on the map//spencer 'spider' white

19

I've barely made it into my house when I get a call from Amerie.

"What did you do now?" I question.

"There was another dead bird," Amerie tells me.

"What? Where?" I ask.

"On my front door," Amerie explains. "It was there when Harper and I got back from the party."

"Shit," I remark.

"Harper still thinks it's Chook," Amerie tells me.

"Do you think it's Chook?" I ask.

"I don't know," Amerie tells me. "It could be."

"Well we're gonna figure it out," I tell her.

I groan when I hear a knock on the door. I open the door and Spider is standing there.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"You're not gonna invite me in?" Spider asks.

I stand in the middle of the doorframe. "What do you want, Spider?"

"Not very cool what you and your little friends did tonight," Spider tells me.

"I didn't do anything," I tell him. "That was all Amerie and some Quinni. And I didn't know you actually had a bird phobia. You never told me."

"Doesn't really make me look too manly," Spider states.

I shake my head. "No, it doesn't."

"Rhiannon," Spider starts.

"Why are you here?" I ask.

"Just missed you is all," Spider tells me.

"Spider," I start.

He cuts me off, "No really. I know you're still mad at me or whatever, but I do miss you. But you want me to leave you alone so I will. Good night, Rhiannon."

"Night, Spider," I tell him.

Amerie, Quinni, Darren and I are hiding behind a car across the street from Chook's house.

"I can't believe you talked us into this," Darren remarks. "This isn't fucking Spy Kids, Chook is dangerous."

We watch Chook walk out of the house and get into his car. We wait for him to pull away before walking up to the front door. There's a hole in the glass and Amerie sticks her hand in to open the door. The house is covered in graffiti looking exactly as I expected it to.

"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Darren asks.

"Anything that proves Chook's been following her and doing the dead bird stuff," Amerie explains. "Then Harper won't have to prove he was there the night they took her."

"We can just get him arrested for stalking or something," I offer.

A phone starts to ring. Judging by the ringtone it's none of ours.

"He left his phone," Darren states.

The front door opens, and I hear Chook curse. There aren't many hiding places in this living room. Quinni is left standing in the middle of the room as I hide behind a chair with Amerie.

"Ello-hay, Adlay," Quinni greets.

"Who the fuck are you?" Chook asks.

Amerie stands up with her hands in the air. "We just wanna talk."

The four of us sit down on the couch as Chook sits in the chair across from us.

"So, let me get this straight. Youse reckon I came into your school, stole her bag, found a dead bird, put that dead bird on her bag, figured out where she lives, found another dead bird, and put that dead bird on her doorstep," Chook states.