I stared down at him as he lay sprawled on the grass. Well, that felt good. I hope all his bones were broken.

Seconds passed, into a minute and he still lay on the grass. I started to panic. What if he was dead? I killed him! Oh my God! I am a murderer. I can’t get caught. I would find a way to dispose his body and run off to some country in Africa, where no one would find me. I would start my life afresh, living in a little hut and rear lions. I would live with the guilt of killing someone even when my teeth are falling and my stature begins to abate.

All of these ran through my head as I ran to the door, down the stairs, through the backyard and into the next compound. He was still there in the same position, his hair, scattered on the grass and covering half of his handsome face. Poor guy’s handsomeness just went to waste. I killed him.

I knelt down beside him, trying to shake him awake. Up close, his face looked so soft and smooth. I moved to hear his heartbeat, placing my ear against his chest. His heart is beating. I started to shake him by his shoulders. I had no experience with first aid treatment. I picked up his hands to feel his pulse and then he opened his eyes slowly and peered at me through his long lashes. He sat upright, pushing my hands off him. He had been pretending to be unconscious. “Trying to feel me up, aren’t you?” He questioned, smirking.

I let out a long sigh and put my head in my hands. I thought I had killed someone. “What the hell? You’re crying now?” I raised my head and frowned at him. Hearing the front door open, he got up, running to the back of the house without sparing me a second glance. He is so selfish.

I got up quickly and followed him much to his discomfort. We stood behind the house, quiet, waiting to hear any sound of footsteps. I was here because I didn’t want any other person find out that I skipped school but I didn’t know why he was here. Oh, he was leaving his house by using a ladder from his room. He was hiding from someone, probably his mom.

A minute passed and then we heard the sound of shoes scuffing against the grass. “Fuck, the ladder!” Jamie whispered beside me to himself.

“Dear God,” We heard Nicole’s voice which came barely above a whisper. She’d definitely seen the ladder her son used in executing his plan of an escape. Escape from what? I had no idea.

She started to move closer to where we stood, making us move backwards, and turning around the corner to the other side of the house. We kept moving as her movements became louder. Just when I thought we were about to get caught, there was a loud ring. She stopped moving because we could no longer hear the sound of feet on grass.

“I was talking to you about it but the line went off.” She’d received the call. She paused and continued. “Jamie is not a kid anymore. Talk to him. He’ll listen to you.”

“I can’t send him to London.” Pause

“Yeah, he’s got into a lot of trouble since we moved here recently but…” I head her sigh and sensed he’d stilled his breath when his name was mentioned. He stiffened beside me and balled his hands into him. This is awkward. Very awkward. What the hell am I doing here? As I turned to look at him, he glared at me. I chose to ignore him because I could have done worse if I was in this situation.

“He’s going to change. Community service starts on Monday.” Pause.

“Listen, Will. Just this once.” We heard her say, the pleading tone evident in her voice. She didn’t say anything else for a minute and then we heard her walk back into the house, the way she came from.

When I heard the front door close, I cleared my throat and started to walk off.

“It’s hot today. Want to go for ice cream?” I stopped in my tracks and looked back at him, shocked. |”No, thanks. I’ll pass” No way!

“I could always find other ways to kill you.” He said, walking past me, a smirk finding its way to his lips. “What do you mean?” I asked, trying to catch up with him.

“I wanted to poison your ice cream so you could die from witnessing that but you aren’t co-operating. There are definitely other ways to kill you.” He walked off as I stood still, wondering what creature from hell he was.

** ** **

I pulled out a black off-the-shoulder shirt dress from my closet. Many thoughts had crossed my mind about how I could get out of this dinner with my dad and Miranda. I thought I was ready for it when I agreed to it on Wednesday when dad told me about it but now, I was beginning to chicken out. He’d told me that Miranda had a daughter and that’s my biggest reason for thinking of ways to get out of it now.

Dad got back from work about three hours ago in order to get ready for the dinner. He had already made reservations at a mid-scale restaurant downtown about twenty minutes’ drive from here.

I moved to draw my curtains apart. I hadn’t seen Jamie get back from where he went, which was a good thing.

I heard a walk on my door and I walked up to it in my fluffy slippers and bathrobe.

“Darling, what do you think? Does this tie suit me?” My dad asked as he stood in the doorway. I smiled as I looked at him, guild creeping up at me. He had put so much effort into this outfit and he was looking so nervous, obviously wishing that everything would go well tonight. I felt even guiltier when I remembered my thought this evening of telling him about the picture, fully knowing that it could dampen his mood.

I moved closer to him and fastened my hands around his waist, giving him a hug. He wrapped his hands around my shoulders too.

“Is there anything you have to say to me?” I heard him say above my head. “I have a lot to say to you.” I laughed. “But I really needed this hug.” I concluded as he stroked my hair and let me go. That hug was overdue anyway and I needed to get it out of my system.

“You look amazing, Dad. It’ll go well.” I reassured him. He smiled widely at me and headed downstairs. “Get dressed Annie, we don’t have all day.” So much for thinking he was nervous.

“Well, well, well.” I turned to see Jamie leaning against his open window. He’d seen the exchange that went on with my dad. I glared at him. At least, now we were even and he could stop plotting ways to kill me. “Who would’ve known?” He smiled cheekily, showing off his stupid dimples. I knew where he was going with this.

“You’re going down this bad girl road pretty fast.”