Before I even had time to panic, the ringtone I set for my cousins started ringing, startling me to death. Feeling the rapid pounding in my chest, I took two deep breaths before I took my phone out of my pocket with shaking hands.
“H-hello?” I asked, as I clutched onto my phone—my knuckles turning white. I shifted around, eyeing every possible direction in sight. He could still be around—just watching me—studying me. For some reason knowing that made me even more terrified than I was a few seconds ago.
“Lily!” Skylar shouted, his voice frantic. “You need to get out of there now!”
“B-but what about my classes?”
“Forget about your classes! Just leave!” he yelled, causing me to take a step back. I blinked, shocked. I was used to Demitri shouting at me, but Skylar was never like this. Hearing the fear in his voice made me realize how dangerous this really was. I was practically alone in the hallway.
“Right.” I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “I’ll be there soon.”
“Hurry!” he said before he cut the call.
Shoving my phone back inside my pocket—along with the letter—I twisted around, throwing my textbooks in my bag as quickly as I could. I was about to slam my locker shut when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I nearly jumped two feet in the air, screaming bloody murder.
My eyes automatically shut, as I held my arms out in reflex, trying to protect myself. “Don’t hurt me!”
“Avery, it’s me,” I heard Hunter’s familiar voice. When I heard the worry in his tone, I looked up to see him gazing at me with wide-fear filled eyes. “Are you alright?”
I chuckled out nervously, as I backed up slowly. My back touched cold metal. “Y-yeah. Fine.”
He arched his brow down. “You don’t seem fine. You look a little pale actually.” He was about to lift his hand up when I maneuvered out of his way. His eyes flashed with hurt before he lowered his hand slowly. He should there awkwardly, staring at the floor.
“Ah . . .” I started out saying, catching his attention. “I’m just a little bit sick,” I lied easily. “I was actually about to head home.”
“Oh.” His voice dimmed even more at my response, as it held a hint of sadness. “I was kind of hoping we could catch up. I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“We saw each other like two days ago,” I deadpanned. I saw a little twitch of a smile when he heard the humor in my sentence.
“Yeah, but I haven’t had the chance to tell you about my exam yet!” he exclaimed, pouting right afterwards. “I had to miss lunch to take it!”
I raised my eyebrows in confusion. “How come?”
“My so called siblings forgot to wake me up this morning, so I missed the exam,” he said letting out an annoyed groan. “But I’m pretty sure I aced it!” he shouted happily, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“So you were taking the test all throughout lunch . . .?” I asked questionably.
“Yup!” He smiled. “Until now actually,” he said as he waved a slip of paper with Mr. Meyer’s signature. Squinting my eyes, I saw the word late pass written above his name. “I was about to head to my next class when I saw you.”
I nodded absentmindedly, not really paying attention to Hunter. All I could think about was Bradlee. If Ian was at Monroe High with his sister, and Hunter was taking his exam with Mr. Meyer, the only person left was Bradlee. He wasn’t with us during Lunch, and I definitely didn’t see him at his usual spot during lunch. Maybe I wasn’t avoiding him after all. Maybe he was avoiding me. Maybe he purposely got close to me—to get me to trust him—to get me to not suspect him. But then what about his sister and what she’d said about Bradlee? Was she lying about his past? Could she be in on this too—
“—Earth to Avery!” Hunter shouted, scaring me for the second time today. I blinked, snapping back to reality. Seeing the time on my wrist, my eyes widened into saucers. Throwing my bag over my shoulders, I slammed my locker shut before facing a very confused Hunter.
“Sorry for spacing out there but I really need to go,” I said in a rush. “I’ll text you!” I waved, dashing down the hallway before he could utter a word. I didn’t miss Hunter calling my name, but I ignored it. I couldn’t stay here any longer. When the fresh winter air whipped my face, I wrapped my blazer closer towards my body, keeping warm. Seeing my cousins’ car parked right outside the parking lot, I ran towards it.
When I got closer towards them, I could make out Demitri’s livid expression, and Skylar’s panicked one. I bit my lips, knowing I’ll get an earful from both of them. I should’ve left earlier. I didn’t even have time to fully get inside when Demitri started his rant.
“What did you not understand about leaving?”
I hung my head low as I shut the door. “Sorry.”
“You were alone for God sakes!” he rambled on, completely ignoring me. “What if Hunter was the killer, and freaking abducted you?!”
“Well he isn’t,” I mumbled back. He still ignored me as he kept on driving.
“You don’t know that,” he said after pausing for a moment.
“Yes I do,” I bit back. “You heard what he said.”
He snorted. “Yeah, and you believed him?” he asked, making a left turn. “He could’ve been lying to you so you wouldn’t have suspected him.”
“But—”
“—No. You can’t ever trust them. Killers don’t have a soul. They do this for fun Lily—for entertainment.” I saw Skylar nod in the corner of my eye, agreeing with Demitri.
“But he had the note—”
“—Easily forgeable.”
I closed my mouth knowing he was right. Hunter could’ve forged it. Hell, I didn’t even know what Mr. Meyer’s signature looked like.
“Okay, so now what?” I asked, leaning forward. My hands clutched the back seat, scooting my body forward. “Do I forget about this whole thing and quit?”
“No,” Demitri said immediately. “We can’t let him keep killing those innocent girls.”
“Then what do we do?” I glanced at Skyler before looking at the back of Demitri’s head. “He knows about me.”
Demitri sighed, before turning on his blinkers. Pulling up next to a curb, he put the car in park before facing me.
“First off of, let me have the letter.” He held his hand out. “We’ll see if it has the killer’s DNA on it or not.”
