"Enny, can I make a counter offer."
The hammock by the pool lightly swung sideways as I took a bite from the apple in my hand. I chewed slowly as I stared at Clareta before giving her a grin.
"What's with the change of heart? I thought you wanted me to forgive you."
"Yes, yes," she winced and pressed a finger to her temple. "I'm never drinking that much again."
She had passed out in the high school last night and Daniel was the one that carried her back. A half drunk Hae In and I were the ones that brought Zeke back.
We'd come back to the estate really late last night. After hide and seek, we played a lot of different games. Wink murder, Paranoia, Never have I ever, two truths and a lie and strip pong. We'd also played suck and blow which resulted in me getting a peck on the lips from Wesley twice. Daniel was not happy about that and Tara quickly changed the game after he threw a few attacking comments at Wesley. The mood had gone downhill from there and we decided to call it a night.
I couldn't stop thinking about what Zeke had told me. I didn't think he was lying because he was a share-secrets-drunk but he had to be. I would definitely remember if we had been sick like the infected. And he said it was when I was eight, so that means the virus was around nine years ago. The whole thing just didn't make sense.
I want to ask mum about it but Caldwell wasn't back yet. I also wanted to ask Ezra but he wasn't home when I woke up so I was currently waiting for Zeke to wake up from his alcohol induced coma.
"I mean," she continued. "Can you follow me to the livestock pen?"
I narrowed my eyes at her and she held her hands out.
"No, no, no," she winced again. "Dear Lord... Just to stay with me. You won't do the work."
"Oh," I shrugged before biting into the apple okay. "Okay."
I didn't have anything else to do today. Mrs. Turbina gave me day off because apparently you get days off if she feels you're being maltreated. I had tried to tell her that my family were Christians but she thought they were the ones making me say that. I just hoped that she would find something else to gossip about before Cassandra and the scouting team get back.
"Thank you. I'll come find you when I'm about to go," she stated before she walked back into the house.
I kept swinging in the hammock till Alison and Jack came back home from her sleepover with one of her friends. She and the girl waved at me through the patio doors before the they ran towards the stairs, disappearing from my view after they rounded the corner.
I finished the apple in my hand before my eyes fell upon the girl in front of me.
"Are you going to the medical centre today?" I asked Hae In.
She was lying sideways across one of the chaise lounges in front of the pool, munching on a cookie and playing a game on the tablet in front of her. "No, Laleh is not going. And Tatyana can be quite overwhelming when it's just the two of us."
"Ah," I muttered. "Okay."
I really didn't understand what she, Laleh and Tatyana did in the medical centre most of the times they were there because they rarely got patients.
I got down from the hammock and headed into the house. The front door opened again as I tossed my apple core in the dustbin by the kitchen door and Ezra walked in.
"Where were you nine years ago?" I blurted out and immediately smacked myself mentally.
His eyebrows pinched together in confusion as he leaned away from me like I was crazy. "Whaaaaaaaat?... Are you okay?"
I grimaced when I realized that there was no other way to ask him without seeming crazy so I just decided to be direct. Even if it meant seeming crazy.
"Zeke said you didn't go to boarding school nine years ago."
He gave me an even more confused look. "What boarding school?" he asked and my mouth fell open.
He suddenly let out a cough and lightly touched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, yes. Boarding school. What about it?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Did you go to one?"
He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "On my way home, Mrs. Turbina asked me why we make you pray in the shower. Apparently, I'm an atheist. Care to explain?"
My face flushed instantly. "Well, I- ...She -"
He raised his eyebrows at me.
"You can't deflect the conversation that easily. The effort was pretty inept," I stated and he shrugged.
"Who says I'm deflecting? You're the one deflecting now."
"How am I deflecting?" Was I deflecting?
"I don't know. Why am I being attacked with questions?"
He was right and I instantly felt bad. But Zeke doesn't lie when he's drunk and even if he did, why would he lie about that?
"Can I go now?" he asked and I waved him away before going to sit on the couch.
"I'll just ask Zeke what he was talking about when he wakes up."
"... Sure," he muttered before he headed upstairs and I picked up the novel I was reading yesterday which was on the table.
Zeke came downstairs after a couple of minutes and smirked at me when he saw me reading on the couch.
"Hey, sis. How are you?"
"I'm fine," I replied as I looked up and closed the book, placing it next to me. "Zeke, last night –"
"I was just messing with you," he said with a grin. "You're quite gullible."
"... Eh?"
"I was lying. Do you really believe what I said last night?"
What the -
"Well," he continued, not waiting for a reply and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Now that that's cleared up, I'll be in the kitchen."