Never Again

Katie

“Katie,” I heard my mum yell from downstairs, “It’s time to get up. You don’t want to be late for school!”

“I’ll be down in a minute!” I shouted back, sleepily. Checking my alarm, it read Seven o’clock in the morning.

Shit!

I was going to be late.

I got up and started rushing around; having a shower, brushing my teeth, and then getting dressed.

When I finally got downstairs my breakfast was already on the table. Pancakes and bacon. One of my favourite meals. As I devoured my food, I thanked my mom through a mouthful.

“You’re welcome sweetie,” she replied, smiling.

My mum had always been one of my best friends. I had other friends and some had been there for me like my mom had, but she was my role model, the person I aspired to be. Through everything, I tried to do the same thing for her, even though she said it wasn’t necessary.

“Thank you, honey, but it’s enough just having you here.” She always said.

I could tell how much she appreciated it though.

I finished my food and then got up to hug her.

“Thanks for the food mum,” I said, “It was really nice.”

“You’re welcome. Now don’t forget to take all your books.” She said, with one eyebrow raised. “And don’t go on your phone during class otherwise I’ll have to take it away.”

I sheepishly smiled, scratching the back of my neck, and replied. “Yes, mum.”

We heard a car horn outside. That must be Jessica.

“Enjoy your first day back!”

“Bye mum!” I shouted as I ran out the door.

I ran outside and saw Jessica’s car was parked in front of me.

Jessica loved her cute little ruby red Honda S2000. It was her prized possession and she even gave it the name James. She said that she called it James because that is the name of her spirit animal. The girl was so weird.

Jessica and I had been friends for 10 years. She was a tall blonde who usually wore her hair up, accentuating her slim face. We went to the same school when we were younger and she once knocked me over, spilling my food everywhere, but she was nice to me and helped me pick it back up; even offering to share hers with me.

“Hey Kate,” Jessica said, “Long time no see.”

“It’s been three days,” I replied with a small chuckle.

“I know, but it feels like a long time.” She said with a pout, slapping me lightly on the shoulder.

We talked on the way to school; her complaining about her mum, and how strict she had been lately and me mostly listening.

“She’s even getting me to do extra homework,” Jessica muttered, grimacing. “All because I got a C.”

“It can’t be that bad. I’m sure your mum only wants to help,” I mentioned, trying not to laugh at her face.

“Yeah,” Jessica groaned, “I’m sure she does. But that doesn’t mean it’s fun.”

We arrived at school fifteen minutes later and saw our other friends waiting for us at the entrance.

We both met Jill and Hugh two years ago.

Jill was an energetic person, always moving around or talking. She didn’t see it, but she was beautiful and had a ton of guys drooling over her. With her perfect hair and shiny brunette curls rolling down her back she was a bombshell. While her personality annoyed some people, I didn’t mind because I struggled to start conversations with people, so it was nice to have a friend like her around. Especially considering how her personality seemed to rub off on the people around her.

Hugh, on the other hand, was the clown of the group. Always goofing around and making us all laugh. He was quiet but he’d swoop in at the perfect time, making us giggle. Although Hugh seemed like he was not a serious person, if you needed him, he would be there for you. Hugh loved playing football and thus, was mildly popular, especially with the ladies, with his black ear-length hair and chestnut eyes. He also worked out every day to keep in top shape.

“Hey Kate!” Jill said as she walked over to us, “Good to see you sober.”

I blushed thinking about the last time we had seen each other.

We had all got completely wasted - me more than anyone else and as a result, I ended up making a complete fool of myself by throwing up all over Jill’s new top and in the Uber we took home. It’s something they’d teased me about ever since.

“Hi guys, it’s good to see you again,” I said while hugging them both, a big smile on my face as it felt like a long time since I had seen them.

“It’s good to see you too,” Hugh said, with a big grin on his face. “It feels like years since we last saw you.”

“Oh, stop it,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. “It’s only been a week since we’ve all seen each other.”

“Come on guys, stop arguing or we’ll be late,” Jill responded while lightly laughing, skipping away from us to her class. That girl.

We split up and went to our separate classes. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the same schedules, although it would’ve been pretty lucky if we did. We ended up only having a few classes with each other.

