Chapter 10: Lost and Found.
___________________________________________
January 7th, 8:05am
The sound of the school bell echoed through the halls, and almost immediately the students of Summerland High began to reluctantly head to their first period...
The first day back after a vacation was always the hardest but there was always one particular student who didn't seem to mind being back at school. At that moment, Alice Murphy placed a book into her locker, dressed perfectly for the first day since she felt 2019 was a chance for her to wipe herself clean and start again, this year she wanted change, and decided to kick it off with a coordinated, eye catching outfit. She caught a glimpse of her appearance in the mirror stuck to the inside of the door, and looked over her face...
Her thick light blonde hair was slicked up into a high pony tail, her eyes perfectly framed with mascara and a little pink but perfectly blended eyeshadow, her skin radiant and glossy from the liquid highlighter she'd added after her foundation. She gazed at her own appearance for a few seconds longer than she usually would, gently touching her cheeks and examining her skin... she looked good and she knew it, and found herself almost smirking at that realisation. There was something that had changed about her, and even she couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe it was her hair, or her face, or her growing self confidence, but how Alice Murphy looked now, looked significantly different to how she looked less than six months ago.
Suddenly her locker door slammed shut, and Alice was welcomed with the sight of an angry looking Candice, whose curly brown hair seemed extra wild that day, yet still looked effortlessly gorgeous. "Where the fuck have you been?" She spat angrily, holding her palm against Alice's locker so that it stayed closed. "I've been calling, texting, I even emailed you, okay. I was one day away from turning up at your house unannounced. What the hell, Alice?!"
It took a moment for Alice to register what had happened, she'd barely flinched from the loud noise of the metal door of her locker slamming shut. She admitted to herself that she'd barely thought about her friends over the past week... and maybe she would have felt guilty if the timing was right, but as she searched for the emotion, she found it not to be there, and simply smiled instead. "I'm sorry, I've barely looked at my phone," Alice replied calmly, pushing Candice's hand off her locker door gently and opened it again to grab some spare pens and her reading book for English class, which is the only class they shared.
"Why the fuck are you smiling like that?" Candice snapped, "You can't just ghost on me after what happened at the New Years party! Olive's not talking to me, you weren't talking to me - what the hell was I supposed to think?! I almost had a mental breakdown."
"I was just busy, Candice - I'm sorry," Alice replied calmly, pushing her ponytail back over her shoulder and grimacing a little. "But I'm here now, so what's up?" she added, closing her locker and holding her books to her chest as Candice stared at her then looked down over her coordinated outfit. A black, white and red checked skirt with a matching blazer and her favourite white turtle neck underneath, layered gold necklaces over the top to finish.
"You look very... 90s clueless today," Candice pointed out, "It's annoyingly cute,"
"You're mad, I get it," Alice smirked, "Honestly, I just zoned out for ages. Things have just been so weird." She continued as they both began to walk to English together, holding their books to their chests and moving past other students who were still walking to their classes.
"Weird, how? What's going on?" Candice asked as they walked past one particular senior that neither of them seemed to notice as they began their in-depth conversation about strange things going on in their lives...
Noah watched the pair quietly as they walked passed him without noticing him stood there. He closed his locker quietly, irritation spreading through his veins and continued to watch Alice as she walked down the hall, her short skirt showing off her legs. He took a deep breath and swallowed heavily, remembering in detail the last time he'd spoken to her, and how she'd agreed to see him again, but then proceeded not to return any of his phone calls or messages. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he stared, his mind replaying how soft her skin had felt on his fingertips, how she'd been so eager to-
"What are you doing?" Trey's voice asked as he caught Noah starring intently after his little sister and Alice Murphy who had only just turned a corner.
"Nothing," Noah muttered, feeling his heart jump suddenly at the sudden unexpected presence of his friend.
"Didn't look like nothing." Trey muttered as Noah turned around to face him, "Jesus fucking Christ, when was the last time you slept?" He laughed unsurely, seeing the dark circles around Noah's eyes behind his glasses.
"Shut up." Noah muttered as he fixed his hair so that it was hanging in front of his eyes and pulled his beanie down more. "What do you want?" He then asked, glancing towards where he'd seen Alice last walk, but instead he saw an empty hallway.
"...We have bio together," Trey said quietly and then furrowed his eyebrows as he pulled his backpack up his shoulder. "Is everything okay?" He asked slowly, seeing Noah's vacant behaviour.
"Yeah. Let's just go." Noah muttered as he grabbed his own backpack from the ground and tugged it up his shoulder. Trey watched him carefully for a moment as he stalked off, noticing that Noah was acting a little stranger than usual. Although he knew that none of his friends were exactly normal, there was something about Noah that was unusually off that day... and he'd only seen him behave like that once before.
* * *
At lunch Alice followed Candice quietly as they picked up their food from the cafeteria line, the bustle of students surrounded them as everyone talked vibrantly about their Christmas break with friends they'd probably only seen just the week before.
After glancing in subtle disgust at the meat option for lunch, Alice went for a vegetarian option, and raised her eyebrows when she was presented with a fairly strange looking potato salad. "Thank you," she mumbled, grimacing as discreetly as she could as she left the line to sit at their usual table after Candice. "Are you not getting anything?" Alice asked, seeing her friend holding only an apple as they sat down.
"No... it all looks fucking vile," Candice muttered in response and bit into her apple as she let her eyes wander the crowded cafeteria. Students were dotted in large groups around the room, collecting at tables, some sitting, some standing. The buzz of noise was loud, and collected together like one single mass of chatter, but it seemed to fade into the background as Alice ate her lunch in silence and Candice zoned out thinking about nothing and everything at once.
Alice couldn't help but glance around herself, wondering and subtly hoping to see someone she also wanted to, kind of, avoid. Ever since the pictures Magnus had sent her of them post-kissing at his New Years party, she couldn't help but feel the annoying glimmer of hope in her chest that he might... possibly... feel something for her. But then again... a kiss was only a kiss, a brief touching of lips, and she knew of so many people her age and some older, who had sex with others that they didn't even like and for it not to mean a single thing. The thought only made her heart sink, and suddenly the potato salad looked even more unappetising than it already was. "Whats wrong?" Candice asked, seeing Alice's expression change suddenly as she put her fork down and sighed quietly.
"Hm," Alice mumbled, wanting to talk about her problems but she wasn't sure if she could. Magnus was so secretive... and he did scare her just a little still, since she didn't want to cross him. And Noah... she felt bad about Noah. And she felt angry too, but she wasn't sure what to say to him at this point, had it been some kind of sick game of pass the parcel? Or did he have no idea? "If I tell you something, can you swear on your your life that you won't tell anyone?"
