Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Spill

I spun around. “What are you doing here?”

Jackson took a step forward. “Trying to make sense of your behaviour.”

I clenched my fists. “My behaviour is none of your business.”

His mouth turned downward. “You weren’t even interested in the guy and now you’re swooning over him.”

“I’m not swooning.”

“Okay, you’re not swooning, you’re drooling.”

“Shut up. As I said, this has nothing to do with you. You can’t tell me what to do.”

“True, but maybe I can talk some sense into you. He’s a player. And you weren’t even into him until a couple of days ago.”

“Isn’t that how relationships work? One minute, you aren’t interested, then something happens to make you see them differently and you change your mind.”

He sighed. “You didn’t even want a boyfriend. I don’t know. It just seems… off. Wrong. Sudden. It’s suspicious.”

I crossed my arms and stuck out a hip. “How can it be suspicious? You’re not making sense.”

“I keep forgetting you’re new to all this. Magic can be used to influence someone’s thoughts and emotions. It’s hard to do, especially if the person has a strong mind, but it is possible.”

I could feel the heat in my face. Jackson always seemed to get me riled up. “Don’t be ridiculous. Blake wouldn’t do that. This conversation is over.”

I stomped inside and only then did I think about whether someone might have witnessed me arguing with no one.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

The weekend seemed to fly by while I did a lot of thinking. I hadn’t really spoken to Jackson after Friday night. Kellie was being distant and Justina was just being herself. Kaydan had spent the weekend with friends.

Laynee and Mitch didn’t really interact with me anyway, so that wasn’t any different to the usual.

On Sunday evening, just before dinner, Alina sent me a bunch of texts that I couldn’t ignore, asking if I was okay. As I was typing a message to her, my phone rang and I nearly dropped it.

“Hey,” she said as soon as I answered. “Spill.”

She always seemed to know when I needed to talk. I loved this girl.

“What makes you think there’s something to spill?”

“I just know.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Okay.” Where did I even start? “It’s about Blake.”

“Mmm-hmm. I thought so.”

“He wants to go out with me and I’m not sure if I want to. I hardly know him.”

“So, get to know him.”

“I’m trying, but it’s not that easy. He wasn’t really being himself at dinner on Friday night – he was too busy trying to impress me. Then at the park afterwards, he spent the entire time talking cars and football with his mates and forgot I existed. How am I supposed to get to know him?”

“That makes it difficult.”

“And then when Emily showed up, I didn’t know what to think. I’ve never had to deal with an ex-girlfriend before. She was such a bitch — to both of us.”

“I’ve never had that problem either, so I’m no help.”

“I felt sorry for her, you know, but then she turned on me too, so then I wanted to punch her in the face.”

Alina was silent for a long while and I worried the connection had dropped out.

“Are you sure he’s the right guy for you?”

“No. I don’t know. I mean, my thoughts are all over the place. One minute, I’m like, what am I even doing thinking about dating him and then the next, I feel like I’m in love with him and want to spend the rest of my life with him.”

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s really weird. Like I’m on a rollercoaster and my emotions keep on going up and down so fast that I can’t keep up.”

“This doesn’t sound good, Maddie.”

“Tell me about it. Is this what it’s like with every relationship? Because if it is, I think I might just stay single forever. It sucks.”

There was a pause and it sounded like she was talking to herself more than me when she said, “I have to get out there asap.”

Maybe she felt like she had to be a protective older sister or something. I knew she was older than me, but wasn’t sure of her age. Probably about three years older. Four tops.

Thinking that she wanted to protect me did funny things to my heart. She really did care, which was more than I could say for my own mother lately. What was her problem?

Alina sighed. “No. Not every relationship is like that. It can be a rollercoaster, for sure, but… I don’t know… the rollercoaster shouldn’t be that… erratic. It’s hard to explain.”

She reminded me of Jackson. “You’re not really helping.”

“Sorry. I haven’t had too much experience with relationships either.”

That surprised me. She was beautiful with her dark eyes and dark hair. She was a couple of inches taller than me — about 5’6”. I thought that she would never have any trouble finding a boyfriend.

We sat in silence for a while, then she changed the subject. “So, does anything exciting happen out there for Halloween?”

“I’m not really sure. I haven’t asked. There are decorations up in some of the shops in town and I think Anna-Marie is going to buy some pumpkins today.”

“I want to do something fun. Maybe there’s a party happening or we could go to one of the local pubs.”

“I’ll ask Kellie about it. I think it would be fun to do something like that. I haven’t been to a party or a pub in forever.”

That reminded me of why I hadn’t been to any parties and I tried to push all that aside. I didn’t want to dwell on it.

We said goodnight when Anna-Marie called us for dinner and I went downstairs. It was still pretty quiet at the table and it was a relief. I’d been happy to talk to Alina, but I didn’t really want to talk to anyone here. It made me wish I was back at home.

After we’d finished, I sent a text asking if Alina was going to dress up as a witch or a zombie for Halloween, then headed up to my room.

My phone beeped and I picked it up with a smile. Alina would have something sarcastic to say, I was sure.

Only, it wasn’t a text from Alina.

It was an unknown number. Who could be messaging with an unknown number? I’d only given my number to Mum, Alina, Kellie, Blake, and the staff here at Waratah, and I had their numbers in my contacts. It shouldn’t say unknown number.

My jaw dropped and my stomach tensed when I read the message.

Stay away from Blake pierce