Clashing Cliques

Lauren's POV

As soon as Jess is asleep, I move to where I'm sitting on the bed. Since she slipped up about him, I guess it's time to tell Nick and her mom who he is.

I take a deep breath and look at them. "Jess has a stalker. She's been keeping this to herself because he has sent threats to hurt the people she loves if she tells any of us." I see their reactions change from sadness to anger. Her mom fights back tears while I can tell Nick just wants to leave and track the guy down who caused this.

Nick leaves the room, I assume to take a breath of air to calm down. Her mom stays in the room with me, looking at her sleeping daughter that could've died from trying to take her own life. I look at Jess and realize the only reason she even tried this is because of him.

"How long has this been going on?" She asks me.

"I really don't know. All I know is that he exists and is obsessed with her." She nods, tears in her eyes.

"I can't believe I didn't notice. I should've paid more attention to her." I give her a sad look.

"It's not your fault. It's not any of our faults. All we can do is be there for her and make sure she knows she's not alone." I tell her.

She hugs me. "Thank you, Lauren. For being there for her, for everything. You mean a lot to her, to us."

"She means a lot to me as well. I love her. I hate that she's going through this."

Nick walks back in while their mom and I are hugging. He looks at me. "Is there anything we can do to help find this guy?" I let go of his mom so I can talk to him.

"I don't think there is. We have no idea who it is."

Just then, a nurse walks in two bouquets of flowers that have notes. One is a bouquet of pink roses, her favorite and the other is just an assortment of different types of flowers. I grab them from the nurse and put them on the window sill, thanking her for bringing them in.

I hear noise behind me and see that Jess is starting to wake up. The scent of her favorite flowers probably woke her. I look at her. "Hi, Jess. Some people sent you flowers." Her eyes dart to the roses. Then, she sees the note. She has a worried look on her face.

"Open it for me, please." She says to me, so I take the note and start reading it.

'Hope you like these, my love. Feel better soon..'

I give her a look, and she instantly knows who they're from. I look at her family and they give a half nod, guessing the culprit as well.

"Of course they're from him. Why won't he just leave me alone?" She asks the room. I dart my eyes to the other one and see a familiar name, since that note had a name attached to it.

"Hey, this one is from Joe. Do you want to read that one?" She nods and I bring it to her.

She smiles and I ask what it says. She hands it to me. I read it and smile as well.

'Hey, Jess. Sorry I can't be there. Hope you feel better soon! -Joe'

I think it's sweet until I notice one thing. The handwriting. It's familiar. Too familiar. I run to the other note, Joe's note still in my hand.

No. It can't be possible. I'm imagining things. This is not real.

The handwriting looks identical between Joe's note and the stalker's note. I place them both down. I'm in utter disbelief at my finding.