The next two weeks were the strangest, some of the strangest in her life. Not only were the campus grounds crawling with police officers, state troopers, FBI agents and extra security but the gruesome murder of an upper class high school student obviously got the attention of the media. Throw in several celebrity and political children there was a media circus in and out of the grounds.
Coming and going was difficult, coming mostly as the security was intense. Not only did you need your school ID you needed two other pieces of ID with your picture. Also coming in, waiting in line to get in, was when the media was on you like a hawk hoping someone to lower their tinted window was a celebrities child.
This was the only time in life having an old car came in handy. Lilly was not bothered once from the cameras because she was obviously not the offspring of famous people. While the campus was crawling for a weekend Lilly decided to take time off and go back to Boston to see her family.
Her brothers were excited, Preston more so then Carter but the oldest of the two boys was more interested in spending time alone than with his siblings. When Lilly saw young Preston she hugged her little brother so tightly he started complaining to their mom about her killing him.
"I'm not killing you, brat." She ruffled his hair as he huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Didn't you miss me at all?"
He shook his head and tried to fix his hair, he had the Bieber sweep going. "I don't miss you because you're mean!"
She laughed ,"I'm not mean, again you're just a brat."
Preston groaned and ran upstairs, she then heard Carter yelling about him being in his room, something being thrown and Preston laughing as he ran down the hallway. Lilly went into her mom's office and sat down on one of the swirling chairs. Betty was on the phone, holding up one finger as she quickly finished the conversation and hung up. "They don't fight nearly as much when you're not around."
Lilly smiled "Are you saying I am the trouble maker?" She pointed to herself innocently, "Little ol' me? Come on, mom you know I am your best behaved child."
Her mom rolled her eyes, "We all know Carter is the best behaved. Gets the best grades too." She smiled and looked over to a family picture on the wall, "He's the pride and joy of my life you know, my baby boy! He's never leaving I'll tell you that."
"You do know he's going when he's eighteen and Preston's going to be in the basement until he's 40 and orders a bride from Thiland?"
Her mom frowned, "Whatever everyone chooses I am fine with." She sighed and sat down on the desk behind her, "How's school with everything that happened?"
Lilly shrugged, "Fine, other than the media it's gone back to normal. Did you know some tabloids are saying the psychopath is after a bunch of celebrity kids?"
Betty nodded, "I see. Have you met any of them? I heard that actor who won the Oscar last year kids go to your school. I forget their name..."
Lilly laughed ,"I met her, she's a bitch." Her phone went off and she pulled it out of her bra, it was Amie, angry that she was back in town for a couple of days and didn't tell her. She left her mom and went downstairs to her bedroom to call her cousin. Amie yelled at her for a few minutes before yelling that she was going to be there in a few minutes.
Going outside her redheaded cousin was sitting in her dad's Toyota with the windows rolled down though October was proving to be quite chilly. Lilly plopped into the front seat, "I was going to call you."
Amie frowned, "Sure, sure. Just like you called me in the summer when you went to that hick town filled with brother cousins and daddy uncles." She smiled as she pulled hastily into traffic. Amie filled Lilly in on every aspect of her life, including her romance with Blake, a member of Ace's Coven. Apparently most weekends he drives to Boston to be with her. From the way Amie talked about him Lilly could tell her cousin was falling hard for the guy.
"You guys go to the same school, I can't believe you haven't spent much time with him?" Amie said as they pulled up to a hotel.
Lilly shrugged, "We sit near each other in a class but he's always texting you. Maybe if you didn't occupy all of his time we would be better friends. Think about that bitch." Lilly looked out her window and up at the hotel, "Why are we here?"
The back door of the car opened and Blake climbed into the backseat, leaning forward first to kiss Amie. "Hey ladies." He said as he sat back, "Lilly it's been a couple of days, how are you?"
Lilly, wide eyed, frantically looked at her cousin who gave her an apologetic look. She was now the third wheel on what was going to be a very awkward night. Amie sped into traffic and took them to the mall where they spent a couple of hours following the girl around while she used her dad's credit card to update her fall and winter wardrobe.
While Amie was taking a long time in the change room she and Blake sat awkwardly on the bench waiting. "So, Amie says you come out here a lot." She use to excel at conversation, she can talk to Ace no problem and he was from the same Coven as Blake. Really they should be best friends.
He nodded his head, "Yeah, Amie's great. I have weekends free I want to spend them with her." He smiled as he said it, turning to look at her, "You don't leave the school much, do you?"
