“Just leave it on, it’s cold on the bike and I’m still sweating anyway,” he stated.

I gulped, my eyes flicking to chest as I mentally screamed at myself to not think about him shirtless again. I had no idea what had come over me earlier, but I still felt the residual ebb of it now, flitting through my bloodstream. I definitely needed help from a professional. “Yeah, the Spider-Man stuff looked exhausting,” I replied, pulling the sweater down again before taking the offered helmet.

He grinned, gripping my hand tightly, holding me steady as I climbed on behind him, looping my arms around his waist. I tried extremely hard not to spread my fingers wide across his stomach in a bid to cop a sly feel of his muscles, but I just didn’t have control of my stupid hand. I palmed his stomach with both hands, my fingers stretching out in what I hoped passed as an innocent move. I could feel the heat of his skin through the thin T-shirt he was wearing; I gulped and pressed myself to him tighter. His shoulders stiffened as he moved his head, seeming like he was going to look over his shoulder at me, before deciding better of it. Suddenly he stood up; kick started the bike, and then sat back down again. I smiled and pressed my helmeted head against his shoulder, closing my eyes, clinging to him as he twisted the throttle, making us burst from the parking lot in a puff of black smoke.

I was still on a high from what I’d just witnessed, so the bike ride was just the cherry on the top of the already very frosted cake. By the time we pulled up outside my house I was almost giddy with glee. I slid off the bike, grinning like an idiot as I looked up at him. He smiled as his hands went to the strap under my chin. I tilted my head as he fumbled, unclasping it before pulling it off and hanging it over his handlebars.

“Come on then, let’s get inside and you can make me food, I’m starving,” he instructed, motioning for me to walk.

“Maybe you should cook, you’re the master chef after all,” I replied as I fumbled in my pocket for my keys.

He laughed, following me up the path to the front door. “Your mom can cook then, that pasta was awesome. I assume I’m invited to dinner again…” he trailed off, looking at me hopefully.

I laughed and dug in my other pocket, searching out my keys but I couldn’t find them so I swung my bag off of my shoulder, crouching down and rummaging in there instead. “My parents are going out straight from work tonight,” I informed him. “Either you cook, or I reheat you something that’s left over, your choice,” I offered, frowning into my bag. Where the heck are my stupid keys? Did I pick them up this morning?

Zach sighed, leaning against the door and crossing his arms over his chest. “Neither will be happening if we can’t get in,” he mocked. “Where’s Alex, can’t you just knock?”

I shook my head. “He’ll be out with friends, drinking before whatever party he’s attending tonight.”

Zach pursed his lips, watching me curiously. “Want me to smash a window?” he joked. At least I hoped it was a joke.

I huffed and stood back up, shaking my head. “Nah, there’s a spare key around back.” I headed off with him following me close behind. Using the wall at the side, I leant up and unbolted the back gate, letting us into the back yard before stepping into the shrubbery and searching out the third rock from the left, lifting it to find the spare backdoor key that we hid under there for emergencies.

Zach made a scoffing noise in his throat. “Oh yeah, that’s so very safe,” he muttered sarcastically, shaking his head in disapproval.

I slapped his stomach with the back of my hand as I walked past to the door with my newly acquired key. “Stop complaining, you sound like a grouchy old man,” I scolded, sticking out my tongue at him.

Before I knew what had happened I was knocked off of my feet, the world turned upside down and I now faced the floor. “What the hell?” I screeched, giggling at the same time as he tightened his grip on my legs, pinning me over his shoulder, laughing wickedly.

“Shut up and open the door, we’re wasting valuable eating time, and I’m starting to digest my own stomach here. In five minutes all that’ll be left of me will be a pile of skin and bones,” he stated, turning his body so that I now faced the door.

“Wasting valuable studying time you mean,” I corrected, still giggling hysterically. Awkwardly I slipped the key into the lock, pressing my hand on the small of his back so I could steady myself. I’d never appreciated just how hard it was to unlock a door until I was trapped in a fireman’s lift by a hot freerunner.

