40Chapter 3
Annie stayed home the day she received the letter. It was the weekend now, and Annie had yet to talk to Sam about everything. Sam called up asking why Annie didn't come to school; Annie didn't feel up to telling Sam over everything over the phone. Sam continued telling her about the usual things that happened in school. Matt had rung her when she never came to school, it went straight to voicemail, but it made Annie smile just thinking about it. He had phoned to see how she was doing, whether she was OK, and was informing her that she had yet to hear 'The Life Story of Matt Parks, Edition Uno'. Thinking about Matt's call had somewhat distracted her, and half the things Sam had told her went in one ear, and out the other.
Sighing, Annie paced back and forth in her room. She didn't know what to do, or where to start with her mini-investigation. Watching shows like CSI and Bones would've helped at times like this, but blood made her feel queasy. For a moment, Annie let her mind drift off.
Matt doesn't like blood either….she though giddily, before she snapped out of her reverie.
Annie's phone rung and she jumped startle by the noise that filled her quiet room. She flipped it open. "Hello?"
"Anniiieee!" Sam cried. Annie held the phone away from her.
"Sam?"
"Yes! You were supposed to meet me at the coffee shop half an hour ago!" Annie frowned then slapped her forehead. Just as Annie opened her mouth to apologise profusely, Sam continued. "But that's OK! Cos' guess what?!" Again Sam didn't wait for an answer. "Jason's here!" With that Sam squealed.
Annie paused for a moment and wondered whether the name Jason was supposed to mean anything. "Um, Jason?"
"Oh, of course you don't know him. He's in my drama class, he's really cute and he has dimples! How cute is that?"
"Um, very," Annie said trying to put a bit of enthusiasm in her voice.
"You don't sound excited…why aren't you excited?!"
"Well, does the name Lawson mean anything to you?" Annie asked.
"Oh, yeah. Well, he's not interested," Sam replied almost dismissing him altogether. Annie's eyes popped.
When was Carson out of the picture? She thought. She voiced this.
"Oh, I was over him after he said no," again Sam sounded bored and impatient.
"Wait, you asked him out?" Annie asked incredulously. When had her friend become so…upfront?
Italy probably.
"Oh, yesterday…I think," Sam replied unsure of herself. It didn't matter to her though; Jason was the new kid on the block. Sam cringed at her thoughts. How seventh grade!
"Oh," was all Annie could say. "Well, great I guess. So something good came out of me not showing up."
"Yes it did. I shall bug you about that later, but oh, crap, he's coming back, gotta dash. Smooches!" With that Sam hung up.
"Smooches?" Annie echoed starring at her cell phone. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. It all fell to place. Annie scrambled around her room looking for a notebook, an empty one preferably. Annie was on her hands and knees looking for a notebook, but all the ones she found were full of doodles, notes and random thoughts. Annie cursed softly. On impulse Annie grabbed her keys and bag.
"Mum!" she called out.
"Yeah honey?" her mum asked popping her head from behind the door to her room.
"I'm going to the store for a moment, need to get some school stuff," I said slipping on my shoes.
"Sure, be back before lunch though," her mum replied.
"No worries!" Annie shouted from downstairs. Ms Paige smiled after her daughter. She certainly was her father's daughter. The thought made her sigh for a moment before going back into her bedroom.
x-x-x-x
Annie drove to her local mini store. It wasn't too far away from her house. Once parked, Annie jumped out of the car and practically skipped inside. Annie was in search of a notebook. A notebook so she could write down everyone, who is anyone, she sees. Anything weird, unusual, people who just keeping popping up and just plainly creepy things, she could always keep a track on the dates of when the 'love' letters started arriving. Annie's mind was firmly set on the idea, and unless she started straight away she knew the idea would go, or that she would find it to be useless.
After saying a quick hello to the doorman, Gino, she walked quickly to the stationary section. After picking out a plain blue notebook, she paid and left. Annie's head was buried in her bag looking for the keys to her car; she didn't even notice the person walking towards the store. That is until she bumped into him.
"Oh sorry," she said sidestepping her person. She looked at the guy; he smiled at her as if accepting the apology. After finding her keys she hopped into her car. As she was leaving she suddenly remembered something, the guy she bumped into looked very familiar but she couldn't quite place him. Shrugging it off as a case of mistaken identity, Annie drove back home.
