The Secret Keeper

“It that really necessary?”

I glared over at Bo, who was walking along the street, balancing on the curb and looking all-together like a five-year-old that had too much sugar.

“Yes, it is,” he bit back stubbornly.

I put my hands up. “Ok, ok! Sheesh. No need to go all PMS on me.”

If looks could kill, I’d be in my grave. “Yeah… well… you’re ugly!”

I rolled my eyes. It was almost funny how I always came up with the good comebacks.

We were going to the mall. I was meeting Holly there to go and hit the sales. It was our after-Christmas tradition. You know, buying presents for next year. My mom made Bo come with me, since he had nothing to do and I’d just had a mental breakdown. Apparently I was vulnerable, or something. All I knew was that I was pissed that my girls-day-out was ruined.

I took another sip of my hot chocolate. I didn’t like coffee; it didn’t taste good to me. While Holly always ordered some non-fat mocha decaf or whatever, I stuck with good, old fashioned, hot cocoa with whipped cream. Yum.

As we went in, I headed over to our meeting spot: the fountain. It was one of those huge ones: the ones that would take up the entire building if it wasn’t two stories. It had a bunch of ghosts all entwined together. You have to remember, this is Witch Hazel. We’re all about the paranormal.

I sat on the edge of it and sipped my drink. Holly wasn’t there yet. Bo was continuing his balancing act on the outside of the fountain. I swear that boy can not stand still.

I pulled out my iPod touch and started playing games. I was halfway through a game of Tap Tap Revenge when somebody yanked it away from me. Need I tell you who it was?

“What, Bo?” I snapped as he twirled the earbuds around his finger.

“I wanna plaaaaay!” He whined. He really wasn’t helping himself with the maturity thing.

I huffed and took my iPod back. He was about to say something, but I gave him one of the headphones and he shut up.

“Hot N’ Cold,” I said, not waiting for him to approve before starting the game.

“You change your mind
Like a girl changes clothes,
And you PMS
Like a b*tch, I would know,
Yeah you, never think,
Always speak cryptically,
I should know
That you’re no good for me…”

I laughed as Bo started singing along. Loudly, I might add.

“’Cuz you’re hot then you’re cold,
You’re yes then you’re no,
You’re in then you’re out,
You’re up then you’re down.
You’re wrong when it’s right,
It’s black and it’s white.
We fight, we break up;
We kiss, we make up…”

But then people started staring. “Bo!” I hissed, “Stop it!”

He then seemed to realize just what he was doing. “Oops.”

“Yeah, oops,” I said, rolling my eyes.

-[-]-

We were still sitting there an hour later.

“Eve,” Bo whined, for the thousandth time, “I’m bored.”

“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” I snapped, for the thousandth time.

“Entertain me.” He sat back, perilously close to the fountain’s edge, and smiled.

“How?”

“I don’t know. Dance or something.”

That gave me an idea. I was not a shy person, so I wasn’t embarrassed to be
dancing in the middle of a mall. I grabbed my iPod and turned it to my song, smirking evilly.

“I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus
Underneath the mistletoe last night…”

I held my hand above my head and made a kissy face. Which, let me tell you, is hard while singing. I smirked at Bo’s confused face.

“She didn’t see me creep
Down the stairs to have a peep…”

I put my finger to my lips and leant forward, so that my nose almost touched Bo’s. I heard him gulp loudly as I felt his hurried breath on my lips.

“She thought that I was tucked up
In my bedroom fast asleep…”

I rested my head in my hands, pretending to be asleep.

“Then I saw mommy tickle Santa Claus
Underneath his beard so, snowy white…”

I stroked his chin, which made his eyes widen. I swung my hips from side to side, getting closer.

“Oh what a laugh it would’ve been
If daddy’d only seen…”

I inched closer, so that our lips were only about a centimeter apart. Bo had even closed his eyes and everything, like I was going to kiss him.

“Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night…”

SPLASH!

Bo fell back into the fountain, arms flung wide in a vain attempt to catch his balance. I howled with laughter as some of the passers by joined in. Bo came up sputtering and giving me the dirtiest look he could muster.

The effect was kinda ruined by the fact that he had water pouring over his head.

“Ah ha ha! Th-that look on ha! You-re f-face! Ha ha!” I gasped through laughter.

His eyes narrowed even more. “Can you at least help me out?”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t that stupid. As soon as he had my hands, he’d pull me in after him. “No, that’s your job. You know, chivalry?”

He glared at me through his sopping wet bangs as he rose out of the water. I tried not to think about the way his clothes clung so tightly to his body.

Unfortunately, he caught me staring. “You like?” he asked in a husky voice, similar to the one he’d used I my Nightmare.

I froze. My heart started thumping wildly in my chest as I replayed the Nightmare in my head. My breaths came in short bursts, and my eyes darted everywhere. Bo caught on, and came over to me. He didn’t put his arms around me, but he put his hand on my shoulder. “Eve. You ok?”

I nodded. I wasn’t going to cry. Not in a public place, anyway.

Suddenly, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that the number was marked “Unavailable”. Hesitantly, I answered it.

“Hello?”

Silence. I was beginning to think it was a wrong number.

But then, “If you want to see Holly alive again, you will tell me the secret.”

And then they hung up.