Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(8) Jill's POV

My heart was pounding with fear as I watched Serena and Taylor. They were glaring at me, fire burning in their eyes. Well, in Serena's eyes. Taylor kind of just looked scared to death, like she was about to faint from terror any minute now. She kind of looked the way I would if I ever showed any fear.

That was a rule I lived by: Don't show fear. Camryn told me that. She told me to remember it.

I tried to make the thoughts leave my head. Don't think about Camryn. Don't think about her at all. If I thought about Camryn, then that meant I'd think about the incident. That was something that I didn't want invading my mind. Almost like if I could forget it ever happened, then the incident would disappear also.

Taylor watched me cautiously, trembling. "We've been getting... notes. From this unknown person."

"They know all of our secrets somehow. Secrets that we'd like to keep under wraps," Serena finished her statement. "Since this person seems to hate us, we thought of you. You hate both of us, don't you?"

I admit, it gave me a pang to hear her say that. How they automatically assumed that I was the one sending the notes because of my nasty behavior towards them. I was just a victim here, just like they were. Although I could see the clear reasoning behind their decision. After all, I hadn't been the nicest to them... Or to anyone. "I do... sort of..." I answered slowly. "But... But... I'm getting messages too." I showed them the first one I had received, and watched their eyes scan over the note as they read it silently.

Taylor looked up tentatively. "What does the note mean... about the flames?"

I widened my eyes. Oh shit. I was officially the stupidest person in the entire universe. Now, I was stuck and I had to tell them all my secrets. The ones I had worked so hard to protect. I furtively looked around, making sure that nobody was in earshot before I told my story. "After Serena... left..."

I watched closely as Serena winced, pausing for a minute before continuing.

"After she left, I was lost for a while. School had just ended, and every one of our friends were off on their fancy vacations. I wasn't scheduled to go to Paris until early August, so I had a month to kill. Anyways, I went to a few crappy nightclubs and became friends with these college girls, Camryn, Aly, and Dani. Camryn was the leader, and when she heard that I was kind of alone, she decided to take me under her wing."

Taylor and Serena looked at each other, clearly wondering where this was going.

"So, all of us had a lot of fun together, and in between the fun, Camryn would teach me how to properly control a group, so that way I'd be all set for the upcoming year. She helped me with my hair, my clothes, and my general appearance, to make me look even more pretty. Then... in the middle of July, we decided to play a game of truth or dare."

Taylor began chewing on a piece of hair, while Serena was biting her lip in a tense action.

"Camryn took me to the house of her mortal enemy, and dared me to set fire to it. She said that if I didn't, then she'd tell everyone that I needed all this help to become the controller of my own clique. I couldn't have anyone realizing that I wasn't flawless. How would they think of me then? They'd continue to think of me as a washed up version of you," I spat, turning to Serena. My eyes were welling up with tears. It had been so long since I had talked about this with anyone.

"Camryn made you set someone's house on fire?!" Serena asked, shocked. "What kind of sick, twisted person is this..."

"Shut up and let me finish," I interjected, my voice shaking. "So, Camryn handed me some matches... I had a feeling she'd been planning to make me do this... She showed me where their generator was. It ran on gasoline. I lit the match, and... boom," I finished weakly.

"What do you mean?" Taylor questioned, still not really getting it. Serena had her hand over her mouth in shock and astoundment. She understood.

I took a deep, ragged breath before continuing. "The reaction of gasoline and fire caused it to explode. I ran fast enough to get away... The others didn't. They died in the explosion."

Serena's eyes were welling up with tears. "And this person has been holding it over you since we started getting the messages?"

I nodded, tears streaming down my face like a waterfall.  "It's haunting me enough already, and this person just keeps bringing it up."

Taylor shifted uncomfortably. "I know what you mean," she whispered. "This person is... taunting us. Like we're cats going after a beam of light."

Serena and I turned to her. "What's the sender taunting you with?" I asked.

Taylor turned away, and for a minute, I thought that I had crossed a line. Maybe she didn't want to talk about it. I started to open my mouth, to tell her that she didn't have to tell me her secret. But Taylor turned to face us, looking willing to spill everything. "I had bulimia a few years ago... When I was overweight," she said softly. "I had really bad self-confidence issues."

Serena shifted from foot to foot, and I winced once Taylor said that. The reason for her low amount of self-esteem was probably because of the constant barrage of taunts and verbal assaults she had gotten from Serena and me. I felt a pang of guilt. See what you did to her, Jill? A voice inside my head nagged.

"I continued to throw up almost everything I ate... but I still thought I was fat," she continued, tears running silently down her face, as fast and as furious as the insults we used to shout out at her when she was overweight. "So my mom let me get liposuction to remove some of the fat."

We were all crying now, Taylor for probably having to retell this again, and being pushed to her near breaking point, Serena and me for how horribly we had teased Taylor. We had pushed her to that point. So in an odd, indirect way, Taylor's secrets being held over her head were because of us. Serena and I embraced Taylor from either side. "It'll be OK," I said gently.

We all knew I was lying. There was no way this would be OK.

A/N

Hey, guys! :D So, I need some help. I'm having trouble here. Do you think Hide and Secret fits better under the "Mystery/Thriller" category or the "Teen Fiction" category? Back when we were able to pick out two categories, I had H&S under both. Which category best suits it now? :) Comment down below, and thanks in advance!

~Charlotte <3