When Perfect Meets Crazy novel Chapter 7

I entered the house, confident in the knowledge that only Olly was home and she wouldn’t care whether I looked haggard or not. She would ask but she wouldn’t pry or berate me the way my parents would. And most importantly, unlike my parents, she’d think having a criminal stalk me was ‘cool’ and not a reason to end my life. Honestly sometimes, her thought process worried me. A lot.

“Hey,” she called out with her head in the fridge as I locked the door behind me. “I’m hungry. Should we order?”

“Sounds good,” I replied with a glance in her direction.

I could only imagine what she would do if she was the one being stalked. Knowing her and her affection for the dark side, it was a good thing I was the one who ran into Masked Idiot. She’d make him her best friend if she could.

She shut the fridge and turned to me.

“Pizza or burgers?”

“Any.” I shrugged half-heartedly.

“You looked spooked. Drained,” she commented.

My expression communicated the ‘so?’ very loudly.

“You good? It’s not like you. You’re always put together. Perfect,” she explained.

“Perfect my foot.” I scoffed and threw in an eye roll for good measure. ‘Perfect’ wouldn’t have an unwanted stalker on her tail. ‘Perfect’ wouldn’t sort of be an accomplice to a criminal.

She frowned, eyeing me suspiciously.

“I’m good though.” I smiled. My facial muscles stiffly complied and while my heart wasn’t in it, it was enough to fool her. I could win first place for best fake smile in the world. I perfected my technique a long time ago. No one could tell the difference between my real and fake smile. Not even me sometimes.

“Don’t ‘my foot’ me,” she countered.

I could just tell she was rolling her eyes so I rolled mine right back.

“You’re always neat and put together. My sister, the perfect... everything. Even the SATs didn’t spook you.”

I frowned at ‘perfect everything’ even though a large part of me understood why she said it.

“They aren’t scary. It’s actually designed to help you pass,” I replied, my big sister streak kicking in.

I had passed the SATs with flying colors and I did it effortlessly. The whole point was so Olly knew it was nothing to be afraid of. Fear and nerves were what threw most people off. I purposely didn’t study half as much as most of my peers so she would understand it was like any other exam. So when her turn came, she wouldn’t be plagued with nerves. Olly and nerves didn’t work well -probably because she was so self-confident the other ninety percent of the time- and she almost always got nervous about exams.

She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

“Riiiight. Save the speech for someone who doesn’t know you’re a borderline genius.”

The way she drawled the words made it perfectly clear she didn’t believe a word I’d said. My efforts were lost on her.

“Is this about the debate?” she pressed, eyeing me suspiciously. “Are you going to lose for like the first time in your life?” She rolled her eyes, reaching for her phone across the table.

“Shut up,” I muttered, wondering just how much was a joke and how much was actual resentment.

She was my sister and I’d do anything for her but that didn’t change the fact that growing up with someone who was the ‘perfect everything’ had to have been hard. Especially since she was always getting compared to me.

I sighed, shaking my head to rid it of the unsavory thoughts. I had bigger problems at the moment -namely the criminal who was probably sneaking into my room right this instant- and I knew she didn’t hate me so there was little point going down that road.

“Don’t worry about it. Sure, losing came late in life for you but I’ll coach you through it. It’s the one thing I’m better than you at.”

Again with the wondering just how much was a joke and how much was actual resentment.

“Zip it. You sing like an angel,” I countered.

Needless to say, my singing skills were less than stellar. I couldn’t hold a tune to save my life and to be honest, I was half convinced I was tone deaf.

“I’m heading up,” I added.

“I’ll let you know when the food gets here.” She threw in a smile, the momentary antagonism more or less forgotten.

“Okay.”

My skirt came off and sweatpants went on. The button-down shirt was also replaced with one of my favourite sweaters, an oversized beige number. I needed that feeling after the day I’d had. I was actually beginning to consider doing one of those ‘forgive me if I have ever wronged you’ social media cleanses because this was more than simply bad karma. Someone definitely had a voodoo doll of me somewhere and was sticking pins in it and placing new curses every three days.

I was about to finish setting up for a study session when Masked Idiot nimbly climbed in through the window. For the first time in my life, I found myself grateful for the tree in front of the window that hid him from view of anyone on the street. My friends had always said I was lucky to have a tree there to help with sneaking out and whatnot but I wasn’t that kid. If I needed to be out late, I could very well come up with a legitimate reason and my parents sort of -but not really at the same time- trusted me. As long as I was home before midnight and they hadn’t specifically requested that I be home earlier, they were fine with it. Anyway, most days, I came home straight after work so it gave them less reason to doubt me. It gave them some sort of sense of safety especially since, given their jobs, they both knew what kids could get up to. Just last month my mom had to represent a kid for drunk driving and theft. The theft charges mysteriously disappeared after money changed hands. Lucky for him, his parents owned a tech company my mom was representing so they could pull such a favor. It was a paid favor but still. Their son got off with barely even a tap much less slap on the wrist for the drunk driving. Anyway, the point was, seeing as I had never gotten into that kind of trouble, they believed I knew better so they were a lot more generous with the reins. That and they were hardly home anyway.