"Okay," Candice agreed and placed her hand on her heart, "I swear," she added and continued to look at Alice with intense interest.
"Okay," Alice sighed and rubbed her lips together as she hesitated, getting the feeling as if she wasn't meant to say anything but she did anyway. "Okay," she said again and placed her palms flat on the table. "So you know at the New Years party, I think I vanished for a while,"
"Yeah you did, after the argument with Olive you literally disappeared," Candice replied and continued to hold eye contact.
"Well- I, um, I kissed Magnus Johnson... Or- he kissed me, I don't know, I can't remember how it happened." Alice said very quietly and glanced around herself before looking back at Candice whose eyes had gone wide.
"Oh my-" Candice gasped and cupped her hands to her mouth, "You kissed-?! Oh my goodness!"
"Stop, no," Alice rushed and blushed a little at Candice's reaction, worried that someone might hear her amongst the loud bustle of Boise. "I was meant to be with Noah, like as his, I don't know- date? But I kissed Magnus instead of him at midnight. And then the day after, I don't know what was wrong with me, I was hung over- and Noah drove me home and I got caught up in the moment and kissed Noah too and we almost had sex, and-"
"What?!" Candice hissed quietly, "Rewind, What?" She asked, her eyes blinking quickly as she raised her hands.
"I thought I kissed Noah. Because I remembered kissing someone, but I thought it was Noah because it seemed logical. So I wanted to kiss him again, obviously, and well yeah. My parents weren't home and I just got caught up-"
"So you were horny," Candice summed up for her and Alice shrunk in her chair and rubbed her back of her neck, "I mean I don't blame you, he's cute. But kissing Magnus? Oh my god. I have so many questions," she continued in a rushed, hushed voice.
"Mmm," Alice grimaced and prepared herself to answer every detail.
"First of all, why didn't you just ask Noah if you guys kissed? And second of all, why was he so down to fuck so fast? He obviously likes you, like a lot. Anyway, third of all, or- thirdly? I don't know," Candice said in one breath and stopped to flick her hair out of her face, "Magnus?! Like, how did that even happen? How did you find out it was him? Do you guys talk, low key? I've seen him stare at you before, like it's like he wants to eat you or something- it's kind of hot. Fourthly of all," she stopped to breathe in, "What did Noah say?" She huffed and clasped her fingers together tightly.
"First, I don't know why I didn't just ask him, I didn't think about that, which was dumb. Second, I don't know? Maybe be does. But maybe he was just horny or something too? We didn't talk about it. And I haven't spoken to him in a week... Third, yeah. Um, well Magnus told me, he sent me pictures like- I'll show you..."
Alice reached into her bag and began to rummage for her phone as Candice waited eagerly, "You guys took pictures? Oh my god," she whispered in excitement. But out of the corner of her eye, Candice noticed the third party in their usual trio approaching the table with another one of their friends, Georgia. "Abort," she whispered and Alice looked up with confusion just as Olive and Georgia arrived beside their tables.
"Oh," Alice whispered quietly and put her phone back into her bag.
"Hi," Olive said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was holding her lunch tray with one hand, as Georgia stood behind her holding her own with two. They were dressed down in black leggings and overused jumpers, which was not the usual attire for their trio. They made a silly pact in freshman year, that they'd actually kept, to make an effort every day for school, with either hair, make up or clothes. It was trivial and when they were much younger it seemed like a serious commitment, but Alice enjoyed making an effort and so did Candice, each of them stood out for their style choices, and Olive used to as well, but it seemed today that she had decided not to make an effort with any. "Can we sit down?" She asked, looking at Candice directly and ignoring Alice.
"Sure, of course," Candice rushed, looking shocked at how Olive seemed to behave as if they barely knew each other. "How have you been? We've barely heard from you," she continued as Alice felt the awkwardness settle in around her like someone had draped her in a cold blanket. She didn't remember the fight exactly, but what she did remember was the feeling of anger and irritation in response to something Olive did that she felt was unjustified. The details of that were still slightly blurry.
"Well I mean you guys barely made an effort to reach out, so," Olive muttered, her tone flaring irritation inside of Alice.
"It's a two way street, Olive," Alice muttered, surprising Candice again at her developing confrontational behaviour. In the past, she would've stayed silent.
"Seriously Alice?" Olive asked, her tone dripping with bitterness as her eyebrows furrowed together tightly.
"Why did you sit with us if you're just going to argue..." Alice said, her voice low as she furrowed her eyebrows a little.
"Okay, lets not-" Candice said before Olive could reply. "I think we can all admit we behaved super badly at the party last week..." she continued, feeling strange to be the peace maker since that was usually Alice's role. "So, um, can we just forget it? And move on? All of us fighting is weird,"
"Fine," Alice shrugged, feeling unbothered either way and that feeling shocked her... even though she didn't outwardly show it. Something was going on with her emotions recently, and she was starting to notice it more and more. Sometimes she was detached and felt nothing at all and other times she felt far too much... and each of those times she'd always been in the presence of none other than Magnus Johnson.
The thought of him made her stomach twist and she felt her cheeks warm. She didn't want to think about him... but he infected her mind like some kind of deadly virus. Her heart ached and her chest felt tight. She pushed her lunch away from her a little and lent her elbow on the table, resting her chin in it as she sighed heavily through her nose.
"Fine," Olive agreed too, side glancing Alice's behaviour and began to eat her lunch reluctantly and silently. A silence settled between the four girls, and Alice played with her lunch with her fork as she tried to distract herself... a part of her didn't understand why Olive was suddenly so angry at her and Candice. They'd been a trio for so long without any problems, for two years it had ran smoothly, but now... all of a sudden, it was starting to get rocky. And with everything else going on, she knew she was meant to feel guilty for not paying as much attention to her friends as she should and did before, but the guilt never came. Instead, more thoughts of Magnus's pouty soft lips drifted into her mind...
"So! Who's trying out for cheerleading with me this week!?" Candice asked excitedly, wanting to break the awkward silence quickly since Georgia, who was no part of the fight, made no effort to start a conversation. Alice scoffed and kept her head down as Olive rolled her eyes, none of them had been a fan of the sport throughout the years but recently Candice had been excited to join. "So... none of you, great." She sighed and sat back in her chair and folded her arms in disappointment... deciding to let the other wallow in their own self pity as she began to mind her own business.
