Why do you smile
Like you've been told a secret?
Now you're telling lies
'Cause you have sworn to keep it.
But no one keeps a secret,
No one keeps a secret.
Why when we do our darkest deeds
Do we tell?
They burn in our brains,
Become a living hell.
'Cause everybody tells,
Everybody tells.
Got a secret,
Can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save.
Better lock it in your pocket,
Taking this one to the grave.
If I show you then I know you
Won't tell what I said.
'Cause two can keep a secret
If one of them is dead.
Three days. That’s how long I’ve been stuck with the rude, loud, insulting, pessimistic brat that was Cameron Burger. I was at a wits end with him, and it had only been three days! We hadn’t even had to work together so he could help “fix me” yet! How was I going to survive it when that happened? He’d probably drag me out to go shoplifting with him while preaching about how wrong it was. But not before he learnt how to do something new from me. Sad thing is, he could probably learn more from me than I ever could from him. That’s one thing I’m not proud of, the second being curious as to what he could actually teach me . . .
No, I had just started to share classes with him, and trying to stay out of the spot light with him around was near impossible, but Rory was being nice and was helping to keep everyone from really noticing me. Whenever someone tries to talk to me or do something he would distract them and he always sat near me in class. His brothers were a different story though, and they pretended not to know me. They'd turn up their nose at the slightest mention of my name.
Right then I was peeling of the stamp from my newest letter and placing it into my collection binder. I'd never actually met him before, but one of the times I was away working a letter arrived for the room I was staying in and I thought it was from my boss, the only one who knew where I was, so I read it and replied. We started to talk until a month later, after I noticed they were talking about a gang like they were a part of it, we learnt we weren't talking to the people who we had originally assumed we were. We continued talking from there and my obsession with stamps got brought up, ever since then they've been putting different and more unique stamps on every time.
I was just starting to pull the envelope open when there was a knock in my door. I knew it wasn't Cam or any of his friends because, one the few occasions they did come to see me they just walked right in, never knocking. So, with a curious shrug to myself I opened to door to come face to face with someone I had never seen before. He had calm grey eyes and a light tan, add on the straight blonde hair that stretched to near his chin and he could pass for a surfer. He was taller than me by what seemed to be about three inches rounding his height to about 5' 10.
I cocked my head to the side and waited for him to speak, after so many year of being told to stay silent I wasn't a fan of talking out loud, sarcastic thoughts or otherwise.
He seemed to understand what I was asking and went on to say, "I'm Tate. I'm moving into the room next to you, so I thought it would be best to warn you someone else is here. I wouldn't want to scare you and have security called on me."
I cracked a small grin and nodded before walking back to my laptop, leaving my door open in case he wanted to add something else. If he did, he didn't say it. Instead he invited himself in and sat on my bed before staring at me. I glared back, I hated attention and staring was just plain rude.
"Sorry," he apologized, "I'm just trying to make a person out from under all those clothes. Do you own anything in your size, or are they your boyfriend's?"
I gave him a blank stare and he seemed to get the clue to shut up about my wardrobe, so he switched to school and began to talk about his life story. "I spent my childhood with my parents spoiling me, but they were strict. I couldn't have sweets and no birthday parties with friends. I was homeschooled so my people skills were limited to what I learnt from the house keepers. I had to clean up after myself and learnt stuff at a higher level than I should have at my age. It was fun and I kept my grades up. When I turned sixteen and finished all the courses I asked my parents to put me into school so I could learn how to interact with people and to make friends on my own. They agreed, as long as I came home every night in time for supper.
"I was ok with it at first, until I made friends and still couldn't have a real social life. No one does anything before seven o'clock, at least, nothing fun. I wanted to party. I wanted to go to clubs with my friends and take the girl I liked on dates. Valentine would always tease me about just sneaking out one night and going to some big hit party. When Valentine was going to throw his he convinced me I had to go. I went home extra early that night and begged my parents to let me go out, just for that night, but they refused.
"I was angry. They always went out to business parties and visited their friends, why couldn't I, the teenager, go out too? So I called Valentine the night and told him he had to bust me out. We waited until me parents to go to bed before I snuck out and we hightailed it out of there back to his place.
"I had a blast, I was drinking and smoking, doing those kid things I never got to do like twister - I have no idea how the game ever got started. But it turned out there were some serious drugs there as well and one of the girls whose boyfriend had been getting high of coke. I wasn't quick enough to get out of there and the police caught me and escorted me home, where they filled my parents in on the recent events.
"To say my parents were mad would be an understatement; they had steam coming out of their ears. We had our first big fight that day, and we both said thing we shouldn't have. I ran away that night and moved in with Valentine, whose parents had kicked out because they had enough of him ruining their reputation. We lived between crappy apartments and the street before we got desperate enough and started to steal.
"After getting caught and needing bail money I caved and called my parents. They said they'd pay as long as I moved back with them and did what they said. When I told them I wouldn't leave Valentine they promise t pay for his way out too, as long as I never spoke to him again.
"I'm eighteen, I can't survive in prison, not with what goes on there behind the bars - no pun intended - so I agreed. They came, paid us out, and Valentine and I parted. They sent me off to this school as a delinquent and I haven't seen him since," Tate concluded.
I just stared at him. There was more to the story than that, that was obvious, but what he did tell me was enough for me, more than enough. I nodded my head, commenting a small, "Cool," before looking back down at my collection.
"What about you? What's your story? Actually, first, what's your name?"
"Harley. My name is Harley. And as for me, it's a secret. Can you see it?"
Tate cracked a smile and asked, "Is that a riddle or something?"
I shook my head with a small laugh before Cam and Rory invited themselves in and they too sat on my bed. "Come on, Shorty, it's time to meet Dr. Cam and share all of your problems so he can fix him up. And, guess what? I only charge the price of one new trick!" Cam grinned at his own sales pitch.
Dreading having to work with Cameron, I slowly pulled up off of my desk chair and headed for the door, we had to hold the "fixing meetings" in the school's consolers' office for the first month and all I could think was; oh god one of us might just die today. I think I'd rather sit through another one of Tate's life stories and get the gory details of what his life was like on the streets with his friend than listen to Cameron preach about what is right and wrong while he twitches impatiently unable to learn some new illegal skill.