“I’m all set up,” I announced, eyeing him contemplatively as I tried to decide what he’d do while I studied.

“Here.” I handed him a spare notepad and a textbook I was done with. “Sit...” I trailed off, realizing I had only one chair in my room.

I was definitely not going to let him take my chair and study table. It was my reading place in my room. Plus, I was under no obligation to be a gracious hostess. I didn’t even want him here in the first place.

Unconsciously nibbling on my lower lip, my gaze roamed the room. The only other option was my bed which definitely wasn’t going to happen. Sure, he’d been on it before but that was expressly without my permission. I wasn’t about to let him at it again.

My gaze zeroed in on the beige rug at the foot of my bed.

“Shoes off,” I ordered, passing him a pair of indoor slippers.

Lucky for him, I liked the really oversized ones. I watched silently as he toed off his shoes, setting them neatly by the window he snuck in through. I made a mental note to leave a pair of slippers there for him henceforth.

“Sit. Study,” I commanded, gesturing to the rug. “Most importantly, don’t distract or interrupt me.”

He eyed the books I held out to him warily.

“I’m good, thanks.” He shook his head.

“You’re not in high school?” I frowned, painting a good picture of a confused person. I was fishing for information primarily but I had pegged him for a high school senior. Granted, he could actually be in college although he certainly hadn’t displayed cognition worthy of collegiate level.

A beat of silence passed.

“I am.”

I bit back a smile.

He was clearly lying. And not doing a good job of it. I had two things to go on now; his first name and that he was done with high school. It was only matter of time before I found out exactly who he was.

“So you’re not a senior?” I pressed, my confused frown still in place. I really could make it big as an actress if law didn’t pan out.

“I’ll write it next year,” he said by way of explanation, pushing the books back toward me.

I stifled the urge to roll my eyes. How was he even a criminal? He could barely lie straight.

Playing along, I frowned and cocked my head to the side, shook it and then settled for an even more confused look. “Explain.”

And the actress of the year award goes to...

“I’m busy. I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment. It’s better to just take my exams later when I’ve wrapped things up,” he managed, stumbling over too many words for even an obtuse seven year old to believe him. And the worst criminal of the year award goes to...

“Clearly you’re busy.” I cooed, my tone drenched in sarcasm. “I mean, in between stalking an innocent girl, committing multiple felonies and exchanging fists for no acceptable reason, where will you find the time?”

He raised his eyes heavenward, choosing sensibly -the first sensible thing he’s done so far- to remain silent.

“Anyway,” I pushed the books back towards him, testing just how far he’d take his -frankly, disappointing- lie. I could’ve lied better when I was five. Seriously. “I think you should take the finals regardless. So you screw up the first time.” I shrugged. “I’m sure you already spoke to your school...?”

I let the sentence hang, hoping he’d jump in and supply the name of said school. It could easily lead me to his real identity. He might not still be schooling there but chances were that he did at some point. All I needed to do was to get my hands on their yearbooks for the last few years.

Unfortunately, he didn’t conveniently jump in with the name so I continued, “This school must know about your... extenuating circumstances. They probably wouldn’t mind seeing as they’re willing to put it off at all.” I couldn’t mask the heavy sarcasm dripping from my tone as I added that.

No high school I knew of was that lenient, especially not with a senior. Definitely not enough to let them take time off. That was more a college thing. Was he perhaps going to the community college?

“Taking it twice improves your chances.” I smoothed my face into an amiable smile.

Seriously, if law didn’t work out, I could have great career in the acting business.

“You already think you’re going to fail. It’s not like anyone is going to penalize you for it so why not just fail and at least get an insight on how to do better next time rather than not take it and get nothing at all.” I pressed the books into his chest in a very ‘this is for you own good’ manner.

He frowned.

I didn’t need a mind reader to know that line of thought had never occurred to him. He might be an actual criminal but I was more of a criminal mastermind than he was.

“Besides,” I continued, “even if you don’t take it, it’s never too early to begin studying.”

It was too early. Way too early. I personally would never do it but he didn’t know that. And unlike him, I was kind of a genius so I could cover much in a short amount of time. Studying was more a habit cultivated to please my mom than a necessity.

He eyed me suspiciously as though he wasn’t quite sure how to react to my act of ‘kindness.’ It was time to end this. I clearly wasn’t going to get any more information going down this path.