The Beauty is the Beast

4-

"I see you!"
Jade takes off running, Lina following behind her as Hannah chases them. The three had been hanging out all weekend, spending their time at Lina's house as it was the biggest and her parents didn't mind three teenagers running around.
It was actually the first time Jade and Lina hung out outside of school, but Hannah seemed insistent that they all spend the weekend "bonding."
The friends had decided to play hide and seek about an hour ago and despite Lina's protests they were having a blast.
All Lina wanted to do was watch Netflix and paint each other's nails, Hannah of course would do whatever the other two wanted. But Jade, she was feeling cooped up and needed to stretch her legs.
Lina starts to fall behind, not having the endurance Jade did. Hannah tags her friend and Jade stops, panting heavily.
"I win!" she cheers and falls backwards, the grass softening her fall. She looks up at the clouds, waiting for her friends to join her. Lina and Hannah lie down on either side of her, the three remaining silent, waiting for the other to break it.
"Can we talk about how in love Seth is with you Han?" Lina finally says and Jade's chest tightens.
"He does not Lina!" Hannah protests but a smile breaks out on her face.
Jade rolls her eyes and sits up, pursing her lips together in frustration. Seth did not 'love' Hannah, they just met and were 15 years old, the girls were being stupid. But Jade could not deny that her childhood best friend seemed smitten.
"Jade?" Lina says, sitting up and looking at her best friend.
"Jade, I'm sorry. If there's something going on between you and Seth then-"
"No," Jade says, interrupting Hannah's panicked apology. "There's never been anything between Seth and I, and... I don't think there ever will be," she says with a sigh.
"Well that's complete bullshit," Lina starts to say sarcastically.
"Lina! Stop, let's just stop talking about Seth. Hannah if you're into Seth you have my blessing to go for it," Jade says, forcing a smile to console her friend.
"Okay..."

"Jake!" Jade calls as she drops her bike at the end of the driveway.
"Jade!" a familiar voice calls and Bella appears from the other side of the house.
"Bella? What are you doing here where's Jake?" She asks the older girl, looking around for her brother.
"I don't know, I was hoping you could answer that for me," Bella says, a tint of panic in her voice.
"Um... I don't know I mean I haven't been home all weekend. Have you asked my dad?" she suggests and Bella nods.
"Yeah, and he won't answer my calls," she says, gripping her phone tightly in her hand.
"I don't know what to tell you Bella but I'm sure he's fine." Jade assures her but she twiddled her thumbs, worrying about her brother herself.
Bella looks in Jade's eyes and then down at her hands, shaking her head.
"No, you aren't, you're just as worried about him as I am. Jade if you know what's going on tell me. You've noticed the weird stuff going on lately you've had too. All this stuff with Sam and the elders-"
"Wait," Jade interrupts her. "How the hell do you know about all that, did Jake tell you?" Bella only nods and Jade knocks her head back with a huff. "He seriously needs to stop telling you shit," she sighs and runs her fingers through her hair.
"Jade just... call me if he comes home. Please?" Bella asks Jade hesitates before nodding. "Thank you," she sighs in relief and pulls the smaller girl into a hug. Jade's eyes widen in surprise as Bella's arms tighten around her. This was probably the first hug they had ever shared and Jade didn't know whether to return it or reject it.
She decided to return it.
"Dad?" Jade asks as she walks into the house. Bella had left and after checking the garage and woods Jade knew she had to question her father on the whereabouts of her brother herself.
"Hey Jay," Billy greets his daughter, turning off the television upon seeing her concerned expression. "What's wrong pumpkin?"
"Where's Jake?" she asks, her arms wrapped around herself, something Billy knew she did when she was worried. Billy's eyes widen slightly and Jade picks up on his hesitation as she sits on the sofa across from her father. "Dad? Where's my brother?"
Billy shakes his head, the faux smile returning to his lips. "He's out with friends' sweetie, why do you look so concerned?"
Jade's chest tightens as the words leave her father's mouth, as she immediately knew he was lying. She closes her eyes and lowers her head, biting her lip.
"Jake hasn't talked to his friends in day's dad..." she says and looks back up at him with sad eyes. "I thought we agreed not to lie to each other," she says and stands, heading towards her room, ignoring her father's calls.
Something was wrong, seriously wrong- Jade could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Her only decision being whether or not she wanted to get involved in it.