RUNAWAY GIRL

CHAPTER 9

MELLISSA POV

“What? What are you or rather who are you talking about Moses?” I say acting oblivious.

“Oh don’t play your games with me. I heard your parents talking to you. And from what I remember the Astrid Miller I knew had forest green eyes and I know for sure you are wearing these brown coloured contacts.” Moses says taking a step towards me. 

“Excuse me, Moses, I really do not know what you are talking about and would really like you to stop accusing me of something this vague!” I say and try to get past him to move out of the kitchen.

“Hell no. I know you are up to something and I sure as hell will find out your secret and trust me if your intentions were to hurt my friends then you will see what tricks I have up my sleeve.” He says glaring at me.

“Well good luck to you for finding something that does not even exist and when you are wrong then we will see who does wrong to whom. And from the looks of your face I guess I have the upper hand.” I say pointing towards his bashed up face and walk out. Dad, as in Agent Booth, always taught us that if ever we were to get caught then we should believe wholeheartedly what we are saying is the truth and no one will ever catch up to you. 

“Well good luck to you because once I find out all about you, you are going to wish you never crossed us.” Moses stops me and takes a bowl of popcorn from my hands and walks ahead of me. 

What mess have I gotten myself into!

All of us sat on the mattresses, our backs resting on the legs of the couches. It was a very cozy place. Moses and Arya couped in one corner. Peggy and Riley both lean on Jack, and Jack loving every moment of it leaving Nathan and I to sit together in the middle. 

It was Peggy’s chance to pick the movie apparently because this is one of their group rituals and I was gladly invited with wide open arms, and she selected the movie “BARELY LETHAL”. How ironic was the storyline of the movie that the main girl was an agent who wanted to live a normal life, so she fakes her death, becomes a foreign exchange student and lives with a normal civilian family but troubles always follow her. 

When the movie ended it was just 10:30 p.m. so we decided to play a game. 

“Guys let’s play truth and dare.” Riley says. 

“NO. You always want to play that and then end up getting us guys crapped up.” Jack says.

“Are you scared of us little girls, Jacksy Poo.” Peggy says batting her lashes at me which causes Nathan and Moses to snicker. 

“No. I am not. We will play the game and I will finish each dare and truth. Just stop making digs at my masculinity. And the person who just had their chance has to ask the next person and will be open to any suggestions from the others.” He says which causes all of us to laugh again. 

We all are now sitting in a circle with Nathan and Arya sitting on either side of me. Moses next to Arya, then Riley and Peggy next to whom Jack is sitting. 

“Since I am the most manly person here, I will spin the bottle and start the damn game.” Jack says and spins the bottle which lands on Arya.

“So Arya, truth or dare?” Jack says.

“Um… Truth.” She says. 

“Okay, since you are my best friend from the girls here who always are questioning my manly self, I will let you off with an easy question. What do you want, a boy or a girl?” Jack says.

“What?!” Peggy says.

“Really?” I say.

“That is your truth question. It is supposed to be something which makes you squirm.” Riley says shaking her head. 

“Shut up.” Moses says pushing Riley a bit. 

“Well, I would like the child to be a boy since I always wanted a male member in the family, but even if the child is a girl I will be happy as long as the baby is healthy.” She says. 

Aww. How Cute!

“Cute! But how are you going to  tell your parents? I mean Sheldon and Daniel will still understand but you know how Calliope is. She has very strong believes of s*x before marriage.” Peggy says. 

“Ya man. Shelly is still approachable but seriously Calliope scares the s**t out of us.” Nathan says. 

“Watch out, Moses. Your mother - in - laws are going to give you a lot of trouble.” Jacks says. 

“Shut up.” Moses says. 

“Mother - in - laws?” I say.

What is happening here. The last I remember is Arya’s dad, Daniel Williams, was in the picture.

“Oh. You do not know about my family. It’s okay. Well my mom and dad had an arranged marriage but my mom had already told my dad about her orientation and they needed to produce an heir who would take over the family company, so my dad became my mom’s sperm donor and after I decided that I would take over the firm, they divorced and my mom married my other mom Sheldon. My grandparents agreed as long as I am going to be the CEO.” Arya says.

“Didn’t you question them about it?” I asked.

“Yep, I did. I resented them too for hiding such a thing from me but I knew that my parents never loved each other. Plus dad now has a girlfriend who is really nice.” She says

“Yes, miss little freaking rich.” Jack says.

“Ya. They just got married two summers ago when Arya decided.” Nathan says.

“Yes. It was such a cute little summer wedding. And the best part was her dad gave away her mom to Sheldon.” Peggy says. 

“Aww. That is so cute.” I say.

“Yep. Enough about me let’s continue the game.” She says and spins the bottle which lands on Peggy. 

“I choose dare bitches.” She says. 

“Okay, so let me think but I am open to all suggestions.” Arya says.

