Chapter 14

By the time Darcy glanced at her phone, it was almost midnight. 

"Damn, it's late," she muttered. 

Chester shrugged. "I figured you were sleeping here."

As she wetted her lips and glanced about the room, Darcy wondered if he meant for her to sleep in his bed. 

'Does he mean for me to sleep with him as in... sex?' she wondered. 

Looking back at him, sitting there in his multicoloured onesie with his hair pulled back in a pink band, she didn't feel as if the mood he’d set was a sexy one. He'd asked her to come over and hang out, which wasn't exactly code for 'let's bash genitals.'

When he noticed her staring, he scratched his head and pulled the silly headband off, laughing and blushing. 

"Do you mind me sleeping here?" she asked. His bed was a double, but it was small, and some people felt uncomfortable sharing with a non-lover.

"Course not." Chester smiled. "I have sleepovers with the girls all the time."

Darcy smiled and nodded. It was weird, but she felt comfortable in his house despite this being her first visit. His family were a little odd, and his home was cramped, but it felt like a home. It reminded her of Josh's, and of Alexa's. 

'Nothing like my house,' she thought. 'You need a family about to make a home.'

The funny thing was, she felt even less at home when her mother was in the country. Her mother who'd doted on her and given her everything a person could ever want. 

'So why does she make me feel so... cold inside?' Darcy wondered. She'd often asked herself if her mother secretly regretted adopting her. It seemed unlikely, given the money she showered her with. Still, being adopted, she always had that tiny seed of doubt planted in the back of your mind.

"You can borrow one of my onesies." Chester bounced up and pulled a box from under his bed. "I have loads of them. Take your pick. There's Pikachu, unicorn, zebra.."

As he pulled out one after another, Darcy couldn't help but smile. He really was a strange guy, she realised, but in a good way. A cute way.

'Maybe I was too quick to dismiss him,' she thought. It was probably the deep-seated trauma talking, but he was starting to look rather attractive.

"Come on, choose," he pressed her. 

"Erm." Darcy searched through the huge pile of fabric. "Can I be a unicorn?"

"I love being a unicorn," Chester cried with way too much enthusiasm. She was starting to think he might secretly be a 'brony.' The thought made her smile to herself.

"My parents tend to blast the central heating, so you might wanna strip to your underwear," he suggested. "I'll go get us some drinks and stuff while you change."

"Oh, okay." Darcy nodded. She wasn't used to guys who were so polite and thoughtful. Most would try to sneak a peek at her naked body if they had the chance—or at least, she assumed they would. 

'I really am an arrogant bitch,' she thought. 'No wonder Josh can't stand the thought of being anywhere near me.'

Although Chester hadn't wanted to talk about it earlier, she remained desperate to talk about the situation with Josh. When he came back into the room, arms filled with bags of popcorn, crisps and sweets, she flashed him her most winning smile.

"What?" Chester dropped the snacks onto the rug. He picked up two cans of soda. "Are you giving that look because you want the grape one? I don't mind. I like orange."

"No, I drink water now." Darcy frowned at the realisation that she had come to prefer water for real. 

Chester shrugged and threw her a bottle of water. 

"This look is... well... I know you don't want to talk about it but please." Darcy strung out the word 'please,' pressing her hands together and made her cutest puppy dog eyes at him. "Please? I just want to know the truth. It's not too much to ask, is it?"

Chester looked down. "It's just that... I'm ashamed I went along with it. I feel bad just thinking about what we did. Honestly, the best thing you can do is forget all about him, never speak to him or the others again."

"That might be hard in a class as small as ours," Darcy pointed out.

"I'll protect you." Chester looked up at her and smiled. "We don't need them. It can be us against the world."

The way he said it was warm, reassuring and in no way creepy, still, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up for just a second. 

"You'd really do that for me?" Darcy asked. "I thought you adored Josh."

Chester opened a bag of sweet popcorn and shoved a handful in his mouth before speaking. "He turned on me after your big apology because I said we should stop tormenting you. He said some pretty harsh things to me."

