“How much is this?” Alex asked the sales lady and the sales lady, who was probably still in college, sighed.
“It’s $700” she answered.
Alex’s brows scrunched then, read its product description over. The price was higher than her old phone but she can’t say much about the specs. It was pretty vague. She didn’t care much which brands they used to assemble the phone. She did care about what they can deliver and the display card… wasn’t providing much information.
She huffed. Even if she was to get her phone back, she wanted the best value for her money. More importantly, for her parents’ money. Since they thought she lost her phone for good, she had to keep up the pretense.
Alex could sense that the sales lady was getting impatient. She’s been inside the store for over an hour now, hopping from one phone to another.
She settled on an old model. It’s only been a few months since its release. The specs met her standard.
It was also on sale.
Alex felt happy with her choice.
“I’ll take this one” she held up the display model. The sales lady went to their storage cabinet and looked through their stocks.
Alex checked the phone cases. She picked one in black with a gold shooting star.
The sales lady came back and opened the box to let Alex inspect her new phone.
Alex thoroughly scanned its hardware. She opened the back case as well. Then, she turned it on to continue her examination. Once she was done, she handed it back to the sales lady and gave her approval.
At the counter, Alex paid for her purchase. When Alex was a good distance away, she dialed a familiar number on the new phone.
It rang three times before the receiver picked up.
“Hello? Who are you? How did you get my number? No, I’m not interested in insuranc—”
Alex laughed.
“Oh, oh, oh! I know that laugh!” the girl said with enthusiasm, “Alex! Hey! Wait, it’s you, right?”
“Yes, it’s me” Alex’s smile reached her ears, feeling delighted as always to hear from her favorite cousin.
“It’s been a while. What’s with the new number?”
Alex bit her lip. She hadn’t thought about how exactly was she going to recount the story. It was quite a long and complicated one…
In the end, she settled for the direct approach. It was the easiest way, “I kind of lost my phone.”
“What?!” Emily exclaimed. She stood up from her bed and walked to her balcony, closing its glass doors behind her. A soft breeze brushed her light blonde hair, “How? Why? When? Where?”
“It’s uh… it’s a little complicated.”
Emily listened attentively. To say she had a shock was an understatement.
She had five of them.
Emily knew her cousin like the back of her hand. She was the first person Alex consulted about her plan to attend Woodlands. They talked about it one night and stayed up till dawn. As much as Emily loved Alex, she was against it. It was too dangerous. It was too much of a risk. What if someone found her? What then?
As the hours passed, Emily became conflicted. Alex needed to go. Her cousin was sick of being caged. She was naturally independent even as a child… so eager to spread her wings… but her aunt and her uncle had to be strict with her because of it. She had bodyguards everywhere while other people became distant of her.
“Wow, okay. That is complicated” Emily commented. Her fear almost came true. If it weren’t for Alex’s quick wit, things could have gone wrong. The guy seemed harmless though… but wait, was he really? The name seemed familiar to her.
“What’s his name again?” she asked.
“Logan”
“Logan…?”
“Logan Parker. Why?”
Emily hummed for a bit, her tone of voice a little higher, “Nothing. I’ll just do a quick search on Google later.”
She heard Alex chuckle. Emily was relieved. At least, her cousin thought it was a joke.
“What are you going to do?”
“Here I was hoping you had answers” Alex teased.
Emily scoffed at her antics, “If I know you, you’d already have a plan” she rethought it for a second and added, “But not before a panic attack, of course.”
The corners of Alex’s mouth tilted higher. She knew her well. Alex had walked a few blocks. She could almost see her house. A breeze flew in and Alex took a deep breath. The fresh air was a comfort. She could smell dew. Someone must have watered a garden nearby.
When Emily didn’t hear her cousin speak, she knew it did happen. She pressed her lips together. Should she ask or not? As far as she knew, Alex hadn’t had one in these years after she left. Could Alex have hidden it from her? Emily shook the question away. She was sure there wasn’t one. She threatened to use a lie detector on her and since then, Alex took her worries seriously.
What could have happened?
“You can do this, I know you can. You’re stronger than this. This should be a piece of cake for you missy and your scheming brain. If you can hide yourself in that school from your family’s enemies then, this is nothing.”
The words were out of Emily’s mouth before she gave it a second thought because they came straight from her heart.
Alex didn’t think she could love her cousin more than she did but each encouraging statement changed just that.
“Thanks, Em” she whispered. Alex cleared her throat and headed straight to business, “You think I should just ditch the phone?”
Emily looked to the horizon. The greenery was beautiful and so full of life. Then, she looked up to the sky, wondering if her cousin was seeing the same clouds as her, “Is there anything important in it?”
“It was a birthday gift” Alex sighed, her heart felt heavy.
“But you already told your parents you lost it so that settles that. The only thing I could think of is that there’s something in it that could potentially expose you.”