... At that same moment Magnus was getting out of his car, a large McDonald's brown bag in his left hand as he shut the drivers side door. On the other side, Trey got out, taking off his sunglasses and putting them on his head as he took a deep breath of fresh air. It was unusual for seniors to stay on campus for lunch, given their privileges, but today Magnus wanted to come back... he didn't want to openly admit it to himself, but he wanted to catch a glimpse of the pretty blonde who had been playing on his mind for the past week.
It was bright and sunny that day, which one could have mistaken for spring weather, if it wasn't for the cold, crisp light breeze washing through the town. All over campus students were outside enjoying the sunny weather, even thought it was still fairly cold, that didn't seem to affect the enthusiasm. "Have you seen Noah today?" Trey asked Magnus suddenly as they began to walk side by side into the school building. Magnus was dressed in dark olive green fairly loose skinny jeans and a baggy black sweater with a dark beanie covering his hair to match. He liked baggy clothes, and even though he had a good body that anyone else his age would enjoy showing off with tight shirts, he didn't like how constricting it felt. However Trey felt the opposite, given the chance, a tight t-shirt always made an appearance to emphasise the muscles he had underneath, even if it meant he'd be cold showing his body off.
"No," Magnus replied, digging his hand into the McDonald's bag and pulling out a salty French fry. He placed it into his mouth as a collection of freshman girls gawped at him whilst he loped effortlessly past with his ray bans still covering his eyes even though he was inside now. His reputation for being undeniably handsome and intimidating spread like wildfire through the different grades... people stared at him wherever he went and he'd grown to ignore it over the years... But to begin with, it was something that used to immensely bother him to the point where he'd disappear from school for numerous days at a time when he was much younger.
"He's been acting kind of strange. I think he's on those pills again," Trey said as they made their way through the vast halls of the high school towards the courtyard.
"Speed?" Magnus asked as they approached the courtyard outside the cafeteria and walked towards a bench that was directly in the sunlight, next to an olive tree which looked slightly out of place in such cold weather. "Well that's his choice-" he continued just as they approached the bench that had a group of Sophomores already on it. He motioned for hem to move aggressively as they saw him getting closer, swatting their presence away like flies, and they instantly began to collect up their lunches and move their stuff quickly. They'd almost left the table by the time Magnus and Trey reached it, but one of them had left a jacket by accident, which Magnus picked up and threw to one side before sitting down.
"Yeah but he looks fucked up," Trey continued as Magnus handed him his half of the fast food calmly, as if he hadn't just disturbed someone else's peaceful lunch time. "He could do something dumb..."
"I don't give one flying fuck about Noah right now." Magnus spat as he unwrapped his burger and took a bite.
"I know you don't," Trey replied, seeming to be one of the only people unfazed by Magnus's cold personality. "But maybe you'll give a fuck about Alice Murphy," he countered, waiting for the reaction he predicted he would get.
Magnus stopped and it was as if he had frozen for a split second when he heard her name. It sent small but powerful sparks of electricity through his veins that disorientated him for a moment. But he chose to ignore the sensation and, slowly, after a few seconds had slipped past, lifted the burger to his lips and took another bite as if it hadn't happened.
"I caught him staring at her this morning... now, I don't know what's going on between you two but-" Trey began, already raising his hands in defence before Magnus looked up at him suddenly.
"Nothing is going on," he muttered, "Why, did you hear something different?" He asked, his voice stiff with irritation that someone could have been spreading his business.
"No, I saw you guys make out at the party," Trey said quietly and Magnus tensed. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds as Magnus put his burger down slowly. "I didn't tell anyone," Trey continued as he felt the low hum of tension and hostility start to radiate from Magnus.
"But Noah knows," Magnus murmured, "Alice knows now," he added and Trey raised his eyebrows in questioning. "She didn't remember before but I had a feeling Noah wasn't going to tell her, so I did." He continued as he took off his sunglasses and placed them on the neck of his sweater.
"What did she say?" Trey asked and Magnus shrugged as if he hadn't heard anything since. "When was this?"
"Last week."
"And she hasn't said anything since?" Trey asked and Magnus stared at him blankly. "Apparently not," Trey mumbled and decided to unwrap his own burger from the plastic wrapping to distract himself from Magnus's cold glare.
He was annoyed that Alice hadn't replied to his message, and he was annoyed that it was annoying him. But what would she have said? He didn't know, but what he did know was that he wanted a response... and now that Noah was acting strangely around Alice, Magnus didn't know whether he should care or not, given Noah's history with obsessive behaviour.
Even though care was a word Magnus chose to use lightly... caring was something he knew how to do, but never could make himself feel it without forcing it. But if Alice Murphy was some how becoming the threatened instead of a threat, maybe he could bring himself to look into it.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of familiar light blonde hair and looked towards it immediately, seeing, through the large glass wall and into the main area of the cafeteria, Alice Murphy herself. She was sat at her usual table with her friends with her long silky blonde hair tied up and leaning over one shoulder, she seemed to glow in comparison to all the other people around her, and that interested Magnus until he realised after a moment it was from the sun shining in through the window. She looked bored and pissed off, her expression causing the very edge of the right side of his lip to twitch with the threat of a smile...
"Fuck," Trey hissed, causing Magnus to look back at him. "Look," he said, motioning behind Magnus and looking nervous suddenly. Magnus turned around and looked, his steady gaze searching for a second before he saw what Trey had been talking about...
Veronica Green's parents were stood with the police inside the head masters office, and Magnus could see them clearly through a large glass window that looked out over the courtyard, he could see the distress on her mother's face and the worry on her fathers. He stared for only a few seconds before he turned around, his mind working insanely quickly as he figured out what to do. "We're fucked!" Another voice hissed as Charlie sat down suddenly next to Magnus, his eyes wide and his skin pale. "We're actually fucking fucked!"
"Shut up," Magnus hissed quietly, his temper flaring as he looked back towards where Alice Murphy was sat only to see that she wasn't there anymore. He pressed his lips together, suddenly feeling the rage burn white hot inside his chest and closed his eyes, trying to push it down but it was as if it was already bursting at the seams.
He opened his eyes again and let out a long, silent breath through his nose as Charlie and Trey stared at him. They could see the rage burning brightly in his eyes and stayed silent too, watching as he stood up and stalked off without saying another word.
Magnus could hear his heart thumping like a deep steady drum in his ears as he walked. On the outside he looked unnaturally calm, his glare so steady and intense that people instinctively moved out of his way as he walked through the fairly busy hallways to find one particular person. It was coming up to next period, and with only ten or so minutes until the bell rang, Magnus didn't have long to find Alice he didn't know where she would be, but he was determined to find her soon.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted one of her friends. She was stood by her locker, talking quickly and angrily to another girl he didn't recognise. It was obvious she was pissed off about something, but Magnus interrupted her conversation anyway by walking over suddenly, Olive blushed hard as he stared at her. "Where is Alice?" He demanded carefully without blinking, and she felt a chill slip down her back and swallowed.
