Repaying Her Blood

Chapter thirty: Protecting family

Marissa

"I have something crazy and absolutely unexpected to tell you, Jordan," I hastily whispered, tugging on his arm.

Glancing around for a familiar boy with curly, caramel hair, I dragged Jordan even further down the corridor.

"What's the problem?" He murmured, tracing a finger down my cheek softly as we stopped alongside the lockers.

Looking up into his grey eyes, I began to reveal everything that had kept me staying up all night long, "I trusted people- that's my problem."

Confused, Jordan started raising his eyebrow up at me. "I don't understand..."

"Gracie. She was a friend, a friend that I thought could never hurt me in the most worst way possible," I breathed out, tears pricking my eyes.

"You're going to have to be blunt with me, love," he mumbled, grazing his nose with my own.

"I think she might be Lorna's tormentor, Jordan," I declared quietly.

Jordan froze up, his mouth slowly moving open as he stood there speechless.

"I know it's crazy but when I went to see her, the day after I kissed you, I took a peek at her phone when she was ordering drinks," I whispered. "She had the exact same number on her phone as the mobile that was found in your locker."

"How did you know it was the same number?" He asked, knitting his eyebrows.

"I wrote the number down in my notepad and then carried it with me ever since," I responded, recognising a proud glint in his eye.

"Hold on- the person who put the phone in my locker was Gracie?" He muttered out, scratching his head.

I shook my head. "Now this is where it gets interesting. When I went to see Isaac, he believed that the person he saw planting an object into your locker had the body of a male. And guess what, Gracie has a male cousin who apparently got led on by Lorna."

"So you think it was the cousin?"

"His name's Wesley and was our waiter at Pizzaland. You know, the creepy one that wouldn't stop staring at us," I revealed. "He must have thought that I was Lorna."

"Yeah, that does make sense. It also adds to why he put it in my locker. Wait though, because he thought that, then that must mean he has no clue about Lorna being dead," he replied, wincing afterwards at the way he put it and muttering an awkward 'sorry'.

"You're right..." I trailed off, puzzled as to how he knew about the mobile phone. "How did he know about that phone then?"

"Gracie probably told Wesley to go and put it in my locker as revenge," he answered, biting his lip slightly. "Even though he almost broke up our friendship, I still feel sorry for him in a way."

"Me too. He's being controlled by her and he doesn't even see it. Also, he has no clue about my sister's...passing!" I exclaimed, sympathy swelling up inside of me.

Jordan placed his hands on my shoulders, rubbing them tenderly. "Calm down, little mouse. It'll be fine. We just need to somehow tell him and hopefully he can tell us more about it. Also, maybe letting him know will open up his eyes a little bit more and he might turn on her."

I lowered my head, hating the idea of family turning on each other. Especially when people could easily die these days...

"I'll try and get in contact with him again," I replied before wrapping my arms around his waist tightly. "Thank you for sticking by me, Jordan. You're so supportive."

"Always, little mouse," he whispered breathlessly, kissing my head before propping his chin on my head.

"Why do you call me little mouse? I don't think you've ever explained," I asked, the question coming to mind after his statement.

He chuckled. "Because you're small..."

I quirked up my eyebrow. "And?"

"And...you let out a little squeak after I caught you spying on me that day," he explained, a little smile working its way across his face at the memory.

"I did not squeak!" I faintly gasped, smacking his arm.

"Yes you did. You tend to squeak a lot when you end up in awkward situations. If you hadn't have squeaked, then I don't think we even would be here together."

"I don't believe you." I shook my head.

He shrugged before pulling me along to class.

†

"Hey, Mari! Where did you go the other day?" A familiar voice, that used to bring joy but now brought fear, yelled out.

Slowly, I turned around to see a frantic Gracie waving at me. I smiled tentatively at her and paused my steps as she caught up to me.

"Uh...my dad texted me saying that there was an emergency at home," I steadily responded.

"Oh what was it?" She asked sweetly, seeming solicitous.

How could she act so concerned?

"Oh nothing much...just family things." I beamed politely, even though I was feeling as awkward as a man standing in the women's toilet.

"Sure, sure family things. I totally get it. You'd do anything to protect your family." Gracie's lips quirked up a little.

Alarm bells suddenly rang in my head as if...she knew something. Something that I hoped would have been hidden away from her for a while.

Gracie began circling me, her heeled shoes clacking against the hard floor. Her footsteps echoed throughout the corridor, causing me to freeze up.

"You know, Marissa..." She drawled out. "I really wanted to be friends with you but you just weren't-"

"Risky enough?" I rolled my eyes.

She smirked. "No. Aware. You never truly realised what your twin sister was like."

I narrowed my eyes at her, hands shaking in anger. "I knew her more than you ever did! I was her twin for God's sakes! Her other half."

"She was a nuisance! Messing my little cousin around and prancing around the school like a mesmerising Barbie doll!" She spat out, fixing her eyes on my face. "I decided to be the great master mind behind it all and screw her over for once."

"With Wesley's help," I said through gritted teeth. "Your cousin who doesn't seem to know about my twin's death."

"I couldn't tell him, Marissa. He was infatuated with Lorna and learning that her death came too soon would have destroyed him and broke him, even more than he is now!" She yelled out.

"And whose fault would that be?" I chuckled coldly.

"Hers obviously," she growled out.

Before I could respond, Gracie grabbed my arm, dug her nails into my skin and shoved a cloth over my mouth.

"I won't let you destroy Wesley! I can't have him knowing about Lorna's death. He can't know that I took it too far!" She cried out, frantically covering my face with the cloth. "Breathe in, damn it!"

I tried pushing her hands away but she proceeded to thrust me against the locker, sparking pain over my back.

Holding my breath for as long as I could, Gracie began to press on my jaw which caused a gasp to erupt inside of me. That small mistake was what had me slumping against the locker and sliding to the floor.

"Sleep tight, Marissa. Sweet dreams."