Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(11) Jill's POV

Once I got home, I saw my mother waiting for me. I immediately knew that something was up. My mother never waited for me. She was never around half the time when I came home from school. She was always off on work stuff and business trips. "What's going on?"

Mom looked at me. "Theo's here, along with his mother and father. He has something to tell you."

She beamed, glowing with cheesy excitement. I simply arched an eyebrow. Why was she so happy? What, did she think he was going to propose or something? I was seventeen, for God's sake. Maybe Mom was just happy because Theo's parents were coming with him. Maybe she was desperately lonely and in need of company.

I supposed I wasn't decent company, then.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Mom sprinted to go get it. "Hello, Theo!" I heard her chirp. She guided Theo, along with his parents, into the house. "I'll leave you two to it!"

She gave me an obvious, huge wink as she left to go in the dining room with the other adults. Theo stood awkwardly on the carpet of the living room, while I was perched on a large love seat, staring back at him. I wondered what was wrong. Theo wasn't acting like his typical exuberant self. "Hey," I smirked at him, deciding to make the first move. "Want to go up to my room?"

Theo stared at me blankly. He clearly wasn't getting it, so I leaned forward until I was inches away from his face, before whispering seductively, "We'll have a lot more fun up there..."

Theo and I hadn't... you know... yet. We had conflicting views on the subject, usually. I was more than ready to take that step with him... at least I thought I was... but Theo wasn't sure. He was logical like that, and he had to think things through deeply before he made his decision. That was just his style. While I did think things through, I didn't spend every waking moment agonizing over the pros and cons.

There was the Theo thought process, which was when you over analyzed everything to the point of insanity, and there was the Serena thought process, where you were impulsive, and just did it. I was the happy medium between those two.

Theo shifted away from me and stared out the window. Two birds were perched on a tree branch, and together they made a beautiful song. We watched them for a moment, before Theo turned back to me. "I can't do this," he blurted out.

I frowned, then tried to calm his nerves. "Well... OK... That's fine. We don't have to do that yet. If you're not ready, I'll wait."

"I don't mean... that," Theo objected. "I mean... this." He gestured wildly around him, at nothing in particular.

My frown deepened as a confused expression crossed my face. "I don't follow..." What was he trying to tell me? It was like trying to have a conversation while you're speaking French and the person you're conversing with his speaking Spanish. You couldn't process what the person was saying, but you knew they were trying to tell you something that might be important.

"I can't be your boyfriend any longer," Theo's eyes widened as he looked around awkwardly. "I'm in love with someone else."

My heart was pounding in my ears. It took me a moment to truly process what he was saying. "Who?" I whispered, barely believing it. I thought we were doing fine. I mean, sure, Serena when she first arrived had briefly been considered a threat, but I thought we were past that. No, not thought. Knew. I knew we were past that. This was all a joke, wasn't it? It had to be. "Why?"

Theo's eyes shimmered with regret. "Serena. When we first dated, she was with me. We tried to keep it a secret from you."

I stared at him in a daze, his confession ringing in my ears. We tried to keep it secret...

Secrets. More secrets. I was getting really freaking tired of all the secrets.

I looked back at the birds, only to discover that one had flown away. The other looked around, as if looking for its friend and wondering where they went. Then that bird flew away, too.

"And, pray tell, what made you have the human decency to tell me now?" My voice was sharp, cold, and piercing. I sounded full-on pissed, but my hands were shaking. I held them behind my back so Theo wouldn't see how much pain he was causing me right now. I wouldn't let him see that. I wouldn't ever let anyone see that.

Theo just stared at me. Tears were brimming in my eyes, but I blinked them back so he wouldn't notice. There we were, in a twisted, sick standoff, before Theo spoke first. "I want to try and become her boyfriend."

That proclamation, so stupid and full of emotion, but spoken by a boy who was actually in love. He was in love with Serena. I was still his second choice. Second place.

When was I ever going to win for a longer period of time than just a blink of an eye?

Theo opened his mouth to say something else, but I didn't let him. I raised my palm and slapped him, hard, before opening the door, running past the adults, who had surprised expressions when they saw me bolting past them, and outside. It was drizzling, a light rain, but I didn't care. I ran, away from the house, away from Theo, away from everyone and everything.

I wasn't sure where I was even heading, but I got a fair distance, getting to the soccer field before I stopped, collapsing on the ground and breathing heavily, finally letting out the tears that I had held in during Theo's confession. The ground was muddy and the rain was still pelting like bullets, faster and harder with every second.

Slowly, my devastation turned to anger. I had trusted Serena. I had told her my secret, showcased my vulnerability. I'd shared everything with her and Taylor, and she repaid me by continuing to tempt my boyfriend, until she took him away for good. She was still back to her old tricks, where she was the cat and I was her mouse.

How could I have been so stupid?

In the pocket of my jeans, my phone buzzed. It had been repeatedly buzzing through my crying and as I was running. It was probably full of concerned messages, Mom wondering what had happened, wanting me to come home. I had no intention of going home yet. I was perfectly content to stay here, despite the fact that I'd probably get pneumonia. But I decided to read the messages, because really, what else was there to do?

I had three messages. The first two were from my mother, oozing panic and wondering why I'd run off. She also managed to fit in there that she wanted to know what Theo told me. Whatever. She could get that info from him for all I cared.

The third message was from a blocked number. A sinking feeling growing in my stomach, I decided to read the message.

Aw, Jill. Don't cry. You should be used to getting second place by now. But something tells me you have more to watch out for than just a broken heart. For example, I'm standing behind you right now.

I immediately knew who it was from. I let out a short gasp of fear. Out of instinct, I turned to look behind me. No one was there. This person was just trying to mess with me.

Suddenly, a blindfold was tied over my eyes, and a person's arm wrapped around my body. I tried to scream, but a large piece of masking tape quickly made its way over my mouth. Flailing about, I tried to fight this person off, but they punched me straight in the jaw, and kept on hitting me.

"Stop! Let go of me!" I tried to yell, but the sender punched me again, this time in the nose, sending blood cascading down my face, dripping onto my shirt.

The person continued to hit me until I started to feel dizzy. Then, the person hit me on the head.

The last thing I felt was someone picking me up off the ground, walking me to a car, and laying me on the seat. The door clicked loudly as it locked, and the sender started the engine.

That was when I, beaten and battered, blacked out.

A/N

Aren't I just postively evil? I got chills writing this. :P So, hope you enjoyed that dreadfully creepy installment. Sorry for such the lengthy wait! A new update from Losing You will be up soon. Au revoir for now, my dear readers! :) SIDE NOTE: Did anyone see the latest episode of Pretty Little Liars? I DID!! :D

~Charlotte <3