The Game Until 18

Chapter 1- When In Hiding, Go Into A Complete Stranger's House

“Quick, go inside,” a voice hissed. “Go upstairs, second room to the right.” I didn’t pause to think that this person might have been part of those men. I saw a chance, and I took it. There wasn’t any time to waste. Sooner or later, they would figure out that I had crawled through. I had only managed to distract them for a little while.

I sped past the person, nearly knocking down in the process, but didn’t bother to stop and apologize. I could always do that later.

I climbed the stairs as quickly as I could, my feet pounding the wood. As that person directed, I went into the second room to the right, shut the door behind me, and waited for him or her to come back up while I was busy regaining my breath and waiting for my heart to calm down.

A pair of footsteps sounded. My pulse relaxed. I was safe now, assuming that it wasn’t my dad coming up. The door opened, with me on the floor panting.

"Omigosh, you're amazing," I gushed. "Just simply the best. I will never doubt you again, O god or goddess. You practically saved me. I don't know what I'd do withou—."

“What’re you hiding for?” a voice asked. I glanced up, and after one look, I jumped up in the air, nearly shrieking in fright. I had not expected him to be standing so close to me, even though I had been sitting at the doorway. I had already known that it probably wasn’t anyone I knew, but it was still a shock that I was in the presence of a complete stranger. Adrenaline and fear does strange things to you sometimes.

He seemed to be about my age, with sandy brown hair, matching hazel-colored eyes twinkled in amusement at my reaction, and a mouth that was twitched into a smile with cute dimples on either side. He had a rather slim build, not too skinny, but not fat either. With arms crossed and his body leaning on the doorframe however, he did look slightly intimidating, like he was planning to interview someone applying for a job.

Now that my heart had stopped beating so rapidly, I glanced around the room. I couldn’t help but notice that it was nearly the complete opposite of Rachel’s. Where hers was bursting with color and filled with her favorite band's posters and fashion designer perfume, his was much emptier and cleaner with beige colored walls and a queen sized bed. The only thing that the two rooms had in common was that they both had a T.V next to the door.

I took a deep breath, deciding that I should begin with introductions. I plastered a friendly smile on my face and spoke. “Hi! I’m Liliana,” I held out my arm. He took it, shaking my hand firmly. “And you are…?”

He sighed. “You don’t know who I am?” he asked, sounding as if he wasn’t surprised at all.

“No. Should I?” Okay, so that sounded a bit rude, but I didn’t think that I’d ever seen him in my life.

“I go to the same high school as you.”

I blinked. “Really? I’ve never seen you before.”

“Yeah. You’re Liliana Hyde, aren’t you? The head cheerleader of Springville High.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” I felt guilty that I didn’t even see him before, and he had just willingly let me into his home without questions.

“So, um, did you see what happened outside? Any black SUVs out there and a poorly parked BMW convertible along with some huge suitcase squashed onto the driver’s seat?”

            He nodded. “Yeah. Some guy with this professional looking black business suit and tie was knocking on the door next to our house and asking if they saw a blonde hair, blue-eyed girl creeping into their backyard. Oh and by the way, your BMW hit another car.”