could tell that Thomas didn’t want to talk about it, especially with Oscar in the room.
I looked at William. I hadn’t told him about what happened, because it wasn’t that big of a deal. He looked at me and looked confused.
“Fine. Sit down,” I said
They did as they were told. This felt so weird because I had all the boys in my room.
“What is going on?” William finally said.
“Katie didn’t tell you?” Oscar asked.
“Tell me about what?”
“What happened on the way home? She is hiding something from us. She won’t tell us where she was last night and we want to know why.”
“Ok. Just tell me what happened,” William demanded.
“Ok. So Thomas was walking behind Kate and me because he was talking to his friend. I was talking to Kate about our test today and--,” Oscar said, getting cut off.
“Wait. You were talking to Katie about a test you took today,” William asked. Oscar was only shocked for a few seconds and then finished the story, finally. Thomas and I laughed.
“So what is really going on, Kate?” Oscar asked.
“Nothing is going on. She is fine,” William cut in.
“Wait you know something about this,” Oscar asked.
“Yeah, I do. Just leave her alone. I’m taking care of her. You ask her about it one more time I will kill both of you,” William said jokingly.
“Why can’t you just tell us?” Oscar asked.
“William is right. Let’s just leave her alone, like I told you.” Thomas said.
“She was told to only tell one person and that person was me, so like I said, leave her alone,” William said, sounding angry.
“Fine,” Oscar said. Then Oscar and Thomas got up and left the room. Now, just William and I were in the room.
“What was that?” I asked
“We can’t tell them anything and they are never going to listen to you. They needed to hear it from me,” William said.
“Well, what if they tell mom and I get caught anyways?”
“I will go tell them not to tell anyone about this conversation.”
“So, they want us at that corner at 9:00pm. We should leave at about 8:50pm and then we can check the house on our way back home.”
“Ok. Well I should probably get out of your room. I think that dinner is going to be ready soon too.”
“Ok. Bye,” I said.
“Bye,” William said and left the room.
Five minutes later dinner was ready and I left my room and went downstairs. There was something going on. Something didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t figure it out. As we sat down at the table, everyone was quiet. I looked at William, but he just shrugged. Maybe he felt like there was something wrong too.