Chapter 20

Erin was so shocked when Toby asked her over to his house that she almost choked on her own spit.

"You're good at math," he said casually. "Wanna explain the homework to me?"

"E-erm, I err..." Erin stammered.

'How does he know I'm good at math?' she wondered. 'Does he notice me in school?'

It seemed unlikely. 

"I'll bribe you with my mum's cooking," he said, grinning widely. "Since I have nothing else to offer you. I can't even help you with another subject because I'm equally bad at everything."

"Oh, I'm sure you're good at something," Erin cried. She'd meant academically, but it came out sounding perverted. "Oh... I didn't mean—"

"It's okay," he told her with a soft smile. "I get you. I guess you don't want to waste your time on a dumbo like me—"

"I'll help you," Erin blurted with far too much enthusiasm.

'Dial it back, Erin. Dial it back,' she coached herself as Toby flashed her an amused look.

He leaned in so close she could smell the chocolate Frappuccino on his breath. "Also, I don't really like this new guy. I think we should leave him in Morgan's capable hands."

"Hmm." Erin nodded in agreement. She understood his sentiment completely. The guy was oddly clueless. Like an old man in a young person's body.

As she watched Morgan show him the pawnshops mobile phones, frowning and gesticulating, Erin thought the pretty blonde was starting to lose interest in the sexy new guy as well. 

The shop was like an enclosed car-boot sale, items stacked up in random piles that left little room to manoeuvre. Most of it was rubbish, but you occasionally found a gem hidden in the dusty shelves or cases. After they found out Logan had an old-style flip phone, the group had made it their mission to find him an affordable smartphone. 

Erin stepped over a pile of older televisions to have a look at a bass guitar. A five-string.

'Cool,' she nodded.

When she noticed Toby shifting from foot to foot, hands in his pockets, she asked if he wanted to leave.

As he nodded, she shouted to Morgan who made a silly face, sticking her tongue out and sneakily gesturing at Logan. Erin giggled as she left with Toby, wondering what his house would be like. 

Toby took the mickey out of Logan as they walked.

"Netflix!" he cried and frowned. "Never heard of it."

"It's a television subscription service," Erin uttered in a decent impression of Morgan's voice.

"Television!" Toby cried. "What's a television when it's at home?"

"Well, it's a sort of box you look at," Erin said, raising her hands. "Now, don't be alarmed by the moving images."

"This sounds like the Devil's work." Toby tutted and shook his head.

The pair were laughing as he steered away into a front garden. His house was on one of the streets that joined the good side of town and the not so good. 'No man's land' as she called it. Nobody could decide if it was a decent area or not, but as you walked the length of the street, all 156 houses, you could see the decline in quality and rise of graffiti, like succession on a beach.

His house was on the nicer end—the side that had actual plants in their gardens. 

He swung the door in and called out to his mother. 

"Mum! Can I have someone over for dinner?" he shouted.

"Aww, did you make up with Dailey?" she shouted back.

"Not exactly," he said, giving Erin a silly look. "Just a friend."

"Oh!" Toby's mother looked surprised as she looked down at Erin. She was a tall woman, wearing overalls and covered in oil. "That's fine. The more the merrier."

Erin smiled and thanked her. She wished her Mum were that cool. If Erin ever wanted to bring somebody home for dinner her Mum insisted on meeting their parents and everything.

"Come on," Toby ushered her up to his room, stepping over a pile of bags at the bottom of the stairs. 

"Take the bathroom stuff up!" his Mum shouted. 

Toby sighed heavily as he retrieved the bag and dumped them haphazardly outside the bathroom, spilling bottles of shampoo, bleach, and sponges onto the tiles.

"I'm sorry it's a mess," he said as they entered his room. People often said this, regardless of the mess level but in this case, he was being genuine. It was an absolute dump. Piles of crumpled clothes, crisp packets and half-eaten snacks covered every available surface.

Toby used his arm to swipe away the clothes from the bed, creating a space for them to sit. The space was small, so small that Erin felt his leg touching hers. 

As he spoke, pulling his Math notes from his bag, all Erin could focus on was his leg.

"Erin?" he asked.

"Sorry what?" she asked, head jerking up.

"You don't think Logan was right about Damien?" Toby asked, face creased with concern.

Erin shook her head. "No way. He's a weird jerk to even think it. I mean, who would injure a little kid because they had to do P.E.?"

"Yeah, it's a bit far out," Toby said, but his face remained worried.

Erin could sort of understand why. 

"I know what he did to you was mean, but..." Erin trailed off, thinking of a nice way to explain her opinion on the matter.

"But I deserved it?" he asked. 

"You mess with the horns and you get the Devil," she said, quoting one of her favourite bands.

"I shouldn't have picked on him," Tom admitted with a shrug. "But it terrifies me that he can do that stuff."

"Same, if I'm honest. He always says he'll be strong enough to bring on the apocalypse one day. I hope he's joking but really, I think he believes that's his destiny or something."

"Damn," Toby uttered, his cute face puckered with worry. 

As Erin looked through his notes, trying to figure out where he was going wrong with the quadratic formula, he sat and scrolled through his social media.

"Oh no," Toby said, shaking his head.

Erin looked up, eyes narrowing when she saw a picture of Damien in his feed.

"Looks like New Guy has discovered social media... and he's posting about Damien."