Chapter Three
“Can I play now?” Toby’s whiny voice echoed through the almost empty house, “Please! You and Jamie have been playing all day!”
“Stop exaggerating, Tobes. We’ve only been home for 45 minutes, you dodo.”
“Don’t call me that.” He gave Jamie his puppy dog look, the one where his lower lip covered the top one and his big green eyes looked about ten times bigger than they usually did, like the hamster in Bedtime Stories, and then tilted his head slightly down and looked directly into Jamie’s eyes and tried to look like he was about to cry. It was a very good try, and it was certainly a lot better than it’s ever been. Eilean almost fell for it herself, but then Jamie said something and she came back to my senses. “Well, we could him have just the smallest of goes...” He turned to her as he was saying this. She knew what he meant; she was to play along with it. It would be unfair on Toby to leave him out of something. They would come back to the computer after he’d gone to do his homework, even though he only got a very small amount, it would give them enough time to do something.
“No! My best friend has been turned against me! By my own brother! He’s been zombified! Okay, okay. You take control! Play the game..... But don’t blame me if the tickle monster comes out of the computer and eats you all up! Mwahaha! That was the good thing about Eilean; she knew how to turn absolutely anything into a joke.
After explaining to Toby how to use the controls, Jamie and Eilean made their way into the garden. They sat on the grass for a bit, just looking up at the clouds. It was a damp day and the dewdrops from the morning before were still lingering between the blades of tall, green, thick grass. “That one looks like a syringe,” said Jamie, “You know, one of those things the doctor injects you with.”
“Oh, Jamie, please don’t remind me about syringes... We had the ‘anti-breast cancer’ jabs at school last week, and they hurt like hell.” They looked up at the bright blue sky again. Strangely, there were no clouds at all. What on earth was going on?
Eilean looked at Jamie, lying on the grass. I cannot believe it... The only boy I can talk to without getting mocked, and it has to be HIM....Of all the people it could’ve been.... It had to be him....she tried to conceal her feelings, but her eyes were starting to glisten. She’d never tell him anything to his face, though. They’d been friends for years, since they were three in fact, and it had only been last week when she started to think of him as more than a friend. She shook herself to wake her from her daydream. When she saw the sky again, the clouds that appeared to have come out of nowhere blocked out the sunlight that she’d been enjoying so much out on the school playground, earlier on in the day. “That one looks like a pizza.”
“No. Jamie, you idiot, it looks like a pizza that someone has taken a great big bite from, right up there from the top hand corner.” She was right, of course. (She usually was) The top part of the ‘pizza’ wasn’t there. “That reminds me. Did you know that my mum and your dad are going to Chester’s Pizzeria? I’m so jealous! I’ve never been. Dad never liked the place, well he never really liked any Italian food at all. Mum said we should avoid going there as a respect to dad. I don’t see her keeping her respect for dad! The cheek! I’m trying to persuade her to let me have my thirteenth birthday party there. Mum says it’s really expensive but it looks absolutely amazing and....”
“It’s not,”
“What do you mean it’s not?”
“Be patient, let me explain.”
“Okay. Sorry, Jamie”
“So, where was I? Oh yes... I went there once, about a year ago. The night of the fatal accident. So, we sat down and ordered. Everything was fine. Absolutely normal. Until we were ordering pudding. Before the blonde waitress who was serving us was called Charlotte, or at least that’s what it said on the name tag. She was very polite and she always asked me what I wanted to eat, not like some of those waitresses that think they’re too good for you and only asks your mum or dad what you want as if you aren’t even there. So, she was all perfect, then it was time to order pudding and she walked past me without taking the slightest acknowledgment to my existence. ‘And what does your son want, then? Mum ordered for me, and as she was walking away, she misplaced her footing and the tray she was carrying fell out of her hands. I leant over to try and catch it and caught it just in time. She reached the tray a second after me. If it weren’t for my fast thinking she’d have probably lost a week’s worth of wages to replace all the broken cutlery and plates. She gave mum a quick, nervous smile and all she said was that was lucky! That could’ve been disastrous! Good that I used to play Baseball with my brothers, bake in the States! I mean, how could she? She didn’t even thank me!”
“That’s strange”
“I know, right”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Jamie, you know you said this blonde haired-waitress was called Charlotte,”
“Yeah,”
“Well, what else did she look like? I mean, apart from the hair?”
“Hmm.... Let me see, well she had: a few freckles running across her nose; very red lips, I think she was wearing far too much lipstick, they were that red looking and she had bright,”
“Green eyes.” Eilean finished off. Jamie and Eilean looked deep into each other’s eyes and they knew that something was up. “Eilean, how do you know all this?”
“Well,” she started shakingly, “I was walking past the window on my way to the supermarket to run an errand for mum, and I was looking into the pizza shop window. There was a lady washing the windows from the inside. I saw her name tag said Charlotte on it and when I looked up at her face, I heard he say My God, the freak is looking at me.”
“Well that was mean. But how is that stra...” He didn’t get to finish what he was saying before Eilean butted in. He was left hanging.
“I haven’t finished yet. The strange thing was,I could hear her talking, but her lips weren’t moving.”
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A.G
