“I was so used to the mayhem that came along side this crazy school that I wouldn’t be surprised if we found him sitting in the longue at this very moment, knife sharpened and in his pocket, ready to strike.”
-Amy
------------
Matt, Julia, and I were in the basement of the library, staring at the computer screen as it slowly loaded. “Come on… Come on…” I slowly coaxed it. We had to print out our flight tickets back home for tomorrow, and the printers were all the way in the library basement where the internet was the slowest. After what seemed like forever, the tickets finally popped up.
“Let’s just hope we get seats together tomorrow,” Julia sighed. “Or at least Johnny and Ethan do. After the plane crash here… I’m not sure how safe I feel on airplanes.”
Oh right. I had totally forgotten about the plane crash until Julia had brought it up. Now that she mentioned it, I could feel a pit of fear starting to grow in my stomach. I never thought a plane would be hijacked, at least not the plane I was on, but that was before I came to Hamilton. Now anything could happen. Especially when Mr. Grey might still be alive for some twisted in messed up reason.
“Earth to Amy,” Matt waved in hand in front of my face.
“Huh? Sorry.”
“Here.” He handed me two freshly printed tickets, one for me and one for Johnny.
“Thanks.” I glanced down at it. Our flight left for back home at nine in the morning. “Are we taking the six o’clock shuttle to the airport?” Matt nodded. “Great, getting the boys packed and ready is going to be a challenge.”
Matt laughed. “Yeah… Come on, let’s get out of here. The basement gives me the creeps.”
It was around four thirty and the sun was setting on the lake. As we came out of the library, we took a turn down to the beach. “Want to procrastinate on packing and go hang out by the water?” Julia asked us. We all agreed.
I kicked off my shoes and laid down in the sand. For November, the weather was a lot warmer than it should have been. Global warming.
“You guys ready for Thanksgiving?” Matt asked us with a wry smile. We both laughed. Every year, all three of our families all had Thanksgiving together because none of us had close by relatives. And we considered each other family. This year it was at the Elias’ house, and Thanksgiving at the Elias always was bound to be interesting.
“Let’s hope the turkey doesn’t catch on fire this time,” I replied, remembering what had happened three years ago.
“Or the curtains,” Julia added in.
I looked over at Matt. His face seemed so distracted. “What’s worrying you?” I asked him.
“Mr. Grey… It’s just…” Matt sighed.
Both Julia and I gave him some time before he was ready to talk.
“Mr. Grey said he was going after my dad, “the cause to this whole problem” as he would put it. I’m not sure if he’s doing this because he truly can’t get rid of us, or if this is just a whole part of his mind games where he’s trying to put us through the most pain possible by making us suffer. Either way, he knows that we’re going back home for Thanksgiving break. And he probably knows where we live. There’s going to be no stopping him from going after my dad. Or us for that matter.”
“You saying this as if Mr. Grey is still alive…” I said cautiously.
“I don’t know if he is,” Matt shrugged. “But he might be. And we can’t take the chance to assume he’s dead when we had an actual conversation with this guy after he was pronounced dead. We can’t take chances. Not when it’s a matter concerning Mr. Grey.”
I understood Matt’s point, I really did. I myself believed that Mr. Grey might just still be out there. It wouldn’t add up, the falling through the bridge, the funeral, but then again nothing seemed to add up these days. I was so used to the mayhem that came along side this crazy school that I wouldn’t be surprised if we found him sitting in the longue at this very moment, knife sharpened and in his pocket, ready to strike.
“But… how do I stop him?” Matt seemed like he was trying not to look panicked. Not to look afraid.
“We will stop him, Matt,” I replied. “This a teamwork thing. And if Mr. Grey is still out there to get your dad, we will make sure he’s okay. We’ve escaped this man multiple times before, we can do it again.”
“That’s real motivational and all Amy,” Matt said, “but just one thing.”
I realized it as soon as he said that.
“Kyle,” we both said at the same time.
Kyle would be going back home to his town over break. He wouldn’t be there, with his smart tactics and everything, to help assist us amid all of this. He thought that Mr. Grey was still dead. And we were going to let him keep thinking that unless something happened otherwise.
