A Dozen Reasons

Chapter 14- Secrets

Jasmine’s POV

I sat comfortably on my bed with my laptop in front of me, staring at the blank screen. Apparently, our English assignment was to write about an interesting topic to us, but I have been sitting here for the past 30 minutes thinking of what to write.

I had no clue, so I decided to run downstairs to quickly pop a bag of popcorn.

Halfway downstairs, I stopped.

I heard voices in the living room. I took one step down, and stretched to hear.

“No…She doesn’t need to know right now...I’ll tell her when its time…Don’t worry.”

I could barely hear the other person. Who was my dad speaking to?

“Okay, goodnight.” The door was shut.

I lost my appetite so I slowly crept back upstairs.

Once safely in my room, I collapsed on my bed.

 My dad has never kept a secret from me. Never. Not when we were having financial problems. Not when he had doubts of his being a single father. Not even when he had to ask the neighbor for a ride to work because our old car had rolled it’s last mile.

Dad, what are you hiding?

I checked the clock, 10:30 pm. Dang. I pushed any thoughts of my dad out of my mind and focused on my essay.

<11:45 pm>

I finally finished my essay, and printed it out ready to go.

After placing my laptop onto my desk, I slipped under my covers.

Buzz buzz buzz

New message

Click.

From: Greg

Goodnite, Sweet dreams Jay. :)

I smiled.

To: Greg

Goodnite =)

I turned out the light and slipped into a sweet sleep.

**********

Today, was Friday, the day before Greg’s birthday party. The past few days Greg picked me up for school and dropped me off at home. It had become our ritual.

We talked going to school and back. Mostly about our family, and plans for after graduation. He wanted to go to Julliard and study music further. I had dreamt of attending Juilliard when I was 13, but changed my mind. I had to take care of my dad, and after losing my mom, I did not think he wanted to lose his daughter.

I slipped into Greg’s car.

“Hey, good morning, how did you sleep?”

“Great, even though I fell asleep at my desk again,” I laughed it off, rubbing my sore shoulder.

He laughed.

Arriving on time, we both separate our own ways, as usual.

For the past few days, Chelsea was not in school (It was pretty peaceful), and today was no exception. Rumors were flying around that her parents had bought her an early birthday gift which consisted of a boob and nose job. Others said she made a visit to a girl who was caught flirting with Greg, and took the days off to dispose the body.

The rumors were just plain ridiculous. However, Chelsea was missing, even her sidekicks seemed convinced that she murdered a girl.

I graced down the linoleum hall to my locker. As I opened it, a letter slipped out. I picked it up and looked around to see if anyone was looking my way. It was a soft pink envelope with faint rose stenciling.