As promised

Chapter 25

Sophie had just begun to doze off when her not-so-supressed thoughts were interrupted by a strange tapping sound. She went to just ignore it but it only appeared to get louder. Rolling over in bed, she realised it was coming from the window. There was a pause of about five seconds then another clunk of something hitting against the window pane.

Sophie hesitated, then got out of bed and peeled back the netted curtain. She squinted out into the dense night sky and the scanned the darkened terrain.

Nothing.

She was about to put down the curtain and get back into bed, when a doo-ragged head suddenly popped up from behind the scraggly shrubbery that surrounded the cabin. Sophie had to stop herself from screaming aloud. She scowled at Squid as he motioned at her to open the window. Part of her felt like flipping down the net curtain and just leaving him there but her curiosity got the better of her. She leaned on the window ledge, pushing the window open.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, cutting Squid off as he opened his mouth to speak, "are you actually crazy? I can't even imagine what would happen if you were caught here!"

"I know…that's why I have to be really careful," he said slowly, looking about him as he did so.

"Oh, for god's sake, just get in here," she said, opening the window wide and ushering him in. She knew she was immediately going to regret this.

Squid clambered through the window clumsily. Sophie watched him struggle, arms crossed, as she ensured there was an adequate distance between the two of them. She couldn't take any chances with him lunging in for a kiss again.

Squid seemed to be thinking the same. He stood nervously by the window, flattening down the net curtains and anxiously chewing on his toothpick. Sophie expected him to say something; he didn't.

"What are you doing here?" Sophie demanded, arms still folded.

Squid's soft brown eyes bored into hers for a moment before he replied, "Well…mostly…I came here to apologise. I shouldn't have kissed you like that without your permission or anything like that. I don't know what came over me. I totally deserved the slap."

Sophie, for once, remained quiet but nodded slightly in acceptance of his apology.

Squid paused, hesitated, then carried on, "I also wanted to apologise for the way I've been behaving lately…I've not been very welcoming."

"I'm sorry too. I haven't really been too nice either," it pained her to admit it.

There was an awkward pause between them but this was broken by the noise of movement outside Sophie's room and her mother calling her name.

Sophie panicked and Squid looked as if he was about to leap out of the closed window. There was no time for opening the window, besides, the whole motion would be far too noisy and obvious. Sophie indicated for Squid to get under bed and hide. His foot had just disappeared from eyesight as Sophie's mum entered the room.

Sophie must have looked frazzled because instead of her mother starting on whatever she was coming in to tell (or rather demand of Sophie) she eyed her uncertainly and asked, "what are you doing?"

"Well…I was about to get into bed," Sophie hoped that she didn't give anything away in her voice. Her palms felt sweaty and it was almost as if she could feel the heat from Squid radiating from beneath the bed, hear his heavy breathing and his heart pounding. She was sure it was all in her head but she really hoped that he mother didn't have superhuman boy detection skills.

Her mother did not look all too convinced with Sophie's retort but she shook it away with a movement of her slender, beautifully nail-painted hand, focusing instead on what she had come in to say, "anyway, I was coming to tell you I received a phone call from your friend's mother. What is her name again? Your friend?"

"Linzi," Sophie replied quickly, "is everything okay?" Sophie could not think of any reason why Linzi's mother would ring her own mother.

"Yes, of course it is. But my sister has convinced Linzi's mother that it might be a nice idea for Linzi to come and visit, to give you some female company your own age."

Sophie could not believe her ears. She felt the excitement bubbling up inside of her and was all set to run forward and give her mother what could possibly be her first ever hug, when her mom ruined it by continuing, "Of course, I thought this was an awful idea. Why on earth would I want to look after two young girls this summer?"

Sophie's smile instantly dropped and her stomach plummeted.

"But then I thought about it a little longer, and I thought that me and you could come to a little agreement. Linzi can come here, if you agree to dig a hole until lunchtime every day you are here, and when Linzi comes, she helps you dig a hole until it is five foot deep, same as the boys' holes," her mother paused, waiting for a response.

Sophie thought about it…Do I really want to be digging every day? But then again, having Linzi about, even if it is for a few days, would be absolutely amazing. Sophie really needed her friend right now. But….Linzi would absolutely hate it here…having to dig holes on top of everything else….can I really be so selfish?
Yes…yes, I can be.

"Deal," Sophie held out her hand.

Her mother hesitated, unsure whether to make contact with her daughter. She then shook her hand, briskly.

Her mother then, quickly, as if worried Sophie might change her mind if she stayed any longer, walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Is the coast clear?" Sophie heard a whisper. She had almost forgotten entirely a bout Squid.

"Yes, it's clear."

He clambered out from beneath the bed. "Your mom is so weird," he chuckled, "not that I can really comment on unconventional mothers." The chuckle still echoed in his voice but his eyes looked sad.

Sophie shrugged, she didn't really care, her friend was coming to visit, that's all that mattered to her now, it gave her something positive to focus on.

Squid had started to make his way back to the window, "well, I better go, I guess…nice that your friend is coming, eh? Hope she's hot." He shot Sophie a cheeky wink as he opened the window.

"Oh, you perv!" Sophie gave him a shove out the window in response. He landed awkwardly in the shrubbery, only just catching his balance. He laughed, "okay, I guess I deserved that!" He grinned up at her before running off into the darkness.