G&T Based

Chapter 79- Jonelis

I was in the middle of doing some of my summer Biology homework when my phone went off once. Since I was in the middle of an open ended response, I ignored the message. If it weren't for the twenty other messages that overloaded my phone in the next 30 seconds, I would have been able to finish that problem.

I picked up my phone, unlocked it, and went through the growing stream of messages. The first one kept me from reading the rest. Hunter had planned a party and had invited me, me! It wasn't like I was that into him, but it still felt great that I got invited this time. Every single year, Hunter throws some kind of party or celebration, and everyone seems to get an invitation except for me. Why me!

This time, I didn't even bother asking my mom to drop me off because I knew she would say no, so instead, I asked my sister in law, who was much nicer. She just bought a new car a few months ago, and was very, very, I repeat very, careful with it. It took her a full twenty minutes just to get to Hunter's house. Each stop sign was painful.

Well, on the bright side, at least I wasn't in Bri's sister's car. We had gone for a drive to the t-Bowl place downtown a few years ago, and I was pretty sure she broke about six or seven laws along the way. She had skipped a few stop signs, forgot to yield, and jumped a curb.

When I arrived, my sister in law waved me goodbye, and I walked into Hunter's house, feeling much more important than I really was. Ironically, the first person to notice me was that backstabbing, traitorous Lindsay, who was talking to Kyle. I hadn't seen either of them in quite a long time.

On the other side of the room sat Kate, Katerina, Ivan, Hunter, Lindsay, and six other people I had never seen before in my whole life. However, four of them looked vaguely familiar. Hunter met me and introduced me to his three best friends, Alyssa, Finn, and Topher, who all were hanging out on their phones, and Angela, another friend of his from camp.

Kyle told me that the girl with long black-brownish hair was Khione, who had just moved here a few weeks ago. She was cousins with Amanda. The last girl puzzled me. She had smooth cocoa skin and giant eyes that seemed even bigger in her glasses. She was talking to Katerina on the couch, the corners of her mouth twitching every once in a while.

"That's Zara," Khione said behind me. I let out a small gasp because she snuck up on me so suddenly. "I met her at Marie's funeral a few weeks before, just at the beginning of the summer. They've been friends for quite some time, you know."

"Wha, what?" I sputtered, "Ma. Marie? When?"

"Oh? You haven't heard?" Khione said in a quiet voice, "I met her in Virginia and she stayed with my dad and I for a while. In fact, it was I who ran out and found her dead after waking up to a gunshot in the middle of the night."

Then, she paused, thinking.

"I don't suppose that surprises you much, does it?" Khione added with a tinge of suspicion.

"No... I mean yes," I replied, "Each death is as surprising and dreadful as the next. It's just so scary..."

Khione raised her eyebrow, and moved to the other side of the room.

"When's pizza going to come?" Ivan asked from the corner of the room.

"Any moment now," Hunter replied.