“Damn,” I muttered. “It was thanks to him that we survived the kidnapping. And thanks to him again that he navigated us back to school.”
“And he was smart enough to realize Mr. Grey’s trap so that he fell to his death.”
“We think.”
My brain hurt from just thinking about it. It was all too much to put my mind around to be honest.
The sun was now completely set, and we were surrounded by darkness.
“Want to just go to dinner?” Matt suggested. “It’s almost five anyways.”
“Sure,” I said, getting up and dusting the sand off of me. I glanced back at the beach, knowing for the next seven days of break I wouldn’t be seeing it anymore. And I was glad. I needed a break from this madness.
At dinner, Andrew was already at our usual table. I realized that I wouldn’t be seeing him either for the next few days, both him and Kyle. That means it would just be the five of us to fight off Mr. Grey. Matt, Julia, Ethan, Johnny, and I. The odds seemed to be obviously stacked against us.
“Excited for break?” Andrew asked us.
“Uh huh…” we all replied.
“Why do you all sound so unexcited?”
“Mr. Grey,” I said. Andrew sighed and nodded, understanding immediately. It was as if just his name created a whole new meaning to things.
When I finished my dinner, I decided I wanted to go around and say bye to a few people before I went back to my cabin. I probably wouldn’t be seeing most of them until after I got back from break. The first person I found was MB. He had just sat down for his dinner. I had meant to confront him after I got back from the trip, but I had lost all my motivation. Now was the time.
I sat down next to him and gave him a smile. “Hey MB.”
“Hey.” He smiled back at me, and I think it was a mutual understanding that I was no longer mad at him. I had purposely called him MB, and not Michael.
“Look…” I said. “I’m sorry. About everything. I was being stupid, and blind, and you were just trying to help my brother-”
“No, I’m sorry,” MB said. “I shouldn’t have done any of that without consulting you…”
“Friends?”
“Friends.”
It felt like a giant weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I didn’t really know it, but completely blocking MB out of my life had made a big impact on me. It made me feel sort of empty in a way. I could tell I was smiling like a fool as I told MB I had to go pack.
“Have a great Thanksgiving!” he called to me.
“You too!”
As I walked out the door, I felt like I was floating on clouds. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrew get up from the table and follow me out the door. I slowly could feel myself falling of these clouds.
“I can’t believe you forgave that idiot!”
I rolled my eyes at Andrew. “How do you know?”
“I could tell by the way you were smiling. You totally like him!”
“And what does it matter to you?” I asked, raising my eyebrow. “Jealous?”
“Hell no. It’s just that he’s bad news, you and I both know it. And I don’t want to be here when you complain about how he broke your heart is all.”
I laughed. “You can’t ruin my mood, Andrew. I have to go pack. See you later.”
“Yeah… Okay.”
I turned and started walking up the path to my cabin.
“Be safe!” he yelled out hesitantly. And I knew what he meant.
“I’ll try!”
And I would try. I just wish that leaving Hamilton for a couple days meant leaving the danger. But we were taking the danger with us.
____________
Oh haaaay guys. I'm not sure what day I promised this... but if I'm late I apologize. I'm supposed to upload twice a week, I know, but things are so crazy >.<
So what do you think? MB and Amy are friends again.. yaaay. Any thoughts on Mr. Grey's status- dead? alive? any thoughts or explanations?
Next chapter will be up by... Monday. I hope. I'll try (:
So what are your Thanksgiving plans? It's at my house this year so I have a ton of cooking and cleaning to do. Whoooo. But I'm making these turkey cookies out of oreos and Reeses I'm excited heheh.
Anywhoo, peace out.
Did I mention how much I love you guys for helping me get into the Watty Awards? Yeah. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING. <333333333333333333333
Peace
xx
Ella
Comment, vote, fan<3
ps- I'm not sure how to alert people that this book is up... I can't post in the old book because I had to mark it completed for the Watty Awards. So many people who just read from the app don't know about this second book. please spread the word ;P