Chapter 2

After the bell rang Dailey was struck with the fear Drake would either forget or change his mind. Ignoring her friends—her so-called friends who had known about Sam's cheating and neglected to inform her—she dashed to the main reception, hoping to catch him there.

Breathing heavily, she propped herself up against the brick wall and waited as the students piled out. They chatted and jostled about as they spilled out of the building, spoiling the quiet outdoors with their messy presence.

The birds pecking at the lunch crumbs flapped and departed as one when the wave of kids hit the courtyard. Dailey kept her back to the wall, watching the scene with disconnection, too worried about her current problem to focus on anything else.

When the dark colours of the scene kids caught her eye, she picked Drake from the crowd with ease. He was at least a head taller than most of the others and dwarfed his smallest friend, Jess Davies, who hadn't had a growth spurt since primary school.

"Drake," she called out, rushing to his side. 

He walked fast, but she managed to match his pace. When he waved goodbye to his band of followers, they exchanged confused glances before turning off into the park opposite the school. The weird kids always hung out at the park, usually skating, or messing about in the kid's area, much to the annoyance of the mothers and toddlers.

Dailey followed him down the jitty and through the side streets of the southern estate. She didn't know this end of town well, as she and her friends all lived on the opposite side of town. 

He stopped, pulled open a gate and motioned for her to go inside. She walked up the path into his back garden—a patch of grass that desperately needed mowing surrounded by overgrown bushes and an apple tree. 

Mould apples littered the grass and pavement. Dailey almost tripped over one as she tried to step through the minefield of rotting fruit without making more of a mess. 

She wondered what it would be like inside, and what his family would be like.

'What does it matter?' she asked herself, wondering why she was being so weird and nosy. The plan was simple. Get Drake to hack Sam's computer so he couldn't blackmail her and get out, never to return. 

Drake hadn't spoken a word the entire walk home. It wasn't as if they were suddenly going to become friends, bonding over the time he saved her from being blackmailed in return for money.

When he opened the back to the door to the kitchen he almost fell over his mother, who was on her knees cleaning the tiles. 

"Sorry," she gasped and wiped her forehead before continuing to clean. The woman didn't even look up at Dailey. Something about this struck her as being odd. Usually, she got a lot of attention wherever she went. 

As Drake climbed the stairs they creaked and popped. Dailey followed him, up and along the hall to his room. The door was painted black and decorated with police tape and a huge 'KEEP OUT - DANGER OF DEATH' sign he must have stolen from a worksite.

While Dailey waited for him to unlock the three locks on the door, she spotted a small, white face poking out of the other bedroom. He looked like a mini version of Drake and was just as antisocial, hiding when she smiled and waved at him.

"You have a little brother?" she asked.

Drake ignored the question, rolling his eyes as he opened the door and let her inside. It was pitch black, with blackout blinds and paint on the windows to blot out all light.

'You sure do like your privacy,' Dailey thought. Her parents would never let her have a lock on her door or keep a room like this. It was more like a computer room than a bedroom, with at least six computers stacked up under and by the side of the desk. Three screens sat forming a semi-circle, providing the only light.

He took a seat at the computer in his gaming chair and pulled a bean bag over for Dailey.

"If you send him a l**k over social media, will he open it?" Drake asked.

"I guess so," Dailey said. "You want me to try."

"Log on to your account," he demanded, shoving a keyboard in her direction. She wasn't one hundred per cent comfortable doing so, knowing he would be able to access all her messages, but it was worth it if it got Sam off her back. 

She saw Drake snicker as she typed her password in. Sure, the password 'cuminmyeye' wasn't the most mature one she could have concocted, but nobody would ever guess it.

"Okay, that worked," Drake said. "I'm in."

"It's that easy?" Dailey gasped.

"It's much easier and faster when they click on the phishing l**k," Drake explained. "That's why you should never click on a l**k in an email or a message."

Drake clicked about for a second, typing so fast his fingers seemed to blur.

"Oh jeez," he said at last, wincing at the screen. "It's like amateur hour on Pornhub." 

Dailey felt her face flush with shame. It wouldn't have been much better if the pictures were decent, but they were terrible. The angles and poses made her look both chunky and so slutty she was almost a caricature of a bad porn star.

"I know, they are awful," Dailey said. "Just please, please delete them all." 

"Done," Drake said and clapped his hands together as he spun his chair to face her. "All traces removed."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Dailey gushed. The sense of relief was so overwhelming she felt tears pricking behind her eyes.

"You don't have to thank me, you need to pay me," he said. "Two hundred pounds please."

He looked at her expectantly, tapping his fingers on the desk. Something about the tapping and the look in his eyes made her nervous.

"Oh, erm, I don't have it on me," Dailey said. "Is it okay if I give it to you tomorrow?"

"First thing tomorrow," he said as the tapping ceased. "Meet me in the same place."

Dailey nodded.

"You remember the way out," Drake said, turning back to his computer. It wasn't phrased as a question, more of a demand. 

"Thanks again," Dailey said as she struggled to lift herself from the beanbag. "Really... thank you. You saved me."

When he didn't reply she turned back to look at him briefly before letting herself out, his blank face pale—almost green in the glow from the screens. 

The stairs creaked as she made her way down, staring down at the worn carpet, so thin in places you could see the wood beneath. His house wasn't much to look at, but at least it was spotlessly clean. The mother was still cleaning the floor as Dailey passed though, feeling like a massive jerk for creaking footprints in the pristine but wet tiles. 

"I'm so sorry," Dailey said to her. 

"No, no," the woman muttered, shaking her hand but not looking up. "You're fine, dear."

As Dailey closed the door behind her, she couldn't help but stare through the glass at the woman, wondering if she had some sort of mental illness. Obsessive-compulsive disorder or some other neurosis. Surely it wasn't normal to keep cleaning an already spotless floor.

The smell of thin bleach followed her as she made her way down the side of the house. A bang on the window made her jump and look up as she passed below, seeing the little boys pale face staring down at her. 

She waved again, but he didn't react, just continued to stare.

'Creepy kid,' she thought. 'Creepy family.'