“Study comes after food.” Even in the delicate position I was in, I could somehow tell he was smiling just by the warm tone of his voice.

Chapter 15

It seemed that nothing in my life was going to go right at the moment. The whole house had been woken by the phone ringing at just after three in the morning. It transpired that my mom’s dad had been taken into hospital with suspected pneumonia. He’d been battling a cough last time he came down to visit us for mine and Alex’s birthday. My parents had instantly packed a bag and headed there for a couple of days to help my nanna out. Though Alex and I both asked to go with them, they refused because we had school and insisted that they would only be gone a couple of days. I hadn’t really gone back to sleep after my nanna had phoned, so by the time morning came around my eyes were stinging with tiredness.

What made it worse was that I didn’t know what to do with myself all day. Usually my weekends were filled by Luke, Luke, and more Luke. But this weekend I would have to amuse myself for a change. I wallowed all morning, sitting around, watching TV, and picking at junk food just to have something to distract myself from the fact that I missed Luke so much it was actually painful.

When I could stand the boredom no longer, I decided to go for a nice long walk. I pulled on a pair of boots and one of Luke’s hooded sweatshirts, grabbed a tennis ball, and then Chester and I headed off for a stroll in the field near my house.

By the time I got home I was exhausted and covered in mud but at least I had killed an hour and a half from my weekend. Just as I raised my key to the lock to open the door, it sprang open and Alex almost walked into me as he was about to step out. He had a gym bag slung over his shoulder so I didn’t bother asking where he was going.

“Jeez, Maisie, you scared me,” he scolded, shaking his head in disapproval. “Were you waiting outside the door until I came along, just so you could frighten the shit out of me?”

I nodded, rolling my eyes. “Of course I was. Scaring you is the highlight of my day.”

“Whatever.” He smiled before stepping to the side and waving me into the house. “Moving on to more pleasant matters, I’m going to Katherine’s after I’ve been to the gym so don’t wait up for me.” His voice was almost bragging as he strutted up the driveway and unlocked his car. “Oh, and you got a FedEx delivery while you were out. I put it in your room,” he called, before climbing in and starting the engine a second later.

I glanced sceptically over my shoulder, wondering who had sent it and what it was. It was probably a belated gift for my birthday from my surrogate aunt Rachel, my mom’s best friend; her and her husband Tom were always late with the gifts. “Okay, see ya,” I called, watching as Alex pulled out of the drive. Once I was alone I headed to the kitchen, grabbing a soda and a packet of chips, before trudging up to my room. A rectangular white FedEx box sat on my bed, about the side of a shoe box. I frowned, but decided to go for a shower and change clothes first because of I was covered in mud and grass.

After a refreshing shower, I pulled my wet hair up into a ponytail and slipped on some fresh sweatpants and a tank top. I sat next to the box and picked it up curiously. There was no return label on it. It was light in weight, and something rolled inside as I moved it and set it on my lap, grabbed the tab and tore it open.

As I opened it and lifted the lid I recoiled at the contents. Inside was a stuffed brown bear, but someone had hacked off its head so that the white fluffy stuffing was all over the bottom of the box. The head rolled around as I jerked in shock. The disembodied object rolled over to me and I cringed when I saw that the eyes were missing so more stuffing leaked out of the holes making it look menacing. “What the hell?” I hissed, dropping the box on my bed, not wanting to touch it anymore. I could see two other objects in the box too, a white lily that was withered, the petals were crinkled and browning at the edges. The other item in there I wasn’t even sure I wanted to see. It was a red envelope with the letter M written on it in big black pen.

