Dance In The Rain

~2~ False

"Tate, talk to me," Holden says softly as we get inside and Tate shakes his head.

"I'm fine"

He silently walks to our room and shuts the door, and I look at Holden.

"This town is like Gilmore Girls. Why the heck was there a murder?"

He shrugs. "We don't know that it was"

I look at him as if he's an idiot, and he raises his hands in defense. "I'm not worried about that right now. We will find out details later. How are you? That had to have been...well....awful."

"I'm okay. At least we didn't know her."

Holden simply nods once and watches me as I go into our room to check on Tate.

"You okay?" I ask when I shut the door and sit next to him on his bed.

He doesn't look up from his phone as he continues to group chat, and nods. "Yeah, that was just disgusting and my stomach feels like complete shit now. You know how awful it is to puke up tortilla chips?"

"Wonder who the killer is," I say as I pull at a piece of fuzz on his blanket.

"Why does there have to be a killer?" He asks in a weird tone.

"I mean...Did you see her?"

He shudders and looks back at his phone, ignoring me the rest of the night.

~*~

The next morning I wake up to Kenna shaking me roughly. "Jules, come on!" She hisses

"Kenna? What are you doing here?" I rasp as I blink a few times to make sure I'm not dreaming.

"I have a key, remember? Wake up and focus. I'm in so much trouble and I need your help!"

I sit up and swing my legs off of the bed, stretching out my back and squinting to adjust to the light.

"It's 6 am! How could you possibly be in trouble this early in the morning?"

She blows out a breath and runs her hand through her hair. "Can you please listen and ask questions later?"

"Go away!" Tate mumbles, kicking one of his legs out from under his blankets in frustration.

"Go back to sleep, asshole!" Kenna screeches.

"You're literally in my bedroom, dipshit! Get out!"

"OMG I don't have time for you. Jules, I need help!"

"Ok, I'm listening."

She takes a deep breath and scoots closer to me. "I kinda stole something from Holden on Friday morning and I need you to put it back for me."

"What did you steal?" Tate asks as he sits up in bed, finally looking amused.

"Go suck sand, Tate. Jules, he's going to be sooooo pissed and I don't want him to quit letting me stay here. My grandma's house smells like old people, and we have to watch Wheel Of Fortune every damn night. A person can only tolerate Vanna White for so long before they want to murder someone!"

"Interesting. Where were you yesterday?" Tate asks, and Kenna shoots him a death glare as she gets in her bag and pulls out an answer sheet to the test we had on Friday.

"I know he grades on Sundays, and I meant to sneak in last night and put it back...But I couldn't because my grandma's sleep apnea machine quit working so she stayed up all night."

"So much drama for someone so boring," Tate chuckles as he lays back down and grabs his phone.

"Holden can't get me in trouble, right?" She asks in hysterics.

"I...I don't know. But what if he catches me?" I ask.

"Please, Jules? Look. I'll leave it and then sneak back out. I'm supposed to be here by 9, so I'll just go down to the beach for a few hours."

"Hopefully you'll be the next victim," Tate mutters as he continues scrolling.

"What is he talking about?" Kenna asks in annoyance.

Before I can answer, we hear Holden's door open and his heavy steps pad down the hall.

"Shit! I'll sneak out the window while he's peeing. I'll see you in a bit. Thanks Jules!"

When she leaves, I stare at the answer key in horror. I don't want this! This is supposed to be the day of rest!

"How do I put it back without him seeing?" I ask Tate, who simply shrugs.

"I'm staying completely out of this. Soccer practice tomorrow, remember?"

I groan as I get out of bed and stuff the answer key in my hoodie. I go out of my room and rush into Holden's while he's still in the bathroom.

Please take a long time

I go into his messy room, and sigh. He's such a pig that I'll never find his book bag in time.

As if fate is on my side, I see it sitting in the corner of the floor. I rush over and quickly open it, and flip through until I see the folder with our class hour on it.

I'm starting to feel like a total badass as I stuff the paper in, when suddenly I freeze.

"Jules?"

Holden is standing in his doorway, wearing only sweats and crazy bed head, and tilts his head to the side in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"I..." I start, trying to decide what best lie to tell

"I was stressed about number five and I wanted to see if I got the answer right. I did."

He nods slowly, watching me carefully.

"Answer 5?"

"Yeah. I had a nightmare that I answered it wrong, but it's right."

"What was your answer?" He asks skeptically as he turns on his light and I try not to chuckle at the jet black hair in complete disarray.

"Uh, False....."

Shit! What was the question to number 5?"

He nods once more as he walks over and takes the folder out of my hand, opening it and looking it over.

"So, you said 'False' to the question, "What year was Pride and Prejudice published?"

"....uh, yeah?"

"And you're relieved that you got the right answer?"

"Uh......"

Holden looks at me harder, and his eyes tighten as he flips the folder closed and tosses it on his bed. "What are you doing in my room, Julianne?"