The Boyfriend Bet (12 page)

After the hilarious incident with Ella and her sudden
need for food, I didn’t see her for the rest of the afternoon. I dreaded going
home after school, as you never knew what Ella was capable of, but now she’d
had a complete meltdown in front of everyone, who knew what she was going to be
like. There was only one person she was going to take it out on and we all know
that’s always going to be me.

After dawdling back from Bex’s house and realising I
could not put off going home any longer, I actually saw Riley, Jay and Simon
transporting something else they’d just bought for their house in a huge cardboard
box.

“Looking forward to freedom for the weekend, eh Charley?”
Simon nodded at me as if he was trying to let me know he was one of us or a
‘cool’ parent. I cringed. It’s bad enough that he’s shagging my mum but now
he’s trying to be our mate or something? Just sad!

I smiled but I think I over did the smiling as I couldn’t
bring myself to speak. What was I supposed to say, ‘Looking forward to a dirty
weekend with my mother?’ I think not! It was all wrong...wrong I tell you!

“Not too much partying I hope?” Simon winked. Oh my god.

“No parties, no absolutely not,” I said as if I had
suddenly transformed into a responsible teacher or someone equally as boring. I
didn’t know if Simon was thinking he was really clever by dropping me a trick question,
pretending to be all chummy and then wham...down with the seriousness and
telling Mum that they couldn’t go away at the weekend as we were having an
irresponsible alcohol and drug fuelled party at home. Ok, a bit over the top
but still, you never knew.

“Oh come on, lighten up a bit,” Simon continued. “I don’t
mind a few people round,” he grinned. He really was showing off now. Even Jay
raised his eyebrows at him.

“Oh,” was all I could manage in reply, I think Simon
expected me to announce he was ‘cool’ or ‘so down with the kids’ or whatever
crappy sayings a forty-something-year-old man would come out with, thinking he
was ‘it’. Hahaha I had started to make myself laugh now at the jokes I was
making in my head, totally forgetting that Simon, Jay and of course Riley were
staring at me.

“Not too many people though,” Simon made himself clear
while still grinning at me.  Jay was smirking at me now. I don’t know why
- this stupid party was by no means my idea. I would have been happy just to
laze about at home, enjoying not being told what to do and just relishing the
freedom.

“Of course.” I replied. “But how many is too many?” I
said more chirpily this time. “You know, just so we’re clear.”

“Erm...well let’s say a few, shall we?” Simon replied. He
was leaning on the box and Jay who had been pulling the box, trying to get it
indoors during the entire conversation, had just realised why he couldn’t move
it. My turn to smirk at him!

“How many is a few, Dad?” Jay asked. I don’t know if he
was mocking my stupid questions or just generally mocking his dad.

“Erm... I don’t know Jay, look up the definition of ‘few’
in the dictionary, it doesn’t say hundreds!”  Simon was getting a bit
snappy at Jay.  “Anyway, must get this inside,” Simon signalled to the
box. “Say hi to your mum for me!”

I was muttering under my breath that he would have all
weekend to say ‘hi’ to my Mum when Riley said, “Is Ella ok? Bit of a crazy
moment today, eh?”

I’d noticed that Jay and Simon had already lifted the box
inside and Riley had once again got out of helping.  “Erm....yeah, not
sure what’s got into her,” I said. I didn’t want to say anything too bitchy as
I remembered that boys don’t really go for bitchy, Ella’s got that one down to
a tee. She is with no doubt the bitchiest girl in the world but to a potential
boyfriend’s face she is the sweetest thing.

“Looking forward to the weekend?” Riley was grinning.

“Yeah, can’t wait,” I said, with as much excitement as I
could muster because the truth of it was I am starting to feel completely
petrified about the upcoming weekend.

I’m worried because obviously I’m going to be left alone
in the house with the crazy one and that’s before the party even starts. Sam
had texted me and told me he was coming; Sarah and Bex have been doing a pretty
good job of steering me away from him at school but if he is coming to the
party, then there is nothing that they can do. He keeps texting me. I‘m not
entirely sure what he wants. It’s all just slightly flirty but nothing to the
point and certainly nothing deep - so yeah I suppose he’s messing with my head
all over again!

Ella was stretched out on the sofa when I got in. She was
lying flat on her back and staring at the ceiling. I smiled to myself. “Riley
was just asking after you?” I couldn’t resist it.

