Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(16) Serena's POV

Zach's arrest and the reason behind it was what everyone was talking about on Monday.

He was still claiming innocence, that little prick. He said that he had no idea how his identification had gotten there, but that was a bold-faced lie. Even if he had no clue how his license and registration had gotten into that hoodie pocket, that old abandoned house still was his, which we'd found out thanks to Taylor.

"OMG," I heard a girl in my English class whisper to her friend as I passed by. "That's Serena Marsden, the girl that got stalked."

"Really?" her friend replied loudly, not even bothering to whisper.

"Yeah. Creepy, right? Apparently, she, Jill Hemmings, and Taylor Thomas were getting stalked by Zach for like a month. Jill even got kidnapped by him."

"Serves her right. That girl's a bitch..."

But I guess being stalked by the one person who is lower than you on the high school totem pole of popularity does wonders for your social life. I wasn't getting venomous glares, or snickers or looks of disgust anymore. Instead, I was getting looks of pity. Everywhere I went, people would look at me sympathetically, or ask how I was holding up. A more naive person might have thought that those people had genuinely cared. But everything that had happened to me had made me stronger, and more aware to the facts.

None of those people really cared. They all wanted insider info on what had went down. As soon as the next big thing happened, the gossipmongers would me off of me and leeching onto that other person, wanting something to spread around.

They were unlike my mother. Once she'd found out what I had been going through, her reaction was to avoid the subject entirely. We stuck to neutral conversations about weather and school. Johnson, who was living in our house now, had showed a bit more sympathy, giving me a hug and asking me how I was holding up. And he barely knew me because I'd spent most of my time trying to avoid him. I had expected a bit more compassion from an actual family member than a near stranger.

I hadn't spoken to Taylor or Jill since Zach's arrest. Jill was getting stitched up in the hospital downtown (she didn't really need much fixing, but when her mother saw the blood, she flipped out about possible scars), and Taylor's mother and father kept Taylor home from school. At least their parents, in their own strange way, cared more than my mother.

As I slammed my locker shut, relieved that it was the end of the day, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around, thinking it was another fake well-wisher.

Instead, I saw Theo standing there, a look of concern flashing in his eyes. I held back a groan. Seeing Theo was almost worse than seeing an annoying girl looking for dirt. I had been struggling to avoid him for the past week. Something in my gut told me that I shouldn't talk to him. I had just gotten everything right with Jill.

I didn't want to lose her friendship again.

To get away, I decided to use the nod, smile, and run technique. Jill and I had come up with it when we were in eighth grade, for when we wanted to get out of a conversation without looking rude. I started with step one.

I gave Theo a nod, tossing in a little wave for good measure. Then came step two.

Stretching my lips into a thin, friendly (but not too friendly) smile, I started to walk away.

I barely made it two steps before Theo reached out and grabbed my wrist. I struggled against him, trying to break free. I couldn't talk to him. I didn't want to. But his grip remained firm, trapping me. My heart beat faster and faster, a panicked drum that I could hear in my ears. I thought of Chuck, trapping me, pulling me into an alleyway so he could...