To Whom It May Concern

Chapter 27

JUAN'S POV

"Is Tess all right now?" Collins and I asked Kat as soon as we saw her the following day.

We had been unable to get a hold of the girls that evening after texting severally and checking places where there regularly hung around. Even their rooms. We retreated with the mindset that we would see them the following day and hoped everything was all right. It had been a more awkward night than all others between Collins and me. There was an unspoken pressure to sort things out with Evan so Collins and I could finally address the elephant in the room. I appreciated how he avoided the subject and whatever was related to it and didn't try to place any pressure on me. At some point, I felt it was all in my mind. I was the one thinking about how to talk to Evan, doing it as soon as I could so I could finally explore why I had with Collins.

The day went by and we only saw a glimpse of Tess. It became obvious that she was avoiding us for a reason we didn't know about. She came into classes later and sat at the back, exited before the class was over, didn't come around for lunch, and hardly went to her locker. Whenever we had short periods where we could sneak in conversations, Tess would respond curtly or send cold signals. We made it a point of duty to find out what was going on after school.

"Tess, what's going on? And why do you look like you've been crying?" Collins asked and moved closer to her.

"You know you can talk to us right," he questioned and looked at Kat and me for confirmation and we all nodded.

"Yeah. Are you being threatened or something? You can just send us a signal, leave a note, let us know and we'll find a way to help," I chipped in after all the only thing that filled my head these days was a solution to the murder mystery.

Tess shrugged her shoulders, passed a dismissive comment, and stormed off leaving all of us perplexed. I didn't believe she had just done that. Especially not after we had shown so much concern and asked specific questions.

"I told you guys not to bother. That's how she has been since yesterday

"Honestly, when I said lovers squabble, I was lying. Or maybe not entirely. I had been asking her about the bathroom incident too but she kept putting it off as nothing then I snapped at her. That was it. No concrete thing to cause a fight between us. I just wanted to be part of her life and it looked like she was shutting me out so I apologized and let go."

"Or is she pregnant? You know, she ran off to throw up!" I let out a gasp.

"Calm down. She's not. At least I think I'm sure of that," Kat responded.

"I'm really worried about her. The recent change in behavior, mood swings, shutting every single person out, it's worrisome," she added.

"I'll talk to her. Since we were closer at first, I'll see if she'll open up to me."

After I tell Collins and Kat that, they agree with my reasoning and hope with me that she would open up. I left them there to go after Tess.

"Hey, can I come in?" I asked as soon as I turned the handle of the door and found it open after I had knocked but she didn't respond.

Tess rolled her eyes and turned back to face what she was doing. I ushered myself in and lock the door behind me. I went closer to her and hug her from behind. Tess froze and dropped the clothes she was folding. I felt her body soften and I hugged her tighter.

"What's wrong, T? Why don't you want to open up to us?"

No response followed. I swayed our bodies sideways and continued to ask leading questions of more personal things I knew about her hoping one would finally make her lower her guards. Tess remained speechless. I went back to visit the murder and she broke into tears. It didn't mean for a fact that the murder going on was the reason but it made me believe I was close. It couldn't be that she was scared, she had the others in the same boat with her. I tried to assure her we were all in it together and when I asked if she had been cornered and is being forced to do something she didn't want to, she broke free from my grasp and ordered me out of her room.