"Uh- maybe the locker room?" Olive stammered, feeling flustered and suddenly a little thrown off as she glanced at her friend. "She has gym next, I think."
Magnus turned away immediately, his mind racing with thoughts that Alice could have spilt the secret yet again just when he thought he could trust her. What he didn't notice was that Noah had been stood close by, hanging back quietly to watch as Olive let out a heavy breath and laughed nervously."What's his problem," she mumbled to her friend and turned to look after Magnus who disappeared around a corner...
Noah's jealousy spiked and he followed, wondering what Magnus wanted with Alice half way through the day... his mind raced with thoughts of Magnus pursuing Alice romantically, but little did he know it was for a very different reason.
It didn't take Magnus long after talking to Olive to get to the girls locker room. He pushed open the door aggressively but silently, grabbing the frame to stop it from slamming against the wall last minute and slid inside, not bothering to wait and see if it was empty, which it fortunately was, before he closed the door after him. "Alice..." He murmured, scanning the rows of lockers and benches as he walked slowly and very quietly... he didn't want to scare her, but only because he didn't want her to run. She wasn't stupid, she's be able to see that he was angry when she saw him.
Alice paused as she placed her clothes neatly inside the locker... She was sure that she heard her name and grabbed her phone that had been playing music quietly and paused it too. "...Hello?"
"Hello," Candice replied with a light laugh, making Alice's heart jump suddenly as walked from the bathroom to Alice's right dressed already in her school gym clothes. The shirt was white with the schools eagle on the front, the lining around the collar and sleeves blue, and the shorts were orange, all of it coordinated in the school official colours. "I'll see you outside? I'm gonna go warm up," She continued as she pinned up her curly hair away from her face.
"Sure," Alice agreed, picking up her own orange gym shorts from her bag. She was on her own now, and wondered to herself why she always agreed to get ready for gym early with Candice, who had a phobia of getting changed around a large amount of people. She hated the locker rooms, she hated how they always smelt of sweat and the lights never worked properly and seemed to flicker every other second, like they were doing now...
... Slowly the hairs on Alice's neck began to rise and tingle, and it was almost as if she could feel someone standing behind her. Her head tilted, and she turned around, expecting to see nothing but froze when she did.
Her eyes met Magnus's and she tensed immediately, but didn't flinch. He looked eerie, like all that was there in his eyes was a void of darkness. Alice felt her breath hitch as she lent away from him instinctively. She didn't know what to do, and felt her heart beginning to beat quickly with the onset of fight or flight, "What?" She asked, her skin feeling hot. She didn't hear or feel him approach until the last minute, and that scared her the most.
"Why are Veronica Green's parents here with the police?" Magnus asked, his voice low and level as if it was the calm before the storm. He stared into her eyes, and she couldn't bring herself to look away even when she really wanted to. It felt as if the moment she took his eyes off him, he'd strike.
"I don't know," Alice replied, her voice quiet as she breathed in and out deeply through her nose, trying to calm her adrenaline and her racing heart. But it flared sharply as Magnus slammed his hand against the locker beside her head, making her jump. He breathed heavily but slowly through his nose, and he continued to stare into her eyes without blinking.
"I'm going to ask you again." he warned, his voice a low rumble. Alice stood very still, holding his gaze but felt her legs go slightly numb. "Why are Veronica Green's parents here with the police?" He asked, pronouncing every word and every letter carefully.
"Um," Alice murmured, searching for words since Magnus's intense stare was making her chest feel constricted and her skin feel warm, she glanced at his lips then hesitated some more. "Maybe they finally noticed their daughter was missing-"
"Alice, I swear to fucking God." He snapped suddenly through gritted. If it would have been three or four weeks ago, she might have been scared... but what she was feeling right now disguised itself well as fear but was actually something very different.
"I don't know why they're fucking here," she snapped back suddenly, surprising herself as she pushed him gently back and away from her since her body was craving his touch. "Don't get in my face like that, who the fuck do you think you are?" She muttered again, glaring at him through her lashes defensively. She turned around and gathered the rest of her stuff up to put it away in her locker, avoiding Magnus's stare.
As she turned her back on him, and Magnus raised his eyebrow just a little, thrown off slightly since usually no one ever did that. She could feel his eyes on the back of her neck as she closed her locker and padlocked it shut,
"...This isn't a game, Murphy." He murmured and Alice scoffed and pulled on her gym shorts as he stepped back a little, his eyes moving down to her ass and thighs as he felt the air change in the room. Suddenly he wasn't sure if he was talking strictly about the Veronica situation still. Alice turned and watched his face, the smile so subtle that even Magnus didn't notice it as he was distracted by the show of her skin.
"I'm not the murderer here, Magnus." she replied and stood up straight again and stared into his eyes. "I haven't told anyone, you can choose what to do with that information." she continued and he moved her back into the lockers without touching her. He'd stepped forward, moving closer and closer as she backed away and placed his hands either side of her head. Alice felt the air change now too, but this time, she could feel the intimidation trickling into her blood as she faltered holding Magnus's authoritative and calculating stare with her own.
"If I find out anything different-" he warned, holding Alice in place with his eyes and lifting his finger close to her face. "...I'll fucking kill you." He finished and stared her down finally before leaving without saying another word. What played on his mind had nothing to do with Veronica Green's parents being in the school at that moment, instead, imprinted on his mind was the image of Alice's bare thighs... and he couldn't shake off the feeling of warmth in his chest and fingertips as he left the girls locker rooms and stalked off just as the bell rung for the end of lunch.
Alice jumped at the sound and was left, breathing heavily as she lent against the locker trying to collect the pieces of herself that had fallen off during the confrontation with Magnus.
She realised she hadn't been prepared, emotionally and probably physically, to be so close to him so soon after she'd found out about how they'd kissed at the New Years party. She'd tried to plan in her head several times at night over the past week how'd she ask him about it, but every time it just seemed, out of place, the wrong time, or childish.
She stood there for a minute, breathing in slowly to calm her raging nerves and closed her eyes... visualising anything but the void of darkness in his eyes that had shaken her a little. But she wanted so many different things at once, she wasn't sure what to focus on.
After a few moments she opened her eyes again, pretending to herself that the moment had never happened. She shook it off and fixed her hair before wandering out the door that lead to the track field where she knew Candice would be waiting.
