Ones Ignored

Chapter 16 | "Your feelings are something I-"

The next day we have our club meeting is spent silently reading the files over and over again. I'm not sure how Jameson does it, I watched him reread the pages about twenty times in the ninety minutes we had the meeting for. But overall, we do not have any leads. So, Jameson sends us home for the weekend with a promise of having a better lead next week.

I spend the rest of the week in the shadows. I have yet to talk to my girl-friends about what happened on Wednesday and they have yet to ask me about it. I forgot that they wouldn't ask about it. I forgot that the rule of the group was to never ask unless somebody personally brought it up. Even then you kept your answer vague.

I go straight home after the game but unfortunately get to witness Blake running to Stella after the win. I leave before they can kiss but even then I couldn't leave fast enough. It was hard to see them together but I knew that my feelings regarding this would never go away, would it? The probability of me losing all feelings for Blake were low. But I would try; I was tried of feeling so low when I was supposed to be happy about this change.

I was now single and I could be- or not be- with anyone I wanted. That was something I should be excited about and not spend the weekend crying into a tub of ice cream while catching rom-coms. That wasn't supposed to be the plan, but sadly it was.

Monday goes by just as slow and by Tuesday after school, I am glad for the change in environment. I walk into Ones Ignored with a soft smile on my face and find Jameson leaning over Agent Hoppers desk, a hand grabbing for case files. I wasn't sure if they were old copies but I hear rushed whispers as Jameson is trying to say something to Agent Hopper.

"You should really let the man speak, sweetheart", I say to Jameson, leaning against a nearby chair. He gives me an once over before standing up and saying, "Out."

I am taken aback as I stand up straighter and place a dramatic hand on my chest. "Out?", I repeat and he nods. I look past him and to Agent Hopper who had his lips pulled in a thin line, not looking at me. "What happened?", I ask and get no response.

Jameson walks over to me and his body looms over me as he cocks his head to the door. I cross my hand over my chest and say, "I'm not leaving."

"You have to", Jameson stresses but I don't see his urgency. What was he trying to protect me from this time? He is about to plead his case when somebody speaks for him behind him.

"She can stay", Agent Hopper says and I have the sudden urge stick my tongue at him. So I do, and Jameson slowly shakes his head at me. Oh, so we weren't going to poke fun today. Okay, I think as I walk over to my original seat. Jameson picks up the case files from the desk and starts passing them out to people. He speaks as he does so: "A new call came in to the local police station after labor day. A group went to a campsite over the labor day weekend and the call was made Tuesday morning."

My jaw falls open because the only people that went to a campsite last weekend were my girls. Jameson continues, "The girl claims that there was a third person in the room when it happened, well, almost happened."

"She got away?", a guy asks from somewhere beside me and Jameson nods.

"She did. But there was enough damage done to her to make her call the station. Once again, this girl wasn't helped and since it has been a full week, Agent Hopper got the case files to come here."

Jameson turns to me then, his voice loud and yet soft at this time. "The call was made from the school", he says and his eyes find mine. "There has been talk about a group of cheerleaders and a couple of jocks who went to a campsite last weekend. We have reason to believe it was one of them."