Chapter 46 – Thomas
Chapter Forty-Six
Thomas
Me: Is our plan working?
Kola: Yes
Clover. She’s at the fucking party in a leotard so tight, nothing’s left to the imagination. She’s wearing tights too and sheer nylon tights have never failed to get me rock fucking hard. I know Clover hates sexy costumes, but I think she’d look delicious dressed as Chewbacca.
She hasn’t spoken to me since that fake fight which felt incredibly real.
Every night, I think about going to her room, tapping on her window.
Tonight, I’m dressed as Tarzan— in some loin cloth or something — and I’ve got beer in me.
Lots of beer. Enough beer to help me along if “our” plan works.
I’ve got a plan with my girls and I’ve got a plan of my own.
No one hurts my friends. No one hurts the girl I love.
She doesn’t love me back. I have to accept that.
Kola’s trying to help, but it won’t work.
She thinks if we make Clover jealous, she’ll come running to me.
It won’t work. Clover doesn’t care about me and Kola.
She thinks I’m a fucking prick. Nothing will work because I screwed up.
I should have never listened to my dad. He’s horrible with women.
I should forget every word he’s ever said to me.
Kit and Jude stumble over, loaded with drinks.
“Did you let Kola wander off?” Kit complains. “Her tits looked mint, mate.”
“Stop it.”
“They really did,” Jude responds. “Nice melons. Think we could all have a go at her?”
“Shut up.”
Kit’s dressed up as a sailor — a hat and white shorts, no shirt. Jude claims to be dressed as a goth, but looks like he’s just wearing clothes. Kola won’t be gone long. She’s with the girls on the other side of the room. They’re all laughing together and then… Roger.
That cunt approaches Clover and puts his arm around her shoulders. She doesn’t stop him. She leans into him and he whispers something in her ear. Rage courses through me.
Why isn’t she telling him off? Why does he get to touch her?
“Drink this.”
Kit shoves a shot into my hand.
“What the hell is it?”
“Who cares? Drink.”
Fuck’s sake. Here we go. The party rages on.
I can’t stop thinking about Clover. I want to think about our plan…
our trap… but I just want to go over to her.
Jude follows after Juno, the French girl, dodging the white wings attached to her angel costume so he can try to get close to her era.
Kit stumbles off to take pictures with girls in our grade who love his sailor costume and want to plant lipstick kisses on his cheek.
Sylvia: It’s time.
I walk over to her group of friends, ignoring Sylvia and Clover, heading straight for Kola and holding her like she’s really my girl.
She doesn’t resist as I grab her hips and kiss her in front of everyone.
I wish she was Clover. I wish her lips felt like Clover’s.
I wish that she smelled like Clover or that her hips were soft as Clover’s.
But they aren’t. I pull away from Kola and her lashes flutter.
She likes the kiss. She’s not a bad kisser, it’s not that.
But she’s not the girl I love and I just kissed her in front of Clover, which I hate. She’ll never forgive me now.
Everyone in the party cheers. Everyone notices the kiss. Kit comes over and sprays me with a shaken can of beer cheering. I lean forward and kiss Kola again. She grabs my cheeks and kisses back hard. Everyone sees. I lean over and whisper in Kola’s ear. “Upstairs, pretty girl. Now.”
She gives me big round eyes and nods. I spank her arse as she walks away towards the stairs.
God, I hate myself. Clover won’t forgive me for that one.
Everyone can see what’s happened, but it’s a party in a large British mansion, so everything descends to chaos again.
It’s going to work. It has to work. Clover hasn’t received any emails in a week.
Kola hasn’t received any either, but whoever did this is wildly emotional, unstable, and we’ve been peppering them with clues and hints.
It’s about me, right? Whoever did this wants to hurt me and the people around me.
It’s time for action. I have to make sure they won’t see me coming.
I exerted what can only be called ‘subtle influence’ over Kit’s choices of a mansion, studying the layout so I could head upstairs without anyone seeing me.
They won’t be watching me when there’s Kola.
Plus… the other diversion.
Sylvia runs over to Kit and changes the music.
She drags Clover to the middle of the dance floor and several of their friends from the team form a circle around them.
Clover rolls her shoulders and then her hips.
She starts dancing and everyone cheers. She’s fucking good.
I wish I could stay here watching her, but this is our little diversion and it’s time for me to leave.
I’m armed, despite the loincloth, although I don’t think I’ll need weapons.
I head upstairs. I know what room Kola’s in — we planned this all out — all I have to do is wait.
I sneak into the bathroom across from the guest bedroom she’s waiting in as bait and crack the door a smidge, waiting for Kola’s assailant.
Five minutes pass. No one. I hear more cheering downstairs. Sylvia texts me.
Sylvia: patience, T
Oh, I’m patient. Then I hear it — creaking in the floorboards upstairs and then someone opens the door to Kola’s room and I pounce.
I thrust the bathroom door open and lunge at the dark figure pushing open Kola’s door.
There’s a loud, inhuman screech from Kola’s would-be assailant. I’m not the only one prepared.
“Thomas, get him!”
I push the attacker down onto the ground, but it’s too easy to move their body.
It’s not a boy. It can’t be a boy. It’s a girl.
Her screams are very girly. Very girly. The girl howls again, and Kola takes the baton from her costume in one hand and a cricket bat in the other — probably the same one Clover used to wallop the shit out of me — and smacks the girl’s body hard.
“OW!”
She’s dressed as a ninja, which is a solid costume. Kola hits her again - hard.
“SHOW YOUR FACE!” Kola screams. I can’t make myself hit a girl, but I shut the door and let Kola hit her again. “I said show your fucking face!”
“Kola, don’t hit her,” I respond calmly. “Let her take the mask off.”
Kola stands back, chest heaving, waiting for the girl to act. She takes her mask off and Kola shrieks.
“Are you fucking serious?”
“We need to get Clover and Syl up here,” I growl, refusing to take my eyes off her.
“You go get them,” Kola sneers. “I’ll wait here with the bitch.”
“Don’t kill her.”
“Fuck you,” the ninja snaps. “Fuck you both.”
“I’ll try,” Kola says. “But trust me, it’ll be hard.”
* * *