“Really?” Ella turned her head to look at me, her eyes
flickered with sudden interest.

“Yeah he thinks you’ve gone a little...you know?” I said
making a funny cuckooing sound and pointing at my head.

“No I do not know!” Ella snapped.

“You know...crazy!” I carried on. Ella huffed and went
back to staring at the ceiling.

“Just a blip,” Ella sort of half whispered. I wasn’t sure
if she was talking to me or trying to reassure herself. “I have everything
under complete control, so don’t you worry, you’re still gonna be dying that
hair pink!”

“Really, I don’t think any of us are going to be winning
this bet,” I snapped “Amelia seems pretty smitten with him.”

“Getting rid of her is already under way. All I have to
do is up my plan to the next stage,” Ella said with a hint of a slightly
psychotic smile forming on her lips. Ella sat up slowly so she could wriggle
something out of the pocket of her way too tight trousers! I realised it was a
phone as Ella sat there tapping on it in concentration.

I shook my head. If it wasn’t so weird and concerning I’d
be laughing! It looked as though Ella was giving the word to have Amelia bumped
off or something. Ella’s grin was widening as she typed out an apparent message
and she looked almost ecstatic as I heard the ‘sent’ tone tinkle on the phone.

“There you go, sorted. Amelia Hargreaves, who the hell is
she?” Ella grinned and then she actually started laughing hysterically and
wouldn’t stop.

I left the room because I cannot stand Ella at the best
of times but I was beginning to wonder if she was psychotic, genuinely evil or
if she was indeed having a mental breakdown. I couldn’t help wondering what on
earth she had just done that had made her so confident that Amelia would no
longer be a threat to her. Just from one text message or whatever Ella had just
sent on that phone.

I couldn’t even sleep, thinking about Ella and Amelia and
Riley. I kept going over and over different scenarios in my head and kept
coming to the conclusion that Ella must have seriously lost the plot and nothing
was going to come of it. It was almost as though Ella could read my mind
because out of nowhere in the middle night she whispered, “Don’t underestimate
me Charley!”

I’m well and truly freaked out now. I don’t even know if
I want to go to school tomorrow and find out what she’s done to Amelia
Hargreaves...

I felt a bit better when I woke up in the morning. It’s
always the way, everything seems so serious and problems seem massive in the
loneliness of the middle of the night. Of course Ella was winding me up. She is
my horrible, bitch of a sister! What do I think she is, invincible or
something?

My thoughts were confirmed when I got to school. I was
about to voice my concerns to Sarah and Bex that I thought Ella had done
something really bad to Amelia Hargreaves, when Amelia walked straight past us
and into the school gates, giggling with her friends. She didn’t look like
anything was bothering her. In fact, she was full of it.

“She’s wearing ‘that’ really short skirt again!” Sarah
whispered when she caught sight of her.

“And she really doesn’t have the legs for it,” Bex shook
her head. I gave Bex and Sarah a glance because although they had a point
(because Amelia is just too skinny and her legs are a bit scrawny) it was a bit
bitchy and Sarah was only saying the other day that bitchiness isn’t
attractive. She was the one telling me!

“You’ve got nice legs,” Sarah continued. “Maybe you
should wear a nice short skirt, instead of those jeans you always wear.”

“What’s wrong with my jeans?” I muttered, “Would you
rather me totter about the place like that?” I tilted my head towards the gate
because I had just caught sight of my sister, attempting to run in her heels
and call over to Riley (who had then joined Amelia and her group of friends).
Ella might as well have not bothered to put a skirt on today, it was that
short!

“Anyway just before Sam asked me out he said my bum
looked really nice in these jeans,” I snapped defensively, forgetting that I
shouldn’t mention Sam, EVER!

“Yeah and then he copped off with that!” Bex said really
dryly and pointed over at Ella.

“That was nasty,” I muttered.

“Did Ella just put something in Amelia’s bag?” Sarah had
left our conversation and was staring intently at Ella and Amelia. “What is she
up to?”

“Sure she put something in her bag or did she take
something out of it?” Bex was now interested as well. I was still in a mood
about the jeans comment.

