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And I still had Fallon on the other end of my phone. My closest friend. My secret.
“I can’t fucking wait until I’m living here with you guys, away from that bitch Christine,” West muttered. “Then I can monitor the cameras full-time. I’ve got an app set up and these alerts—”
“Tell me about it later, alright?” Once West got started on anything to do with computers or security, it was hard to get him to stop. Opening the front door, I placed my helmet on the console table and threw my keys down next to it. Then I headed upstairs to my bedroom, pulling off my leather jacket and gloves as I went.
As always, the darkness in my room calmed me. Cassius joked that it looked like a vampire cave, but it was my sanctuary—or as close as I could get it. My room, my house, away from the cold sterility of my dad’s place. Throwing myself on my bed, I dragged my phone from my pocket and pulled up my text conversation with Fallon. She was under a code name, just in case anyone happened to glance at my phone, although I trusted my housemates not to go through my private shit. I had her listed as “Angel” because the first time I’d seen her, back when we were kids, I’d thought she looked like an angel. She’d been so fucking pretty. I hadn’t ever noticed girls before, but I sure as fuck noticed her.
The bus dropped us off at the end of a long road with huge mansions spread out along the street. “Do people really live in these?” I stared around me, wide-eyed. “Why do they need so much space?” My mum ignored my question, puffing up the road, pulling a shopper loaded with her cleaning supplies.
I stayed rooted to the spot. This town, Alstone, was so different from the built-up area with the high-rise block of flats we lived in. As I watched, a kid around my age rode past me on a shiny blue bike, and the look on his face…it was so open and happy.
Weird. I couldn’t imagine being that carefree. Not where I lived, at least.
“Zayde! Stop dawdling and get over here!” My mum’s voice cut through my thoughts, and I sighed, shifting my backpack on my shoulders and trailing behind her.
We stopped at the gates of a large mock-Tudor mansion, and my mum pressed the buzzer. The gates swung open.
“Mum. I’ll take the shopper.”
She sighed with relief, and I grabbed the handle and followed her up the world’s longest driveway to the front door.
When we were standing on the front step, she squinted at the piece of paper in her hand. “We have to go around the left side of the house and through the side door.”
My attention was caught by the door knocker. It was so shiny I could see my distorted reflection in it.
I jumped when I was cuffed around the ear, spinning my head to see my mum narrowing her eyes at me. “Well, don’t just stand there waiting! Come on.” She huffed loudly, then stomped around the side of the house.
The door was unlocked, and we walked into some kind of cloakroom, then entered the biggest kitchen I’d ever seen, all gleaming white surfaces. Our whole flat was smaller than this.
When we’d come to a stop in the kitchen, the polished floor squeaking underneath my trainers, my mum began unpacking the shopper. “Let’s get started.”
Before we’d arrived, she’d informed me that I’d be helping her clean for half an hour, and then I’d have to do my homework while she did the rest. She wasn’t normally on my back about homework, but I’d been in trouble at school, and if I didn’t get my grades up and change my attitude, I was in danger of being expelled, according to my headmaster.
For the next half an hour, I helped her scrub and polish, and then finally, my time was up. I stretched my aching back before I grabbed my bag and headed over to the breakfast bar to get started. “Don’t make a mess, and don’t touch anything that doesn’t belong to you,” my mum warned me, then left me to it, heading out of the kitchen to clean wherever was next on the list. For a while, I stared at my textbook blankly, my mind wandering, before I bowed my head, getting started on my French homework.
“Hi.”
I looked up with a start, not having realised that someone else had entered the room. My eyes widened as I took in the girl in front of me. Huge blue eyes, long eyelashes, a cloud of pale blonde hair around her face, and soft-looking lips. She looked like an angel or something.
“H-hi,” I stuttered, my heart racing. Tilting her head as she stared at me curiously, she gave me a sweet smile. My heart raced even faster as she stepped closer to me.
“What’s your name? How old are you? What are you doing? Do you want a drink? Are you here with the cleaner?” She asked the questions all in one go, the words tumbling over each other, and I found my lips stretching into a smile.
“I’m Zayde.” I cleared my throat. “Uh, I’m ten. I’m, um, doing my homework, and a drink would be nice. And the cleaner is my mum.”
“Zayde.” She gave me a wide smile, showing me her perfectly white teeth. “Cool name. I’m nine, but my brother’s the same age as you.” Padding over to the cupboard, she lifted up onto her tiptoes and carefully took out two glasses.
I couldn’t look away from her. I’d never seen anyone like her before in my life. She was beautiful.
“What’s your name?” My voice sounded loud in the quiet kitchen.
Her eyes met mine, and she gave me another smile.
“I’m Fallon.”
A slice of bright light hit the side of my face, interrupting my thoughts, and I turned to see Cassius in the doorway.
“I knew you’d be brooding in your cave.” He grinned, stepping into my bedroom.
