Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(15) Taylor's POV

"Are we almost there? My feet hurt!" Serena whined as we trudged on. We'd been walking for a grand total of ten minutes. I already knew that Serena wasn't one for Gym class, so I'd expected some complaining about walking to get to Jill.

I shot a look back at her. "Maybe because you're wearing six hundred inch heels!" I had never understood the appeal of wearing heels that were sky-high. Sure, they made you look taller, elegant, and sophisticated, but the higher the heel, the more problems you'd have with your knees and feet in ten years.

Serena stared at me, her eyes wide. "They're five inch," she corrected. That statement would have sounded ridiculous and bratty if it came from the mouth of anyone else but Serena. She couldn't be bratty if she tried. It was just in her personality. I wasn't positive if it was her sunny outlook on the world, but even grumbling complaints seemed positively wonderful when they came out of Serena's mouth.

I shook my head, turning back to the vast pathway in front of me. I hadn't been walking here in ages. I had stopped once I got thin. I guessed it was because I just didn't feel the need to hike anymore. After all, I didn't need to lose weight after that, so what was the point? But honestly, I really couldn't remember if that was the reason why I had stopped hiking. "We're almost there," I said as we passed by a crooked, leaning tree I remembered from one of my many previous hikes.

Serena sighed. "I hope so. This whole walking thing isn't for me."

After about five more minutes of our feet crunching on fallen leaves, a small house came into view. I could see the figure of a girl, probably Jill, bloody and bruised, standing on the rickety front steps. There was something about this place that seemed familiar... Too familiar.

It was almost creepy.

Serena and I sprinted towards Jill. Serena was holding Jill's phone that we had found at the soccer field in her hand, and as soon as Serena got close enough, Jill snatched it out of her hand as if she didn't want Serena to touch it. "What happened?" I gasped when I got to her. "You look... so..."

"Bloody?" Serena offered jokingly.

Jill didn't laugh. Her eyes were locked onto Serena's, cold and harsh. It sent a chill down my spine. Jill had given me that look plenty of times before. She had given it to Serena once. It meant that you shouls run far away.

We all went inside, into the kitchen. We stood on the tile floor, staring at each other for a moment. Jill was still giving Serena the death glare.

Suddenly, Jill's hand lashed out, moving to strike Serena on the cheek. I caught it before Serena did, and grabbed Jill's arm to avoid her from slapping Serena. "Jill, I need to straighten this out with you," Serena started to explain.

Jill's lips pursed into a thin line as she let her hands drop limply to her sides. "You had to ruin everything for me, didn't you? It wasn't enough to make me feel like second rate, you had to prove that there was no guy out there who liked me more than you. That there was no way in hell that I could have ended up with someone like Theo. You lying, backstabbing slut!"

Serena looked appalled. "Jill, you're not getting the full story."

"Yeah," I seconded. "I mean, Theo fell in love with Serena. Not the other way around. Sure, she flirted with him a bit, but that was nothing."

Jill shot me a venomous stare. "Stay out of this, and stop trying to play peacemaker."

Instinctively, I felt my cheeks heat up, but then something inside of me just snapped. I wasn't the same girl I used to be. Tubby Taylor Thomas, who was insecure and used to avoid eye contact with anyone who so much as side-glanced her way, was gone. Now it was just Taylor.