I gulped. My heart was starting to beat too fast in my chest as my fingers hesitantly reached out for it. Being careful not to touch any of the stuffing that lined the inside of the box, I picked up the note. I slowly lifted the flap on the envelope and pulled out the folded up sheet of red paper. I winced because there was that old fashioned typewriter writing again inside it again. Different words this time though:

You’re next

My eyes flicked back to the box again, seeing the mutilated bear. Next? What the heck does that mean? My eyes widened as my hand flew up to cover my mouth as the penny dropped. Before I knew what I was doing I was on my feet and across the other side of the room as my pulse quickened and fear gripped my stomach. You’re next…

Whoever had sent this knew where I lived. My mouth went dry as my chest tightened. I suddenly became aware of every single sound outside my window as my imagination started to run away with me. The creak of branches of the old tree in our front yard made me jump a mile into the air. Why would someone start this hate campaign against me? Why would someone send me this? Did someone seriously want to hurt me? First my locker, then notebook, then the flowers, and the note with the petal that was pushed into my locker, and now they were sending me a decapitated stuffed bear? The only person I could think of was Sandy, but she wasn’t this unhinged, surely. And if it wasn’t her, then who did send it? I had no idea.

Suddenly the door to my room creaked open and I literally screamed like a three year old girl, clutching above my heart as my eyes widened in horror, expecting to see some knife wielding maniac come to pull my eyes out. You’re next… The words of the old fashioned typed writing swam before my eyes as I just stood there, frozen against the wall, easy pickens for whatever psycho wanted to hurt me.

But it wasn’t a psycho that strutted into my room. Chester, my dog, froze when I screamed, looking up at me with wide eyes as he stepped through the door. I blew out a big breath, not even realising that I was holding it in. I closed my eyes as he came over, licking my clenched fist in greeting.

“Oh God, get a grip of yourself, Maisie,” I scolded, shaking my head at myself. But I couldn’t calm my breathing as my eyes settled on the package on the bed. Someone was trying to scare me, that was all. No one was really going to hurt me. It was just Sandy or someone that found it amusing to frighten me to death. I was being stupid, I knew that, but at the same time I couldn’t shake the fear that nestled in the pit of my stomach. All I kept thinking was that I was alone in the house. I needed to rectify that situation quickly.

I took a couple of hesitant steps towards the box again and grabbed my cell phone from the bed where I’d tossed it before going into the shower. Hitting speed dial one, I put it to my ear and waited.

“Hey, baby,” Luke greeted, sounding ridiculously eager to hear from me.

At the sound of his voice, my fear loosened marginally. His voice wrapped around me like silk, covering me and seeming to take away some of the anguish I felt inside. “Hi. Luke, please can you come round and hang out?” I asked, noticing that my voice shook as I spoke.

“Come round? Is everything okay?”

I nodded, not wanting to tell him about the parcel or the hate campaign that someone seemed intent on keeping up. I didn’t want to talk about it with him, he would go crazy and get all mad because someone was upsetting me, but the thing is I had no clue who was sending it. My only suspect was Sandy, but I wasn’t convinced she had the gall to go as far as sending me something like that in the mail. Whoever was doing it was trying to get a huge reaction, to frighten me and make me upset. Well, I wasn’t giving anyone the satisfaction of seeing me upset. I’d talk to Charlotte and Beth about it tomorrow, but Luke would just wade in with his temper and make everything worse in the long run, so I decided to keep it from him for now. If something else came then I’d tell him and just let him go all protective caveman on me, but for now I wanted to put that off as long as possible.

“Everything’s fine,” I lied. “I just want to hang out, that’s all. Maybe watch a movie?”

I could already hear him moving around in the background, probably getting ready to come over. “Movie sounds great. I’ll be there in five.”

I smiled weakly, closing my eyes because I knew I would feel better with Luke in the house. He always made me feel better and took care of me. “See you then.” I disconnected the call and looked down at the box on my bed, knowing I needed to hide it from Luke. I couldn’t just throw it away though like I did with the flowers, Charlotte would probably want to see it once I told her about it. So I’d have to hide it somewhere for now.

Not wanting to touch it again, I used my cell phone and carefully closed the lid of the box with it before lifting it distastefully and heading over to my closet and pushing it onto the shelf at the top. Once it was in I slammed the closet door and leant against it, feeling my eyes prickle with tears.

Just what had I done to make someone do that? I was a nice person, I was kind to everyone, I never bitched about anyone behind their backs or anything like that. So just what had made someone send me a murdered teddy bear with a note saying I was next?