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Chapter 1
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2024-10-29 19:42:56"So... do you think you can help me?" Dailey asked.
She tried not to stare at Eddy's ache as he scratched at a spot on his chin. The kid had probably the worst skin she'd ever seen in her life; a mosaic patchwork of scars, red blotches, and fresh pustules.
His Adam’s apple wobbled as he swallowed a bite of his half-wrapped cheeseburger and wiped his mouth before responding.
"I'm good with computing but I'm not a hacker," Eddy said. A stubborn drop of mayonnaise clung to the fluffy bit of hair around his mouth. Dailey hinted at him, pointing at her own mouth a few times before he finally took the hint and cleaned himself up.
With the social skills of a jacket potato and genius-level computer skills, Dailey had felt sure this guy could help and would do so without wanting too much in return.
Still, the poor guy was on a whole other level of gross. The thought of having to date him made her feel so nauseous she was almost relieved he didn't have the talents she required.
"So I need a hacker?" she asked.
"Well... to hack into someone's computer, yes," he said, looking at her like she was the world’s biggest idiot.
Maybe she was. Only stupid people got themselves into ridiculous situations they couldn't fix without help.
"Do any of your friends know how to hack a computer?" she asked.
Eddy took a nasal breath and sipped on his cola as he looked about the cafeteria. Finally, he pointed, not at the nerd table but what Dailey lovingly referred to as the 'freak table.'
"That guy, the tall one who always looks like he's about to stab someone's nan. I heard he has this YouTube channel where he hacks into other hackers’ computers. You know... online scammers and such. He's probably the only person at this school who could help you."
"Shit," Dailey muttered when she realised he was talking about Drake Parsons. He was the last person who would want to help her, though he might want to get back at her ex-boyfriend.
'The question is, which of us does he hate more?' Dailey thought.
She circled the cafeteria, sticking to the outer wall between the tables and the large windows looking out onto the playing field. As Drake and his band of misfit weirdos began to clear their table she circled back around the bins, watching as he dumped the contents of his tray and left it in the red plastic rack.
As he left the building she sped up, catching him just as he left the main entrance.
"Drake?" she asked and pulled on his arm when he didn't hear.
He turned and pulled earphones out, frowning down at her like she'd lost her mind.
"I have a favour to ask you," she explained.
He stared at her for a moment before turning away and pulling his phone from his pocket. She watched as he fiddled with his headphones, sliding the little black wires through his fingers to separate them.
"Drake?" she repeated.
This time he turned to her with a heavy sigh.
"What?" he grunted.
"I need your help with something. Please. I'll pay you," Dailey blurted. Anger and hatred seemed to radiate from him in waves. Maybe it was just his aura—as Eddy mentioned picking up a similar vibe—but Dailey got the feeling this guy would sooner slit her throat than talk to her. He had a 'Jeff the Killer' vibe, with long dark hair covering his pale face.
"What do you need?" he asked.
"My ex-boyfriend has pictures of me, and he said he's going to post them everywhere if I don't get back with him," Dailey explained, looking down at her feet.
"Sam Brown?" Drake asked and chuckled. "What a douchebag."
Just about everybody in this school knew Sam Brown and Dailey Channing were a couple. They were the school's sweethearts—a power couple without rival. Well... they had been up until the point Sam cheated on her.
"Someone told me you can hack into computers," Dailey explained, eyes still fixed on her stained laces. "Can you hack his computer and get rid of the pictures he took?"
Drake nodded. "My fee is two hundred."
"Can you do it first thing after school?" Dailey asked. Sam was giving her until tonight to decide whether she wanted to get back together or have her naked butt flaunted all over social media. The nerve of him. Not only was he the one who cheated, but he'd had the audacity to chew her out for searching in his phone for evidence. And now he was forcing her to get back with him because the other girl had moved on to some older college guy.
Drake tutted, looking down at his phone messages with a frown. Presumably, he had something else to do after school.