Outside, the blue sky had clouded over... the days light had gone from bright and vibrant to a dull shade of grey and the wind made it slightly colder than it already was. Alice made her way over to where she saw Candice talking to a couple of Sophomores who were evidently just about to leave as she approached. "Oh my god," Candice sighed sadly as Alice came to stand next to her, "Thanks for letting me know, that's so sad..."
"Yeah, the whole school is talking about it." One of the sophomore girls said and smiled at Alice shyly. To them, Candice Eno and Alice Murphy were intimidating. They were gorgeous, intelligent and held themselves confidently on the outside. But things were always so different behind closed doors, as Alice was coming to understand fairly quickly.
"What happened?" Alice asked, smoothing her hand over her hair just before she folded her arms to try to keep herself slightly warmer since she now had goosebumps from the cold breeze.
"Apparently Veronica Green's gone missing," Candice said, and almost immediately Alice felt her throat go dry and her heart rate increase again. "Her parents were in the headmasters office today, apparently she hasn't been home in four weeks. They wanted to know if she'd turned up to any classes before they start searching for her,"
"Oh god," Alice whispered, fighting the urge to throw up the lunch she had when her mind replayed the memory of Alice falling onto Veronica's dead body in the woods.
"That's thirteen kids from this province over the last year," one of the other girls said, "Two of them ended up dead," she continued, and Candice noticed Alice going significantly paler. "That's now like, what, four people who go to our school that have gone missing or are dead now? Should we be scared or something?"
"-Okay," Candice said loudly, "I think that's enough morbid talk for today, um- don't you guys have class or something?" She dismissed and glanced at Alice again whose expression was now vacant, but she could see her chest beginning to rise and fall heavily.
The sophomores glanced at each other at the sudden change of tone before saying their polite goodbyes, obviously sensing the awkward air. "Everything okay?" Candice asked Alice quietly and she nodded as she swayed slightly on her feet, the immense pressure suddenly settling on her shoulders as reality set its claws into the back of her neck.
"Fine," she whispered, rubbing her forehead. "I think my periods coming," she added, for once believing her quick cover up about the reason for her strange emotional changes.
"I have a tampon and some aspirin in my bag if you need it," Candice smiled sympathetically and rubbed Alice's shoulder in comfort. Alice didn't reply as she stared vacantly off into the distance... her own DNA would be found on her body if or even when they found it, and if they'd already started the search... Alice didn't know how much time she'd have left. Would they know that they were looking for a dead body? Or would they be looking for any clues that she'd run away.
Could she have run away? Alice tried convincing her own mind that it could be possible. That she'd imagined the whole thing and Veronica Green was still alive and on some beach somewhere in the Bahamas.
The rest of gym class seemed to blur into one panicked moment, and all Alice could focus on was the fact she couldn't breathe. She was good at sports, but her head wasn't in the lacrosse game she was playing with her class, it was stuck in the woods by the lake house where she'd hidden Veronica's lifeless body in a ditch...
Maybe it had been some sick way to protect Magnus Johnson. Maybe it had been some sick way to get his attention, she didn't know. Why did she do it? Why did she involve herself? The reality of it all seemed to be pushing her further and further into the ground and her mind was obsessing over it repeatedly, as if she was spinning her own suffocating web of thoughts around her head.
Alice's head span violently and she felt her stomach turn harshly, it was only half way through the lacrosse game and it was still in full swing as Alice turned away from it all and snatched off her helmet to breathe as stormed off the pitch. "Alice?" Candice asked, who noticed Alice falter as if she felt faint and walk purposefully off the pitch half way through the game. "Alice?!" She called as their gym teacher waved the game to a stop and called after Alice too, but she couldn't hear them... it felt as if her world was muffled and all she could hear was her own heart beat thudding against her ear drum.
She burst through the swinging metal door of the girls locker room and hurried down the little hallway leading into the main area and then over to the bathroom, only just making it to the toilet she threw up her lunch from earlier.
She didn't feel nauseous anymore but her head was still spinning, and she couldn't find the strength to breathe any deeper than the short, fast breaths that were scratching her throat. "Alice?" Candice asked, hurrying into the bathroom to see her best friend huddled by the toilet looking as if she was hyperventilating.
"I can't breathe- I can't-" She rasped, placing her hand on her chest as her eyes welled up with tears that didn't hesitate to spill over her cheeks. "I c-can't breathe," she sobbed, pulling at her lacrosse shirt as she felt the ice cold fear of suffocating settle in like concrete against her chest.
Candice didn't know what to say fast enough as she bent down quickly and helped take off Alice's sports gear, wanting to help her feel less trapped as she sobbed raggedly and pulled at her clothes desperately. The sound of Alice's laboured, shallow breathing scared Candice since she could see her best friend shaking violently. "I'll be right back," Candice rushed, hurrying away from Alice and over to the panic buttons which had been placed in every room. The yellow was for emergencies for the school nurse and the red was for life or death situations which would alert the authorities. They'd been placed in schools all across the provinces around the country because of a new law last year, and so far they'd rarely been used. Candice hit the yellow button and ran back to Alice... Who had now gone strangely pale...
~
"A panic attack?" Sophie Murphy repeated as she looked at the nurse with shock. They were gathered in the nurses office, which was a small room with a medical bed pushed against the left hand side, which Alice was sitting on. Embarrassment covered Alice like the blanket she was wrapped in, and she stared into the mug of chamomile tea hoping it was going to swallow her up. She felt vulnerable and weak, and wished that she would forget that it all had happened... she wished that none of it had happened, including involving herself in Veronica's murder. The thought of it made her feel nauseous again and she lifted the tea to her lips and took a slow sip.
"There could be many underlying reasons." The nurse replied, handing Alice's mother a leaflet on anxiety and depression. "Junior year is stressful for many students, with them all starting to think about exams and colleges... I strongly suggest booking an appointment to see a therapist? I've heard lots of students say that its very helpful to have someone to talk to."
"A therapist?" Sophie replied and glanced down at the bleak, grey and light blue coloured leaflet and then at her daughter who she, to begin with, believed looked nothing like the kids on the front of this leaflet but as Sophie looked from the pictures to her daughter, who looked pale and worn out, she saw some unwanted similarities beginning to form. "Oh," she whispered and felt her heart sink. "A therapist." she murmured again, wondering if Alice's recent behaviour had anything to do with anxiety or depression.
"Panic attacks are a draining experience. Alice explained she hasn't had one before so heading home a few hours early might help," the nurse continued, smiling sympathetically and glancing at Alice who was staring vacantly into her mug of tea still. Sophie Murphy sighed and pulled her handbag up her arm as she looked over at her daughter... things had changed so suddenly, but it could have been because she hadn't been paying attention to the build up.
