Quiet Heart

Chapter 13: Truth or Nah?

We made our way down the hall to see if Ethan was still in his room. To our relief, he was.

"Hey Ethan!" I said entering the room, "Can I see that camera I gave you? I just need to check something."

"Uh yeah, sure. Lemme get it," he walked over to his suitcase and grabbed a gift box, "What do you need to check?" he questioned, handing me the yellow and teal box.

"Umm... I need to check and make sure I put the right memory card in there." I said trying not to sound suspicious, but kind of failing at it, "We'll be right back."

"Can't you just check it in here?"

"No. If it's the wrong one then the one in my purse is probably the right one."

"Okay then..." he said with suspicion in his voice.

"We'll be right back."

Hailey and I headed back to my room and immediately powered the camera on and just like we had suspected, the pictures of me and Andrew were on there.

"Damn, this bitch will do anything."

"Yeah really, like even the colors of the box are your favorite. Why would this creeper go to these lengths just to threaten you for something that's not even legit?" Hailey questioned making a very good point.

"I wish I knew."

I kept scrolling through the pictures. There were a few new ones and if Ethan had seen them, we would've been done for good. One of the new pictures was of me standing in Andrew's room with him shirtless. Another one was something I did not remember. It showed Andrew kissing me on the top of my head while I was asleep on the couch. I couldn't look at these anymore so I powered the camera down and went to put it back in the box.

"Hey I think I'm gonna take a shower and think about how to deal with this," I told Hailey, walking to put the box in my closet.

"Kk. I'm gonna go find Chase and we'll cook something for dinner."

"Okey dokey!" I said walking into my bathroom. I heard Hailey close the door and I got ready to get in the shower. Once I had almost finished, I heard a shuffling noise coming from my room. I stopped moving and waited for the noise to stop.

"Hailey, is that you?"

No response. I turned the water off and heard my door close. I grabbed my towel, wrapped it around me, and walked back into my room. My first thought was the camera. I ran over to my closet and opened it. The box was still there, but just to be sure, I opened it to see that the camera was still there too. I placed the box back down and closed the closet door.

It was probably just Hailey I thought to myself. I grabbed a clean pair of pajamas, put them on and went out to the kitchen to see what was for dinner.

"Hey guys! What's for dinner? Smells delicious."

"Sour cream Mac and Cheese with brownies for dessert." Hailey said turning toward me, "I know it's not super fancy, but I know y'all love it." she laughed.

"Yesssss" I said excitedly as I went to sit at the dinner table.

***

After dinner was over, Hailey and I went back to my room to decide what to do with the camera.

"Should we just delete the pictures and forget this ever happened?" Hailey asked.

"I don't know. I mean I don't think it matters what we do because Madison probably made copies in case this happened. I'm just so afraid of what she'll do next..."

"True. I mean it's not like you can tell Ethan because the chances of him believing you are pretty slim, sadly."

"Do you think I should tell Andrew about the pictures. Maybe he can talk to Madison about it?"

"I think that's the only thing you can do honestly."

"Okay then. Here goes nothing."

I walked out of the room and down the hall to Andrew's room, but of course with my luck, Ethan was making his way down the hallway as well. I quickly slipped the camera into my back pocket before he noticed me.

"Hey Soph, where ya going? Shouldn't you be headed to bed." he asked kissing me on the forehead.

"Oh yeah, I just needed to talk to Andrew for a sec."

"About what?"

"Umm, just last-minute details for the party," I smiled so he wouldn't suspect anything.

"Oh okay. I know you'll do great with everything! If you need any help, you can always come to me," he smiled as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

"I know," I smiled once again, "Goodnight babe," I looked up at him and gave him a small peck on the lips.

"Goodnight sweetheart," and with that he walked back to his room.

I turned to Andrew's door and grabbed the camera from my pocket, looking at it hesitantly.

Should I do this?

Before I could answer my thought, my hand reached up and knocked on the wooden door in front of me. Within seconds, Andrew answered.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked smiling down at me.

"Umm, we need to talk..."

"Okay. Is everything alright?" he asked looking concerned.

"Not really. Can I come in?"

"Yeah sure."

I walked in and went to sit over on his bed.

"What's the problem?" he asked as he sat down next to me.

"This is the problem," I replied holding up the camera.

"Huh? A camera?"

"Yeah. It's what's on it that's bothering me."

I powered on the camera and began scrolling through the pictures. Andrew leaned over so he could see the camera also.

"How are flowers and plants bothering you Sophia?"

"No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening!"

"What's wrong Sophia? What on Earth is going on?"

Without answering him, I bolted out of the room and down the hall. I swung open my bedroom door to see Hailey still laying on my bed.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"Hailey, the pictures are gone..."