“Um, why?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion. “We already know he wrote it . . .”
“Right.” He lowered his head slowly. “But he could’ve had someone else put that note in your locker for him. If that’s the case, we’ll know the killer is working with someone else.”
My mouth formed an oval shape at that realization. Demitri was right. There could be more than one person behind this whole fiasco.
Hearing a tapping sound, my eyes focused on his fingertips rapidly pounding against his knee. I decided to reach behind me, taking my backpack off before he got even more impatience by my lack of movements. When I found the envelope, I gave it to him quickly.
“Alright next—” He paused as he toss the envelope in a seal package. He locked it away before giving it to Skylar, in which he kept on his lap. Turning his attention back to me, he continued speaking—“I’m calling for more backup.”
“More backup?”
“For safety measurements,” he told me with a shrug. “Skylar here, will go undercover as a janitor starting tomorrow.”
I glanced at Skylar as he gave me a reassuring smile. “I’ll try to be discreet as possible, but if anything happens I’ll protect you.”
“And we’re getting our best guys out here too,” Demitri added. “They’ll set up security and footage in one of the spare offices your school has, and they’ll keep track of anyone who gets near you. We can’t be too careful at this point,” Demitri said, as he pressed some buttons on his phone probably notifying his team of his plan. “Also get Megan to closely follow you wherever you go.”
“How come?” I asked in alarm. I certainly didn’t want Megan getting involve in something like this. Who knows what’ll happen.
“We can’t have you alone anymore,” was his quick reply. “It’s too risky.”
“But why Megan?”
“Because she’s the only one who knows,” he said shutting me up. He was right—again. Even though I didn’t want Megan getting involved, she was the only one I could count on. She was my best friend. “Just don’t tell her about the note,” he said afterwards, causing me to snap my head up. “We don’t need her panicking.”
I nodded. Megan would definitely panic if she knew about the note. “Then what do I tell her?”
“Tell her you need the extra safety net or something,” he advised, “or something sentimental.”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes at his last comment. “What happens when she’s in class though? She can’t exactly stay with me all the time.”
“That’s when Skylar will show up. He’ll be right outside your classroom,” he said as he reached for his glove department. Tossing me some pen-shaped device, I caught it, staring at it curiously. “Click that if you feel any danger coming.”
“What does this do?” I asked, running my fingers across the smooth surface.
“That.” He pointed to the pen-like-thing, “will alert Skylar, the backup team, and me.”
“Also starting tomorrow,” Skylar cut in, looking at me, “don’t eat lunch outside. We can’t exactly monitor you if you’re outside the building. Plus I can keep an eye on you if you’re in the cafeteria.”
“What if my friends don’t want to eat inside?” I probed. I knew Megan would probably stay with me, but I wasn’t sure about Annemarie or Asher. They didn’t seem sociable with other people.
They both shrugged their shoulders at me. “Then you’ll just have to sit with Megan.”
“I guess that’s fine,” I said with a sigh. Nothing I could do anyways. “What about the guys though?” I asked suddenly remembering Hunter and Ian. “Should I just pretend nothing happened today?”
“It’s best if you do.” Demitri nodded. “We still don’t have our killer. And if Ian really is innocent then that leaves the twins.”
“Do you think it’s Bradlee?” My voice was barely above a whisper as I stared down at my hands. Even though there’s a part of me that believes wholeheartedly that he wasn't the killer, rationality hits me. All the facts leads to him—unless Hunter was lying and Ian somehow gotten someone else to put that note in my locker for him.
“I don’t even know,” Demitri said, his voice sounding drained. “We can’t even cross Ian off our list until we get the DNA results back next week.”
“So, pretty much we’re still stuck at square one.”
“Pretty much,” he said bitterly. “Killer, one. FBI, zero.”
“Ugh!” I groaned, running my fingers through my hair frustratingly. “This sucks.”
“Welcome to our world.” Skylar chuckled, as he tried lightening the mood. “Just please keep this from your mom,” he begged, pleading with me.
I threw my head back in laughter. Out of all things they were scared off, they were afraid of my own mother. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on telling her.”
“Good.” Skylar let out a sigh of relief. “We so don’t need her wrath.”
“You mean I so don’t need her wrath,” I corrected. “If she finds out, you’re shit out of luck, and I’ll be force to drop out.”
“Wow, Lily.” Demitri gasped in surprise. By the tone of his voice, I couldn’t tell if he was genuine or not. “And to think we had to force you to help us in the beginning.”
“Hey.” I held my hand up. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m still shit scared, but I’m not going to turn my back on you guys just because the killer is on to us. Plus, if I give up now, he’s going to keep killing and killing.”
“Don’t be scared,” he said, his voice softening. “We’re going to protect you. Mark my words. Skylar and I will never let him harm you.”
“Yeah Lil.” Skylar smiled. “We’ll protect you even if it cost us our lives. You can count on it.”
The corners of my lips rose up into a smile. They could be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they’re still family. And I knew they care about me. “Thanks guys.”
“No problem,” they both said simultaneity before Demitri faced the front wheel and pulled away from the curb. We weren’t even on the road for a minute before I felt my phone vibrating in my back pocket. Knowing that it was probably Megan wondering where I was, I took my phone out.
My eyes widened when I didn’t see Megan’s name flashing across my screen. Instead it was Bradlee's.
***
A/N: So, who do you think the killer is now!? Ian. Bradlee. Or . . . Hunter? Mmh... o.O Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed the chapter or liked the story so far! Comments are super appreciated too!!!