Just as the teacher was about to start the lesson, the door swung right open and in walked Blake.

Blake was the ‘bad boy’ of the school. Really tough. All he did was get into detention and sleep around. It was not cool. If anything, it made me want to know less about him.

“What is the meaning of this, Mr. Hardridge,” My English teacher, Mrs. Thornton, said. “Being late and then interrupting my class?!”

“Sorry,” He said with a grin, slightly slouching. “I had things to do.”

I heard some noises at the back of the room and turned to see what it was. It was a few girls staring dreamily at him. I couldn’t help but sigh.

I had to admit that he was a good-looking guy. Blonde hair, blue eyes, with the body of a god. That was all the girls saw. They didn’t see how they were just getting played and that it was their own fault. Blake was bad news and I was just thankful I hadn’t encountered him over the summer.

“That will not be tolerated in my class. I suggest you start appearing on time, otherwise I’ll have to give you detention.” She advised sternly.

The smirk stayed on his face as he eyed the room in search of a desk. His eyes found mine and I quickly looked away, but not quickly enough as he walked over to me and sat right next to me.

Class started and I focused on the teacher. The lesson was almost over when I felt something hit me from one side, only to look over and see Blake’s cocky face staring back at me.

“Hey,” he said, “My name is Blake.”

“I know who you are,” I answered in a sarcastic tone looking away from him, “Please, I’m trying to focus on the lesson, so we can talk later.”

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye only to find him staring at me with one eyebrow raised. I quickly turned away, focusing on the lesson.

“Fine by me. I’m looking forward to it.” He said, with a low chuckle.

I ignored him for the rest of the lesson and didn’t see him for the rest of the day. Instead of dwelling on it, I hung out with my friends during lunch and with Jessica during math. The only lesson I have with her.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” I said.

Hugh and Jill gave me a hug and went off to their homes while Jessica drove us back to my house. We always hung out after school. We arrived at my house a few minutes later to find the house empty.

Mum would still be at work for a few more hours.

“So, what do you want to do first,” Jessica asked, “Homework, or watch a movie?”

“Definitely homework, then we’ll have as much time as we want to do whatever after,” I said, grabbing my school bag and shuffling upstairs.

“Sounds good,” Jessica replied, “Let’s get to work then.”

I was so glad that it was finally the weekend. Jill, Hugh, Jessica, and I had plans for today; we were going to a beach party.

I couldn’t decide what to wear, so I called Jessica to help me find something nice. We ended up finding something quickly and so decided to spend the rest of our time hanging out watching The Flash.

“I can’t believe Barry is actually going to go to prison,” Jessica exclaimed, “Do you think he’ll be there for the rest of the season?”

“Of course not,” I scoffed, “It is called ‘The Flash’ so they have to have him in it.”

“You’re right, I don’t know what I was thinking,” The said, slapping her forehead.

“Well, anyways, it’s time to go now, otherwise, we’ll be late,” I said, pulling Jessica up, “Let’s go.”

We arrived at the party, having picked up Jill and Hugh along the way.

“Wow!” I exclaimed, “There are so many people here!”

There were at least two hundred people all crowded onto the beach: some from our school and some looking like they were college age. Music boomed from the speakers that were placed a fair distance away from the fire, giving people enough room to dance; or get their eardrums severely damaged.

“This is the biggest party I’ve been to in a long time,” Said Jill, “I only recognise about half of the people here.”

My eyes widened as I surveyed the surroundings. Scanning through the sea of people, my eyes landed on someone that I recognised - Blake standing among a group of people. The people with him seemed too superficially friendly, especially one of the girls from school who had her arms clutched around him and was hanging on for dear life. I kind of felt sorry for him until my brain actually registered the feeling of pity as I remembered how much of a douche he could be, and all sympathy left me.

“I’m going to go get us drinks,” Said Hugh, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“I’ll come with you,” Jill said, “It’ll be quicker.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Hugh replied.

While Hugh and Jill walked off towards the bar Jessica and I talked about what all of us were going to do when they came back. In the end, we decided to just go with the flow for a few hours and then make our way back to our houses.

“Hey, we’re back,” Hugh said, handing us our drinks. “So, what are we doing?”

