‘To Nash and Christopher!’
They’re surrounded by a chorus of ‘To Nash and Christopher’.
‘And everyone else too,’ Christopher says, feeling the blush rise over him in protest.
‘Just let them celebrate you,’ Shaz says, patting his arm as she passes.
And so, he decides to just accept it.It’s a funny thing really, he spent all this time worrying about fitting in and finding a community, and now, as he’s just about starting to find and feel that, accepting it feels like a whole extra step.
He can’t quite believe that this town, this whole town, saw something in him.
He’s just about to make himself up a plate when he notices something very strange out of the windows at the front.
A van he doesn’t recognise pulls up and parks in the village hall car park.
Strange, he thinks.
Hunger overrides curiosity, and his stomach growls loudly.While standing at the counter, he remembers he hasn’t checked his phone since this morning and, keen to avoid using it actuallyatthe table, he decides to check it now.As he turns it over, he realises he has over a hundred unread messages in WhatsApp.
Perhaps a glitch?
But no, he can see there are over 200 notifications in Spanks Squad.Yes, Ambrose and Haf can be really chatty, but that seems like a lot even for them.The last visible message shows Haf saying, ‘Crap he must have turned his phone off.’
When he actually opens the group chat, WhatsApp is so overwhelmed that it automatically navigates to her last message, above which are messages from Kit, Haf, Laurel and Ambrose repeatedly typing his name over and over.They must be having some kind of joke, but unease pools in his stomach.Why were they trying to get his attention?Had something happened?
Instead of scrolling all the way up to find out what they’ve been talking about, he writes a new message at the bottom.
Christopher:hello?
Haf:GUYS HE’S HERE
Kit:where the fuck have you been??
Christopher:What’s going on?
Laurel:We don’t want to scare you darling but there’s been some kind of leak.
Christopher:a leak?
Laurel:To the press.
Ambrose:the whole world knows Nash is in your bakery
Laurel:He’s gone viral, darling.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Christopher
What the?’Christopher murmurs, trying to make sense of what his friends are saying.
‘
‘What’s wrong?’asks Nash.
Rather than explain in front of the others, he takes Nash by the hand and leads him into the bakery kitchen.
‘Something weird is going on, and I don’t think it’s a prank.’