On the drive home Alice had barely made a sound, her mind was packed tightly with thoughts of the events from earlier that day... the confrontation with Magnus, the fact a search party for Veronica Green had begun. She had a painful twisting in her stomach and her lips felt stuck together, like she wouldn't be able to talk even if she wanted to, her hard thudding of her heart seemed to be making enough noise as it was in her ears.
She is going to be found. They will find her.
Alice's consciousness kept whispering to her over and over again, and it was if she knew it was going to happen. She could feel the tension in the air as they arrived home, like all time had stopped and the world was waiting for it to happen. There was barely any wind as Alice got out of the car and stared into the forest behind her house, lost in a daze of impending fear since she noticed the stillness of it too. She could hear a clock ticking down the minutes until it would all fall together, and before her eyes she saw it happening...
Alice knew exactly where she had put her hands on Veronica's body, her ankles from when she'd dragged her, her shoulders from when she'd fallen. She was sure there would be hair too, fingerprints, sparkles of glitter from the dress she'd worn to her party. They'd knock on her door first, red and blue lights flashing, maybe she'd run... or she'd accept her fate and let them take her away and live forever replaying the shock on her parents face when they found out their sixteen year old daughter witnessed a murder and said nothing about it.
Would Magnus be arrested too? She didn't know. She assumed he wouldn't be so dumb to leave Veronica's body in the middle of the woods without covering his tracks. Maybe that's why he hadn't been on her tail about where they body was.
"Alice?" Sophie asked, seeing her daughter staring into the darkness of the forest, her eyes glazed over as if her mind had taken control and left her stuck in a trance. She hadn't blinked for a minute and Sophie felt a strange chill travel down her spine as she approached her daughter and placed her hand on her shoulder... "Alice, sweetheart?" she asked, seeing her slowly look from the forest to her mothers hand with the same vacant expression. "Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine," Alice replied, her voice strange. Sophie furrowed her eyebrows as Alice smiled and turned away from her mother and walked up into the house without looking back.
Alice hurried up to her room and shut the door. She lent against the wood and slid down it until she was sat on the floor. A storm had begun to brew inside of her, twisting and churning at her insides like a tornado ripping through open countryside. She lay down on her side and pulled her knees up to her chest, her eyes now welling up with heavy tears that spilt over her face without any need for her to encourage them...
Time seemed to not matter at this point, Alice didn't know how long she'd been lying by her door, unable to move or think, but before she knew it there was a loud knock that startled her out of her daze. "Um- Yeah?" she asked, wiping her hand across her cheeks and standing up since whoever it was didn't burst in like her family usually did. She stood up, pushing strands of hair out of her face just before she opened the door to see a brown eyed senior she hoped to avoid. "Noah," Alice breathed, feeling awkward suddenly since the last time he'd been there they'd almost slept together.
"Hi," he greeted and took off his hat to fiddle with it, "Your mom let me in,"
"Oh," she replied and sniffed a little since her nose felt runny from the silent crying she'd stopped only seconds ago. "Um, come in." she mumbled, stepping to one side and turning her back on him and walking into her room and over to her closet to look like she had been occupied doing something.
"Candice told me what happened," Noah said, stepping into her room and pushing the door closed but not entirely shut. Alice watched him in her peripheral vision although she didn't look at him directly.
"She did?"
"Yeah, I asked." Noah said, moving to stand behind her but not close. He hovered by her desk, seeing her laptop closed and cleared his throat awkwardly as Alice turned around to look at him.
"What are you doing here, Noah?" she asked bluntly, folding her arms as he looked over her. She was still wearing her gym clothes from earlier, although had one of the baggy Summerland High School hoodies over the top so that he could only see the orange gym shorts and her bare legs. Her hair was messy, unlike it usually was where it had been evidently brushed and styled to suit her neat personality. He noticed that she had been evidently crying, from the pink in her cheeks and nose and the glassiness of her eyes.
"I wanted to check on you," He said, moving to stand closer to her. "You didn't answer any of my texts," he added a little quieter, which only made Alice sigh softly in exasperation. He saw the irritation flash suddenly across her eyes before it vanished and was replaced with the vacant look that had been there before.
"I'm sorry, I've been busy." she muttered, running her hand through her thick blonde hair and dropping her arms to hand by her sides. "I don't know if you heard about-"
"-Veronica. I did." he finished for her. "Did Magnus talk to you?"
"Talk isn't the word I'd use," she chuckled halfheartedly before her eyes started to water a little again. Noah stared at her, wondering if he could comfort her or not considering she was obviously effected by what was happening, and what was about to happen. "Listen, um-" Alice began and scratched her head as she stepped forwards, "last week when we kissed," she continued, seeing the way Noah was looking at her and knew it was because of what they did and almost had done. "I was still a little drunk, maybe, and I'm not usually like that and I feel like I might have lead you on a little too strong..."
"Oh," Noah mumbled as Alice grimaced slightly.
"Yeah, so... I'm sorry. I'm not looking for anything super serious right now, and i mean you graduate soon-"
"Yeah." Noah said a little blunter than before and suddenly looked pissed off.
"What?" Alice asked, looking away from him for a second and then back at his eyes.
"I know you kissed Magnus, Alice. But I get it, anyone would rather have him over me." he muttered, turning away from her and walking towards the door so he could leave. "He'll use and bruise you, just so you know. But I doubt you'd care about that, considering you know he's a psycho and yet..." he trailed off, shrugging as if the end of his sentence was obvious. Which it was.
But that wasn't the part that Alice heard, "Hold on." she said, her voice clear and blunt now too. Noah stopped before he reached the door and turned back to look at her. "Did you just say you know that I kissed Magnus?" she asked, staring at him straight in the eye. He stared back, keeping his mouth closed as he saw the darkness flickering across Alice's eyes as if it wasn't sure how to behave yet. "So you knew?" she accused, "Before you kissed me, you knew?"
"Alice-"
"What the hell is this?!" she snapped, "So you thought you'd have a go with me too? Are you fucking serious, Noah?" she snapped again, her voice getting louder as she stepped towards him. "You have the audacity to come here and take a shot at me for kissing him, when you're a member of his little psycho murder gang, are you fucking serious!?" she said, her voice verging on a shout.
"Alice-" Noah hissed, stepping towards her as he tried to shush her.
"I've known you for fucking two seconds and you have the fucking nerve to try and make me feel guilty? For what?!" she shouted at him as she got closer and shoved his shoulders. "Get out!" she shouted, slapping his shoulder hard, "Don't ever fucking talk to me again, get out!" she shouted louder, shoving Noah out her bedroom door and slamming it shut.
