They Came In Hoodies

Chapter 23: I Came In A Hoodie

Song for the start of the chapter!

Stella's POV

With a heavy face, I sat down in my seat at school and looked to see if Gray was in his seat. It was empty, telling me he had not been in school for days. Grayson's seat had been empty for four days in a row now, which made me worry.

The last time I saw him was that late night when the beast attacked me. That beast still haunted my mind at the most unexpected times. It was in my dreams, in the corners of my eye, in the shadows, following me down the road at night. I had so many questions about what I saw that night and I wanted him them. Once I had answers, I would have peace of mind.

I thought school was the perfect place to corner him and demand answers, but as another day passed by; I had a feeling that he wasn't coming back.

It was as if something more happened that night that I didn't know; I was sure of it. I saw the look on his step mothers face; I saw too much, and they left because of it. His step mom looked so concerned as she dropped me off as if she was worried that I would change everything. She was afraid of me. But couldn't she tell that I wouldn't say anything? I cared about Grayson, probably more than anyone else, and I would do nothing to hurt him. I just wanted answers for my own use, I had no goals of making it to the front page.

Last night I went to his house, hoping to find him. I stayed on his porch for 30 minutes in the snow and cold, thinking he would come, but there was no sign of him nor his stepmother. That alone worried me, he was nowhere to be seen, and I was getting desperate now, to the point that I called him several times, but it went straight to voice mail.

In no time, I found myself at the end of the school day, waiting for Bec to pick me up. Gray did not show up once, nor was he brought up in conversation. It was as if no one cared he was gone or that he had been missing for days.

Breaking me from my quiet thoughts was when Alice sat beside me on the bench by the school front door. "Hey girl!" Alice said as she wrapped her arm around my neck, pulling me closer to her.

"Hey... what's up?"

"Nothing," she shrugged as she looked out the school front door.

I smiled at her, then looked back at the window, hoping that I wouldn't have to wait long. We hadn't talked about the party and how she wanted to kiss me. I thought about bringing it up a few different times, but the moment never seemed right, maybe it would never be right. She was in love with her boyfriend and I was, in her words, 'obsessed' with Gray. Plus, I didn't like her like that, at least I was pretty sure I didn't. "Have you heard from Gray recently?"

She shook her head as she looked at her freshly painted nails, as if they held more interest than this conversation. "Nope. I would think you would hear from him before I did."

She had a point in that. "I am just worried about him."

She shrugged. "That's nothing new. You are always worried about him," she pointed out as she stood up from her seat. "Hey, do you need a ride home?"

I shook my head with a smile, trying to be as nice as possible. Lately, Alice had irritated me because of the lack of concern she had with Gray. "Bec is coming, but thanks for the offer."

"Sure thing."

For a moment we were silent, but the silence that filled the space between us was short-lived. I knew she was thinking about something, but I couldn't tell what it was exactly.

"Stella, I don't get it. You guys aren't friends anymore. You haven't talked in weeks, but you are still obsessed with him. But we are here, your best friends, and you haven't wanted to hang out with us. I don't know what is going on with you, but I tried to help you move on, since he is clearly not interested. You don't seem interested in that though, you just want to chase him around like a ghost."