She shook her head, "I'm directionally challenged, could end up in Mexico if I'm not careful. First time I went to Willow Creek I got lost and stuck in a storm, Mason had to save me." She hadn't really thought about the night she met Mason. He was nice then, helped her not knowing who she was and letting her follow him into town. Who knew that a few months later he would want nothing to do with her? In the last two weeks she had barely seen him, and from what she learned from Sage he wasn't spending much time at the school anyway.
Blake was talking about football now, something Lilly had no interest in but Amie was apparently trying to find interest in to make Blake happy. It was cute watching them as they walked in front of her holding hands and giggling.
Though as cute as it was Lilly wished that she had not come shopping with them. As they headed into the Victoria Secret she took the time to wander off on her own, going to the Gap or Abercrombie to look at clothes she no longer had money to afford.
Shifting through the sale racks a hand landed on her shoulder. "Lilly?" She turned to see Kevin Glass and his sister Denise standing behind her. She was about to ask them what they were doing there when she remembered they lived and Boston, and this weekend was Vince's funeral. "Were you in town for Vince?"
She wanted to lie and say yes, she was one of the last people to see him alive and the rumour was he died fighting with Mason over her. Of course that was quickly put to rest by the police as Mason had a solid alibi and explained the situation, not to mention when they showed him pictures of the body, according to Sage, he almost puked.
She shook her head and tried to use her frame to over the rack she was looking at, "No, no sorry I just happened to be back at the same time. Was that today, tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow." Kevin offered a weak smile before stepping past her and flipping through the rack. Denise stayed where she was glaring at her. Lilly figured the girl was not her biggest fan as they had not spoken since her arrival at the school. A few times she had spoken with Kevin who was nice enough but the warnings from her Coven suggested he used nice as a cover to get information about their Coven. As Lilly was terrible with secrets she avoided the glass siblings at all costs.
"I'm sorry, by the way." She said quickly, she had not spoken to them since Vince's death, "I haven't had a chance to say it yet, I know he was a friend and everything. I cannot imagine what you're going through."
"No of course not because everything is perfect in Lilly World, isn't it?" Denise snapped before pushing past her and out of the store.
Kevin sighed and gave Lilly an apologetic look, "She's mad because she thinks you're dating Mason."
She had to clasp her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Yes she had dated Mason but the way he had been treating her since the break up....abandonment, she never wanted to go near him again. "We're not dating. At all."
Kevin nodded his head, "Tell her that. See you at school." He gave her a friendly smile before leaving the store after his sister. Sighing Lilly wandered to Starbucks and wondered if she was going to run into Pepper next. The girl had been stalking her at school why would she not show up in Boston? So far every other Coven was represented in this mall but the Cambridge one.
When the shopping was done Amie dragged them both to a diner for some food. While she was in the restroom Lilly told Blake about running into the Glass siblings and Vince's funeral. "I knew they were in town, I'm here with some guys from our group. Vince may have been in another Coven but he was a good guy."
She perked up at the mention of other guys being there, "Are you here with Ace?"
Blake smiled and nodded his head, "Yes I am. Why, want to call him up?"
She did but she wasn't going to let on too much to Blake. Simply shrugging she took a sip from her coke before answering the question, "Yeah he's fun to hang out with. You should have brought him out tonight so I had someone to hang out with instead of a gross new couple." New couples were the worst.
He laughed and quickly sent a message from his phone, "Done. Don't be surprised if he's outside this place in five minutes out of breath and sweaty."
"What from running here?"
"Sure we can call it that." He smiled and ducked from her open palm smacking him in the back of the head. Amie came back to the table and started complaining about the lack of paper towels in the bathroom. To his credit Blake nodded his head and answered her questions in all the right places even though he was clearly not listening. He was good at being a boyfriend.
But he was right about Ace, just not right about the time. Twenty minutes after he sent the message Ace was in the diner and followed Blake's raised hand and joined their table. "Hello all." He said smiling to each of them, holding out his hand to Amie, "Amie right? We met briefly at the carnival in the summer?"
She nodded her head, "Yeah I remember." No she didn't.
He smiled and looked to Lilly, "So I hear you ran into the Glass siblings. Denise is a mess right now but Kevin is actually being decent. Vince was his good buddy so I guess he's taking his death pretty hard."
Blake laughed, "Yeah we all know Denise is more upset about Mason blowing her off last week to hang out with you." After he said it he bit his lip and looked to Amie apologetically, as though he realized what he said after he said it. Lilly could only assume Amie had spilled hers and Mason summer fling to her own fling. Lilly shot her a look but the other girl clearly ignored it.
"Why would that upset her?" Ace asked innocently, stupid snoop, "They're in the same...science class and are partners of course they're going to spend time together." When no one answered him but looked awkwardly around he frowned, "So they have seen each other naked?"
