STRANGERS

SEVENTEEN

We care, we always did

Warning: this chapter has a small mentions of guns

The seven were currently sat in the back of two cop cars. Persephone, Adelaide, Soleil were sat in the back of one car with the police officer driving, and Jonathon, Juliet, Gabriel, and Harper were in another car, Juliet sitting in the passenger seat. They sat in awkward silence and were on their phones, texting their group chat. 

They made it to the station, entering a room where Nicklaus was already sat down. He quickly stands up and hugs Harper, looking at the other six who were behind him. 

"Alright, you act like I died." Harper smiles at him as his uncle lets go. 

"Harper, what were you thinking? Making your friends go with you, do you know how dangerous that was? A man with a gun was there, following you. What if we weren't there? What if your father didn't tell me you were missing and we hadn't tracked your phone? I mean, three hours away from home? That's so irresponsible of you, Harper-" 

"We all agreed to go with Harper. He has nothing to do with us going with him, he didn't force us. We made our own decisions." Jonathon tells him. 

"Yeah, well you making your own decisions almost caused you all to lose your life. Your parents are outside waiting. The man has been arrested. We want your bags to stay here until tomorrow, we want to see if there's anything that can help us inside your bags." 

"What does our bags have to do with this?" 

"The other officers believe there was a motive for you all running away-" 

"We didn't run away." 

"You did run away and now you've made yourselves look guiltier. You'd all be sitting down, getting questioned if it weren't for me telling them you've been through enough in one day." 

"Oh, savior Nicklaus." Harper says.

"Harper. Would you rather be locked up?" 

"It would be better than being here." 

Outside, Adelaide had walked home not wanting to worry her parents. She walks in the cold, tears forming in her eyes. She quickly wipes them with her sweater, wrapping her arms around herself to attempt to warm herself up. Her house wasn't as far, but being alone scared her more than feeling alone. Sure, it was nice sometimes but when you need someone, you hate being alone. 

Her secret was that she was in love with her best friend's partner. It's her best friend from school, to which recently she hasn't gotten to hang out with. It terrified her to know that one small secret could create something big. It terrified her she could lose a friendship that was built for so long. 

Someone was there to help her that night. 

She saw her brother and his friends all sitting along a sidewalk, talking. She walks past them until her brother, Jay Jones saw her. "Hey, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home?" 

The two never had a super close relationship, the two being total opposites, and never got along based on their interests, but they were always there for each other. "I am going home."

"Well, I can walk you home." 

"And you?"

"I'm going to stay with them for a bit, it's too cold for you to be out here." 

"I'll be fine." 

"Yeah?" 

"Adelaide!" Juliet yells from the car driving by, a boy next to her from the passenger seat, looking around nineteen. Adelaide smiles seeing her. "Hello." 

"Come in, we're taking you home." 

"Thank you, but I'm fi-" 

"It wasn't a question. Get in the car." Juliet looks at her with a serious face before laughing quietly at herself. "Alright, sorry. Get in the car." 

Saying goodbye to her brother, she gets in the car, a warm breeze welcoming her. "This is Jack, my older sibling. Persephone, you already met her." Persephone waves at Adelaide, going back to reading her poetry book. The car then starts moving again. 

"You sure you can read in the dark, Persephone?" Jack questions. Persephone nods, lying her head on Adelaide's shoulder, yawning. 

"I guess she won't be reading anymore." 

"Who said I won't?"

"Your tiredness did." 

"Persephone, where did you say you live again?" 

"In a house." 

"Persephone-" 

"I'll send you her address Jack, calm down. Betty's probably worried." Juliet interrupts him. "Who's Betty?" 

"Her lovely mother." 

"Adelaide, can I make you a necklace?" 

"Is that even a question? Of course, you can." 

"Juliet, you too?"

"Yep!" 

A comfortable silence fills the car; "What about me?" Jack says. 

"What about you?" 

"No necklace for me?"

"Well, if you insist." 

"Is that a yes?" 

Persephone closes their eyes. "Well, it wasn't a no." Juliet replies. 

Jonathon had fell asleep in the guest room in Soleil's house, after seeing that their parents were late, most likely hadn't gotten the call from the police, mykel and elias had offered to take them to their home for the night. They had informed the parents that they were staying at their house, to which they were confused since they were meant to be having the sleepover. Elias had sort of lied, just to not make them worried even more. Aspen, Soleil's older sister was already asleep, seeing how it was late. Annalise, who's eleven was drinking hot chocolate with Gabriel, them sitting on the kitchen island. 

Mykel was cooking for them while his boyfriend was attempting to not fall asleep on the couch, watching a tv show. "Gabriel, I'm aware we offered this time, but why is it you're always at our house and not your own?" Mykel jokes, Gabriel rolls his eyes. 

"Trust me, ever since my parents met yours buying pottery when Soleil and I were younger, I've asked myself that question every Saturday." 

"Every Saturday? You come here almost every day." 

"Not everyday, maybe like-" 

"You come here every day."