Three months ago, four kids were run off the road by a drunk driver and pronounced dead at the scene, leaving their families to grieve and wonder why accidents had to happen.
The four left behind families, and namely, five specific siblings: all sen...
Lindsey had a secret she was keeping from the rest of the group. And this seemed too terribly dire to be a coincidence.
Mary jumped out of her seat and turned around, her eyes scanning those of her friends and boyfriend before landing on Jordan's.
Her best friend was staring at her with an expression Mary hoped never to see again. The horror, the anguish, the betrayal. Mary felt as though her entire world was crumbling just at the fault of Jordan's eyes. She shook her head and tears became visible, one falling slowly down her cheek as she opened her mouth to say one word.
"Why?"
Mary shook her head in response and choked out a terrible reply before running out of the skybox.
"I'm so sorry, Jordan."
She ran out and down the stairs of the student section, Parker's enraged voice echoing after her as she went.
"Jordan? What about me? What about your boyfriend?"
But Mary kept running, her anguish turning to rage as she left the stadium and heard Madison Walsh continuing with the honorees. All that was left was Victoria Marcum, and who even cared about that disaster of a family.
Mary ran until she saw two figures walking away from the stadium, through the trees that led back to the school's main campus. She ran right in front of them and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Holy crap, Mary." Roland muttered as he and Lindsey stopped walking abruptly. "What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me?" Mary repeated, her voice at a decibel she had never heard come out of herself before. "What's wrong with your little girlfriend here?" She turned to Lindsey, who looked white as a sheet. "You really thought you could get away with this? This was your secret, right? You and your entire deadbeat family were trying to get rich off of my relationship with Neil, and now you've finally done it. You told everyone. You told—"
"Whoa, hold up." Lindsey shook her head, "I'll admit, that was what the stalker gave me, and that is what I wanted to talk to you about. But I...what do you mean, told everyone?"
"The display! The tribute to our siblings during halftime, the pictures on the screen. You rigged the PowerPoint and put my picture with Neil up there!"
"I did not." Lindsey shook her head firmly, "Believe what you want about me and my 'deadbeat family', but I didn't do anything to a PowerPoint. I was trying to tell you about the picture so that you knew about the stalker's leverage over you. I wasn't trying to do anything to hurt you, although you don't seem to have the same respect for me."
Mary felt herself calming down a bit and turned to Roland for reassurance.
"She didn't touch the PowerPoint?"
"I've been with her all day." Roland replied, "She hasn't gone near a computer, let alone the student council's crappy projector."
Mary shook her head, her heart rate slowing as she tried to make sense of the situation.
"Was it your brother?" She asked Lindsey.
"Which one?"
"Kaden." Mary replied, "He found out about us a while back and was blackmailing Neil for the longest time to keep it a secret."
Lindsey shook her head.
"As far as I know, Kade left town soon after the accident to be with his girlfriend in New York. I didn't even know he was blackmailing Neil."
Mary shook her head, cheers from the field indicating that the second half of the game was back in full swing behind them.
"Then who? We're done with the stalker, so—"
"But that doesn't necessarily mean that the stalker's done with us." Roland interrupted, "I mean, that's the only other person who could have that picture, right? And we all know this person seems pretty good at getting into places they aren't welcome in."
"I don't know, it all seems so sudden." Lindsey didn't seem convinced, "They left us alone for a few days, why come out now?"
But they were stopped from further discussion by the loudspeaker from the field turning on noisily as the kid narrating the game caught their attention.
"Barnum Prep number 73, Michael Hadden, is down."
Mary stood up straighter and turned back in the direction of the field, her eyebrows raised expectantly. Michael went down a lot during games; but he was usually back up within seconds.
They waited a few moments before the announcer spoke again.
"Barnum Prep number 73, Michael Hadden, is down—"
Mary rolled her eyes.
"We already knew that, moron."
"—and is unresponsive."
A/N: Oooooooh uh-oh. Also, question: how long should this book be? I'm probably making it a series so like I'm not sure how long to make the individual books. Thoughts?
-Katherine
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