Locks and Keys

Chapter 13

"It's a deal." He said, holding out his hands and I threw the packet at him. He disappeared out of the kitchen, leaving me to root through the sweetie jar for my favourite chocolate – Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate. I retrieved the bar, put the lid back on the jar and jumped down from the side, shutting the cupboard as I did so. I smirked at my treasure, before shoving it into my mouth.

"You look like a pig right now, you know that, right?" My dad stated, walking over to the kettle and flicking the switch.

"I already knew that, Mark!" I scoffed, my mouth still full of chocolate. With my head held high, I walked out of the room with my father's laughter booming behind me. I made sure I had swallowed the chocolaty goodness before I strolled into the living room where all my other siblings were. I sat down on the sofa, next to Lock and Lucy, who were both staring intently at the TV. I leant over towards Lock.

"I'm sorry, I just snapped, forgive me?" I whispered, making him tense, before visibly relaxing and sighing.

"You know I could never stay mad at you." He muttered, nudging his arm against my own.

"Aw! Lock, you're the best!" I screamed, throwing my arms around him.

"Shut up! We're trying to watch The Bake off, here!" Lucy shushed me, angrily.

"Ooo! Who's doing the best so far? Why didn't you call me to say it was on? You know this is my favourite show! YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF TRAITORS!" I screamed in protest, just as Lock's hand came over my mouth and smothered my shouts.

"Shut up! Or we're going to have to put you on the naughty step!" Jo-Jo snapped, leaving me shocked that a three-year-old was telling me to shut up! What was the world coming to?

'Like a small boat, on the ocean, sending big waves into motion; like how a single word can make a heart open, I might only have one match, but I can make an explosion-'.

Ugh! I shut off my alarm and stretched my arms and back out, before flopping back down under the covers of my bed. It was six-thirty in the morning, definitely not a time that I would want to be awake right now. It was now Wednesday, only three days into the first week of school. Why was this week taking so long? I groaned and rolled out of bed, and then rushed t the bathroom so I could pee. I got dressed into a pair of jeans and a loose jumper, before grabbing my phone and shoving it in the back pocket of my jeans. I skipped down stairs to find Lock already at the table and a bole of Cocoa Pops waiting for me.

"Thanks, Brother dearest." I muttered as I shoved a spoonful into my mouth. Lock chuckled to himself.

"Still not a morning person, I see." He stated and I grunted in reply. I went through my usual morning routine of packing my bag, cleaning my teeth and throwing on some make up to cover up the spots that appeared overnight, damn those retched spots, and then we piled into the car. Lock was feeling nice enough to let me drive this morning, which made my morning start in a much better way than it would have done. Lock walked into the school to drop off Lucy and Jo-Jo, leaving Jamie and me in the car to listen to 'Shut Up and Dance' by WALK THE MOON. Jamie was tapping away at his phone, while I belted out the words and ignored the looks parents were giving me as they took their own kids into school, I guess the car wasn't as sound proof as I would have thought. Ah, well.

"Ready to go?" Lock asked, as he got in the car and clicked his seat belt into place.

"Let's do this thing!" I shouted with a fist pumping the air, before starting the car up and getting it into gear. I saw Jamie roll his eyes in the rear view mirror, so I stuck my tongue out at him and began driving towards our school.

What did I have first? Oh, yeah, music, after that is double Design Tech. and then I have two frees then English last period. Today was going to a good day, hopefully and with no more creepy texts, fingers crossed.

 When we pulled into the school lot, a load of our friends surrounded the car, with Brook and Amanda being at the front on my side and Danny, Kent and Josh at Lock's door. I saw Jamie shoving his way through the small mob, angrily and then walking off to some of his friends. I rolled my eyes, and then turned back to Brook and Amanda.

"Are you two ready for a fun filled day of learning?" I asked with mock enthusiasm.

"Uh, yeah, whatever, let's just get to form, it's going to rain on us if we're not careful." Amanda pointed out and began retreating back into the school building. Everyone followed her lead, not wanting to get soaked in the up-coming downpour. We all plodded through the corridors to our form room and sat down in the same place as yesterday and talked about nothing important to pass the time.

"I want to show you something that I received yesterday." I muttered to Amanda and Brook, holding my phone out to them. They looked at the messages and then gave me back my phone.

"What are we going to do about it?" Brook asked in a hushed tone, leaning in so we could hear her above the noise of the other students talking around us. Amanda and I both leaned in, as well, so that our heads were almost touching.

"There's nothing we can do, right now, we have to wait until this person slips up or something, so we can figure out who it is." I said. Both girls nodded in agreement, before we were interrupted.

"What are you three doing, Boston? It looks like you're planning someone's murder!" Danny taunted from next to Lock.

"Oh, Ducky, just yours." Brooklyn said, sticking her tongue out as I put my phone back in my pocket.

And so it begins – faze one, patience. It's all just a waiting game.