Chapter 9

I walked into the house, feeling as if something wasn't right. Then it hit me; I usually, no always came home, being welcomed by the smell of delicious food. The fact that I hadn't meant that something was up. Whenever I came home, mum would be preparing dinner and the aroma would fill the whole house. Even after the meal, the smell would still linger. I didn't smell anything today, which meant that mum wasn't home. Again? Where did she go? "Mum?" I called to the empty-looking house. My voice bounced off the walls, echoing, making me feel alone. There was no response, which meant that unfortunately, I was right. Where had mum run off to now?

I walked to the kitchen, and to my disappointment, there wasn't a plate of food waiting at the table. In the unlikely cases that mum had to leave before I could get back from school, she would prepare the meal beforehand. From this, I could tell that mum had to leave in a rush. Suddenly, I had a craving for the sweet taste of apples so I picked out a red-juicy looking apple from the basket, and took a bite out of it. Mmm. Delicious. As I walked upstairs, something caught my eye. The neon-pink post it note stood out against the dull grey coloured fridge. I walked back down the stairs and towards the fridge. From a metre away, I could see that someone, presumably my mum, had scribbled a message. I took it off and saw that it was indeed my mother's handwriting, though it was a lot messier than usual. It read:

Dear Clary,

I have to go somewhere for my job.

Won't be back tonight. Dinner's in fridge.

Love mum

This was getting stranger and stranger. Firstly, last night mum said she had 'errands' to run. But this is the first time in 10 years which makes me think she's lying. Secondly, at the worst of times, mum would come home an hour or 2 later. But if she couldn't even be back by the night, then something was seriously wrong. I took out my phone, and called my mum. It went straight to voicemail. This is some fishy, fishy business. I walked back upstairs, note in hand, feeling like a detective as I tried to find clues that could lead to where mum actually went.

…

"Hey Simon." After finishing my apple and homework, I decided to call Simon, wanting to talk to him about the events of tday. He picked up after the first ring.

"Hey Clary." He sighed, sounding content. "Today was some day huh?"

I replayed the whole lunch in my mind again. "Yea Simon. It was."

"But I didn't know that Jem couldn't do Math. I thought he was a genius or something." Today in Math Simon, Jem and I sat together and Jem admitted that he was having troble with Math lately. And since we sat in the same bus in the morning and afternoon, I told him I would help him during the 1 hour rides. I had never even known that he and I lived less than 3 minutes, which was closer than Simon.

"he's just struggling at the moment. If I recall correctly, he was quite good. Come one, you've been thorugh something like this befre. You sed to suck at math in years 7 and 8. But your all better now right?"

There was silence on the other end. "Clary. I'm still struggling."

"That's besides the point. You get my meaning right?"

"I guess," he grumbled.

Another thought popped into my mind. "Hey did you know that Goden Boy and Will were cousins?"

"Yea. I'm surprised that you didn't though."

"How was I meant to know though? I hated Golden Boy and had never talked to Will did you find out?"

"Like halfway through year 7. But it was so obvious Fray. I mean, the smirk, the grin, the eyebrow raise were all obvious giveaways. But the last name was a big one. People thought that they were twins but I had heard them talking one day and one of them had an accent. I think it was Will. He had a faint English accent." Now that he mentioned it, Will did have an accent. A small one, but one that could still be recognised. "So that meant that they weren't twins which only left the option of cousins."

"So you made this connection in year 7?"

"Yep," He said, pooping the p.

"Wow. You're smarter than I thought Lewis."

"Why thank you. That is a great compliment coming from such an esteemed lady like you. I will cherish your words for the rest of my humble life," he said in mock modesty.

If I was next to him, I would've slapped him. "Oh shush you Lewis. But hwo come you never told me about Will?"

"Well like you said, you hated Golden Boy and we never even talked to Will."

A few seconds of silence played out. "Lewis. What was uup with you and Izzy?You looked like you were having a great time. In fact, you both looked like it."

He sighed again. "Clary I think I like her even more now. I was great. One of the best lunches I've ever 's so easy to talk to her. And her voice is so sweet I could listen to her. And you won't believe it," Simon said, his voice rising in excitement. "She plays Dungeons and Dragons! We were talking about it the whole time."

Well that was not I was expecting. Pretty Isabelle Crusher of Hearts, was a gamer? Woah, step back. But there was something about Simon's tone of voice. "Spill Simon. That's not all that happened. Tell me. I didn't go through all the fangirling- no fanboying for nothing. Tell me what happened."

He gave a shaky laugh. "Well I asked her if she would like to come to my house and paly one day."

"And?" I almost shouted.

"Well, you know she said yes," he said in a casual voice. I screamed in happiness, glad that mum wasn't home because if she was, she would've come running up the stairs, demanding what had happened.

"That's great. The years of eye-goggling and drooling has finally paid off right? And your first date is a gaming session? That's so cute!"

I swear I could feel the heat rise to Simon's face through the phone. "I- it's not a date Clary. Don't say that!"

"But you wish it was?" I teased. There was silence on the other end. "Did you give her your address?"

"No. But…"

What? So there was more juicy news? "But what? Lewis spill or I swear I'll tell Izzy all the times you've drooled over her."

"Fray if you do, I will tell everyone that you had a crush on Smeliorn in year 7." I shuddered at that memory. When I had first come to high school, I had a massive crush on Meliorn which was, and still is, the most stupid thing I've ever done before. But only Simon knew about this unfortunate and disgusting crush. But it all changed whne he started teasing me. Now I just despise him. No biggie.

