Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(25) Serena's POV

I was sitting on the couch alone eating potato chips, flipping from channel to channel. After getting a particularly nauseating text from the sender that morning that included a video of Jill and Theo making out, I convinced my mother that I was sick and needed to stay home.

In reality, I didn't want to face my peers. Because I didn't have any friends to stick by me, I knew that they'd just stare at me and make me feel like an outcast.

I couldn't go back to being Serena, the girl everyone hated.

So like a coward, I stayed home.

Sometimes the cowardly way out is the best way, I thought to myself. If you were a coward, that meant that you could just run away from your problems, instead of trying to face them. That made things a hell of a lot easier.

Suddenly, there was a sharp rap on the door. I tensed up, not wanting to answer the door for fear of who it might be.

"Serena, open up!" came the muffled voice. Hey, I knew that muffled voice. Was it... No, it couldn't be. Taylor hadn't spoken to Jill or me in days.

And then, as if reading my thoughts, the voice continued on. "It's Taylor. We need to talk."

It sounded like Taylor. After getting over the paranoid feeling that it was the sender imitating Taylor's voice, I managed to celebrate. Taylor was actually talking to me! Did that mean that we were one step closer to being friends again? Maybe there wasn't any hope for Jill and me, but Taylor and I could still work.

I opened the door, extremely relieved to see Taylor's face. My friend wasn't gone. At least, not entirely. She was willing to talk. "Taylor!" I squealed happily. "I've missed you so much!" I engulfed her in a bear hug, brimming over the top with nervous excitement. Then, I noticed the stressed look on her face. "What's wrong?"

Taylor gave a suspicious scan of the neighborhood around her. Even though there was nobody there except for my next door neighbor, who was mowing the lawn, she still raced inside, slamming the door behind her. Then, she stepped into my living room.

I followed her, completely lost with what she was doing. "Taylor?" I asked, befuddled. "What's going..."

She cut me off by shushing me, putting her finger to her lips. Then, she located my iPod on the coffee table and put it on a loud, angry sounding heavy metal song. She must have gotten it off of YouTube, because I didn't recognize it.

"What is this?" I shouted to be heard over the music.

"Shut up!" Taylor yelled back, before leaning closer to me. We were both standing up, staring straight at each other. As Taylor leaned closer, she lowered her voice. "I'm doing this so the cameras don't hear us."

"Cameras?" I queried, completely baffled now. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Taylor furtively looked around once more. What was up with her? She was as jumpy as a skittish cat. "The sender has cameras everywhere. Watching us. Watching the people around us. That's how they know everything, sometimes even before we do." She gazed at me intensely, her unwavering stare making me a bit uncomfortable.

"Um... Taylor?" I asked tentatively. "Why is this news?" We knew that the sender stalked us. It didn't take an idiot to figure out that there were probably cameras watching us.

"Because I found something else out!" Taylor whispered excitedly. "The sender keeps all of this stuff in a secret room. There's also a closet with disguises and a flow chart with all of our pictures and stuff on it!"

"Wait a second," I interrupted. "There's a room with all of this in it? And you saw it?"

Taylor nodded vigorously. "Yes. I was given an address to go to by the sender. I was planning to exchange the sender's phone for seeing their face. But... that didn't work out," she added sheepishly, tenderly touching her right wrist with her other hand.