They Say Love Hides Behind Every Corner. I Must Be Walking in Circles
Chapter 12
The day had finally come.
The day I had to go to that dreaded place.
School.
But it was worse now, because of the fact that I not only had to go as Serena Magnus, but school was now Ridgeway. That place had hallways and classrooms chock full of people I despise.
“Serena, come on!” Matt groaned. “I have to pee!”
I was hogging the bathroom, like I usually did every morning. Damien couldn’t stand it, either. The thought made me sad. It made me realize how much I wanted to go home.
I was just glad I had managed to control myself when I saw Forrest. I knew I would end up doing something I would regret later, so I called it a night after my New Year’s kiss with Finn. He understood that there was nothing going on between us, that it was only because of the occasion.
“Serena!” he wailed.
I rolled my eyes, and decided to just leave my hair to air dry. I was too lazy to even put it up. My hair was so much easier to handle, because of its length. I missed it.
I swung open the door and Matt breathed a sigh of relief. He pushed past me and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. Liv had made waffles and French toast for breakfast. “Yum,” I said happily as I grabbed a waffle, a piece of the French toast, and a glass of milk. I sat down and scarfed it down. I hadn’t had anything to eat since dinner yesterday. I had fallen asleep in my room, gone downstairs, greeted a few people, kissed Finn and gone to sleep. Food hadn’t fit into the agenda. That made me sad.
I finished just as Matt came downstairs. He went straight for the door. “You’re not gonna eat?” I asked him incredulously.
“He ate half the food while you were upstairs,” Liv said with the roll of her eyes.
“Why do you think I had to pee so badly?”
I snorted, and got up, following Matt out the door. “Bye, Liv!” I called out.
“Bye!”
“So remember what I told you?” Matt asked me as I followed him into his car. It was a beat up 01 Sedan.
“About my life?”
He nodded.
“That I play volleyball, I don’t cheer, my best friend is Bethany, this dude Jared is my ex no matter what he says, and…?”
“That’s pretty much it,” he said.
Thank God.
&&&
“Oh, God, Serena! Why haven’t you answered my phone calls and texts?” Bethany, my apparent best friend, asked me. “I heard what happened and was freaking worried! I went to go see you but Liv wouldn’t let me in.”
This was my welcoming, as soon as I got out of Matt’s car.
“Oh, yeah, Liv’s been really protective since I lost my memory,” I said nonchalantly.
“I hear you’ve been inside for all of break,” Beth continued. “That’s insane.”
“I know,” I muttered.
“Did you hear what happened around the same time of your accident?” she asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “What happened?”
“Two things happened,” Beth told me. “First, that fuck-face Jared is going out with Tessa, who swore at that sleepover, over Lolita, that she would respect the girl code, like we all did. And she broke it.”
“Uh-huh,” I said.
“Oh, sorry!” Beth laughed. “I almost forgot. Jared is your ex; you broke up with him two months ago. Tessa is, or was, one of our friends, and she broke that by hooking up with him over Christmas break.”
“That’s kinda harsh,” I said, shaking my head.
“Kinda?” she asked. “That was downright bitchy! But whatever. We don’t need them!”
I laughed. I liked Beth already. She was different than I would’ve thought.
“Nah, we don’t,” I agreed. “I don’t even remember them. I think I’ll live!”
Beth grinned.
“So what was the second thing that happened?” I asked after a moment.
“Oh", right!” Beth said. “Right around the time of your accident, this girl went missing.”
“Who?” I asked.
“She went to Northview; she was the girl who embarrassed herself on purpose at the game on Halloween. We crashed her Sweet Sixteen and she pushed you into the pool. Her name’s Shay Barron.”
I nearly choked on my own spit. “What?”
Do you remember her?” she asked excitedly.
I quickly shook my head. “No, I just didn’t hear you right.”
“Oh, well this girl, Shay, who goes to our rival school, went missing the day before Christmas Eve, on the twenty-third. They don’t have a clue as to where she is, or who kidnapped her yet.”
Holy shit. I was missing?
“That sucks,” I managed to choke out.
Beth nodded. “Big time. That must really suck. She actually seemed like a nice girl, rudeness and weirdness aside.”
We started walking towards the school.
“You’ll probably need me to show you around, right?” Beth asked. “I mean, I don’t think you remember the hallways, the classrooms, the teachers.”
“No, I don’t.”
She nodded. “Well, here’s your locker.”
I started laughing when I saw it. “Did it come like this?”
Beth grinned. “Nah, we painted them at the beginning of school. Mine’s purple!”
