Secrets of the Cellar (Inside Secret #1) || COMPLETED

Chapter Four: Cold As Ice

"I'm very disappointed in you two. Screaming at each other in the hallways. Blaming each other!" Principal Harvey says, his seat creaking as he adjusts himself on his chair. Mr. Harvey's office is all white and glass. White walls, white tile on the floor, glass desk, glass pictures, pretty much glass and white everything. Lina just crosses and uncrosses her arms, as she sits on one of the chairs in front of his desk. I quietly look away and decide to focus my attention on one of his picture frames, one where Mr. Harvey is sitting on a park bench with his daughter.

He sighs, as if he just now realizes that none of us are sorry about each other. Because, well, we aren't.

"Well, I guess I'll just give you after-school detention tomorrow for 2 weeks. And just this once, I won't tell your parents. You are both dismissed." Huh, that was weird. Principal Harvey would usually give us some extra homework or something. And he would definitely call our parents. He stands up and goes over to the door to open it, "Oh, and if I get told of you two fighting again, I will be forced to suspend you. Don't make me do it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Lina and I say in unison.

"Okay, good." Lina walks out the door in front of me, limping very obviously, but holds her head up high. I guess her feet healed then. Ha! I bet it never really got seriously hurt in the first place!

I walk out the door, and get five steps into the hallway when Mr. Harvey stops me.

"Oh, and Delphi? I'd advise you to be more careful." At first I think he is talking about getting in trouble, but it seems to have a deeper meaning. His eyes twitch and look bloodshot.

"Um, okay. I will." I say, confused, but hitching my bag up onto my shoulders anyway. Because, I mean, I didn't really get in trouble, so I was going to take this chance while I could. Which was weird, since Principal Harvey doesn't give out chances.

I make it out of the school and immediately call my friends for an emergency meeting at the usual place.

-----

"So, wait, what happened again?" Tyler asks. We're sitting in a booth at the local cafe, drinking our coffees and hot chocolates.

"I said, I only got detention, and like, nothing else." I tell them. Alyssa scrunches up her face in concentration.

"But why?" She asks. I shrug.

"He wasn't like himself, that's for sure." I say, taking a sip of my White Chocolate Frappuccino . I rest my hands on my cup and close my eyes. I think back to the time when there was no such drama in school.

"Hey, Delphi! Catch!" Alicia throws a softball at me, and I catch it, stumbling back but also laughing. We both laugh. We were practicing for our softball tournament. But that was sixth grade. That isn't now. At the moment, we are all juniors in high school. The time to practice is over. Now we have to win.

"Delphi? Delphi?" Brianna asks, waving her hands in my face, as I open my eyes. I go back to the present, back to my warm coffee cup, which has suddenly cooled. Now it feels as if it's as cold as ice. Reminding me that life isn't all hugs and softball trophies, yet again.

"Oh good, you're alive." Kellie says, and I crack a smile.

"So, like we were saying before, wasn't it weird that Lina's shoes broke after she tried to get that last word?" Krissy asks me, and then smirks, saying, "But she didn't."

We laugh, and Krissy continues.

"And I know for sure that you didn't touch her, I would have saw it."

"But it definitely wasn't a coincidence."Tyler says.

"So who did it?" Tyler asks, getting as confused as I was. I touch the necklace laying on my heart.

"You know, right when she was walking away. I felt something." I say, recalling the incident.

"What?" They all ask, leaning in.

"You know that feeling you get when you have goosebumps, or when you just drank something hot and you get all warm inside? Well, that's the feeling, just combined and multiplied by a thousand." I tell them. They all lean back.

"Are you sure?" Alicia asks. I nod. She continues, "Because I felt something like that, too. Right before I wanted to pummel Lina into a wall, I felt that too. Except, I managed to keep it in."

"But then what happened to Lina?" Krissy asks.

"It must have been Delphi!" Brianna says, whispering. We all look around, making sure no one hear us.

"We can't be too loud about this though, or else Delphi could get in major trouble," Emilie says.

"You're right. Can we all agree that whatever has been talked about in this group, stays in this group?" Alyssa asks. We all nod our consent.

"Then it's settled. We tell no one." Krissy looks at her watch, "Oh! I gotta go, sorry! My mom wants me to come home by 5:30, at the latest, so we can eat dinner together. See you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye!" We tell her, altogether, waving in front of the window, as she exits the cafe, and runs down the street to her car, driving towards the direction of her house.

"Well, I gotta go too," I say, walking outside.

"Do you need a ride?" Kellie asks me. I shake my head and point at my mom's car, which is parked right in front of the cafe.

But before I leave, I turn around and ask my friends a question.

"Hey, you guys? Do you think someone's watching us?" They look at me with a confused look on their face.

"What? I don't think so. But be careful anyway." Alyssa says to me, and the rest nod with her. I say my good-byes and open the cafe door, waving at them.

My mom waves at them, and they wave back. I get in, and they smile at me.

"Bye!" I shout out the window, "Text you guys later! And be careful!"

"See ya!" They shout back. As we drive away, I can't help but feel it again. That darkness that lazily moved inside my heart. And then, again, I get that other feeling. Something's watching us. Something, or someone, is looking for us. And I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the necklaces.