Nick arrived at my house just in time for pictures. "You look amazing Mads." He said. I was wearing a plain drapy white dress, black heels, and my hair was curled into soft spirals. "Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself." I said blushing. We posed for what felt like hours of pictures. Gino arrived late, of course. We had invited him to take pictures with us since he didn't have a date. "You sure you want to go?" I asked Nick. "Positive. I won't let anyone hurt you." He replied. I smiled and we left for dinner and then to the dance.
Nick and I danced through the first few songs. I was still worried, but a bit more relaxed now that I was having fun. It wasn't long before I saw Paige leave out the back door and I took it as my opportunity to confront her. "I'll be right back." I told Nick. When I reached the door she was nowhere to be found. I looked around for her until I was startled by Nick standing behind me. I jumped back. "Nick you scared me! Why are you following me?" I asked angrily. "Just wanted to make sure you were safe." he responded.
"Well, I don't need anyone to keep me safe so please just leave me alone."
I regretted saying that as soon as I did.
"Okay, but please just take this."
He handed me a pocket knife and walked away.
I felt bad, but I needed to find Paige. After a few minutes I heard a scream coming from the woods. I followed the noise to the middle of the forest. There I spotted Paige tied to a chair with a gun held to her head, by none other than Josh Hyland.
"Well look who it is. Just in time for her own death." He said. I stared at him in horror. I took a few steps back. "Why are you doing this?" I asked. He laughed and walked closer to me. I screamed as loud as I could. "I wouldn't do that." He said placing his hand over my mouth. I tried to move away, but his grip was to strong. "Now I have both the backstabber and the nobody." He added. Josh shoved me to the ground and I shot Paige a nervous look. Josh held the gun to Paige's head once again. "Any last words sis?" He asked her. I got up and hit the gun away from his hands. He shoved me to the ground forcefully. Paige used the delay to scream as many times as she could. He cursed at her and slapped her across the face with a knife. "I see Maddie wants to go first then." He said. Paige screamed again making him angrier at her. "Shut up!" He yelled at her. He pinned me down to the ground with a knife pressed firmly on my neck. "Last words?" He asked. "Josh please don't do this. Tell me why you're doing this." I said quickly.
"You both deserve to die."
"Josh please it doesn't have to be this way!"
Tears shed down my face as I knew I would die any minute now. Just when I thought it was over Nick shows up to save the day. Josh is stabbed in the back and I can finally shove him off of me. Then Josh pulls Nick to the ground and he cuts Nick in the shoulder. I yelled for help. Gino runs into the area and says "I'm calling the police. Stay back Maddie." I hurry to untie Paige. "You have to get the gun and kill Josh, if you don't he'll kill Nick." She said. I looked at her scared. The boy I once knew, the one who made me feel so loved, I had to kill him now. I grabbed the gun and held it so it was pointing directly at Josh. I thought of everything I once loved about him, but it wasn't enough to make me spare him, I pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit him in the thigh. We tied Gino's belt around the top of the wound so he wouldn't bleed to death before the police got here. "Why are we saving him?" Asked Paige frustratedly. "I don't think I could live with myself if I had killed a person." I said crying. Nick walked over wrapping his arms around me. I was just glad he was still alive. "So you might as well tell us why you did this." Gino said to Josh. He winced in pain, but laughed. "Anger issues." He told us. Gino slapped him. "The night I went missing I tried to, well hurt, Chloe because I found out she was cheating on me. Someone saw me and got suspicious so I stopped, but I couldn't have her telling people I tried to kill her, so I made a deal, I would kill Paige and Maddie if she kept quiet." He told us. "You're sick in the head." I retorted. I could hear the police finally nearing us. Josh struggled to get up. I grabbed Nick's hand and said "I'm so sorry Nick."
"I love you Maddie." He said.
"I love you too."
Then he kissed me, and for once some part of me felt right where it needed to be. This whole time I had been blinded by Josh's fake love, and I wasn't able to see the real love standing right in front of me.