We all made a small circle around Arya to discuss the dare when she decided to go with Jack’s dare for Peggy.

“Jack I do not particularly like this idea.” I say. 

“Why? It is going to be so much fun.” Jack says.

“But he is her brother’s friend. Come on. You cannot make poor Peggy do this.” Riley says. 

“Well her brother’s friend is a dick.” Moses says. 

“Yep. I agree with them. He always is irritating the hell out of us and this is the only way we can get him by the ass.” Nathan says. 

“You do realize what you are proposing right?” Arya says.

“Yep.” All of them say at once leaving us girls. 

“Fine. Peggy listen to your dare.” Arya says and tells her the dare.

“Yes, bitchachos.” She says.

Arya tells her the dare and Peggy’s eyes open wide.

“You want me to do what?!” She practically screams. 

“It’s alright if you don’t want to do this dare. I get it.” I say.

“Yep. It is pretty embarrassing.” Riley says. 

“Oh, shut up. Peggy weren’t you  the most daring one of us all.” Jack says.

“Plus we get to have our revenge.” Nathan says.

“Revenge. What has Dam ever done to you guys?” Peggy asks.

“He always gives us guys s**t. I swear your brother should never have met him when he went to the university.” Jack says to which Peggy just glares at him.

“Come on, Peggy. It’s just one phone call and a faux date.” Moses says.

“You guys want me to call Dam, pretend to be someone else and invite him over for a date and ditch him. That is pure cruelty.” Peggy says.

Let’s just say it took the guys ten minutes to convince Peggy to go through with the dare.

“Alright. But only on one condition.” She says. 

“Anything.” Jack says. 

“He never gets to know it was me, or I will personally kill you people.” Peggy says.

“Why are you so bothered with him knowing about it being you?” Nathan asks.

“I’m not bothered. I just do not want him to give me any s**t if he knows it’s me.” Peggy says. 

“Bullshit. I do not believe you.” Moses says. 

I agree with Moses too. She is reacting as if she has feelings for him and doesn’t want to cause him to not like her.

“What do you mean bullshit? I said I would do the dare if you guys promised me that he would not know it was me.” Peggy says. 

“Fine,  you know what since you are so against doing this I would like to change the dare. Is it okay with everyone?” Moses asks. 

We all nod in response and he says, “Peggy, I dare you to tell me why do you feel so bothered with Dam knowing if it was you. And I know why I just want you to admit it out loud because it is better to admit your feelings than to just ignore them.” Moses says.

“Fine. I have feelings for him. But he is my brother’s best friend who thinks of me as the annoying little sister and I do not want him to not like even less. Wait. How do you know about it? Arya did you tell Moses about it?” Peggy says.

“No Peggy. Do you really think that I would tell anyone anything? It's Moses, he always knows everything.” Arya says. 

“Yes, Peggy. You cannot argue with that.” RIley says and Moses looks at me. I know he is giving me a sign telling me he always knows everything. 

“Guys. Guys. Chill. Let’s just continue the game.” Jacks says. 

“Sorry guys. I just got defensive for no reason.” Peggy says and everyone is then happy as all the tension gets lifted and all of us sit in our positions and start playing. 

The is again spun and this time lands on Moses.

“Ok, Moses. Truth or dare.” Peggy says. 

“Dare.” Moses says.

“Fine. Then I dare you to tell us with whom did you fight to get your face batted like this.” Peggy asks Moses.

“Yeah dude. We have  been asking you this. Better answer properly now with integrity.” Nathan says.

“Fine. When I was going home, I stopped to buy some snacks for Louis. After buying those I saw two guys bullying a little boy and calling him names. So I handled them but got this on my face.” Moses says. 

Whoa! That guy is a great liar!

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Arya asks, touching his face. 

“Ah. It’s nothing. I know you get bothered with all these things so I just didn’t want you to stress especially with the baby.” Moses says. 

“Okay. Enough with sappy talks. Let’s continue.” Riley says and Moses spins the bottle which lands on Riley. 

“Truth or dare?” Moses asks. 

“Dare.” She says smirking. 

“Oh..Oh… Can I give her the dare please?” Peggy asks.

“Ya sure.” Moses says.

“I dare you to sing the song you sang for Robert Mitchel in Grade 4.” Peggy says. 

“What are you serious about that?” Riley says. 

“OOOOH. That was hilarious. I remember the whole cafeteria cheered for the small girl singing ‘We Will Rock You’ for her senior crush.” Jack says ruffling Riley’s hair.

“I remember and then after he rejected her, she kicked him on the shin and ran away.” Nathan said and all of us were laughing with tears in her eyes. 

I remember that day too. After that incident the guy received a kick from me too.

“Then I remember Astrid came and kicked the guy again for rejecting me.” Riley says and suddenly everyone becomes quiet and her turquoise coloured eyes open wide realizing what mistake she made. 