“Let’s dance first,” Jessica said. “Then we’ll see.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go.” Jill replied.

We danced for around half an hour before I saw Blake out of the corner of my eye. He was eyeing me, unnerving me.

I turned towards him and frowned. He just smirked back and walked off into the crowd. I shook my head and carried on having a good time.

“So, want to go home yet?” Jessica asked, pulling me to the side.

“I’ll get one more drink and then we will go.” I said, “You want anything?”

“No thanks,” Jessica said, “I’ll stay here. Meet me after.”

I walked off towards the makeshift bar and ordered a drink. I was walking back sipping my drink when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whipped around, only to see Blake.

“Hey.” His tired voice rumbled.

“What do you want?” I asked tiredly. Although on the inside I was quite annoyed that I had been interrupted.

“I want to know if you want to chill out with me?”

“No, why would I want that?” I said, storming off.

Why was I angry with him?

I must have had one too many drinks because nothing I was doing was making sense anymore. Even to myself.

I would apologise tomorrow.

I walked back to my friends and reminded them that we had to leave. We dropped Hugh off first and then Jill, leaving me as the last one for Jessica to drop off.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jessica hugged me. “Bye girl!”

“See you tomorrow,” I replied, grinning goofily.

I walked into my house and saw my mum sat at the table, waiting up for me.

“Hey mum,” I walked over to her, “What are you doing up?”

“Oh, hey honey, I was just waiting up for you.”

“You don’t have to do that mum,” I said, yawning.

“I know I don’t, but I want to.” She said with a smile.

“Goodnight mum,” I reply, giving her a hug.

“Sleep well, sweetie.”

I walked upstairs slowly, making sure I didn’t fall over as I was tipsy and really tired.

When I reached my room, I unlocked the door and stepped inside. I went through the motions of getting ready for bed; had a shower, and then put on my pyjamas. I of course did not forget to brush my teeth. I went to put my clothes away only to hear the slight noise of paper being scrunched. I felt around in the pocket for a moment before withdrawing my hand which held a piece of paper that read:

I want to get to know you better

- B

Who the hell was ‘B’?

I didn’t know and right then, I was frankly too tired to figure it out. I finished getting ready and jumped into bed, relaxing and closing my eyes. Quickly falling asleep, I dreamed of a mysterious boy with blue eyes.

I woke up the next morning with a bit of a headache. I was very lucky that it was the weekend and I didn’t have to go to school. I didn’t think I would have been able to hide my hangover.

Still in bed, I checked my phone while lying down on my back. As I did so, it started ringing, startling me. I dropped my phone on my face and let out a groan as the pain in my head multiplied.

I sat up gingerly and grabbed my phone. Putting it up to my ear, I answered it.

“Hello?” I let out, as a grimace overtook my face.

“Hey Kate,” Jessica said cheerily, “I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me?”

“Yeah, I will. Just give me about thirty minutes to get ready.” I mumbled, rubbing my head and sitting up further.

“Okay, that’s fine. See you soon!” Not caring that I was not enthusiastic about her proposition.

“Bye,” I replied and hung up.

I got up and had a shower, brushing my teeth after.

Having got dressed I went downstairs. When I got there, I found a note from mum.

I’m going on a business trip for the next few days. I have left fifty pounds on the table, and I fully stocked the fridge before I left. Make sure to call me every night and make sure you’re responsible. Love you lots – Mum

Smiling, I put down the note, picked up the money, and stuffed it in my pocket. My head was still hurting so I decided to take some ibuprofen before I left to help make the day a lot more manageable.

We arrived at our local shop and exited the car. Jessica and I always ate before we bought anything so we went into our ‘go-to food place’ - McDonald’s.

“The usual?” Jessica asked with a slight smile.

“Sure,” I answered offhandedly, distracted by someone with blonde hair that had their back to me. I felt like I recognised them, but I couldn’t place where from.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Jessica tapped me on the shoulder.

“Here you go.” She said, giving me a smile.

“Thanks.” I said, glancing back at the boy only for him to be staring back at me smirking.

Blake.

I quickly glanced away and tucked into my food, a blush creeping onto my cheeks.

“What?” Jessica asked, noticing my growing redness.

