Just Rose

Chapter Twelve

By Tuesday, Max still hadn't talked to Kiana, Kiana still hadn't told me or Sarah about her kiss with him, and I had caught Sarah giving me strange looks about four times in less than an hour and a half.

In a rare moment when we had the Food kitchen to ourselves, I pulled her aside. "Okay, what's wrong?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked, fidgeting with her apron a little.

"You keep looking at me odd. Why?"

Sarah took a deep breath as I turned the omelet I was working on in a frypan. "Well it's kind of hard not to," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't stop thinking about what you told me, on Saturday. About your whole..." she cleared her throat and looked away, "situation."

"I told you everything I could, Sarah. You haven't told anyone, have you?" I asked, alarmed.

"No, I haven't told anyone, and I won't unless I absolutely have to, I promise. It's just, I know that there's more you aren't telling me. Like your real name, for example. Or where you're from. 'The South' isn't very descriptive. And for all I know, your 'family issues' could involve you killing someone! And you haven't told me how you ran away from your little Southern town or why you didn't tell me any of this sooner and..." She sighed. "And it's just hard to be friends with someone who's been lying to you for the entire time you've known them, who's even now only telling half the story. You know?"

Now it was my turn to take a deep breath. I focused very hard on the omelet for a second before saying anything. "I would tell you more, but..." But what, Elisabeth? asked a voice in my head. What's the issue? You do this all the time, do things without any real reason. What was with that nagging, horrible voice? "But I don't want you to get hurt," I said, fingering Rose's locket around my neck. The fact that I caved to a mystery person's threat still haunted me every day. "If you're ever in a situation where you're being forced tell people everything you know, it's better that you don't know all the details. I promise I never hurt anyone in my family- not intentionally, anyways- and that I'm not a part of any illegal activity except running away from home."

"Is running away from home even illegal?" Sarah asked, already sidetracked. Typical Sarah. I couldn't help but smile a little.

"What are you chicas talking about?" Yvonne asked, coming into the kitchen. Sarah and I both jumped. "I hope you aren't planning on running away, because we need you here to help with the food!"

"Yvonne!" exclaimed Kiana, who was just a few steps behind.

"And we would miss you too much," Yvonne added, chuckling. "You girls are like my own daughters. If you left it would be like all my children suddenly up and left me! That's not okay, and it does not matter if running away is illegal or not."

"You're keeping us here against our will?" Sarah exclaimed, clutching her heart in mock horror. "That is illegal. We're still minors! Not even 18. That could qualify as kidnapping, you know."

"Speaking of being 18..." Kiana began.

"I am just kidding," Yvonne promised. "Now if you would all get back to work..."

Kiana cleared her throat. "Guys? I think we might have-"

"It's actually not illegal to run away from home," Sarah said, holding up her phone. "Unless you're in...  Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, or Wyoming. Then it's illegal, but only if you're under 18. Fact." She grinned.

Kiana studied her own phone, her eyes widening. "Oh, my goodness. We actually-"

"Back to work," Yvonne repeated, slapping Sarah's behind with her towel. "We have customers, remember?"