He shrugged and wiped his mouth, a look of deep hurt in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Darcy leaned in and hugged him. "I'm so grateful that you tried. You're a kind person. It's not your fault that he isn't as kind as you are."

Part of her still wanted to drag the information out of him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. This guy had stood up to his best friend in her defence because he thought it was the right thing to do. She had no right to hound him and make him feel uncomfortable after all he'd done to help her feel safe and wanted.

He peeled her away from his body and passed her the remote. "You best pick a movie, or we'll end up watching one of the live-action Rurouni Kenshin’s."

"What's that?" Darcy frowned.

He turned to face her and shifted, getting comfortable. "Well, it's about this amazing master swordsman who vows not to kill—"

"Sounds good," Darcy interrupted with a smile. She passed the controller back to him. "Let's watch it."

"See, you are cool." Chester playfully rubbed her head with his knuckles, as though she were a younger sibling.

"Who said I wasn't?" Darcy cried.

When he made the 'oops,' face and looked to the side, it was obvious he was referring to something Josh had said. 

"You don't have to worry about what other people think, you know?" Chester said. "They don't know you. People just judge based on appearances and pre-conceived notions. Stuff them."

From the venom in his voice, it was obvious he had fallen victim to the judgement of his peers in the past. Most people who dressed in alternative fashion had faced some kind of adversity. In school, Darcy had noticed the way kids who were rejected or picked on tended to form their own group with their own dark and twisted fashions.

Back then, she had treated these outcasts with scorn and tried to bring them down. Her face flushed as she realised what a petty, awful human being she used to be.

'Josh is right,' she thought. 'I don't deserve any compassion or forgiveness from him.' 

She tried to switch off and concentrate on the movie, but it was difficult despite the awesome and beautiful samurai on the screen. When he took a woman to live as his wife, tending to the fields and growing food, Darcy was picturing herself and Josh living that lifestyle.

"I'd be his fake wife any day of the week." Darcy sighed. 

"Me too," Chester agreed. 

She chuckled but said nothing. 'Is Chester gay, straight or maybe bisexual?'

It was probably rude to ask, and what difference did it even make? They were friends and nothing more.

After the movie, Chester faffed around with the bedsheets, changing them as Darcy watched some cartoon about a genius and his dumb nephew. It was wacky and amusing. 

"You don't have to go to all that effort on my account," Darcy reassured him.

"Erm." Chester made a guilty face. "Yeah, I really do."

"Oooh." Darcy nodded and turned her attention back to the screen. 

Once he was done, Chester got into the bed and pulled back the sheets. "I promise not to touch you. Honestly, I'm not very into girls. I only pretended to be into you because it was part of the evil plan, you know?"

"I trust you," Darcy said, feeling relieved. She got into the bed, sinking into the overly soft mattress as she got comfortable. "This bed is amazing."

She was about to close her eyes when she remembered her daily routine—checking her phone before sleeping. It was a bad habit, being so attached to her phone, but it was one she couldn't break.

"Not you again," she muttered, seeing another message from her ex. "What do you want, anyway?"

Curious, Darcy decided to read it this time. She clicked on his icon and opened up the messenger.

As she scrolled through the sprawling list of unanswered texts, Darcy felt her blood run cold. 

"I need to talk to you."

"Darc - it's important."

"Someone is messing with us!"

"Darcy - answer me!"

"Somebody is out for revenge - I need to know if you're okay!"

...

"What the hell?" she whispered. 

Reading the longer messages, it seemed as though someone was punishing Ted and a couple of the other kids who'd been prolific bullies in school.

'It's Josh,' she thought. 'It has to be.'

It hadn't occurred to her that Josh might want revenge on the other people who had wronged him. Ted and his friends had hurt him physically on occasion and teased him far more often than she had.

'As usual, I assumed it was all about me.'

"What's wrong?" Chester asked.

Darcy smiled and turned off her phone, slipping it under the bed. "Oh, Erm, Nothing. It doesn't matter."

But it did matter. It was all she could think about as she lay awake until the early hours. After going over the situation a million times in her mind, there was only one thing she was certain of.

'I'm going to have to see Ted.'

$ Chapter