“Nothing,” I mumbled, dragging my eyes away from hers and back to my food, pretending I was fully focused on just eating.

“Fine,” Jessica said with a huff, “Don’t tell me then.”

Jessica had always been very perceptive of my moods and good at picking up on what I was feeling. The reason I didn’t tell her the truth was because, frankly, I didn’t know what was actually going on with me.

We finished up and got up to leave. I took one last look towards Blake but he had gone. I felt a strange twinge of disappointment. I scoffed and shook it off before following Jessica for our quick shopping session.

Four hours later.

“Jessica,” I whined, “Let’s just go.”

“Come on Katie, we’ve only been out for a few hours,” She said exasperatedly while searching the T-shirt rack. “We’ll go back soon. Go sit down at the front of the shop and I’ll come find you when I’m done, okay?”

“Okay...” I grumbled, walking towards the shop front.

I plopped down and started to analyse people.

The redhead and her boyfriend laughing and joking, having a wonderful time, enjoying each other’s company just talking but I noticed the subtle looks they would give each other, or the constant touching, even if it was only for a second.

The brown-haired guy, talking with his friends while walking along towards the game shop enthusiastically conversing about the new game that seemed to have taken the market by storm, Apex Legends? I had been constantly hearing about it but never bothered to check what all the fuss was about.

Then I saw Blake. He was sitting alone watching people like me, his blue eyes searching for someone or something. His gaze seemed heavy and his eyes looked tired.

I was surprised when they snapped onto me. I quickly looked away, embarrassed at being caught looking at him. As I did so, I felt a weird feeling in my gut almost like butterflies?

No, that couldn’t be the case. I was probably just hungry.

I gave him a small smile and surprisingly, he smiled back at me.

I was thinking of going over to him to apologise for yesterday when Jessica came out of the store.

“Ready to go?” She said, waiting for me to respond, with a smile on her face.

“Definitely,” I said, cheerfully bouncing up and walking with her.

She started talking to me about what she had bought but I wasn’t paying attention. I was looking back at Blake who was staring at me with an intense gaze, whilst having a neutral expression on his face. I couldn’t pry my eyes away from him. Something about him was drawing me in.

I must just want to get to know him a bit more, that is all, I thought. Quickly, I dismissed this thought as ludicrous.

“-so then...” I heard Jessica trail off. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Sorry,” I said, with a sheepish smile, “What were you saying?”

She looked at me with a critical eye before carrying on with what she had been saying. I glanced back at where he was, but he was no longer there. I distracted myself by focusing on the conversation with Jessica. Although, even with that I wasn’t able to get Blake out of my mind.

Sunday.

The last day of the weekend before I had to head to school again.

I couldn’t go out with anyone today as I knew I had to work hard in school, or I wouldn’t be able to go where I wanted.

I knew Jill and High wanted to go travelling around the world for a year or two before going to university and so they lived their lives by taking risks and having a lot of fun. But the thought of travelling around the world for that length of time, even with a friend to go along with, was scary, so I had never even considered it. Especially since I was so adamant about going to university.

Jessica was extremely focused on school, like me, even if it didn’t seem like it at times. She just didn’t have to study as much because of her great memory, which allowed her to do more during the day around the things that she enjoyed - like shopping.

As opposed to me who struggled to remember my own name some of the time. Stupid, I know.

I hadn’t put too much thought on what I wanted to do with myself when I grew up past going to a university, but I definitely knew I wanted to go to one of the top ones in the country, which is why I put so much emphasis on studying, even if I was already up to date in all my classes. I wanted to be ahead of everyone and be ready for university as I knew that learning to work in your own time was a massively underappreciated skill that a lot of people didn’t take time to learn.

I never really found any subject extremely hard. In fact, I found quite a few pretty easy and had already started looking into advanced courses online.

A Sunday without any friends or mum around to hang out with usually consisted of studying and watching TV. Today, the show I was into was called ‘You’ and I definitely understood why it was so popular. Great acting, writing and camera work.

Throughout the day I was constantly getting distracted by the note I received.

Who put it there? How did it get there and why did they do it?

These were all questions I was mulling over as I finally finished all the studying I had planned for that day.

