Forget Me Never

but something was warning me not to freak out – to act normal. I let myself into the house and ran upstairs to Julie’s room. I knew there would be binoculars there – Julie birdwatches every so often. Finding them, I went back into my room and closed the door behind me.
    You’re being silly, I told myself as I approached the window, from the side, where I couldn’t be seen.
    The man in the Mini was Aiden Anderson.
    My heart began to pump. Slowly I poked my head above the windowsill, still peeping through the blinds. It was definitely him – he was talking to someone on his mobile and he didn’t look too happy.
    Shit! I thought. How does he know where I live? Followed me again, I suppose!
    I drew my mobile from my pocket and called Reece.
    ‘Evening,’ he said when he picked up. ‘What’s up?’
    ‘He’s watching me,’ I said in a low voice.
    ‘Who?’
    ‘Aiden Anderson! He’s sitting in a car parked over the road. It’s creeping me out!’
    ‘What?! Seriously?’
    ‘Do I sound like I’m joking? He was there yesterday too – well, the car was. I didn’t realize it was him. What could he possibly want?’
    ‘Calm down, Soph! You’re inside, you’re safe. Is Julie home?’
    ‘Yeah,’ I said, feeling slightly reassured. ‘Why’s he doing this, Reece? I thought it was over. He explained his story. I accepted it.’
    ‘D’you think he wants to talk to you?’
    ‘No! I just walked past – he could have called out or rung the doorbell or something. He’s just watching me.
    ‘Maybe stalking relatives of his ex-girlfriends is how he gets his kicks.’
    ‘Eww – don’t even go there! Seriously, what do I do?’
    ‘Call the police?’
    As Reece spoke I heard the sound of an engine starting. I watched the Mini turn left at the junction and let out a long sigh.
    ‘He’s gone.’
    ‘Good. D’you think he’ll come back?’
    I had no doubt the answer was yes.
    ‘Maybe I should talk to him next time,’ I said, feeling a bit calmer. ‘He can’t, like, do anything. This is a residential road – there are people about.
    ‘Doesn’t mean it’s safe. Bloke’s obviously a creep. I’ll talk to him.’
    I could just see Reece marching up and demanding Aiden explain why he was playing stalker – in those exact words. ‘No, thanks,’ I said.
    ‘Did you get his registration?’
    That hadn’t occurred to me. What an idiot! ‘No. It’s one of those new Minis though – a blue one.’
    ‘There was a scuffle from Reece’s end of the line. I wondered what he’d been up to – it didn’t sound like he was out with friends or anything. ‘Sophie . . . are you scared?’
    ‘Isn’t that obvious?!’ I snapped. When there was a silence, I sighed and sat on my bed, lying back on the pillows. ‘I just don’t understand. I thought this was over .’
    ‘Perhaps we should drop in on DI Perry. If I was him, I’d be pretty interested in this.’
    ‘He’ll tell me I imagined it! The police aren’t interested, Reece.’
    ‘How about you stay round mine a couple days? Aiden won’t find you here. We’ll work out what to do next. Maybe we can hack into his Facebook account or something.’ He cleared his throat. ‘This is of course assuming that you don’t find the idea of hanging out with me too repellent.’
    I hesitated. ‘Can’t see your mum agreeing.’
    ‘It’s my house too. It’s not like we don’t have space.’
    ‘OK,’ I said after a moment. Staying at Reece’s wouldn’t solve the problem – but it was something . . .
    When I told Julie the next day that I was going to stay over at Reece’s, she was fine so long as Effie was there. I wondered if that meant she didn’t trust us without adult supervision. She didn’t comment about us suddenly being friends again though, for which I was thankful.
    Effie was less than pleased. When I arrived at Reece’s that afternoon she came out into the hall and eyed my rucksack with a sour kind of look. I’d hardly packed much – just clothes, toiletries, Edith, some sewing I was working on – but from the way she acted you’d think I was moving in. She started having a go at Reece as I was unpacking in the guest room, which had an en-suite bathroom and was really spacious, with a double bed and a packed bookshelf. It smelt strongly of vanilla air freshener.
    ‘I can’t pretend I’m delighted,’ Effie was saying. I guessed she was in Reece’s room, next door. ‘I wish you’d asked me before telling her it was