“I have no idea and I’m not getting involved.” I said in
a very high-and-mighty voice and then marched off because I was still fuming. I
don’t know what my supposedly ‘best friends’ were trying to say - that I had to
dress like a slut for anyone to fancy me? Was I that awful that the only thing
I would have going for me was if I were to dress like I was giving it away?
Even if that were the case, best mates should not say things like that! After a
couple of minutes of fuming, I regretted walking off because of course I was
really interested in what Ella had been up to. It must have all been part of
this so called ‘plan’ of hers, although I thought she’d said it was all done
last night?

When we went into Registration we were told to head
straight down to the Assembly Hall after the register had been taken. I didn’t
think too much of it until we reached the hall. We couldn’t sit on our normal
seats because there were already people sitting on them. They were from Years
Twelve and Thirteen.

“Sit anywhere, it doesn’t matter for today.” Mr Harrison
shouted over to the back of the hall. This really was odd. I remember once when
Molly Andrews sat in Form T’s row because Zoe Ryan had asked her to sit next to
her. Mr Harrison had spotted her straight away and made a right old fuss about
it. Apparently if everybody just did what the hell they liked and there were no
rules, then everything would become chaotic, dysfunctional and the whole
working day of the school would become some mad, panicked frenzy -where nobody
would learn a single thing (according to Mr Harrison). I personally couldn’t
see how Molly Andrews, sitting one row in front of the one she normally sits
in, could possibly cause such an extreme scenario. I sat on the first seat I
could find, as far back in the hall as I could manage. Sarah and Bex sat down
next to me, not that I really had much to say to them!

“Something quite serious has come to our attention.” Mr
Harrison said when everyone was finally seated and had stopped fidgeting. “It
is not a laughing matter and I hope you can all be mature enough to see just
how serious it is.” Mr Harrison was fiddling around with his tie awkwardly. I
looked at Sarah and Bex. We all just seemed to be looking at each other and
shrugging.

“It’s been going on for about a couple of weeks now but
suddenly it’s become quite disturbing. Mr Huntley has been receiving some
highly explicit letters from someone at this school.” Mr Harrison’s face was
now a beetroot colour - this was clearly the last place on earth he wanted to
be, discussing dirty letters with a hall packed full of sniggering teenagers!
My eyes shifted to Mr Huntley who was standing against the wall to the side of
the hall. He also looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here.

I looked at the front of the hall again and at Luke
London who was sitting next to Jay, a couple of rows back. He was looking round
at me triumphantly. “We thought the best thing to do was to ignore it but
unfortunately it’s now become a little too personal with references to Mr
Huntley’s wife and family members which could also be perceived as threats.” Mr
Harrison carried on without actually making any real eye contact in the room.
There was a lot of whispering at this point and I could see William Sheldon-
Harvey sitting there with his hand raised in the air. What the hell was he
doing? Was he responsible? Hahaha, I nearly burst out laughing at my thoughts
again and made a mental note to stop that as I will start to look insane if I
keep giggling to myself.

“Yes William, do you have something
useful
to
say?” Mr Harrison sighed.

“Well, yes Sir. I couldn’t help noticing that you are
addressing just Years Thirteen, Twelve and Eleven instead of the entire school.
Do you mean to say it’s someone from these year groups and if so, do you have
proof or are you merely assuming that a Year Ten pupil or lower is incapable of
such an act?”

Mr Harrison stared at William in disbelief. I mean, who
actually speaks like that? I caught sight of Jay looking round at me and he was
trying his best to stop himself laughing. I couldn’t help letting out a little
laugh when I saw Jay because I knew what he was thinking, hahaha, William
Sheldon-Harvey! Now that was stupid. Why did I even take any notice of Jay? He
probably wasn’t being nice anyway.

“Yeah, William’s right. It could be some horny little
Year Nine kid!”  This boy, Troy, from our Year (who I don’t know very
well) shouted out. Well, that set everyone off. Mr Harrison sighed...I could
tell that this was the reaction he had obviously been dreading but expecting.

“Yeah and it might not necessarily be a girl. It could be
a gay stalker - some horny little Year Nine gay stalker!” Molly Andrews shouted
out. I rolled my eyes. She’s so pathetic. She’d heard the laughing from Troy’s
comment and wanted to get in on the act. She’s always trying to be so popular
and it’s so desperate, it’s pathetic!