I suddenly looked down and from the corner of my eyes could see Moses glaring at me.

“Oh. I’m sor- s**t. Can I please do my dare?” Riley asks looking down. 

“It’s okay, Riles. She was your friend too. Just because of me you all don’t have to do this. Keep quiet and not talk about her. Someday we have got to move on.” Nathan says and all of them give him a small smile and nod. 

I suddenly felt so ashamed of myself. I felt like telling them everything. What happened and why I had to move away but keeping them in the dark is a way for me to keep them safe. 

“Fine. Then let me sing.” Riley said and sang the song in her ‘oh so lovely’  voice.

After her turn she spinned the bottle and this time it landed again on Peggy. After another turn the bottle landed on Jack.

“Truth or Dare, Jack?” Peggy asks.

“Dare, duh.” He says.

“Alright. I dare you to dance on ‘Barbie Girl’ the way you danced in Grade 1 and let me record it too.” Riley says, smirking at Jack.

 “What the fuck.” Jack says.

“You know what, Riley’s the man here.” I say and all of us start laughing. 

“Hell no. I am not going to do it.” Jack says defensively.

“Jacky boy, I thought you were the manliest of us here?” Peggy says and Jack looks to the boys for help but they also put their hands up in surrender.

“Fine. No one leaks the video though.” Jack says.

Riley starts the song and Jack starts dancing while we make his video. 

“Damn, baby. You gotta bright future behind ya.” Riley says smacking his ass.

Jack then sits down and spins the bottle which lands on Nate.

“Truth or Dare, Nate.”  Jack asks him as he was the last one to have his turn.

“Truth. I have seen you guys give shitty dares and I am really not in the mood to get crapped up.” Nathan says. 

“Okayyyy. When did you have the last f**k?” Jack asks. 

“Seriously you’re asking me this?” Nathan says. 

“Disgusting, Jack. We do not want to know about Nate’s s****l escapades.” Riley says.

“Fine. If you guys have something better to ask him then by all means help yourself.” Jack says.

“I’ll ask you a question.” Moses says. 

“Ok. Go on. Ask away.” Nathan says.

“When are you ever planning to come to terms with what happened four years ago?” Moses says and the colour of Nate’s face vanishes.

“Moses. You know he is not comfortable with talking about all this.” Arya says. 

“Moses, you really know how to call it a night, I guess. I am going home. And by home I mean my apartment and don’t bother following me. Bye guys. Bye, Melly.” He says and rushes out of the house, closing the door with a bang.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Moses?” Arya says. 

“Exactly. You know that Nate does not take well to this topic.” Jack says.

“You know that we all have agreed not to talk about his mom and Astrid.” Riley says. 

“Guys, it has been four f*****g years. He has to get over what happened.” Moses says.

“No, Moses. Everyone takes their own time to heal. You may be his brother but you cannot rule over him.” Peggy says.

“He didn’t just lose one person. His whole family is destroyed. His beliefs have been questioned and he does not know to cope with it. We all know that despite him having problems at home, Astrid was his support system since kindergarten. And after she left, his family collapsed and that was the last string anyone could pull on a fourteen year old boy.” Riley says. 

Jack then frustratingly looks around and his eyes fall on me and soften. 

“Guys, we really should not fight over all this and just give some space to him. Moses take the girls home and I'll drop Mellissa to her door.” Jack says and at that moment I swear Moses’ eyes snapped in my direction and if looks could kill, I would be a thousand feet under the ground. 

“Fine. Let’s go guys.” Moses says and walks to the door with Riley, Arya and Peggy on his heels. 

“Let’s go, I’ll drop you off.” Jack says. 

“It’s okay, jack. We just live next door, I’ll go by myself.” I say.

“Naaa. It’s okay, Mels. A gentleman never lets a woman walk alone back home even if they live next door.” He says and chuckles a bit. 

“At least let me help you clean. Then you can drop me.” I say.

“Sure.” He says and we clean the mess we all made up.

“I’m sorry, Mels, you had to see all that. You must be so confused right now listening to our conversation” Jack says.

“It’s nothing to be sorry about. And as for my confusion, obviously I would like to know all about it but no one should be uncomfortable talking about it.”  I say.

“Yep, that I agree. It is not our place to say either. Only Nate should be the one to tell you.” Jack says. 

“Yes.” I say.

“Let’s go.” He says and ushers me out of the house. 

“By the way, Nate has a soft spot for you.” Jack says when we reach my house porch.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask.

“I mean to say that, he is trying you know, to move on. And I guess, I know why he suddenly is trying.” Jack says.

“Why do you think so, Jack?” I ask.

“Because you remind all of us of her. Our friend, Astrid. Good night, Mells.” He says and walks back to his house. 

I walked inside the house and told my parents and Luke that we had to cut the sleepover short and am home now. I laid down in my bed thinking that it is good that he is trying to move on but he is again relying on the person who is going to break him again.