Careless, Reckless Decisions | ONC 2021

Chapter Eight

The rest of the class time flew by, and I could only think about one thing.

How Grey-eye could know everything.

I started to become frantic, and I knew that if Grey-eye was suspicious enough, he could go to the police and place me as the #1 suspect.

The minute Mr. Evans dismissed us, I leaped out of my chair and practically ran out the classroom door.

I had to find Kia, even if at the moment, she didn't want to be found.

So, I sent her the first text of the day.

Me: Kia, where are you?

Me: Need to talk ASAP.

Me: It's important, so you better answer me soon. I don't have time for your stalling.

I felt like I was her parent, instead of her best friend.

I was waiting outside the school doors, and no matter how many times I paced, Kia didn't answer.

"Ugh, screw you, Kia." I wanted to throw my phone at a wall, but I took a deep breath, and reeled back my emotions, playing the same pattern of words in my head.

It will all be fine, everything will be fine. I promise.

So, I did the only reasonable thing I could think of and began walking to her house. Kia's house was actually pretty close to the school, and even if she wasn't there, I knew that her mom would be.

"Hey, wait up!" I knew the voice and spun around to see Grey-eye zooming up to me.

Oh no.

I instantly turned around and began to walk faster, ignoring the sound of his shoes slapping the pavement.

He seized my hand, and I almost shrieked out of fear.

"Sorry!" He must have recognized the look on my face as a look of pure terror. "Sorry, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm new here, and you seemed like you would be a good friend. I'm Sam."

Gulping, I looked down at his outstretched hand.

I ignored the hand as best I could, and nodded to him, "Oh, okay. I'm Jenna."

I desperately wanted to get out of this situation and leave as soon as possible, but I didn't want to look even more suspicious than I already did.

He seemed very well-mannered and asked, "Where are you headed? I couldn't help but notice that you rode the bus to school today."

And very perceptive. He must know that something is up.

"I'm sorry, but I barely know you. And if you don't mind, I'm not really comfortable telling you where I'm going. See you around!" I briskly spun on my heel, and stomped off, pretending not to notice him as he called my name.

I couldn't hold him off forever, and that's why I needed to find Kia.

She would know what to do. She always did.

So I continued my journey to her house, continuously looking around to make sure Sam wasn't following me.

It was bad enough that he saw me with John at the party, and who knows what he was capable of.

I finally reached Kia's house and walked up to her front porch, briefly knocking on her door.

The door swung open, and Kia's mom turned to face me, "Ah, Jenna! Just the person I wanted to see. Kia's been a little sick all day, and I know that you can do anything to make her feel better. Come in!"

I smiled for her sake, and let her bring me inside.

"Sounds great!"I responded meekly, already heading up the stairs to her room.

Kia was an only child and had no father of any sort, so I knew that when I knocked on her door, we would have privacy.

After a few seconds of waiting for an answer, I swept the door open to see Kia glaring at me through her mirror.

"Who let you in?" She was focused on her eyebrows, and quickly plucked one hair off her face.

"Your mother, who else." I closed the door behind me and sat on her bed, hiding my anger. "So why did you miss?"

Kia was obviously not sick, and she rarely missed school days.

The hoards of students worrying about her were enough proof of that.

"I just didn't feel like going. Simple." She shrugged and continued to clean up her brows.

This time I didn't let her get away with her bad attitude.

But before speaking, I made sure to lower my voice, "Kia, you murdered someone. There. I said it. You should be lucky I'm even here and helping you, and you're drawing so much more attention to us by skipping school. So get your act together, because if you don't stop, I'm aborting the mission completely."

I crossed my arms, expectantly.

But instead of apologizing, she just huffed, "Fine, whatever. What did you need to talk about?"

I shifted uncomfortably, already dreading this topic.

"You know how we were playing truth or dare? Before everything happened?" I sat on my hands, chewing on my lip.

"Yeah...?" She answered, not understanding where I was going with this.

"Well one of the people that were there- Sam to be exact, is a new kid at our school. He asked to be my friend and asked me what happened to my hands... I think he might be on to us." I finally blurted, my rambling making me dizzy.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You think he might be onto us? Like for real, for real?" She leaned in her seat, waiting for me to answer her.

I threw my hands up in the air, exasperated, "I don't know! All I know is that it's suspicious that he was at the party, saw me leave with John, now he's missing, and now this random kid is trying to be my friend."

I groaned, stuffing my head in Kia's pillow, wanting to scream my guts out.

Everything was so overly frustrating that it made me want to pull my hair out.

"Ok, well let's not freak out until we know for sure what his deal is." She sighed deeply and leaned back into her chair.

"This is so nerve-wracking." I wanted to bite at my nails, a habit that I had picked up when I was younger but refrained from doing so.

I couldn't afford to have my hands even more noticeable than they already were.

"Agreed. Sleepover? Like we used to?" Kia looked at me, hope in her eyes.

I could tell that what she did was hurting her, and maybe a fun day was what we both needed.

A distraction from everything that was happening around us. A distraction from our mistakes and regrets.

I smiled, "Sleepover."