My Secret Life

Chapter 2

Tap. My parents had always been strict about bed-time. Tap. I had to be in bed by 9pm. Tap. In fact, they were so bent on the fact that I needed ten hours of sleep that they checked to make sure I was actually asleep by 910pm. Tap. I learned how to fake my slumber at a young age. Tap. So I was awake when the rhythmic tap against my window started to sound.

I checked the window. It was Kali.

“What’re you doing here?!” I said after sliding the window up.

“What do you think?”

What I was thinking was how she knew where I lived, but I didn’t ask. I just said, “I have no f***ing clue.”

She chuckled, “Just get your ass down here.”

“I can’t. It’s a school night,” I remember I said the words even as I pulled on some jeans and looked for my shoes.

She waited anyways. And about five minutes later I’d snuck downstairs and out the back door.

“My parents are going to kill me,” I said pulled my sweatshirt over my head.

It was September and it was a clear night; slightly chilly, but otherwise perfect.

“Like they’ll know you’re gone,” she said, disappearing through the back gate and
onto the street. I learned four years later that they never did know.

I joined her on the street and shoved my hands deep into my pockets, looking down at my scuffed sneakers, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” she said.

I don’t know why I ever left my room that night. I barely knew this girl, and for some reason I, an honor student, snuck out of my house only to follow her to god knows where.

We walked the dim streets in silence. A random car would pass by every now and then, occasionally a dog would bark from the other side of old wooden fences. Kali’s lighter even sounded loud when she lit up a cigarette. She offered me one, but I declined.

“You shouldn’t smoke.”

“You shouldn’t be out of your house, now should you?”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“People rarely do what they should,” she said after a moment or two.

“You still shouldn’t smoke,” I said, frowning slightly.

She held the cigarette between her fingers and looked at it for a second. She then tossed it on the ground and stepped on it.

“Anyways. If you keep dragging your feet like that we’ll never get there.”

I couldn’t help it; I smiled, but quickened my pace as we crossed Catalina over onto Grande. We headed up onto the green belt, a pathway that worked its way around town through various parks.

I knew the pathway well; from kindergarten until the eighth grade I rode my bike to school on the same path. I knew where all the tree roots made bumps in the cement. My friends and I used to pedal at high speeds up to the bumps and use them as small ramps.

It was weird walking at night through the parks; in fact, it was slightly eerie. Our parents had warned us about walking the paths alone late at night; they talked of kidnappers lurking behind the bushes or just around the corner in one of the park structures.

I think Kali noticed my slight discomfort because she said, “Here I thought you'd be the one protecting me - I got pepper spray."

That didn’t really put my mind at ease as she made a sharp right heading straight towards a large set of bushes and trees; a thicket. In fact, she disappeared into the thicket, leaving me outside, wondering whether I dare venture forward or not.

She made my mind up for me, and grabbed my arm, yanking me forward.

“Are you always this jumpy?”

“Only when I randomly decide to leave my house in the middle of the night to follow a girl I /just/ met into a random set of bushes.”

“Most people would think you were about to get lucky,” she smirked.

I kept silent, shifting my weight, and pulling up the hood of my sweatshirt, which had the words St. Anthony’s written across in bold navy letters.

“What’re we doing here?” I asked impatiently.

She shushed me quickly, giving me a small shove as she peered through the gaps in the bushes. It was only then that I realized that we had a perfect view of the back of a large house.

I looked at Kali then followed her eyes towards a lone lit room on the second floor.

“Wait. Isn’t this the McCrafey place?” I asked.

The McCrafey’s were the wealthiest people in Woodbridge, they were also the mystery of the entire county. No one knew how Henry Joe McCrafey got his fortune. He mysteriously left town when he finished high school the next thing Woodbridge knew half the town was owned by Mr. McCrafey. He then erected a three story house in the middle of town, and never came out.

Supposedly he had a wife and a daughter, but no one really ever saw them. The only people to ever come and go were the maids and Mr. McCrafey, who was only seeing driving his car out to wherever it was he went to do whatever it was he did.

“Shhhh.”

I was beyond confused at this point, but did as I was told and just watched in silence. Then it happened. The light in the second story bedroom turned on and off three times.

“Perfect.”

“Wait,” I hated not knowing what was going on, “What happened?”

Kali just smiled and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the bushes and through and opening in the McCrafey fence. Before I could say anything we were in their backyard.

“What if they have a dog?” I asked.

It transpired that they did have a dog, because before Kali could answer me some small and furry rushed from the house and attacked my leg.

“His name is Monster.” Kali sounded amused, “And it seems he likes you.”

Monster was apparently a horny dark brown dachshund. I tried to dislodge the creature from my leg, shaking my leg into the night, but I swear the canine was made of glue.

“Monster. Stop it!”

A voice came from behind me. I jumped, “Holy s***!”

“Sorry.”

It was a girl. She had long perfect red-hair and looked about my age. She stuck out a hand, “Rai. Rai McCafrey… Hey KP.”

Kali just grinned and gave a nod of her head, before turning to me and saying, “Rai, meet Jessie Winters.”

I shook Rai’s hand and smiled lopsidedly, “Hey.”

Rai just looked me up and down, examining me. She paused then walked around me before nodding, “You’ll do.”

I must have shown my confusion because Kali just laughed, “Yeah. Jessie’ll do.”

“Do what? What’s going on?” I asked, my patience growing thinner.

“Keep it down will you?” Rai said, folding her arms across her chest. I got the impression she really didn’t like me. “Geeze, KP, I thought you were going to recruit us a stealth person. Do I have to explain the stealth part again?”

“Shove it, McCrafey,” Kali said, rolling her eyes. “Jessie’ll be perfect,” she smiled at me.

I couldn’t help it, but silently agreed with her and grinned. I would be perfect. I had no idea what I would be perfect at, but I would.

“Yeah yeah. We’ll see ‘bout that.”

I had the impression Rai hated me from the start. I was right. It wasn’t until after we had the money that she started to warm up to me. Somehow I think she thought I was stepping in on her territory.