Liora sat in Jackie's room, surrounded by boxes. "Jackie, it's not in here," Liora huffed, glancing back at her sister.
"It's right here," Jackie said, holding up the white and blue teapot. Liora got up and walked over to her, looking down at it.
"She should be here," Liora mumbled, lightly touching the teapot. "This should be a happy day," she said, her voice trailing off.
"Let's go," Jackie said as they walked out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen where everyone was.
"Oh, Rory, Jackie, I got you guys some more tea," Katherine said as Jackie set the teapot down on the counter next to the sink and Liora bent down to retrieve the tea.
Crash!
"Parker!" Jackie yelled as Liora's head snapped over, taking a step closer to see her late sister's teapot in the sink, broken.
"Rory," Jackie said, leaning back on the counter as Liora closed her eyes.
"Oh, Jackie, I'm so sorry," Katherine said, walking over to the sink and inspecting the damage. "Rory," she said, as Liora crossed her arms over her chest and moved her hands up and down.
"No, no, it's okay," Jackie said, looking at Liora before casting her gaze downward.
Liora said nothing as she kept her head down and stepped back, feeling their eyes on her. "It... it's fine," she mumbled, looking to Jackie. "We can go now," she said, turning to walk away, with Jackie following behind her.
"Hey," Jackie said, grabbing her arm, making Liora look at her. "It's alright," she said, but Liora just moved away.
"One time, Jackie," Liora hissed. "One time I want something to go right, just... one time," she said, her voice cracking as she wiped her eyes to stop the tears from forming.
"Rory..." Jackie started, but stopped when the door opened. Liora quickly turned away and walked to the car, pulling Jackie with her as she got in.
The day had started off difficult, but now it was about to get worse. It was going to be a long day.
Liora let out an aggravated huff as she pulled herself out of the car when they arrived at the school's parking lot. Liora and Jackie quickly made their way to their first class. Luckily for Liora, the class passed in a blur.
"Hey," Liora said, touching Jackie's arm. "I'll see you at lunch, okay," Liora said, then walked off to her class.
"Hey," Liora said, sitting next to Alex with a huff as she looked up at him.
"Hey, are... are you alright?" Alex asked. Liora shrugged. "You just looked really upset this morning," he said. Liora looked up to the ceiling and let out a breath.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Liora said, laying her head down on the desk and keeping her eyes closed. She did this in every class until lunch finally came around.
Liora's eyes scanned the lunchroom, but she didn't see Jackie. She quickly pulled out her phone and saw a one-word message from Jackie: "Bathroom." Liora turned on her heels and walked out of the lunchroom and to the bathroom. When she arrived, she walked up to the stall with the door closed and hit it a couple of times before Jackie opened it.
Liora closed the door behind her and locked it back as she looked at Jackie and then her phone, where she was looking at pictures of their sister.
"Jackie—" Liora cut herself off when the bathroom door opened. Her eyes moved to meet Jackie's as they listened to the two girls outside.
"I need to find someone new to flirt with," one said, making Liora roll her eyes. "I mean, what do you think about the new girls?" she asked, causing Liora's eyes to snap to the door.
"I think you need to watch your man around that one," the other girl said. "I mean, have you seen Dylan? He's had his eyes on her since homecoming. I'm so mad," she said. Liora tilted her head back with a bored look, as if to say if she was that mad, they could talk, but it wouldn't end well.
"And the other?" the first girl asked.
"She's pretty," the other girl said.
"Like who's buying the 'I lost my mom' act? People are talking like they won the lottery," Liora's head snapped up as she moved to the door, but Jackie grabbed her hand. Liora threw her hands up in the air and turned to look out the crack of the door to see who they were.
"Their parents are rich," the blonde said. Liora's jaw clenched as she watched them.
"Yeah, I think," the black-haired girl said.
"So they literally won the jackpot," Liora looked back at Jackie as the two girls walked out of the bathroom.
"You should have let me go out there," Liora said. Jackie just shook her head as she got up.
"Come on, we've got to get to class," Jackie said as they walked out and down the hall to the doors, outside, and started to walk.
"Hey, Rory!" Cole yelled after them, but Liora just took Jackie’s hand and pulled her along.
"We've got to get to class, Cole," Liora said as she kept walking away from him.
"Come on, I can't run with this leg yet," he said. Liora let go of Jackie's hand as she turned back to him.
"Are you alright?" Jackie asked. Cole nodded. Liora looked away from the two, her eyes finding the two girls from the bathroom. She was half tempted to go up to them.
"Rory!" Liora's head snapped back to Jackie, who was already looking at her.
"What?" Liora said.
"There's a party up at the cabin. Why don't you come with?" Cole said. Liora shook her head. There was no way she was dragging herself back to the party. It was a mistake the first time.
"No, we have class," Liora said, turning to walk off. But when Jackie called her name, she spun around. "No, Jackie, we are not going to a party. Go to class," she said, and walked back inside and down the hall to her class.
As class started, Liora laid her forehead on the desk and looked down at her phone when a text from Alex came up.
Alex: Hey, where's Jackie?
Liora's jaw clenched as she texted him back.
Liora: In class?
Alex: No, she's not here.
Liora lightly hit her forehead on the desk as she pulled up her and Jackie’s texts.
Liora: Where are you?
Liora waited for a few moments, but when Jackie didn’t answer, Liora's heart started beating faster.
Liora: Jackie! Where are you?!
She texted her again, but still nothing. Liora started to bite her fingernails. Was she with Cole? If she was, who else was she with? Was she safe? Did they make it to where they were going? All these questions flowed through her head at once.
She wasn’t answering, she wasn’t in class. She had to be with Cole, right? He wouldn’t let anything happen to her, right? Liora's eyes moved around the classroom. The longer she sat there, the longer Jackie didn’t answer, the worse the nervous feeling in her belly grew.
"Nope," Liora said, grabbing her things and getting up, walking out of the class.
"Liora! Wait, where are you going?!" her teacher called out, but she kept walking as she called Jackie.
Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
"Hi, this is Jackie, leave a message," the voicemail said.
"Damn it, Jackie, answer your phone! Are you out of your mind? You have 5 minutes to call me back or I’m coming to get you!” Liora hissed as she hung up the phone and swung her hand, hitting the locker next to her hard enough to make her bleed.
Liora didn’t waste time walking out. Her eyes moved around the parking lot until they landed on a couple of football players. She walked over to them.
"Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be going to the party at the cabin, would you?" she asked.
"Yeah, we are," one said, looking her up and down. "Little miss, want a ride?" he asked. Liora nodded as she got in the car.
"You don’t look too happy," the other guy said, making Liora look up at him.
"I'm not," she answered simply.
"You going to cool off?" the other asked.
"No," Liora said. Her plan was just to get Jackie in and that's it, because if the wrong person says the wrong thing, it wouldn't end well.