“Right, that’s it, I told you this isn’t a laughing
matter. Go to Mrs Davenport’s office now. We could do without immature idiots
like you!” Mr Harrison bellowed at Molly. She didn’t argue, just stood up to
leave. “And you, Troy.” Mr Harrison signalled to the door. That, I suppose, was
our warning that the teachers were all being deadly serious.

“At first it was letters at school, which Mr Huntley
thought could be ignored and hopefully the person would get bored and it would
stop. Unfortunately we were wrong...Yes we think we have narrowed it down to
these three year groups because some of the letters indicate that the student
responsible is in Mr Huntley’s class on certain days. Mr Huntley doesn’t teach
the other year groups on the days mentioned so I hope that answers your
question William?” Mr Harrison looked at a nodding William Sheldon-Harvey. “We
don’t make any assumptions about anyone.” Mr Harrison carried on, making his
point.

“Anyway, the reason I’ve gathered you here today is that
suddenly the letters have been joined by text messages as well. Goodness knows
how the person responsible accessed Mr Huntley’s mobile number, but the fact is
that they have.”  Mr Harrison now glugged some water from the glass he’d
been holding throughout the whole ‘speech’.  This led to a lot of
whispering and speculating.

I scanned the room to see if anyone was particularly
nervous or fidgeting but there was no one. I could see Riley and Amelia
whispering and laughing quietly, Ella was leaning over Amelia and trying to get
in on the joke, staring intensely at Riley as she giggled.

“After the recent text messages...” Mr Harrison said as
though ‘text messages’ were dirty words “....Mr Huntley is seriously
considering contacting the police and I can assure you, with a mobile number it
won’t take five minutes to find out who the culprit is!”

Oooooh this was getting interesting now, but still nobody
looked overly concerned. Everyone was just looking around like I was. “Who in
their right mind would want to stalk him?” Bex was hissing in my ear and Sarah
was quietly giggling in my other ear.

“We will give whoever is responsible to the end of the
day to own up if they wish to keep the police out of it, but the game is up.” Mr
Harrison boomed. “Or if anyone wants to shed any light on the incident, my door
is open all day.”

And that was that. We all just sat there, shrugging our
shoulders and looking at everybody else until Mr Harrison dismissed us, while
reminding us all he was waiting to hear.

Of course, this was all anyone talked about all morning.
Even the poor teachers stopped trying to get everyone to be quiet and seemed to
be listening to the crap everyone was gossiping about. I was glad when
lunchtime came because quite honestly, I’d had enough of all the wild theories.
You had to feel slightly sorry for the people that were coming up in
conversation. Girls who were in Mr Huntley’s class who had merely been seen
talking to him were discussed in great detail.

“Oi, look who I’ve just spotted,” Sarah nudged me. We
were being cheeky and cutting through the school office as even though we’re
not allowed, it’s the quickest way to the Dining Room.  We were just
coming around the corner towards Mr Harrison and Mrs Davenport’s office when we
saw Ella coming out of Mr Harrison’s office. She was dramatically dabbing her
eyes with a tissue and sniffing.

I grabbed Sarah and Bex and pushed them back a step,
hovering around the corner, just out of sight. “Oh my God! Is she the stalker?”
Sarah whispered and then stared at us with her mouth hanging wide open.

“Sssshhh!” I hissed furiously at her. “Listen!”

“I’m so sorry Mr Harrison...” Ella sniffed. Sarah stared
at me, I don’t think her eyes could possibly get any wider. I put my finger to
my mouth to remind her to be quiet. “I just didn’t know what to do...” Ella
carried on sniffing.

“Well, you’re quite right, it was wrong of you but you’ve
come to your senses now and you’ve done the right thing.” Mr Harrison said gently.
I really was confused now. What the hell was Ella playing at? Bex and Sarah
kept staring at me as though I could provide them with all the answers but I
was as clueless as them.

“I thought it was some silly crush. I had no idea how out
of hand it’d become,” Ella let out a huge sob and I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t
sure what was going on here but I could hear that Ella (for whatever reason)
was really putting it on. She was being so dramatic.

“Well you mustn’t feel guilty. We’ll sort it out. I give
you my word that nobody will hear that you came to see me about it today.” Mr
Harrison almost whispered. “I wish there were more students as caring and
responsible as yourself.”

