Dance Till We Die

Chapter Seven (Jade)

JADE

Dance Till You Die,

Alex.

What did that mean? And how come it just happened that Tessa and I both picked up the crumpled pieces of paper? Was it just fate, or did some weird spy make us pick them up?

I stared at the note, unable to comprehend. It started to become hard to breathe, and soon I was coughing. Tessa, with alarmed eyes, patted me roughly on the back to make me stop coughing.

When I did stop, I saw Tessa staring at me as if I was crazy. Why was she looking at me like that? She raised her eyebrows, and the messy bun that sat atop her head bobbed slightly.

"What?" I asked accusingly. Tessa rubbed her caramel-reddish Hispanic skin, shivering while she did so. I marveled at Tessa's outfit: she wore a loose, beige shirt with sleeves slightly covering the fold of her arm, brown cotton skinny jeans, light brown lace-up boots, and big obnoxious glasses that resembled 3D glasses. I'd seen Americans on the telly wear those glasses before..

Tessa had a round face, but it turned into an oval shape at her chin. She had full pink lips, deep brown eyes and long black eyelashes. Tessa was what I'd call pretty. All of the boys at YSDA school would drool over her. I'm surprised Joshua hasn't tried to make his move...

Wait a second; I remember at the hospital, when I walked in on Joshua and Tessa talking. I was suspicious about them, the way they spoke and their mannerisms.

"Tessa? Can I ask you something?" I asked. She nodded and said, "Sure. Anything."

"What were you and Joshua talking about when I walked in on you in my hospital room?" I asked, carefully searching for any secretive signs in her face. Ironically, she simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing to shout about. We were just having a plain conversation. Why?" she serenely asked. I soon became infuriated at her response. I knew she was fibbing, but she didn't know I knew.

"You're lying." I said. Tessa shook her head in disagreement. "No, I'm not." She said with a surprised expression on her face.

She's such a fake.

"Yeah you are. I listened to you, Tessa. I heard the conversation. You were saying something about privacy, something you didn't want to tell him. It was an intense exchange of words, but for the life of me I can't recall the exact conversation. Tell me."

Tessa sighed. "He just asked me what was wrong, he thought I seemed troubled. I told him I didn't want to talk about it, but he kept urging me on. He finally accepted that it wasn't his business and left me alone. That's it."

I faintly recalled Tessa's intense attitude that day at the hospital. Even I thought she was troubled. And Josh is the type of person that would ask what's wrong.

But I don't believe that's it.

"There's more. Tell me." I urged.

"Why is this even relevant right now?" She asked in frustration. "Fine, whatever. We don't have to talk about it." I surrendered.

"Back to the note: It says to run. Maybe he knew we'd both be here right now, and he's planning to attack anytime soon. We have to get out for a while. Just out of the area." Tessa said, recalling the words of the note Alexander left us.

"Would you like to go to your flat?"

Tessa looked slightly uncomfortable, and then shook her head no. "Uh-uh. It's not really a...good time to go there." Tessa decided, pausing to think of the right way to describe it.