Shady Secrets

Bad News Bites Back

"Heart is thumping,
Blood is pumping,
Head is hurting,
Chest is burning.

Adrenaline Rush!"
- Bali Dea (Adrenaline Rush)

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Video Log 3:
"Staying away from Jayde is harder then I thought. I still have so many questions that need to be answered. I still don't know what I am, but I suspect Jayde knows. Something even harder is that my parents know nothing. I've tried hinting to them and Leila, but they really have no idea. Speaking of Leila, she's been really grumpy lately. Makes me wonder if something has been happening at school that I don't know about. I've tried being so nice to her, but she really seems to hate me. Literally wants me to just pretend she doesn't exist. I do love her, but she's just pushing me away. Argh. And not only that, but Darcy won't tell me anything either, and I'm certain she knows something.

On the other hand, Lucas seems to have taken the whole 'heartless jerk' thing a little too seriously. I mean, the other day, I saw him and he completely ignored me. When I tried to say 'hey', he replied, 'why do you want to talk to me? I'm a heartless jerk, remember?...' I hoped that he would just keep it to himself, but now the whole grade knows. Other then that...

Flint acts as usual, my grades are normal, turns out Darcy did a great impression of me and Jayde and I pretend we don't know each other, even if I do text him on the phone he gave me almost every afternoon after school.

I hope my sister opens up to me. That would be the best thing in the whole world right now..."

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That afternoon, I had Japanese. Mr Wanegitsuwe had us sitting on cushions on the floor while we wrote in the delicate hand of Katakana. It was a challenging language to learn, and not many people did it. In total, there were only four girls: myself, Penny Smith, the best friend of Allison my locker buddy; Sophia Samson and Emily Sweden, who I used to be best BEST friends with. Nowadays, we are footy teammates and Japanese buddies. I pulled out my iPad, to get the translator, and connected my bluetooth keyboard, I found it a lot easier to type with a literal keyboard, not the ones on the iPad screens. I felt an arm reach across me and grab the keyboard, so I looked over and saw Emily playing with my keyboard. I attempted to use the iPad to type in the translation, but she turned it off. I laughed and turned it back on. It was like that for a while. Then Mr Wane called out to the class,

"Okay, we are going to have a quiz with the buzzers now," All the boys hooted in joy while us girls finished off our work and sat quietly. "Four people up the front please," Only one boy in the corner of the room named Alex Trenchter put his hand up for the guys, while all of us girls put our hands up. "Umm," the teacher started, "Penny, Sophia and Emily up the front please." Penny and Sophia walked up to the front together while Emily folded her book and then made her way. Slightly disappointed about not being picked for the buzzers, I opened my booklet up to the vocabulary page to help quiz. Mr Wane asked the first question.

"How do you say 'angry' in Japanese?" All of a sudden, the teacher's phone rang.

"Give me a second please class," he walked away from the tables to the corner of the room. "Hello this is Mr Wane speaking," all fifteen people in our small class stopped talking to listen to the conversation. He started to slowly approach the table where I was sitting. He took the phone from his ear and handed it to me, and said,

"Harper, do you mind coming outside for a second? There's someone on the phone for you." I took the phone, nodding, and walked outside, still barefoot from being inside the open Japanese-styled classroom.

"Hello?" I waited patiently for a reply while racking through my brain to try and remember if I had done anything wrong. I handed in that assignment...I wasn't late for class...I haven't left anything at home and my parents haven't dropped anything off...

"Hello Harper." I heard silence, and was startled when the bell rang loud above my head. "This is Principal Levers speaking. I'm afraid what I'm going to tell you, you won't enjoy," My hand trembled and I walked away into a secluded area while students were rushing past. Suddenly, something in my mind clicked. Leila...

"Is my sister okay?" More silence replied. "Principal Levers?" I heard a sigh on the end of the line.

"Despite the rather rude attitude towards most teachers, yes, Leila Sage is fine." I breathed out heavily, filled with relief. "However; your parents are not," I gasped, and held back the urge to burst into tears, even if they welled up in my eyes without my control.

"W-what happened?" Again, the silence came back and a single tear slid down my cheek, and decided to rest in the small curve of my lips.

"Someone broke into your house today Harper." This time, I let the tears run freely. "Everything of any value was taken, and a message was found sprawled across your kitchen fridge." I sobbed through the phone.

"Were they in the house?" I stuttered as I asked the question, afraid of what the answer would be. Principal Levers started to speak, but hesitated.

Please be no

Please be no

Please be no

Please be no

He said "Yes."

I dropped the phone on the concrete floor and ran for my life. I didn't know where I was going or what I was doing. I felt blind as the tears filled my eyes and forbid me from seeing properly. I could hear my heart pumping. Literally. My legs ran faster than I had ever run before. I felt the veins in my neck bulging with blood and adrenaline. I shut my eyes, letting my instincts guide me to safety. I felt my feet make contact with something, and I opened my eyes to see a large rock that I had tripped over. I kneeled down to the itchy grass and screamed in agony. Not physical agony, emotional agony. I screamed until I felt I had no more breath in me. My lungs tightened and with one quick sobbing breath, I heard a giant crash! I looked up to see a bolt of lightning hit the highest point of the school. I felt someone attempt to pull me up onto my feet, but I struggled against them. Whoever the person was obviously strong, and a guy. He pulled me on my feet and I turned around and punched them square in the nose. I screamed and punched them, repeatedly in the face. I grabbed them and held them in a headlock. I didn't even know how I knew how to do all this stuff. I'd never physically fought with anyone before. Not like this anyway.

Then the fight became uneven. I stopped struggling against the stranger and he relaxed his grip on my shoulders. His mistake I thought. I looked him right in the eye and thought, Leave me alone. Immediately, he let go of me and walked away to join the rest of the school that had gathered and formed a circle.

I smiled at them, turning around in a gradual circle on the open oval.

"Leave me alone." I yelled to the crowd. Of course, they stayed. Out of instinct, I zeroed in an a random person, standing slightly away from the others. Loner. I raised my hand towards the boy, still smiling. Not taking my eyes or arm away the boy. "Last chance!" I yelled. A few wise people slowly moved away. But a few stood standing, wanting to see what would happen. "Your fault." I said calmly. A boy died that day. Because one girl thought one word.

Strike.

All of the students screamed and ran from me. The dead boy dropped to the ground as his knees crumbled beneath him. Again, I felt hands on my shoulders.

"Harper, stop! You don't know what you are doing!" I turned to the person and saw Jayde's mortified face looking back at me. I gasp, forgetting all the anger I had towards the students circling me before. My head snapped back into reality.

"Oh my gosh, what have I done?" I ran over to the dead boy and cried. "Xavier," Xavier was Athena's crush. And I had killed him. I killed by best friend's crush! Jayde came over to me and helped me up.

"I'm sorry, but we have to get out of here. Now. Look, the teachers are coming," I look up and see a rush of teachers and students. Jayde's hands leave me shoulder and I feel something hit the back of my head.

I remember nothing, and as I lay there unconscious, the last few minutes replay over and over. Xavier...