"Simon if you do-"

"You'll distort my face? Ok calm down I won't. Isabelle gave me her number and told me to call her."

"Well, did you?"

"Yea. I just did. She's coming over sometime next week."

"You guys are going a bit quite don't you think. From drooling to talking for the first time to dating all in 2 days? Wow. You've got some sha-dazzle in you Lewis. I'm quite proud."

"Why thank you." Even though I joked about this, I had to have a proper talk with Isabelle soon because if she ended up crushing my best friend's heart I would kill her. Literally No, not literally. That would be murder. But I'd probably distort her face too. I had to make sure that she liked Simon and was planning on staying with him. I made a note in my mental diary: URGENT: Must check Isabelle.

"Hey Lewis. I think my mum is lying to me," I said suddenly.

"What? I thought we were talking about my ever-so interesting love life."

"I'm serious Lewis. First she disappears last night, saing she has errands to run. Come on, does she ever have to run errands?"

"Uh I would'nt know Clary. But if you want me to say no, I'll say it."

"It's a negative. And you know, she left me a poast-it note saying that she wouldn't be back tonight. Do you know how strange it is? She won't even tel me where she's going.. And she's not picking up her phone either. It just jumps to voicemail."

"Man, are you sure your not reading too much into this? I mean the once is a coincidence, twice is a coincidence right? If she does something again, then it's a pattern. If you ask your mum now, and its for something normal, then she might think that you don't trust her."

"but Simon my-"

"Your super power right? You think she's lying to you?"

"I don't know about the 2nd one. But last night is a definite no-go. But what I can't figure out is why she would lie to me. Does she not trust me or something?"

"I dunno Clary. Maybe she's doing something that you wouldn't agree with."

"Like what?" I asked. Why would mum want to do something like that?

"Going to clubs and flirting with men? Maybe she's cross-dressing."

"That's not funny Lewis."

"Sorry. Look why don't you ask her? It's better than you thinking about possibilities that oculd be very farfetched. I mean for all you know, she may have just forgotten to say where she was going. Don't think too much into this before you actually know whats going on alright?"

I sighed. Simon was right. I shouldn't be thinking about this too much. Or for all I know, I could come to some wacky conclusion that my mum's secretly a stripper or a drug dealer. "Ok Simon, I'll stop thinking about it."

"But don't stop trying to call her alright?"

"Yea." My phone started vibrating in my hand, which meant that someone was trying to call me. "Simon someone's trying to call me. It might be my mum. I'll call you back later ok?"

"Yea sure thing." Then he hung up. I looked at the phone, hoping to see my mum's name. But it was some unknown number. I picked up, and for a feleeting second, thought that it could possibly be some guy who had kidnapped my mum and was planning on ransoming her.

"Hello who is this?" I said cautiously.

"Forgotten me already?" The other side said with a laugh. No. Not a kidnapper. Even worse. I groaned.

"What do you want Golden Boy?"

"To talk," he said casually.

"Then talk. Ive got better things to do ."

"Like what?" I could totally see the smirk on his face and my insides boiled.

"Like nothing," I retorted.

"Ouch shortie. That hurt a lot." Lies. It'll take way more than that to bruise your massive ego. "Well, I thought we could work on the assignment since we only have 2 weeks left and we've only gotten a little done."

"And I wonder who's fault that is." I looked at the clock. It was 5 pm. I had finished my homework and had nothing else I had to do. "Are you talking about now? Where would we go smart-ass?"

"Your house or mine. Take your pick." Was he serious? No one was at home… if he came over, it would just be us. No. His ego wouldn't fit in my house.

"Where's your house?"

"Seven Hills." That wasn't too far from my house. I had been there before so I knew the are pretty well. But I didn't feel like moving. And I had also planned a date with myself tonight as a reward for surviving 3 encounters with Golden Boy. I was meant to watch the next episode of Teen Wolf. But if even he thought that we were running behind then we were pretty behind. Damn. Dylan O'Brien, Tyler Posey, Tyler Hoechlin and Daniel Sharman will have to wait. Teen Wolf was my life. The plot was amazing though the special effects were pretty bad. The cast was amazing and every guy was super hot. And what made everything better was that Tyler Hoechlin was always shirtless. And damn was he hot.

"I'm afraid your ego won't fit through the front door so I'm going to have to go to your place. Your not alone right?"

"Do you want me to be?" he said suggestively. I resisted the urge to puke.

"Your disgusting. Text me your address. I'll get there as soon as I can." I hung up, not wanting to hear his voice anymore. A moment later, Golden Boy texted his address to me. '20 June Cresent'. I out the address into Google Maps, trying to find the quickest and most convenient way to get there. I reduced it down to 2 options: Take a bus, then a train, then another bus that stopped right outside their house, or I could take a bus and a train then talk for 15 minutes. I chose the latter thinking that a little exercise wouldn't hurt me. I took a quick shower since I had to wait for 15 minutes before the bus came. I changed into my comfy black pants and picked out a random t-shirt from my wardrobe. I took out a black coat that went to my knees because it was getting a bit chilly outside. I put my music book and my school copy of frankenstien in my Lonsdale bag. I walked to the door, closing all the lights on the way, but leaving the one in the hallway. Walking to the bus stop, I shrugged on my coat, feeling the chilly breeze bite my skin. After a minute or 2, the bus came. I got on, swiping my opal card, thinking Oh I am so going to regret this.