Blackmailed by a Bully

"Yes. Of course I'll stay. I promised to obey you and I will," she replied honestly. "But... please be kind? Just this once?"

He laughed at the word kind, as if the idea of kindness was unthinkable, but he nodded. "I'm getting tired anyway. You can go."

"Thank you," she said, oozing heartfelt gratitude.

He looked confused as he smiled at her, then slapped her on the bum as she turned her back to him.

"Come back here tomorrow after school," he said.

"Yes, Sir," she replied with a military-style salute and no hint of sarcasm.

"Wait," Damon said, just as she was leaving. Her heart almost skipped a beat.

As she turned back to face him with the fakest smile she could muster, he plopped a mobile phone into her hands. She knew it wasn't hers because of the size--it was far too small. "You can use this. So I can contact you when you aren't home," he said.

'Great,' Frieda thought, but she managed to not utter that sarcastic word out loud.

"Thank you," she said instead, desperate to keep the peace so she could go home and get some well-deserved rest.

"When I text, you answer me. Got it?" he said, staring into her eyes.

His eyes were the most beautiful shade of green. The most gorgeous eyes she'd ever seen. It seemed odd to her that God would have given such beauty to such a cruel person--almost as if it were a trick. "Erm... I got it," she replied, blushing as she realised she had been staring into his eyes for way too long.

'He's going to think I'm falling for him now,' she scolded herself.

She wasn't. She assured herself she wasn't.

'There is only one man I want to be with,' she thought.

She put her ordinary clothes on and slipped out of the front door into the cold night. She was shivering as she let herself back into her own home.

Nathan was sitting on the sofa with the girl.

'She's still here?' Freida thought, watching the two of them chatting from the hallway. 'Ben's girlfriend sure seems to like my brother.'

When she walked inside the pair looked up.

"Wow... you look--" Freida muttered, noticing her brother's new look. His glasses were gone, presumably replaced with contacts to tackle his near-blindness. His hair had changed also, from long and limp to something that looked more like the other boy's. In fact... his hair looked similar to Ben's.

'He's... actually quite good-looking,' she noticed for the first time.

"See you tomorrow," Chelsea said, getting up from the sofa and picking up her posh-looking bag. She didn't say anything to Freida or even meet her eyes. It was strange--as if she was acting guilty. Surely they hadn't done anything untoward? "I look way better... right?" Nathan asked, his tone suggesting he wasn't entirely sure.

"Yes." Freida nodded. "100% better."

"Thanks." Her brother chuckled. Then he cocked his head. "I think."

After her brother went upstairs to his room, Freida found the house phone under a stack of magazines on the table. She didn't know Mr Preston's mobile number by heart, but she knew he was listed in the phone book and it didn't take her long to find his home number.

'If I can't message him... I'll ring,' she thought, thinking of her secret lover.

"Hello?" he answered in a voice that sounded like he'd been asleep.

"It's Freida," she said.

There was a long pause.

"Freida? I told you, you can't ring my house. My wife will get suspicious," he whispered.

"I didn't know how else to talk to you. I lost my phone," she explained.

There was another pause.

"Freida... I told you... my wife is getting too suspicious. I can't do this with you anymore," he whispered.

"But--" Freida swallowed, fighting back tears. "You always said you were going to leave her."

"I would." He sighed. "I would if it was just me. But... I have the kids to think of. Do you think I'm ever going to get to see them if people find out about this?"

It was Freida's turn to let him sit in uncomfortable silence.

"Please... don't call me again. I'm sorry Freida. This was a mistake. I have to do what's best for my kids."

She heard a crackle and then the dial tone, and stood there holding the phone for a minute, feeling numb.

"You already had those kids when we slept together though, didn't you!" she screamed at the dial tone. "It didn't bother you then!"

When the door clicked open she threw the phone down and turned around to face her mum, looking guilty as hell.

"What's up honey?" her mum asked.

"Oh, you know. The usual," Freida replied with a big false grin.

"Nathan got a haircut and contacts," she added, just to take the focus off herself.

It worked like a charm.

"Really?" mum's eyebrows raised as she placed her shopping bags all over the floor. "Has he got a girlfriend or something?" "He was with a girl," Freida said. She started picking up the shopping, helping her mum pack away. "A very pretty girl." A packet of poptarts fell out of the bag.

"Oh, mum!" Freida smiled. "You remembered to get my favourite."

"I love you, Sweetie," her mum said suddenly and kissed her on the head.

Freida had to hold her breath to stop herself from crying her eyes out. She hugged her mum and ran up to her bedroom, closing the door before letting it all out.

She cried over Mr Preston, over her horrible situation, over the guilt she felt and by the end, she didn't even know what she was crying about. She was just crying.

Then she heard a knock on the wall.

She stopped crying, listening.

'Is that Damon?' she wondered.

She knocked back and heard a window creak open.

"Oi," she heard a voice call.

When she opened her own window and stuck her head out, she saw it was Jayce who had the bedroom connected to hers.

"I'll try to talk to him, okay?" he said. "Don't be crying about it."

"I was actually crying about something else," she told him.

He frowned and shook his head in disbelief.

"You're life must really suck. Sorry chick," he said at last.

"It could be worse," Freida was quick to say. She hated moaners and didn't want to sound ungrateful for everything she did have. Some people didn't have anything at all. For all she knew, Jayce had bigger problems than her. He had to live in the same house as that monster after all.

"That's the spirit," he said, closing the window.

Freida went to bed feeling slightly better.