"Please?" she asked, taking him by the hand. He wore black fingerless gloves, similar to the rest of his crew, though his were leather rather than the soft type with red and black stripes. His style was slightly edgier than the others; not so sweet and innocent. He did, however, have the same black nail polish—the trademark of the weirdo brigade.
His fingers straightened and tensed up as he slid from her grip, looking at her like she was disease-ridden and gross. Seeing him up close as his hair blew about in the wind, she could see he actually had a pleasant face. A cute button-shaped nose, full lips, and deep blue eyes.
"I get it. You're desperate. Still... there's no need to be overly familiar," he said, lips curled.
"S—sorry," Dailey stuttered. No guy had ever complained about her touching them before. That combined with the realisation he was good looking threw her off guard. She almost forgot why she was talking to him in the first place.
"Okay," he said. "Meet me here after school. I can fit you in before my other meetings."
"Erm, thank you," Dailey said.
He turned and was gone before she could say goodbye or explain that she would have to pay him later. She didn't have two hundred quid to hand but felt sure she could rustle it up by the end of the week.
'Hopefully he will be okay with it.'
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After the bell rang Dailey was struck with the fear Drake would either forget or change his mind. Ignoring her friends—her so-called friends who had known about Sam's cheating and neglected to inform her—she dashed to the main reception, hoping to catch him there.Breathing heavily, she propped herself up against the brick wall and waited as the students piled out. They chatted and jostled about as they spilled out of the building, spoiling the quiet outdoors with their messy presence.The birds pecking at the lunch crumbs flapped and departed as one when the wave of kids hit the courtyard. Dailey kept her back to the wall, watching the scene with disconnection, too worried about her current problem to focus on anything else.When the dark colours of the scene kids caught her eye, she picked Drake from the crowd with ease. He was at least a head taller than most of the others and dwarfed his smallest friend,
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Dailey pulled the fake baked beans money tin from the top of her wardrobe. Her babysitting money had been accumulating in there for over a year, so she should have well over two hundred, even after her summer clothing shopping spree.She pried off the lip and upturned the can, frowning as a couple of ten-pound notes dropped into the hands.'Where's the rest of it?' she wondered.Her first thought was her thirteen-year-old brother. He'd been coming back from his Dad's house with a lot of gifts lately. Clothing and games. Was it possible he'd been stealing her money and pretending the items were brought by his Dad?"Joey!" she shouted, storming into his room without knocking."Hey!" he cried. When his eyes shifted to the empty can in her hands, a flash of guilt marred his angry expression. "I didn't do anything.""Like hell you didn't, you thieving lit
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Dailey waited by the gates, anxious about explaining her cash flow situation to Drake. As she shifted from foot to foot and kicked up the dirt from between the paving slabs, she felt her heart racing. Sick bile rose in her chest, coating her throat and filling her mouth with a bitter taste.'Why does he make me so nervous?' she wondered.The problem was, Drake wasn't like other guys. Dailey knew her looks put guys on edge—made them horny and stupid—and she could often use it to her advantage. For whatever reason, this superpower didn't work on Drake."You have my cash?" she heard him ask, turning to find herself in his shadow.Dailey looked up with pleading, apologetic eyes. "I'm really sorry but I don't have it. Is it okay if I pay you back in instalments?"The look he gave her sent a chill down her spine. So cold and angry. Then his face softened slightly,
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As soon as Dailey switched on her computer, she knew something was wrong. It was taking longer than usual to load up, and three little black dialogue boxes flashed across the screen.'He's hacked me,' Dailey thought. 'Of course he has.'Luckily, she'd deleted the awful pictures and didn't have anything else too incriminating on there... unless...When she opened her emails, she found a new message from Drake. Inside was a screenshot. She didn't have to open it up to see it was the dreaded naked shots. Clicking through, she found something different to the images of her peach flesh.She enlarged it to find it was a message exchange between herself and the guy she'd paid to write her college admissions essay. The one that had landed her a place at one of the best colleges in the country."Shit, shit, shit," she muttered. This was way worse than the threat of
