Chapter 7
"Is this seat taken?" Phil asked, after standing watching Keely sitting on the side of the sidewalk for about ten minutes. She had been crying, and jumped a mile when she heard Phil's voice.
"God. If you had been a stalker Phil, I would have hit you," Keely sniffed.
"The second time today that I've been compared to a stalker. What is it with you and stalkers?" Phil tried to joke, but he knew that Keely wasn't exactly in the mood for jokes right now.
"Phil…about what I said in there," Keely began, knowing that she wouldn't be able to avoid the subject. "I didn't mean I loved you, loved you. I meant, loved you like a friend."
Phil's heart sank. But there was something that stopped it completely deflating. Some little spark in her eye that told him she was lying. Something that told him that she wasn't telling him the whole truth. "Keely…"
"No. Don't sit here and tell me it'll all be okay. Because it frikin isn't. And you know it. You were in there. They want me to move to LA with them, so we can be one big, fake happy family. Well, they can be one big happy family. I'll be the outcast. The loner. The one that doesn't fit in the jigsaw," Keely sobbed, tears beginning to form in her eyes once more.
"Keels, I gave them a mouthful once you left," Phil said, trying to comfort her.
"Yeah, but a mouthful won't put my mother off. Otherwise I'd take a pig and shove it down her throat. You know her Phil, only a really good reason not to move will persuade her. And that Graham is the reason to move. What's the reason not to move?"
Phil sighed. "Well, what about if you had things tying you down here? What about if you had something you committed to?"
"Like what? My career? A boyfriend? Come on Phil, you know my mother. She'd just be all 'well you'll find someone better in LA'," Keely sobbed.
Phil looked around him. All the lights were on over the restaurants. Considering how mad Keely was, she had only gone a few blocks away from the restaurant. "You didn't run away that far."
"Couldn't be bothered. You wanna give my Mom something to worry about though?" Keely said, wiping her eyes.
Phil shrugged. "Depends what it is…"
"Well, how do you think she'll feel about her sixteen year old daughter, running away into the night with her sixteen year old best friend, who actually happens to be a guy, and then resurfacing next morning, with no explanation to where they've been. Even better, tell her we jacked a car, and drove to an isolated place," Keely said, obviously enjoying planning revenge on her mother.
Phil had never seen this side of Keely. "I dunno. Your Mom seems pretty scary when she gets going. She might kill me."
"She's not that bad," Keely laughed. "Wait, what am I talking about. She's getting married to an idiot, and then migrating me to another blasted city. She is that bad. But I wouldn't let her kill you Phil. So, you up for it?"
"Where are we actually going?" Phil asked, not going to agree until he found out everything.
Keely shrugged. "Who cares? I just want to worry my Mom. Show her that I will not give in."
"But your Mom won't either," Phil told her.
Keely scoffed. "Please. She'll give in before I will. Eventually. But this is just a taster. I want to show her what hell she'll be in for the next couple of months."
"Months?" Phil asked, raising his eyebrows.
Keely nodded. "Oh yeah. It's going to be like World War Three in our house. Which is why, I'm going to be spending more time at your house."
More time with Keely? Okay. He was officially signing up.
"Okay. Phase 1?" Phil asked, standing up.
Keely got up next to him. "Worry Mom to death. Code-names?"
"I am NOT being Mr. Fuzzybear," Phil demanded.
Keely sighed. "Okay. Mr. Cuddle-bunny."
"Not that either," Phil said, as he began to walk up the street.
---
"Keels?" Phil asked as they walked deeper and deeper into the woods. "Where are we going?"
"I have no idea," Keely admitted as she sat herself down on a rock. "I just kept walking."
Phil rolled his eyes. Trust Keely to get him lost. "Well, we could go back to my house. Nobody would know."
"Um…your parents would. And I'll bet that your Mom would tell my Mom," Keely said.
Phil shook his head, and produced a bottle of Invisi-Spray from his pocket.
"Why the hell do you carry that around everywhere?" Keely asked, taking the bottle out of his hands.
Phil shrugged. "Just in case."
"In case of what? A mugging and you have to follow the guy? What are you, Spiderman?" Keely smirked.
"Catwoman?" Phil asked, returning the smirk.
Keely rolled her eyes. "We'd better not get into that one again…"
"I agree. Now are, we going or not?" Phil asked.
Keely sighed. "Yeah. But we'd better wait a while before we spray ourselves. You know, get closer. It only lasts half an hour once it's on."
"Well, then, let's go. It's already midnight. If we hurry we can make it back before Mom and Dad go to bed," Phil said, grabbing Keely's hand.
"What time do your parents go to bed?" Keely asked as the ran through the trees.
"One am. They haven't really gotten used to the time yet. Plus, Mom likes the tele-shopping shows on at that time," Phil called back.
Keely shook her head. She would never get used to that family.
---
Totally invisible, they crept up the stairs, trying to avoid the attention of the elder Diffy's.
"Lloyd, I'm going upstairs," they heard Barb call from the kitchen.
"Okay, night honey!" Lloyd said.
Phil gritted his teeth. "Keels, we have to go faster."
"I can't go faster. The stairs'll creak," Keely whispered back.
They watched as Barb walked out of the kitchen, and began to walk up the stairs.
"Go," Phil hissed under his breath.
They skimmed up the stairs, and managed to sneak into Phil's room, just as Barb walked past and into her bedroom. Waiting until Barb had closed her door, Phil closed his, hoping his mother hadn't noticed that his door had been open.
"Lloyd!" they heard Barb call back downstairs. "Did Phil say he was staying over at Keely's?"
"I think so!" Lloyd called back, and they heard Barb sigh with relief.
Not until they heard Lloyd come up the stairs and then the landing light click off, did they feel safe.
"That was like, so close," Keely whispered, sitting on Phil's bed, and suddenly re-appearing.
Phil nodded. "You take the bed Keels. I'll zap something up using the Wizrd."
"Phil, we can't sleep. What if we oversleep, and then your mom or dad comes in, and they see me? They'll tell Mom, and then Mom won't be worried at all," Keely panicked.
Phil rolled his eyes, but he agreed. They had come this far. And if it meant Keely not moving…
He would face a thousand sleepless nights, just to ensure Keely stayed in Pickford.
"So, what do you want to do?" Keely asked, the prospect of a long twelve hour night dawning on her.
Phil shrugged. "I'll soundproof the room. Pim has great hearing. And then we can surf the internet?"
"Sure," Keely smiled, glad to have something to do. Maybe surfing the internet would take her mind off Phil. And stop her saying anything else stupid. She had done that enough times today.
The clock hand moved silently to half-past one.
No more updates tonight. I'm tired. Yawn. Maybe one tomorrow morning, but my friends are staying over, so no more tomorrow night. So whatever.
Enjoy.
