Free Deadly to Love by Mia Hoddell Page B

grass.
    “What she done now Chlo?” Mel said, jumping to conclusions as usual.
    “Only gone and forgave the guy. He did do something pretty sweet though. Check this out.” She threw my iPod across and the three of them crowded around the tiny screen.
    “She wouldn’t forgive him so he did that and I’m not really surprised Rea forgave him after that, even I probably would have.”
    I looked at her stunned, Chloe wasn’t the type to give anyone, except maybe us four, a second chance so she must have loved what Kai did.
    “So do you like him now?” I knew it was still a long shot as I asked it.
    “I wouldn’t go that far yet. He’s definitely worked his way up my scale as at least he’s shown he wants you, but like? No, I still think he’s bad for you.”
    I laughed at her screwed up face that was just reinforcing her point.
    “Anyway can we do something other than talk about Kai for once?” Only Chloe heard me, the others were still pointing, and mumbling about certain messages.
    “Of course not. Your personal life is way more interesting than anything we have going on. Oh and don’t think I’ve forgotten about Ian, because you still owe us all the details about that encounter.”
    Groaning inwardly I mentally cursed Ian for talking to me in front of them. The three who were previously looking at my iPod suddenly looked up eagerly awaiting my explanation, but I was unsure as to whether I wanted to give it them.
    “Yeah come on Rea you’ve got to tell us,” Lindsay said. She wasn’t as pushy or nosey as Chloe but I could see she too was dying to know what happened between the two of us.
    “OK fine. He followed me all the way to history because we are in the same class and sat next to me like normal. He said some stuff about wanting to be just friends, apologised for everything and then started asking how things were going with Kai. Happy?” Already I could tell from their expressions that they were far from happy. They were after more detail than I had just provided them with and all looked slightly disappointed.
    “So are you trying to be friends?” Becka asked while handing me back my iPod.
    “I don’t know, I said yes but that was only because I have to put up with him for another eight lessons and he was driving me crazy. I’m hoping I won’t have to see him again after this term finishes,” I said while sighing and burying my face in my knees. Thankfully they realised that this was a sign that I wasn’t in the mood to talk about either Kai or Ian and the subject quickly changed to something more neutral.
    I didn’t realise how quickly the time had gone by and before I knew it I had spent six hours in the park with them. By that time I had forgotten all about Kai and his promise to tell me everything. My distraction had worked for so long but now I had remembered I needed to know so making up an excuse I started to try and leave.
    “You’re going to talk to him aren’t you? Find out what he’s been hiding?” Chloe said as I began to walk away. I only smiled over my shoulder as I left, waving at Becka, Linds and Mel.
    “Make sure you phone me when you know, I want all the details.”
    I heard the faint order from Chloe and laughed to myself and her sudden interest. The day before she didn’t want to listen to me whine and now she wanted me to phone her with details.
    Even though I had previously forgotten about learning what Kai was keeping from me, as soon as I got home it was the only thing on my mind. I stopped to grab an ice-cream and a drink on my way through the kitchen but that was the only detour I made before heading up to my room.
    Signing onto the instant messenger, Kai’s chat window popped open before my laptop even had time to load everything.
    Kai: Hey
    Darcie<3: I’m listening...
    Okay, so I probably hadn’t needed to be so blunt and cold but I was in no mood to mess around with small talk. All I wanted to do was hear him out and see if it was good enough to stay