Secrets, Deals and Lies

Chapter 20 - Home

‘Okay guys, Remy and I have made a deal,’ he looks around; all of them interested.

‘She swears not to run or try to get away…’ Tony rolls his eyes as well as Zach, ‘…but, there will be no picking up,’ he says looking at them all, ‘no compelling,’ he looks at Zach, ‘no holding-’

‘-And no telling me what to do,’ I say finally cutting him off, it wasn’t really part of the deal but I just had to add it.

‘Yeah, uh, that too,’ he looks down a bit, I look at them all shrug and roll their eyes, and with that we were walking again.

I ended up walking in the middle of them all like it was some sort of circle, neither of them trusted me but Daniel looked as if he couldn’t care less; just wandering in front like we weren’t even there, like he was the only one in the forest.

I loved that about him. I thought to myself, I smile then realised I was staring at him; I look away and see Billy looking at me from my right. We watch each other for a moment and then I look away, looking at anything in front but Daniel.

After a while Daniel slows down and waits for me to catch up, so we were walking next to each other.

‘We’re nearly there Remy,’ he grins.

‘Oh, yay!’ I say sarcastically, dread and anger in my voice.

‘Aw, Remy, don’t look too happy,’ he jokes smiling, ‘oh, and try not to run away again aye? Nick refused to do any work unless he knew you were ok.’

I hold his comforting gaze, ‘wow! Are you serious? My Dad actually cares about me,’ I touch my heart theatrically, Daniel laughing. ‘You should be an actress,’ he winks smiling, I laugh and push him away friendly.

After watching Daniel and I, Billy stalks off somewhere in front of us a deep scowl on his face; I cough, embarrassed, and move away from Daniel. A few minutes later Billy calls Daniel to come, and they both walk off. ‘We’re here,’ I hear him say, and when I caught up to them there it was, the house I never wanted to come back to but knew I would in the end.

We went inside and the first person I saw was The Warden greeting me with the usual hard glare but face impassable. When Billy walked in he looked at The Warden nodded and stalked off to the back of the house as if he were a nobody.

I stopped and looked inside my house for a moment, it felt so distant yet close and I couldn’t help but sigh to myself sadly.

Nick wasn't there, of course, so I followed Billy to the back totally ignoring The Warden. Since he was pretty much gonna live with me now I might as well try to be nice.

I sit down next to him on the porch, ‘so, I heard The Warden’s your dad.’ I start; he looks at me thoughtfully but kind of confused to why I was all of a sudden talking to him again. ‘Yeah, unfortunately,’ he sighs, looking away from my gaze.

‘Well, that’s something we have in common,’ I say with a smile. ‘Yeah, that too,’ he smiles and looks at me for a while.

‘So um, how long are you gonna stay?’ I ask looking away. ‘I don’t even think I’m staying for very long, I'm most likely gonna get kicked out by tomorrow morning,’ he says anger and grief in his voice.

I look at him again. ‘You can't be serious, I mean don’t get me wrong you’re not exactly my best friend but even I wouldn’t kick you out… yet.’

He smiles at me warmly, thinking, ‘hmm, you like deals right?’ I look at him a bit interested, ‘yeah?’ I say with an eye brow up.

‘Well, since you like deals, and I like deals how ‘bout we make one?’ his smile breaks into a grin.