She was breathing heavily and clenched her fists as her eyes closed and squeezed until she felt nothing but the pain in her palms... after a few minutes she released her hands and let her shoulders slump, feeling the exhaustion of feeling too many emotions weighing her down... At that moment Noah walked out of her house, having pulled the front door closed himself with heavy force, shocking Alice's parents from where they had been sat in the living room. He stormed to his car, yanking the door open and pulling it closed hard behind him. He sat there, placing his hands on the wheel and squeezing as he felt his own rage burning inside his chest.
How did she find out that she kissed Magnus? Did he tell her? How dare she throw him out after he had done nothing but try to be there for her and protect her... he came to visit her to check she was alright, not Magnus. And yet, without even trying Magnus had the upper hand. Noah slammed his hands against the edge of the steering wheel repeatedly to try and release the anger and stress he was feeling.
... Why did Alice affect him so deeply? And what could she have done to manage to sink her claws into him this fast?
* * *
January 11th
"I can't believe this is happening." Candice muttered as they walked into the police station along with several other students from Summerland High. "I mean do they really have to interview everyone?"
"I think its protocol at this point," Alice muttered, keeping herself calm as she breathed in and out of her nose slowly.
"I mean, yeah. After thirteen kids from this province alone go missing? Four of them having gone to our school? they should have done this ages ago," Candice replied as they were told by a police woman to take a seat and wait for their names to be called. Candice and Alice sat next to each other in a waiting room and glanced around, seeing a large collection of students from their schools all looking either confused or excited. "Do you think she's dead?" Candice asked Alice suddenly.
"Candice." Alice snapped quietly and glared at her friend subtly.
"Sorry, that was insensitive you're right." Candice replied and settled back into her chair and folded one leg over the other. "You know the first time I expected to be questioned by the police I thought it would be when I'd murdered my first elderly rich husband,"
"Oh my god," Alice mumbled, but couldn't help but laugh quietly at her friends dark humour. "What do you think they'll ask us?" she then asked as she sat still with her eyes scanning the students and the various police men and women taking their details down.
"Nervous?" Candice smirked, and Alice tensed and laughed quietly. "I'm not telling them I was drinking, don't tell them we were drinking." she then added, "My parents will kill me, i'm not kidding." she continued.
"Magnus Johnson?" A police man called into the room suddenly, making it become a little quieter. Alice's heart jumped at the sound of his name and she looked around the room, searching for him. "Is Magnus Johnson here?" the officer asked again.
"Yeah," Magnus's voice said from behind a group of people who parted to make way for him as he got up. Whispers began to travel around the room as he walked across it and Alice's eyes watched him intently, hoping he'd look at her but he kept his golden eyes ahead, seeming entirely unbothered by the situation at hand. There he was... the Murderer himself. His hair was pushed back neatly, and he was wearing all black, and he had a little facial hair growing on his upper lip which only made him look even more attractive than he already was.
"Why is he so fucking hot, I don't understand." Candice huffed, her voice a hushed whisper. Alice swallowed, feeling her cheeks flushing as he walked past them and out the door with the police officer following. "I can't believe you kissed him, achievement of the year."
"Yeah," Alice sighed and sunk a little lower in her chair...
The pair watched students come and go in the room, they even watched Trey, Charlie, Noah and Olive, who had refused to speak to them, get called in for questioning before any of their names were called. "Candice Eno?" A friendly looking police officer asked as she stood by the door. There were only a handful of students left waiting to be questioned before they could be released for the day, and each of them looked bored and ready to go home.
"That's me," Candice grinned, standing up and fluffing her curly hair so that it had a little more volume. The officer smiled too, showing Candice the door so that they could go and complete the interview.
Alice hummed angrily under her breath, feeling the irritation settling in. She wanted to get out of this place, it was making her anxious and she knew she couldn't release any of the energy building up by fiddling or moving around too much since it would make her suspicious. If she had been allowed her phone, at least she could have distracted herself, but all phones and any means of communication were collected upon arrival.
"Alice Murphy?" A voice asked after thirty minutes had passed and Alice looked up quickly, seeing a blank faced police man looking at her. She swallowed and stood up, smoothing her palms on her thighs and over her black and white pin striped pants. "Come this way, please." he said in a low voice, motioning towards the door and waiting for her to walk past first.
They walked in silence down a hallway towards the interrogation room where she had been once before. He opened the door for her and she mumbled a thank you as she walked in, glancing at the large one-way mirror, aware that someone might be watching her through there as well. "Do you want any water? Tea, coffee?" the officer asked as the door closed on its own and Alice took a seat at one side of the table.
"No, thank you." she replied simply and tucked some hair behind her right ear as the other half hung by her face.
"Alright," he said, sitting down opposite her and looking into her eyes. She could feel her heart beginning to beat a little harder as he stared, "We're just waiting for your mother," he finally said after a minute of intense eye contact, it felt as if he was trying to read her mind by looking through her eyes but it didn't intimidate Alice as much as she thought it would.
"Okay," Alice whispered, the silence following sitting heavily in the air as if it had also pulled a seat up to the table.
Alice's mother walked in, looking distressed as Alice continued to stare into the eyes of the police officer, feeling like it was a challenge for her. She didn't look away, and didn't want to. "Isn't it strange to think that one of these kids knows something," An officer said, who was sat on the other side of the glass. "Look at the way she's acting." she added, motioning to Alice tilting her head slightly and holding the eye contact.
"She was Magnus Johnson's alibi in the Wells and Rodgers case," the other officer stated as he stood there with folded arms. "There is something wrong with those kids, I know it."
"They definitely had something to do with it." the female officer said, staring at Alice Murphy still. "She has such an innocent face too,"
"Don't let that throw you off, I've heard of kids as young as twelve end up being murderers." the male officer said, looking at Alice too. He could almost hear the low rumbling of tension, like he waiting for something else to happen. He witnessed Alice's face change when her mother sat down next to her... "Something about Alice Murphy freaks me out." he said finally before leaving to get another cup of coffee.
"Let's begin." the officer said and pressed start on the recorder, "As you're most likely aware Veronica Green has been missing for the past four weeks, which coincides with the night of her Christmas party which she held at her parents lake house on the... 3rd of December, which you attended. Is that correct?"
"Yes," Alice replied, her voice calm but slightly raspy. She held her hands still in her lap and blinked once.
"Can you tell me when the last time you saw Veronica Green was?"
In Alice's head, she replayed when she'd walked into a room on the upper floor of the Green's large lake house and saw Magnus and Veronica arguing aggressively. "I didn't see her at the party," Alice said, "There were a lot of people, and her and I weren't exactly friends."