Lilly reached over to smack him but by then he was use to her abuse having been spending more time with her. Amie was the one to respond though, "OK so Lilly had a thing with Mason, I saw a picture he's drop dead gorgeous who could blame her?"
"Drop dead gorgeous?" Blake asked
"Oh no baby not as gorgeous as you."
Blake smiled, "Well obviously."
"When did they date?"
"It doesn't matter!" Lilly shot Amie another look, "Really it was hardly even a summer fling, a couple of weeks when I met him in the summer." Oh that made it sound worse. Lilly picked up the menu and attempted at a subject change, "Hey look a burger and it comes with fries? Amazing so getting it, Ace what about you? A burger?"
Ace pushed away from the table and left the diner, without thinking Lilly sprinted after him catching up with him half way down the block outside. "Hey?" She put a hand on his shoulder and turned his body, "Look I'm sorry I should have told you-"
He held up his hand to stop her, "No, no it's ok I know you told me you dated I just never thought you had sex. I don't know why I even thought about it." He shuddered, "Look I like you and I know it's cheesy as hell but I do and hearing about you and Mason just pisses me off because look at you two now! He doesn't deserve you he never did."
Lilly stood there stunned. Part of her knew that Ace had a crush on her but after hints from Blake that night and how Ace was acting now clearly it was more than a crush, he had developed real feelings for her. She never meant to hurt him but apparently all she was good at was hurting boys who cared for her.
Ace nodded his head when she said nothing, "I know you don't see me as anything but your friend. Maybe I played that card too hard but I'm not forward, I'm not a cocky guy like Blake or Mason. When I like a girl I play the gentleman, the nice guy." He sighed and threw up his hands, "When am I going to learn it's not the nice guy that gets the girl? God I need to watch more action movies and start enjoying football or something-"
He could have gone on but Lilly put her finger on his lips to silence him. "The nice guy doesn't always finish last. Sometimes the girl has to date a couple of ass holes before she realizes how stupid she is." At his raised eyebrow she got to the point, "You're a good guy Ace, a terrific guy really and I wouldn't want you to change who you are. As cheesy as it sounds."
He smiled and took a step closer to her. She could smell his cologne and the mint on his breath. She had always appreciated Ace for his good looks, the boy was handsome, but never had she really noticed him in all of his glory. Dark hair, dark eyes, and he was right he was a perfect gentleman. How could he doubt himself so much? "So I guess all that's left is to ask. Lilly, would you like to get dinner with me sometime?"
She smiled and nodded her head, "I would love to, Ace." He smiled and hugged her, almost a bear hug she couldn't breathe for a moment. When he let her go they decided to put their game faces back on and headed into the diner where Blake and Amie were making out like mad in the booth. Lilly didn't want to disturb them but Ace kicked the table and apologized for his clumisness as he slid into the booth, Lilly followed after him.
Before leaving Sunday afternoon Lilly got a text from Hailey who had gone home for the weekend but didn't want to take the bus back to school, neither did Jake. She agreed to pick them up as it was a quick detour off her route to Willow Creek.
Saying goodbye to her family she jumped into her car and headed off into the woods. The drive was easier this time, getting there when the sun was still out and it wasn't raining. She easily found the pull off to the town and it looked exactly how she remembered it, except now the leaves were changing colours and people had their Halloween decorations out.
Hailey and Jake were waiting at a coffee shop across from Norah's bookstore with Sage and Darcy when she pulled up. People seemed to recognize the car as many of them waved to her when she climbed out. "Uh you guys couldn't get a ride with Sage?" She asked sitting down between Hailey and Jake, "I know it's not too far but come on."
Sage coughed, "Actually we all drove this weekend but we were hoping you wouldn't mind taking a few days off school to come here and learn how to use air." Lilly was about to point out a problem in the plan, Mason wasn't there, but out of the corner of her eye she saw him pull up a chair on Jake's other side. "Security is stricter at the school so learning there is a no go. Here it's safe."
Lilly shot Mason another look, either he didn't see her or was ignoring her but he kept his eyes forward, his face devoid of any emotion. She sighed and nodded her head, "Fine I'll stay here a couple of days, though someone needs to offer up their place for me to crash."
Jake raised his hand as he had a spare room. Sage smiled, "See everything is falling into place!" She drank a sip from her coffee and frowned, "Darcy could you get me two more packets of sugar?" Darcy didn't reply, "Uh Darcy, I'm talking to you?"
Darcy wasn't listening her eyes were fixed on something across the street. Lilly turned to look but in a flash Darcy's chair was on the ground and she was bolting across the road, and now Lilly could see why and her own heart leapt bounds.
Sean was climbing out of his Jeep. He had come home.