FATE

36. Three Headed Rottweiler

BROOKE

I walk into the kitchen and toss my bag on the counter before grabbing the box of cereal.

"We have about thirty minutes", Blake says with his mouth full of cornflakes.

"Oh, actually, I'm going to school with Jonah today and he should be here to pick me up in fifteen minutes", I say pouring the cornflakes into a bowl first and glancing at a small clock on the wall.

Blake swallows, "Who's Jonah?", He asks.

I raise an eyebrow and stare at his straight face, "My boyfriend? You know the one you met last night?"

He smirks, "I know, I just wanted to hear you say that", he finishes his cereal and stands up to wash his plate, "it's so weird. You're all grown up and having boyfriends now"

"Don't make this a thing please", I mumble as I pour the milk into the bowl and grab a spoon.

"By the way, he has a car?", Blake asks, "he didn't look like he wanted to talk much about his parents yesterday but he didn't hint that they were rich either"

"Actually, it's his best friend's car", I say, "and he doesn't really like to talk about his family"

"I see", Blake nods as I hurry with my cereal. He rinses the bowl and turns to me, "wash yours before leaving", he says and I beam and nod.

As I finish eating and stand up to wash, my phone rings. It's a text from Jonah.

'i'm downstairs', it says

'I'll be there in a bit', I reply

I wash the bowl quick and grab my bag off the kitchen counter. "Blake, I'm leaving!", I yell from the front door.

"Stay safe!", He yells back, "I love you!"

"I love you too!"

Once downstairs, I walk out of the building and see Jonah in the driver's seat of Hailee's car. His attention fixed on his phone.

"Hey", I say as I get closer to the car.

He looks up at me, "Hey", he smiles but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

I get into the car through the passenger side and strap on my seatbelt. Jonah drops his phone and leans in to give me a kiss on my cheek.

"Good morning", he says.

"Good morning", I say smiling at him.

He turns on the car and begins to pull out of the lot.

"So what's going on with Hailee?", I ask.

"She's coming down with some sort of fever", he says, his eyes fixated on the road.

"I just realised I don't have her number. I feel like I should text her"

"I'll give it to you later"

I stay quiet and simply watch him drive, admiring his firm grip on the steering wheel and the way his forehead creases. His shirt is black with a scary image of a three headed Rottweiler printed on it. The sleeves are long as usual. When Jonah is not in long sleeved shirts, he's in hoodies or short sleeved shirts with leather jackets on them.

"You're staring Collins", he says, glancing at me.

I smile, "is that a bad thing?"

He shakes his head, "No but I'm scared if you stare at me for too long, you'll start to notice all my flaws"

"I don't think I would care if I did"

He turns to face me and smiles, but once again. It doesn't quite meet his eyes. I feel like something is wrong but I don't know how to ask so i turn to stare out the window at the city passing by.

He drives into the school's parking lot and looks around for a free spot. It's one of the reasons he made us come to school early. He didn't want to stress himself if all the spots are taken.
I look around and there she is, standing a little distance away from the parking lot. It's the woman from yesterday. Her eyes follow the car until Jonah parks it. He hasn't seen her yet.

"Jonah?"

"Yeah?", He answers as he turns it off.

"The woman from yesterday is here. The one that wanted to talk to Hailee", I say turning to face him and his eyes flash with recognition because he knows who this woman is, I can tell. "Jonah, who is she?"

"She's a crazy person and she scared the shit out of Hailee yesterday", he says looking through my window and seeing her. He sighs deeply and frowns, "I'm going report her to security if she comes near us again. How do they even allow these people inside a school? She could be dangerous"

The woman hasn't moved. She maintains her spot, her eyes fixed on the car. Jonah takes deep breaths because he's angry but also because whoever she is, he really wants her to stay away and she doesn't seem like she's willing to.

As we get out of the car, the woman begins to walk towards us. Jonah notices.

"Brooke, go inside", he says coldly, his eyes never leaving her.

"Not until you tell me what's going on"

He turns to me, "Stop asking so many questions and mind your fucking business. Now listen to me and go inside", he says harshly.

I stare at him for a while as the woman gets closer. He leaves me and walks towards her, meeting her before she can get closer to the car. I turn to go into school.

"Where's Adella?", I hear the woman ask in a foreign accent, "where's my daughter?"

What?

"Ma'am I don't know what you're talking about", I hear Jonah say but he's lying. I just know he is.

I walk into the school building with a frown on my face and head straight to Mandy's locker. She and Carmen are standing next to it like I guessed they would.

"Look who's in school early today", Mandy says with a smile on her face.

"Is that why she has that frown on her face?", Carmen asks and I roll my eyes.

I sigh deeply, "Something is going on and you guys are going to help me find out"

---

"Daughter?", Carmen asks minutes later.

"Yes, the woman asked for her daughter, Adella which is also the same name she called Hailee yesterday", I say.

"Okay but that don't make no sense", Mandy says, leaning on a locker and clutching her books to her chest, "I know Hailee's mom. She's nice and she used to bake the best brownies when we were in middle school"

"Yeah, I remember", Carmen looks at Mandy and then at me, "maybe Jonah's right and this woman is just crazy"

I sigh. I want to trust both Jonah and Hailee, i really do but the look in both their eyes yesterday flashes through my mind again. They looked like they were scared, like she was a ghost that had come back to haunt them.