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Toni glanced about the room, at the stark walls and windows with cream blinds that looked as though nobody had dusted them in the last ten years. It was nothing like her last school. Well... except for the fact the mentality of the people was pretty much identical. The segregation of popular kids, the cool kids, the nerds, and the freaks. Glancing to her left, she spotted the guy Dailey had told her about. She couldn't see much of his expression because his long, dangly black hair covered his face. Normally, he'd be just her type; dangerous, weird, and twisted... but she had the distinct feeling her only friend in this hell hole would end up falling for him, meaning he was off limits. She felt the life drain out of her as Tommy took a seat beside her, scraping his chair and table loudly as he pulled them closer to hers. Something about his energetic personality was draining to Toni. Just watching him fail to sit still for five seco
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Toni didn't know which was worse—the smell or the humiliation. She'd seen kids thrown in dumpsters a couple of times, and while she felt bad about failing to intervene, she never imagined she might end up on the receiving end.What if nobody came to let her out? Would she end up in the garbage crusher?Morbid thoughts about being squished to death prompted her to call for help when she heard voices in the distance. Screw the embarrassment. She wanted to live.
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"How's Aaron doing?" Dailey asked Toni. She ran her fingers through the sand, dislodging the warm layer on top to poke her fingers into the cooler, wetter sand below."He's complaining a lot," Toni said with a smile. "He lost a lot of blood and the wound got infected, so they have to keep him in for a little longer.""I feel awful," Dailey said.Toni shifted on the blanket, turning to push her face up against Dailey's. "You know none of what happened is your fault, right?""Hmm," Dailey muttered, looking down at her sandy fingers. She thought back to the time she'd spent on the beach with Drake, knowing that should have been a warning sign. This whole thing could have been avoided."The counsellor I talked to said I showed signs of Stockholms Syndrome," Dailey told her friend. "High levels of stress can feel a lot like being in love, but... it felt so real."
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Dailey froze in fear for just a second as Drake descended the staircase, tutting and shaking his head. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Aaron cower, huddling himself back against the wall. He was muttering to himself, but Dailey couldn't make out the words.Toni did the opposite, taking a rigid and inexperienced looking fight stance with the axe poised in shaky hands. She held the thing with her hands a few inches apart and cocked it to the side as if it were a samurai sword.The chains slipped from Dailey's wrists as she stood, noisily forming a pile at her feet."Drake," she said in the most calming voice she could muster. "Nobody has been seriously hurt yet. We could all just walk away and pretend like this never happened."She saw the look Toni flashed her. A look that asked,'We can?'Dailey did her best to communicate with the girl non-verbally, staring in
His Plaything Chapter 25
Toni searched the courtyard, looking for Dailey. She hadn't responded to any of her messages for hours now, which was unlike her. Usually, she replied within a few minutes. An hour at the most.Checking her phone again, she found the messages hadn't even been marked as seen.'It's possible she misplaced her phone,'Toni thought, but she didn't believe it. Something felt wrong.Putting her phone back in her pocket, she looked about for Aaron. He wasn't in his usual smoking spot or hanging out by the football field.A thin drizzle of rain fell from the grey clouds above, making it plausible he'd decided to stay inside. As she entered the break room Tommy ran over to greet her. He almost tripped over a bright green stool as he stumbled toward her, picking it up and fluffing his curly mess of hair as he asked how she was doing."I'm good," she replied withou
His Plaything Chapter 24