My locker was pink, no joke. But it looked kind of cool, actually.
Beth opened my locker for me, and wrote down the combination on my hand. The insides had furry pink wallpaper, a disco ball, and tons of pictures. Almost all of them were of Beth and Serena.
Across the hallway, I noticed a purple locker. I grinned.
But my grin went away and my mouth dropped open when I saw Maddie walking across the hallway. Maddie? What was Maddie doing here? Was it possible that she knew? But how?
Maddie soon disappeared into a classroom, and I was left with my thoughts whirring around in my head.
Holy shit. Was this just all a test? First Forrest, and now Maddie, too?
I took a deep breath, and turned back to face Beth. “So what’s my first class?” I asked her.
“You have World History with me first,” she replied. “Come on!”
I nodded and followed her into the classroom right by my set of lockers. I entered it, and cursed internally when I saw who was there. It was Westley. I nearly forgot he went to Ridgeway, too. But I realized I had nothing to worry about, because Westley would only bother me if I looked like myself, not Serena.
I followed Beth and sat down in the seat next to her. She had taken a seat in the third row. Westley was in the first, thank God. Even a glance of him made me want to barf.
I fidgeted the whole time the class was going on. I was happy the teacher hadn’t called on me. This whole situation was just too much. I just wanted to have my old life back.
The classes afterwards passed in a blur, and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. Beth and I didn’t sit at the popular table. We apparently liked to sit in a separate table usually. The popular table was too stuffy. Tessa normally sat with us, too, but obviously that wasn’t going to happen now, if Beth had something to do with it.
“We have a new girl in our grade,” Beth said over lunch. It was only us two and another friend of ours, Callie. “She was Shay’s best friend.”
“You say that like Shay is dead,” Callie said. “They haven’t found the body yet, have they?”
“No,” Beth said. “You’re right; I just don’t think the odds are good. I mean, they don’t even have a little clue as to where this girl is.”
This conversation was making me really uncomfortable. Maddie walked in at that moment, and I could tell she wasn’t having a good day. She had no idea where to sit. Luckily, Callie whistled and called out to her. “You can sit over here!”
Maddie looked over, shrugged, and walked over to our table. I had to tell myself over and over again to act normal, or else things could go bad.
“Hey,” she greeted. “Thanks. You saved my butt. That weirdo was starting to walk over.” She pointed to Westley, and I snorted.
“No problem,” Beth said. “No one needs to deal with that.”
"Tell me about it,” Maddie muttered.
“Wait a sec,” Callie said after a moment. “Didn’t the girl who went missing used to go out with that loser?”
“Yep,” Maddie answered immediately.
“But why?” Beth scrunched up her nose.
“I’m not sure,” Maddie replied. “At first, she just didn’t want to be rude or mean, but then? I don’t know.”
“That guy is so creepy, though,” Callie said with disgust, “he’s always hitting on us. But it’s just so gross and creepy, that it never works. There’s always something wrong with it.”
“Seriously?” I blurted out. “He did that even when he was going out with…Shay?”
Callie and Beth nodded. “Yep, even then. He’s a slut.” Beth shook her head.
“Anyways, we have volleyball practice after school today,” Callie said. “Hopefully you haven’t forgotten how to play, because you’re one of the best.”
“Hopefully,” I muttered.
&&&
So before practice started, I tried shooting around with a basketball. I honestly thought I was going to seriously suck, but I could still shoot just as well as I could before. And I was also a spiking-machine, it turns out, now. Serena was athletic enough to make up for my lack of volleyball knowledge.
I was a spiker, and I had a lot of fun, actually. It was awesome being able to have that sort of power over the opponent, up in the air like that.
After practice, I don’t know what came over me. I found myself walking to Maddie’s house, and knocking on her door. I thought about just running, but my feet stayed planted on the ground.
Maddie came to answer the door. She looked surprised to see me, of course. “Oh, hey, Serena,” she said, looking a bit weirded out.
Oh, God, what was I supposed to say now? Should I just say it?
"Shay isn’t missing,” I blurted out.
“What?” she asked.
I mentally slapped myself, but repeated what I had said anyways. “I said that Shay isn’t missing.”
“She’s not?” Maddie asked. “Then where on earth is she?”
“Well, she isn’t technically missing,” I corrected.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that I am Shay!” I blurted out.
“What?” she asked incredulously.
“Oh, God, I’m Shay!”
Maddie’s eyes widened, and I instinctively slapped my forehead.
What did I just DO?
I am officially a blonde now.