"Back so soon?" Annie's mum asked her from the front room.
"Um, yeah, quick trip," Annie called back distracted. Before waiting for a reply, Annie ran up to her room. Part of Annie was feeling giddy; it was like she was doing real detective work. Then the most sensible side of Annie's brain kicked in and reminded her that she had partial stalker.
"Names," Annie said to herself as she wrote on the first page. She made two columns, one for the person's name, and the other for how many times she saw the person. This way if she saw someone too often that not, she could list them down as a 'suspect'.
Annie flipped to the back of the book and wrote down the first main suspect. 'Simon'. Annie remembered the phone conversation she had with Sam the previous day.
"So, a certain someone was asking about you…" Sam said in a singsong voice. Annie perked up at this.
"Really? Who?" she asked trying not to sound to bothered about this.
"Oh, no one. Just a certain someone in your art class called Simon," Sam continued. Annie made a 'oh' and went back to moping. She had hoped that it was Matt that had asked about her. Though there wasn't really any need seeing as he called to check up on her…well, Annie hadn't answered the phone, but she sent him a quick text saying she was fine.
Sam continued going on about something or the other, and Annie continued thinking about Matt and his glorious voice on the phone. He did sound pretty amazing on the phone, she thought.
Annie blinked. Her eyes travelled down to where she had written his name. She felt a tad bit guilty. She considered crossing his name off. Simon might only just be a concerned friend, but Annie couldn't take any chances. She nodded her head and kept his name on there. While pondering on whom else to add to the list Matt came back to Annie's mind. Her pen that was now doodling on a scrap piece of paper had frozen. Could Matt be the stalker? Annie thought. Maybe he was using some reverse psychology to point the finger somewhere else.
It took Annie about twenty minutes deciding on whether to put his name down or not. With a sigh, she wrote it down. In her mind, everyone was a suspect. Sure, she may have a tiny crush on him, but that didn't stop there being that small voice in the back of her mind saying 'what if it's him?' In her mind she knew it was the right thing to do.
x-x-x-x
"Yay! You're back! You have no idea how boring it was without you," Sam cried out dramatically as the girls met at school in front of their lockers.
"Oh shut up!" Annie said laughing. "I bet you were glowing with happiness that I was gone."
"Oh you know me to well," Sam replied. The girls laughed. They still had a couple of minutes till class started. Annie's notebook was in her bag. It was like her 'Dirty Little Secret' only it wasn't all that dirty.
"So when do I get to meet this 'Jason'?" Annie asked grinning. Sam blushed knowing that her best friend wouldn't let this go.
"Um, never?" Sam chose to suggest. After getting playfully wacked on the shoulder, Sam gave in. "OK, OK, so he's this really cute guy in my drama club thing, and you know, I would've never noticed him before you know, but he just suddenly started talking to me, and it was like 'bam!' fate kicked in. Ya' know?"
"You seem to be saying 'you know' a lot…" Annie remarked. "But more to the point," she continued after seeing her best friend's face. "If you think he's cute, then I think he's cute, and you should totally go for him!"
"You know what Miss Paige? I might just do that."
A thought struck Annie as they walked to their homeroom. Lawson rejected Sam. That meant that either he really didn't like her as more than a friend, or he had someone else in mind. Someone, maybe, Annie? Annie shook her head. They had only known each other for a couple of days and he was British. I mean, there was nothing wrong with British guys, but the notes sounded so poetic…so…Shakespearean. Annie's eyes bulged.
"Something wrong Annie?" Sam asked her as they sat down at their places, just in time for the bell.
"No, nothing," Annie decided against telling her best friend about her theory. Wasn't it Sam who had commented that the poems sounded Shakespearean? Annie's heart was pounding.
Annie mentally scanned her timetable. English was next. The lesson she'd have with Lawson.
Oh boy…
A/N A quick authors note. I should be doing my work, but I felt bad for not updating, so here's a half update...half because its only a little under 2000 words! That is really soooo short! Hope you like it and I'm sorry for the lack of updates and rubbish grammar! Lol Really, sorry! Any mistakes? Do tell, if you have time! Thanks!
Thanks for reading! :D
Hopelessly Cliché
xoxo