I quickly got bored and decided to walk to the library just to look around and see if they had any new books that I would like to read.

I got ready and then put my shoes on before stepping outside to begin the walk.

Once I arrived, I decided to walk to the fiction section, but it had been moved since I had last come in.

I couldn’t be bothered to look around, so I decided to ask one of the employees where it was.

Walking up to a girl that kind of looked familiar, I quickly dismissing that thought and smiling her.

“Excuse me, can you tell me where the fiction section is please?” I said.

The young raven-haired woman turned and smiled at me as she answered, “Sure, follow me.”

Following her, we went up the stairs to the second floor and stopped at the back where there was a small sign which mentioned that this was indeed the fiction section.

I thanked her and as she walked away I racked my brain for possibilities as to why she seemed quite familiar to me, but ultimately, I could come up with nothing and decided to get the newest book in the ‘BodyGuard’ series as I had read all the previous ones and was interested in what this one had to offer.

Taking the book off the shelf, I walked down the stairs to the counter to find the same girl manning this counter too. This time I decided to get curiosity off of my mind and asked her if I knew her.

“Sorry to impose, but I feel like I know you from somewhere?”

“You might have seen me at school as I only graduated last year,” she said. Looking me over, she reconsidered. “Or you might have heard of my brother.”

“Who is your brother?” I enquired, very interested in the answer.

“Blake Hardridge is my brother,” She said, smiling wryly at my shocked face before handing me my book, “Enjoy. I’ve heard this one is good.”

I walked back home still semi surprised that Blake has a sister, and that she seemed like the complete opposite of him. Not just in terms of personality but also life-style.

When I got back home it was dinner time but I didn’t have enough food in the house so I just ordered a take away.

As I was eating, I decided to text Jessica to ask if she wanted to stay over. Her reaction was an enthusiastic “sure” before she hung up on me so she could leave.

Around half an hour later she arrived with three bags of snacks.

“You brought all of those for tonight?” I asked, gesturing at the bags she was carrying.

She gave me a look and said, “You know we can eat the whole lot tonight. Don’t play with me.”

I laughed and agreed, picking up one of the chocolate bars and stuffing it in my mouth.

I woke up later, the TV still on but the volume turned down.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

I slowly got up and gingerly made my way over to the door which was ajar.

My heart sped up as I shut it with caution. I cautiously tiptoed back to the couch to check if Jessica was still sleeping or if it had been her that had opened the door.

Unfortunately, she was still on the couch fast asleep, with her head lolled to the side, in what looked like an uncomfortable position.

Deciding to check the rest of the house to make sure nothing else was awry, I set out on that mission.

Silently, I crept around the house, checking that all the windows were locked and shut and that none of the other doors were open that shouldn’t have been.

I was starting to calm down when the sound of a floorboard creaking behind me and my fear sky rocketed once more. My heart stopped before I turned around to see a tired-looking Jessica.

“Jesus Christ,” I said, releasing the breath I hadn’t realised I had been holding. “You scared the fuck out of me.”

“Sorry,” She mumbled sleepily, “I thought you had come up to go to bed in your room.”

Jessica walked past me as I sighed in relief.

Realising I had left my phone downstairs, I went to get it. On the way, I looked out the back-door window and saw shoe prints. A little bit of mud was tracked into the house too

I suddenly felt a sense of dread wash over me as I realised someone had been in the house.

I searched the house for anything that I could see missing but found nothing. The only sign there was, was some household objects having not been where I had put them the night before.

When mum got back, I told her straight that someone had been in and out of the house without any of us seeing them.

She asked me if I was positive and I explained all the discrepancies I had found around the house and the mud tracked in, which hadn’t been there when me and Jessica had fallen asleep - I had wiped away the evidence because of my nerves.

She called the police and while they were on their way, I told her how the rest of the night panned out and most of the details I could remember. I was still too shaken up to have fully recalled everything that had transpired.

“What time would you say you first noticed there was someone else in the house?”

One policeman had been questioning me while another two checked for forced entry or any indication that someone had been here.

“At around two in the morning.” I answered, suddenly glad that we had a clock stationed in the kitchen.

“And did you see anything unusual or hear anything?” He asked me.