I had to hold my breath because I nearly gasped out loud
at Mr Harrison’s last comment. I looked at Sarah and Bex, my hand over my
mouth, none of us dared to move.

“I would have said sooner but I didn’t want to look like
I was telling tales or ...or...or that you wouldn’t have believed me.” Ella
sniffled some more. My god, she never spoke like that at home. It was all
bitchiness and insulting people, calling them names because she didn’t think
they were beautiful people. This here was the side of Ella that the grown-ups
knew and loved.

“My door is always open Ella and I’m always here to
listen. Right, I’m going to go and sort this out. Please don’t worry
anymore.” 

I couldn’t hear Ella’s reply. Their voices were filtering
away and I knew it must be safe to peep around the corner.  They were
gone.

“Come on,” I signalled that it was safe to cut through. I
had such a bad feeling that I knew exactly where Mr Harrison had gone and who
he had gone to get.

There are some stairs in the corridor right next to the
offices and I sat on the bottom step. I don’t know why but I needed to think. I
needed time to work this out.

“What the hell is going on?” Sarah hissed at me.

“Maybe we should follow Harrison.” Bex smiled.

“Just wait.” I put my head in my hands. What had Ella
just done? She wasn’t that cold and calculating, was she? I think I had underestimated
her big time and that was a scary thought.  “I think Ella has just got
someone in trouble, serious trouble.” I whispered.

“Well, yeah!” Sarah stared at my obvious dumbness, “The
stalker. How did she find out who it was? And then she just had to be the one
to tell Mr Harrison didn’t she? Oh, she’s such a creep but I think she went
over the top with the tears. It was a bit much this time!”  Sarah gabbled
on. “He falls for it every time.”

“It’s the cutesy wootsey, hair twisting, tear dabbing,
sniffing and sobbing, girly charm!” Bex shrieked in an imitation of Ella’s
voice. Sarah and Bex were roaring with laughter. I was shaking my head because
that wasn’t what I’d meant about getting someone in to trouble. I couldn’t get
a word in though - the girls were far too busy laughing hysterically about my
sister.

I just sat there staring at them laughing louder and
louder and wondering what the hell was going to happen.  Just what had
Ella done and surely she had gone too far this time? All my life everyone has
always said really hurtful and useless comments like, “Why can’t you be a
little more like your sister?” and I’ve always just carried on and ignored the
fact that I’d just been bloody insulted and that seemed to be fine by everyone.
But you know what, I do not wish I was anything like her, thank you very much!

The doors from the Dining Room burst open and slammed
loudly against the wall of the corridor. This immediately stopped Sarah and Bex
from imitating my sister and we all looked to see what the commotion was.

“I told you Sir, I lost my phone three days ago! Why
won’t you listen to me?” Amelia Hargreaves was wailing hysterically. “Please
believe me!” She was sobbing and the confused and desperate look on her face
sent a shudder down my spine.

“Don’t be silly Amelia. Come on, we want to help you but
we can’t do that until you stop being silly and talk about this phone issue.”
Mr Harrison patronised poor Amelia.

“I haven’t done anything!” Amelia was shouting and a
crowd was forming from the Dining Room, crowding around the door to get a
better look. I sat rooted to the step I was sitting on. This girl had lost
control. “Why won’t you listen to me?” She let out a huge sob.

“Come on now,” Mr Harrison put his hand on her arm. He
was trying to guide her to his office. His eyes shifted around the corridor -
he was aware of the scene that she was making and for some reason he looked
embarrassed at all the spectators watching, the odd one making a quiet comment
to their friends.

“Get your hands off me!”  Amelia bawled. Pushing a
shocked looking Mr Harrison. Her bag fell off her arm and crashed to the floor,
contents splaying everywhere. There were a good few people gathered round at
this point and it was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. They all seemed
to be watching the last of her things roll across the floor - one of those
moments that seem to last an eternity but in reality must only last seconds. A
lipstick rolled all the way to the bottom stair where I was sitting and stopped
just as it reached my foot. And there in the middle of the floor lay all of her
things; books, make-up, hairbrush, a packet of crisps, her bottle of water,
various pens and markers that had escaped her shiny tin pencil case, and there
lit up like a beacon in the centre of her belongings was her phone, vibrating
loudly against the hard corridor floor.