The only light came from the bulb above, making it impossible to tell the time. Dailey assumed it was around seven am, only because her inner body clock would wake her up a few minutes before her alarm each morning.Dailey watched Aaron for a few minutes before deciding to try and wake him up. She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook gently at first, becoming more vigorous and shouting his name when he didn't respond."Arrgh!" he cried, raising both fists and almost punching her in the face. Luckily, Dailey was fast enough to dodge his hand. She raised hers defensively, backing away from him as much as the chains would allow."It's okay, it's okay," Dailey assured him.This was a blatant lie.Nothing about this situation was okay.Aaron scanned his surroundings and pulled at his restraints for just a second before giving up. He pulled his knees
His Plaything Chapter 23
“Come here.” Drake grabbed a fist of her hair and pulled her to the centre of the room. Every follicle cried out in pain as he shoved her head to meet the carpet. “Stay.”Dailey obeyed but lifted her head an inch to observe him. He appeared angry, but what she had done to anger him was a mystery. It could be something to do with the incident at the party. Maybe someone had told him, and he was pissed that she hadn't thought to fill him in on the situation.She considered saying something but didn't want to get the others into trouble and make them hate her even more if it wasn't the case.'I'll wait to see what he says,'she decided, watching as he ripped off pieces of masking tape with a confused frown. It wouldn't work as a binding, being so flimsy and easy to tear.Her confusion deepened as he began to place strips of tape along the carpet, eventually forming
His Plaything Chapter 22
Toni walked the neighbourhood at the fastest pace she could manage, feet pounding concrete and just beginning to ache. She wished had a better memory, because she couldn't for the life of her remember where he lived.'If only he would answer my messages,'she thought, checking her phone for what felt like the hundredth time.The problem was, all the streets in this part of the town looked the same. They wound together like a cluster of snakes, cutting off into cul-de-sacs, disused warehouses, or allotments."This town sucks," she huffed under her breath.A dog walker passed, looking up to flash her a friendly smile."Hi," Toni cried. Gravel sprayed as she spun on her heels, turning to chase the man. "Do you know how to get to Parkside Road?" she asked.The man turned to face her, frowning. "Err, you mean Parkside Row?"&
His Plaything Chapter 21
"Rhys," Shane cried as he jiggled the handle. "I was just messing about. I swear."Staying silent, paused with delicate hands raised, Rhys turned to Dailey and shrugged."He wasn't joking," Dailey whispered so quietly Shane wouldn't hear."I know," Rhys said, matching her hushed tone. "He's just worried about what Drake will do now he's had a chance to think about it.""Come on, mate," Shane whined, his voice muffled by the door. "I can't believe you're choosing that dumb slut over us."Rhys rolled his eyes and made an exasperated face.Without discussing it, he got up and pulled the chair away. Placing a foot against the door he opened it a crack to face Shane."I didn't chooseher. I chose Drake because I'm not stupid enough to get myself killed."'Killed?'Dailey though
His Plaything Chapter 20
"Come on," Drake said. "We're going to a party."That was all the warning he gave before yanking of the chain attached to her neck. She almost tripped and choked herself to death as he strode across the bedroom, managing to catch herself at the last minute."Do you want me to get changed?" she asked.When Drake stopped abruptly, she walked into his back."Sorry" she uttered, looking down.He didn't seem bothered about her barging into him, his mind on other things as he assessed her outfit."What to wear, what to wear," he muttered under his breath. Then he smiled. "You can wear that maid outfit I bought you."He riffled through the draw he'd designated as hers and pulled out the tiny piece of fabric. It was short and frilly, with matching knee socks and tied at the back with a belt. She looked good in it... if not a little odd sinc
His Plaything Chapter 19
Toni saw Aaron sitting alone in the cafeteria. He was biting into an apple and appeared to have nothing else but a cheap can of energy drink.She scanned her card, paying for her salad before approaching Aaron. He looked up as she sat, brows knitting together in confusion."Is this okay?" she asked.Aaron shrugged and looked down at her plate with disgust."Why would you choose that green crap when they have pizza?" he asked, curling his lip."I love salad," she told him. Her mother was very big on healthy eating, so it had been drilled into her since birth. With a dressing and a cheese, her mother wouldn't fully approve of this particular salad, but she wasn't right about everything. You had to have something tasty on the plate."You're mad," he said, watching her eat a tomato with interest. "I've never eaten a tomato before."
