Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(12) Taylor's POV

Serena sat, staring out the window as she stirred her coffee with a plastic spoon absentmindedly. "Are you all right?" I asked tentatively. She had been like this since we had arrived at the coffee shop about ten minutes ago. It was a switch from the bubbly Serena I had gotten to know.

She turned to me. "No."

And that was it. She didn't add anything. Just a simple, two-letter word, flat and crisp, like the potato chips I used to inhale by the bag while parked in front of the television. I drummed my fingers on the table. "Okay... Do you want to talk about it?"

Serena grabbed a napkin and started shredding it, as if her hands just needed something to do. While she did this, she began to talk. "I saw the sender today," she admitted. "During Gym."

"What?" I was astonished. "The sender came to school? Did you see their face?" The fact that the sender had visited us in school made this seem so much more real, even scarier than it had been before. This proved that this person, whomever they may be, knew where we were. They didn't just know our secrets. They could easily know our lives, what we did in our spare time and where we did it.

Serena shook her head. "I was with Theo, and..."

"Wait, hold up. You were with Theo?" I knew that wasn't the most important part of our conversation, but I had to figure this out. "What was going on there?"

Serena stared at me. "We were talking. I saw the sender... or at least a guy that I thought was the sender... I went to go try and catch him, and Theo followed me."

"That's all?"

Serena avoided my gaze. "Yeah."

I had a feeling she wasn't telling the whole truth, but I decided not to press her on it. I changed the subject. "So, have you told Jill about your encounter with Theo yet?"

Serena looked at me crossly. She pouted and folded her arms. "It's irrelevent. Just because I talked to Theo doesn't mean we're going to start sucking face or something."

My eyes darted down to the table, where my coffee was sitting, getting cold. Serena was being very irritable today. Maybe it was just a huge bunch of nerves because of the sender, but I had a feeling it was more than that. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Her face softened. "Look, Taylor, I'm sorry," she began. "I'm just... really stressed out. Theo did something really unexpected, and..."

"Omigod," I said, cutting her off. "Did you two kiss? Did you two do more than kissing? Oh my gosh, Serena, are you..."

Serena interrupted me before I could finish, answering all of my questions in one swoop. "No, ew, and... seriously, Taylor? I'm not pregnant."

My face flushed.

Serena rolled her eyes, continuing. "Theo said he was going to break up with Jill so he could date me."

My eyes widened. Was she for real? Theo and Jill looked like they were totally in love, from what I saw of them. Even though Serena was definitely pretty (there was no denying the fact), it was hard to believe that Theo would just up and leave Jill like that. "Jill's gonna kill you if he goes through with that," I commented.

Serena gave me a stressed out face. "I know!" she answered, her voice raising with panic. I hadn't seen Serena this tense before. Even though we were being stalked, she had still managed to keep a more positive, chill outlook than Jill and I had.

Suddenly, something clicked. "You really like him, don't you?" That was the only logical reason behind Serena's behavior. She usually went with the flow, and her uptight attitude could mean that she actually wanted Theo to be her boyfriend.

Serena opened her mouth to respond, but then, her cell phone rang. I jumped, feeling an aprehension slide over me as Serena dug the phone out of her large bag she had near her chair. It's my mom, she mouthed to me, before answering the call.

"Hey, Mom," she chirped. Suddenly, her expression changed as a flicker of irritation crossed her face. "Look, I'm just hanging out with a friend, God!"

There was a pause for a moment as Serena's mother spoke to her. "No, Mother. I'm not in his bedroom. My friend is female. I know that might be hard for you to believe, but no, not everybody wants to hang out with me just to get into my pants. And we're not smoking or drinking. We're getting coffee."

There was another silence, as Serena sighed, looking frustrated. "What the hell is so important that you couldn't just wait until I got home to tell me?"

I could hear shouting on the other end as Serena pulled the phone away from her ear, wincing. "I'm sorry for cursing, okay? Just tell me what's going on."

Slowly, Serena's expression changed from anger, to confusion, then to a strange mix of worry and bewilderment. She shook her head at something her mother said. "No... No, I haven't seen her since school today. Why? Is she all right?"

I raised my eyebrows at Serena. What was going on? Was somebody hurt? She turned to me and mouthed, Jill, while listening to her mom's response.

A knot of dread filled the pit of my stomach. Had something happened? Maybe Theo had broken up with Jill and she'd hurt herself. Or worse... maybe she... No. Don't even go there. She wouldn't commit suicide over some guy, would she? I couldn't say for sure.

Or maybe the sender had gotten to her. Maybe Jill was being held hostage. Or she was hurt somewhere because the sender did something to her.

Meanwhile, Serena was answering her mother. "I'll let you know if I hear from her." Then, she hung up the phone and stared at me with a sigh. "Jill's gone missing."

"Missing?" I squeaked. Despite my thoughts, it almost didn't seem real until she said it out loud. "Like, missing as in gone?"

"No, missing as in standing right next to us right now," Serena retorted.

I bit my lip out of nervousness. "Do you think the sender..."

"Did something to Jill? Definitely," Serena replied quickly.

"We need to find her," I insisted. Despite the fact that Jill wasn't always the nicest person, she had grown to be sort of a friend over the short course of time we'd known each other for. Plus, nobody deserved to be put through whatever torture she might be experiencing right now. "So we'd need to figure out who spoke to her last, and when. That'll be a start."

"I know exactly who to ask."

A/N

So, this chapter was a bit uneventful in terms of things. It was mainly a chapter to lead up to the action happening in the next chapter. Yes, guys. There will be action. :) So, read, vote, comment, and yeah. :)

~Charlotte <3