hidden

chapter 1

beep beep beep! beep beep beep!

my eyes slowly opened and i slapped my phone to turn off the alarm. i looked over at my clock.

7:03.

i had slept in? oh, great.

moms going to kill me, i thought to myself.

i was in nothing but my lacy bra and underwear. i sat up in my bed and fixed my hair a little bit, trying to wake myself up a bit, when my tv said something that caught my attention.

"and in other news, 18 year old pierce patterson was arrested at an attempt in murder last night."

pierce patterson? no, it can't be. they have to have the wrong guy.

"police believe the victim was 17 year old kaylee ryles. luckily no one was hurt. the police arrived before pierce was able to harm kaylee."

i shut my tv off. i looked around me. i felt sick. my head hurt. my stomach ached. my vision was all over the place.

pierce patterson? my ex? no way. he was too nice and sweet of a guy to even think about killing someone.

then again, i haven't seen him in a year.

but i remember. he was always so sweet. he would come to my house every night we had a date planned to make sure my parents knew about it and were ok with it. he would ask me before he kissed me. he would hold my hand when he thought something was wrong. he managed to be funny without ever making any dirty jokes. he protected me with his life.

so why in the world would he attempt to kill someone?

finally i got out of bed and threw on a blue crop top and jean shorts. you could see my stomach and part of my bra clearly, but i didn't care. right now the only thing on my mind was pierce.

i don't remember much from that morning other than me feeling completely horrible and not being able to hear much going on around me. the only thing i remember hearing was my mom saying, "uh, no, mai. you're not wearing that to school."

but i just ignored her and kept walking, out the door and into my car.

i started it up, and my mom walked out of the house and looked confused. i drove out of the driveway without even saying goodbye or blowing her a kiss like i usually do.

what are kids at school going to say to me? everyone knew pierce and i dated. and god knows the news is going to be all over snapchat and instagram by the time i get there.

i turn on the radio to try to take my mind off of things.

justin timberlake's "can't stop the feeling" came on.

i started humming along to it. it didn't work.

i tried dancing a bit. it didn't work.

i tried turning it up all the way. that didn't work either.

i rolled my eyes and turned it off. nothing was working.

pierce patterson, the sweetest person i've ever known, just killed an innocent 17 year old.