“I heard some noise coming from upstairs,” I mentioned, as a shivers climbed up my spine from the mere memory of the previous night. “But by the time I got there, whoever it was had already left the house.”

I zoned out as I heard the policeman describe what was going to happen and to call if anything else like this happened again.

After they were all gone, I talked to my mum about the incident as she wanted to know more, although I did know that it was just because she wanted reassurance that I was fine, and I was happy to give that to her.

Later on, after I had spewed all the details of the past night, over and over again, I went up to my room ready to fall fast asleep as the adrenaline had now worn off.

Still feeling a little bit apprehensive I decided to check every corner and crevice to make sure no one had put something in there - someone even.

Firstly, I took my drawers out. One by one. And searched them thoroughly and at a methodically slow pace just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

Next was my wardrobe which was full of my dressier clothes. I didn’t wea them a lot anymore but looking through the pile I wished I once again had the confidence to. Those feeling quickly faded as the fear crept back in, but luckily, I also didn’t find anything of substance in there, except one of my favourite black tops which I had been looking for, for ages!

I had a couple of boxes in my room for extra storage and so still needed to check them.

The first box was stored at the bottom of my wardrobe and was a bit of a pain to get out as the wardrobe had a lip at the bottom to stop stuff easily falling out and whatever I had put in this box felt like it weighed a ton.

Putting it down on my bed, I opened it and started to make my way through the box, taking out each item and making sure it was mine and not broken. This was a slow process as I had quite a lot of little toys in here that I had kept for no other reason than sentimentality.

Finding nothing, I sighed and painstakingly put everything back into the box, closed it, hefted it into my arms and then shuffled across the floor to put it back. I got to my wardrobe and put it down quite heavily. So heavily in fact that it sounded like the floor had broken.

“Are you okay?!” I heard mum shout from downstairs.

“I’m fine mum,” I shouted back, quickly putting things away as I didn’t want mum to notice how much this was affecting me. “Just dropped a box.”

Once I had confirmed that she wasn’t coming up anytime soon I checked the one box to left. Pulling it out from under my bed but left it on the floor. This one didn’t have as much in it, so it didn’t take anywhere near as long as the other box.

Nothing unusual was in my room.

I felt a massive sense of relief as I put the lid on and pushed it back under my bed. No one had entered my room. Although the rest of the house still felt unsafe, at least I knew that no one had violated my personal privacy.

I flopped down onto my bed, closing my eyes, as I felt the effects of the night before wash over me and I instantly fell sleep.

I woke up six hours later to the smell of freshly cooked food. My stomach rumbled and it made me think of the last time I eaten, which was yesterday.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I got up and headed downstairs slowly as I was still half asleep.

“Hey mum.”

“Hello Katie,” Mum said with a smile, “I was just about to call you down for dinner.”

“I just realised I haven’t eaten all day and I’m starving now.”

She frowned, “You’ve got to remember to eat as you’re just damaging your body if you don’t.”

“I won’t forget again.”

When the food had finished cooking, I put some of the noodles on my plate and slathered them in beef stir-fry.

I headed upstairs with my food as I knew mum would be downstairs doing work and I didn’t want to interrupt her.

As I ate the last bit of my food, I heard mum shut her door and could tell by the squeaking sound of the bed that she was going to sleep.

Quietly moving out of my room, I went and put my plate in the dishwasher but didn’t turn it on as it only had a few dishes in it.

It was definitely about time I went to sleep as the tiredness from waking up a couple of hours earlier still hadn’t worn off, so I walked to my room, silently shutting the door behind me.

I got ready for bed, put on my fan, climbed into my bed, and pulled the covers up to my chin.

Tossing and turning, I kept hearing a faint rustling from somewhere. It sounded like paper being squashed. It wasn’t until I turned on my side that I realised the sound was coming from under my pillow.

Reaching my hand under, I grasped onto a piece of paper and dragged it out from its hiding spot. Turning on my lamp I quickly read what it said.

My tired brain struggled to comprehend...

This couldn’t be happening.

I immediately crumpled up the paper and shoved it into one of my draws, the words written on it replaying over and over in my head so much so that by the time I really started to process what the note meant, the adrenaline had run out and I had drifted off.

We’ll be back