The Elites

The Outside

"And I can still see you; this ain't the best view
On the outside, lookin' in
I've been a lot of lonely places
I've never been on the outside"

"The Outside" – Taylor Swift

"If your aunt and uncle are trying to figure out what happened to Hope, maybe they think that you could kidnapped and held in hostage in order for them to not move forward with evidence" Hunter says, looking deep in concentration. "Though, your friendship shouldn't really make a difference to that." Unless the killer's aim is to hurt Hope – which it isn't because Eleanor is dead - I agree with Hunter.

"Okay, but you have to agree that something fishy is going on" I point out. Hunter nods in agreement. I text Hope last night to see if her parents had told her anything, but she didn't reply.

"Forget about Hope because your bestest friend in the whole world got you an invitation to Courtney's party on Friday night. She invited all of the cheerleading squad and I got a plus one" Hunter grins me and I smile back. I think the main reason Hunter joined the cheerleading squad was so she could get invited to the popular people's parties, she loves throwing and attending parties and she always takes me with her.

"Do you want to travel together so I can drive home?" I know Hunter will get drunk; she always does when she has the chance. She's responsible, so she always arranges for somebody to be able to take her home.

"I can pick you up at eight?" Hunter suggests. I nod in agreement and frown as I realize Courtney is approaching us with Chelsy, even though Courtney and Hunter are on the squad together they aren't friends, Courtney sort of has a vendetta against Hunter.

"I'm leaving school early today, so I need you to lead practice" Courtney tells Hunter. She doesn't acknowledge me. Hunter is probably the best cheerleader on the squad, she was offered the position of head cheerleader but she didn't accept it, she told me that it was easier to give it to Courtney than to spend a year with Courtney trying to steal the position from underneath her. Courtney walks off without waiting for Hunter to agree. I see her walk over to all the other cheerleaders who are sitting on the grass.

"Chelsy, will you help me out?" Hunter doesn't sound too annoyed about having to lead practice, but I know she'd rather not.

"Of course." Chelsy was my lab partner in sophomore year, she's nice. She told me she wants to get a cheerleading scholarship and study psychology at Princeton. She's not a scholarship student, so her parents could pay for college but for some reason she wants a scholarship.

"You should tell Courtney to leave Hope alone" I say, letting my thoughts slip out before I can stop them. I know Courtney won't listen to either of them, she knows they won't actively do anything to stop her. Courtney only listens to people who will retaliate and fight fire with fire, people like Hope and Eleanor.

"Don't you think I've tried? I don't have any wish to see her put Hope through more shit" Chelsy says, sounding a little defensive. She's right, Chelsy isn't the type of person who would torment someone who has been kidnapped and lost a family member. "I think you could be good for Hope" she says, after pausing for a moment.

"Why?" I'm not even friends with Hope yet, and we might not get to that point. After the project, we might not talk again.

"She could use someone like you. I should get to class." Chelsy wasn't friends with Eleanor or Hope, but she was friends with Kai and Ashton, they must have told her about Hope.

"You should wear the black skirt you brought last weekend to the party." Hunter evidently has no interest in what Chelsy said, I don't think Hunter will be happy if I get close to Hope.