Paranoia

Chapter twenty one

Maddi's point of veiw.

      I sat there, staring at Dade. Does he really want someone to kill him so bad he made us come here again? it wasn’t fair.. No, it wasn’t. Dade was going through so much.. but what if the killer did come out like he asked? what if they killed all of us? It’s selfish of him to ask to die, when Ashlinn and Rylie had been so gruesomely taken from us.. No.. He shouldn’t ask for death.   We loved him too much. He was our best friend. I was about to say this, when i felt Bellie’s light trembling fingers dance on my shoulder. and her show me a crumbled up piece of paper that looks like she had been carrying for days. Maybe since the game started. She unraveled it, and i saw the little name on it. Dade. My heart sped faster, and I looked at her. She leaned over, and her lips just brushed my ears. 

“Should I..?” She whispered, and I looked up at her in shock. The fact she was considering it.. Made me sick. No way was I sticking around for this. I stood up fast, everything going dizzy for a minute while i re-gained my balance from sitting cross-legged on the floor, and I stood there. They all rushed up after me, Bellie staring at me with big eyes. 

“Maddi.. I just don’t know..” She said, trying to keep her voice low, but she failed, as no one was talking, so she could be heard fairly well by the people standing two inches away from her. 

“How could you not know!? obviously, you shouldn’t kill him, because, if you hadn’t figured out earlier, killing is pretty damn wrong!” I shouted, waving my hands around like a maniac. Usually i was more of the quiet girl, but that was because there was nothing for me to say. Now.. now was different.

“I just didn’t know! he wanted me to kill him!” My face burned hot when she said this,  And I couldn’t control myself when i felt my hand go out at her, and strike her face. She just stared at me, Her brown eyes filling up with tears, holding her face in shock. But i regretted nothing. She might as well have been the killer. And with one final glance, i strode out of the house, with no ride home but my own two feet.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I walked into school the next day, pulling my hoodie up around me almost like a shield. It was hailing out, and I tried to trick myself into doing it for the hail, but really it was because I didn’t want to face anyone, especially today. The endless questions were annoying, and the looks I was getting, some dirty ones from the jealous girls who had recently fallen out of popularity, and some sympathy ones by girls who were trying to raise theirs.

I had avoided everyone’s phone calls last night, although at first it was hard. I got two calls from Violet, four from Dade, and six from Bellie. Last night I got so frustrated laying on my bed, I threw my phone across the room, it hit the wall and broke into pieces. Crappy iPhones..

As soon as i got to my first class, I knew I was in the clear. I didn’t have first period with any of them, so I thought i would be safe for a while. I settled into my desk in the front of the room, and sunk into my seat when I felt everybody’s eyes on me. I looked down, and pretended to be writing something. I ended up just doodling little frogs. Why did i doodle frogs?

The teacher walked in, and gave me a little nod of sympathy. This was my second day back, why was everyone acting like I was a survivor of the holocaust or something.. I felt my face flush when he did that, and sunk even further into my seat. I stared at the board, and pretended to pay attention, nodding my head in response when she would look my way. I had been almost completely zoned out, when I saw Bellie’s head pop through the door. She didn’t look at me, just walked in to the room, and handed my teacher a small note. The teacher scanned over it briefly, before looking at me and nodding.

“Madeline, you’re excused to the main office. You two girls are needed.”  I stood up and walked out, holding my books to my chest. I didn’t even glance in bellie’s direction, just walked straight into the hall. She walked to me quickly, grabbing hold of my shoulder.

“Maddi.. wait.” She said, and i turned around and faced her blankly, without saying anything. 

“Maddi, I’m sorry about everything.. The stress.. it gets to me. But you’re my best friend.. Please forgive me.” I pondered this for a moment, and i looked at her little pout, and gave a small smile. 

“No way am I loosing another friend.” I said, and she smiled brightly, throwing her arms around my neck. 

“I love you, Madeline,” she said, smiling into my shoulder, and I gave her a small laugh, and replied with “I love you too, Isabella.”

We didn’t really think about what we were needed down in the office for, but I had supposed it would have been some sort of ‘grief’ counseling session, but when we walked in, something told me differently. The smiles were wiped off mine and Bellie’s face as soon as we walked in, and saw Violet and Dade sitting there with the principal, all three of them expressions of pure fear on. 

“Bellie.. do you remember that girl, Victoria? She had curly blonde hair, and she was.. Uh, talking about Rylie and Ashlinns death a lot..” Violet started, shifting uncomfortably. Luckily, the principal chimed in.

“Victoria.. She was found dead yesterday.. And.. Well, as uneasy as this sounds, I feel you  kids can handle it, with your maturity, but I must ask that you dont tell the other students.. Victoria was found with a small note pinned to her clothes.. A note that said she didn’t play fair.”