"What do you mean by that? That you and her weren't exactly friends?"
"I didn't know her. She never spoke to me." Alice said, answering the questions calmly. She was surprising herself... her whole body felt nothing but stillness, she could think clearly, she could breathe normally... She was being questioned about a girl who she knew had been murdered, and yet... there was nothing that could give away that she knew a single detail on her face. What was happening to her?
"That's interesting." the officer said, moving a file from the side of the table to the middle of the table and holding it up as he began to read. "I invited Alice Murphy to the Christmas party in hope they'll meet... He needs someone like her, someone who is exactly like him. Maybe she'll end up taking my place, maybe she won't... I'm not sure. All I know is that I cannot do this anymore. I am scared he might hurt me when I tell him."
Alice sat there in silence as the officer put the file down and looked at Alice expectantly. "That was the last entry in her diary that we found in her room. Can you tell me what she means by that?" He asked, "... Who is he?"
"I don't know what she means." Alice replied, "I didn't meet anyone at her party." she added calmly even though her heart was beginning to beat a little faster. The officer looked annoyed at her response and sighed as he lent back in the chair.
"You were the only person she mentioned in her diary, everyone else is she or he. You're claiming you never spoke to her, so why does she claim that this he needs someone like you? And the last sentence shows that she was afraid that someone would hurt her. Isn't it a strange coincidence that she went missing that night? And no one, none of her friends, reported her missing?" The officer said, staring into Alice's eyes.
"Neither did her parents apparently."
"Alice," Sophie gasped quietly, looking at her daughter in shock as the officer raised his eyebrows.
"I understand its frustrating not to have a lead on where Veronica Green might be, but I don't know why she wrote about me in her diary, I don't know who she's talking about. I can't help you." Alice said as she shrugged a little sympathetically. "I didn't know her." she repeated a little quieter and glanced at her mother. "I really didn't."
The officer sighed and looked away from the teen sat on the other side of the table and thought for a moment. The mention of Alice's name in Veronica's diary had confused everyone, but it didn't mean anything... he assumed it didn't mean anything. They had no leads, no one knew anything, the police didn't even know where to start and the pressure was being lathered on heavily by Veronica Green's parents, who apparently had just come back from a three week safari in Africa, hence why they had no idea where their daughter had gone...
... Once outside, Sophie didn't know what to say to her daughter. The day was almost over and dusk had begun to take over the sky, dimming the light as it prepared for night fall. This was the second time in a month they'd been at the police station answering questions about teenagers who had gone missing... and it felt like the final straw for Sophie. "Is there something I should know?" She suddenly blurted, "I-" she began, lifting her arms in an exasperated shrug, "I don't know what to say to you, Alice. You don't talk to me anymore, you're secretive... what's going on?"
"Nothing's going on, Mom." Alice replied, standing awkwardly in front of her mother who had decided to argue with her in the street outside the police station. On the other side of the road, Magnus lent against his black Range Rover Evoque, watching in silence as Alice folded her arms and looked away from her mother in subtle embarrassment.
"Nothing's going on!? This is the second time we've been down here! Ton père et moi sommes inquiets pour toi." Sophie said, expressing that her and Alice's father were worried sick about her.
"Je vais bien. Comme je l'ai dit avant." Alice spat, expression that she was fine, like she had mentioned previous times before.
"We think you should see a therapist," Sophie said just as a couple of students Alice recognised from being the waiting room earlier walked past them. Alice flushed pink in embarrassment and glared at her mother, her expression making a strange cold sensation wash over Sophie. "We think-"
"I think I'm going to walk home." Alice snapped, and turned on her heel to walk away before her mother could say anything more. She was embarrassed and angry that her mother couldn't have waited to discuss it with her at home, but she also didn't want to experience the cross questioning and third degree that her whole family would give her once she got home... she wanted to avoid it all and pretend like it hadn't happened.
Why had Veronica Green written about Alice in her diary? What did she mean by he needs someone more like him. There was no doubt that Veronica was talking about Magnus... they had been a thing after all, from what Alice remembered finding in her phone. Did Veronica think that Alice was like... Magnus? She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the range rover pull up beside her until the horn sounded to get her attention.
Alice turned as the window lowered on the passenger side closest to her, "Get in the car," Magnus said, his expression unreadable.
"I don't want to." Alice mumbled, glancing back down the road to see that she'd walked further away from the centre of town than she'd realised and there was no one else around...
"Get in the car, Alice, or I'll fucking make you."
______________________________________________
A U T H O R S N O T E S:
BITCH, BLOOOOOOOOOOP!!
Some shit is going down. And like you guys I feel are ready and not ready. Like I'm not ready. N-E WAY, 11,000 WORDS. LIKE WHO HAS THE TIME?! ME APPARENTLY. I didn't intend for it to be this long, but I feel because it's chapter 10, the first double digit chapter, I'd make it extra long. So I hope you guys liked it.
SO let's discuss:
I 've set some things up to happen in the following chapters, maybe you guys noticed and if you did — feel free to share your opinions MY GOOD SISTERS.
Magnus is starting to recognise that Alice has caught his attention in a way that's like 'I'm attracted to you' but he doesn't like other people being involved in his business so he doesn't talk about it.
NOAH, is a lil coo-coo. Hence why he's obsessed with Alice, there is more of a story to that which I think you guys will be hype about (its not relationship shit but it's super interesting).
QUEEN ALICE THE FIRST, is starting to recognise that things are changing with her like with her emotions and stuff. And also something is gonna happen with Candice, so she's not gonna be a side-character so much from the next chapter on.
AND
VERONICA'S BEEN REGISTERED AS MISSING. AKSHAJDKSKDJNFF WHICH MEANS SOME SHIT IS ABOUT TO UNFOLD ON THE LIL TOWN OF SUMMERLAND.
1) what do you guys think Magnus wants with Alice at the end of the chapter?
2) what do you think about Noah's behaviour?
3) what did you think about Alice in this chapter?
4) what do you think will happen with the Veronica case??
5) how smut-ty do you want SAAM? On a scale of 1-10? 👀
Thanks so much for reading you guys!!! I look forward to reading all y'all opinions and theories, they legit make my whole life. I can't wait to share the rest of this story with you!
Have an amazing rest of the week / weekend!!!
🖤☀️🖤☀️🖤☀️🖤
Social medias:
- twitter: siennaisa
- spotify: siennaisabellac
- ask.fm: siennahayter
______________________________________________
C O N T E X T:
Alice's outfit for the first day back at school;
Alice's outfit for the police station scene;
MOOD BOARDS: