The Bad Boy's Sleepover

Chapter 32

The town has been abuzz with news of Julian and the murder case for days. Every day something new popped up on tv and the internet. Everyday it was some new piece of gossip or rumour that didn't make any sense like Julian had been kidnapped for ransom or the murderer might have got him. Some absurd articles were even saying that Jason and Fiona were still alive and hiding with him.

It's been four days since he disappeared from Lola's room in the middle of the night. Four long days, with even longer hours and somehow longer minutes that stretched on in her mind, conjuring up the worst possible scenarios involving Julian.

His alibi had been proven, the case had been reopened and now the investigation was ongoing. Which was why Lola couldn't figure out why Julian had't resurfaced. 

Where had he gone? 

What was he doing? 

And it didn't help that these absurd theories of Julian being kidnapped kept surfacing on the net like a dark night mare. She blocked all those sites, but she wished she could block them out of her head as well. 

Her head was evidently much more stubborn and paranoid. 

"Where do you think he is? Do you think he could be hiding out at his secret father's place for protection?" 

Nalini and Hanna both gave Lola the same tired, blank look they had been giving her for the past hour. They were sitting in the library during their free period and Lola could not stop voicing her worries. 

She'd been doing so since school started and even though her friends were just as curious, they were slowly losing patience with her tireless questions. 

The sad truth was neither one had the answer to them and they hated having to repeat that fact to Lola again and again. 

"You know I think it's that Maximus man. Eva's father." Lola leaned forward and whispered. 

"We know. You've only mentioned it a hundred times. But we have no proof of that, just like we have no idea where that fool has gone." Nalini sighed in frustration as she stared at the book in front of her. 

She was having a hard time concentrating today, which was rare for a girl who loved school. Lola had been having a hard time since the minute she woke up to an empty bed. She'd been wrought with worry ever since. 

But there was also that small part of her that replayed that night in her head over and over again. Julian had admitted that he liked her of all people and Lola couldn't stop thinking about the sincerity in his eyes when he had said those words or the fact that they were so close, their lips had almost touched. 

They had slept in each other's arms that night and it had been so perfect, the most perfect night of Lola's entire life, only to be ruined in a matter of hours. Now Lola wondered if she had imagined the whole thing. 

Which was why she hadn't brought it up to her friends at all. It remained a secret, locked up in her heart and memory. 

Just then she heard whispers all around, frantic whispers that flooded the library and both her friends looked up at the same time as her. 

"He's here. He's here!" Someone shouted from outside and the librarian shushed him. 

"He's alive!" Someone else shouted and the girls eyes all locked on each other's knowingly. 

Hanna jumped up first, then Nalini, but Lola remained rooted in her seat, frozen with anticipation. 

Students were already grabbing their books and rushing outside when Hanna pulled her up. "Come on. Let's go see."