Rejected ✓

Secrets Coming Out

I looked up from my perch on the floor, to see a rather annoyed Maddie looking down at me.

"Something wrong darling?" I asked, putting my chin in the palm of my hand. Maddie frowned, before lifting a rather mangled piece of paper.

"I can't get it!" She whined, stomping her foot as she let the paper fall to the ground.

The white construction paper was suppose to be a snowflake- yet it had somehow been cut in too many places, and ended up a mess.

The Winter Dance was an annual dance at Frémont, which was the last day before winter break, every single year. This year, I had the bright idea to sign Maddie, Sara, and I up for the dance committee.

Sara sat in the corner, painting the banner that would be hung over the entrance. I was trying to figure out what colors went together for the streamers, though I wasn't a color-coordinated kind of good.

"Just go for simple," I told her, showing her a snowflake I had made earlier. She thought about my advice, before shaking her head.

"I'm going to look on google," she told me, sitting a few feet away. I shrugged, laying back on the ground, lifting two streamers next to each other.

There was only a few other people in the gym. Gym classes would be moved to outside, and practices were canceled coming upon the dance. It didn't matter though, school had already ended for the day.

"I can't believe they said yes to letting you run the committee," Sara snorted from her painting. I shot her a glare. It was a valid question though, since I never showed any interest in school things.

"Ali normally does it, but she's sick with the flu, so she gave it all to me," I responded, sticking my tongue out to Sara. She just rolled her eyes, but I could see a small smile on her face.

"Is it even flu season?" Maddie mumbled to herself, cutting small divots into her paper.

We continued working as diligently as our brains could handle, for another hour, before taking a break. We huddled together in the back of the gym, near the outside doors.

"It's cold here," Maddie complained as we sat down.

"It's cold everywhere," Sara replied. She was right, it being December, the air was cold and icy. There was unseasonal snow a few times, but it always melted before morning.

We talked quietly for a few minutes, shifting easily from topic to topic. Maddie started talking about how she was going to be making cookies, much to our demise, and then got on the topic of the last time we tried to make cookies.

"Did you ever figure out why that wolf was like... stalking your house?" She asked.

I sighed, leaning back. I had been avoiding telling them anything about Mecah, in fear that I would drag them into the mess I was in. It seemed like there was no way around it though, since other than Connell and Zach, they were the closest people to me in my life.

"They wanted my ring," I told them. "Mecah's ring, I mean."

I pulled my necklace from my shirt, dangling it in my hands to look at it. It was the same as it always was, but it felt a lot different now. It had more power, it was dangerous.

"Why?" Sara asked, looking up from her sketchbook. I tucked the ring away, crossing my legs.

"Turns out the ring is some kind of enhancer," I looked at them. "Only Mecah can control it."

It was quiet for a moment as they soaked in the information. Maddie just stared off into space, while Sara just stayed slack in the corner.

"What?" Both of them suddenly said, sitting up as they looked at me with confused expressions.

I nodded. "So, I found this Journal that belonged to her, and it explained everything. Someone is after the ring."

"What about her? Where is she?" Sara asked.

I lifted my shoulders. "No clue, only thing I know is that she was going to Louisiana. She said that people were after her."

"Louisiana?" Maddie asked, surprised.

When Mecah ran away, there was never a tangible thought of where she could have gone. We had our ideas for a short while, someplace like New York, or even another country. Now, there was an actual idea of where she could have gone.

"Would never have guessed that.." Sara said, looking at Maddie.

We were quiet for a few seconds, before Maddie spoke. "What now..." she said slowly, looking back and forth between Sara and I.

"Now we find her," I mumbled, sighing to myself. The task seemed impossible. Luckily, Connell had asked his best friend to send a few trackers down to Louisiana to try and find her, and they had already been searching for a week. Unfortunately with no avail.

"Okay," Maddie said simply. That's what she was good at, making things feel simple. The task of finding Mecah felt a million miles away from completion, but they way Maddie made it seem, was like it was in arms reach.

We got back to work after that. I finally chose the color scheme, which I decided would be silver, blue, and white. Luckily they were the same colors of our mascot, which happened to be a shark.

No matter the tasks ahead of us, for a few short hours, as we worked, we were okay. The thought that Mecah was possibly in danger, was a scary one. Connell had assured me that they wouldn't kill her, because they needed her power for the ring to work.

Still, my mind was often clouded with thoughts of her demise. It twisted my insides, frightened me to no end.

The only thing I could hope and assume, was that wherever she was, she was thinking of herself. She had never been selfish when she was with us, perhaps she was selfish in the hands of others.