The Secrets Behind a Smile (Jeff the Killer Fanfic)

Chapter Four: The Next Step

"So what do we do now?" Tony asked, sitting down next to Paige on a stone park bench not far from the old womans house. Paige's head was spinning. She burried her face in her palms and tried her hardest not to cry. Suddenly, she felt Tony's arm around her shoulders. She felt her checks get red hot, and she started to think of Jake. She remembered what he would say whenever she would get stressed out over an upcoming test or chior concert. "Cmon Paigey waigey. Pull. Yourself. Togther."

Paige took a deep breath and sat up, still blushing.

"Listen." She said, noticing that Tony haddn't taken his arm away. "I know I can help Miss Dora."

"I'm listening." Tony smiled, flipping his dark hair out of his eyes.

"You're going to thinkn I'm crazy, but I have seen Jeff. He's been following me ever since I moved here." She shuddered at the thought of his knives.

"Didn't you move into his old house?"

"Yes but," Paige hisitated. "I don't think that's why. I think he wants me to help him find Julie."

Tony looked at her thoughtfully. "How do you know?"

She pulled the crumpled note out of her jeans pocket and showed it to him. He read it with a skeptical look on his face.

"If she's not dead, where is she? She went missing years ago!" He exclaimed. Paige just shook her head. They sat in silence for a while, watching a group of kids dig in the sandbox across the park.

"Tony," she began. "I'm not asking you to follow this crazy lead with me. We've just met and you've already done much more for me than I could ask. "

Tony shook his head and smiled. "I could tell I liked you when I first met you. You wanna know why?"

"Why?" Paige couldn't even guess.

"Because you're different. The other girls around here would have chewed me out for bumping into them with my board. You tried to pretend like you weren't hurt. None of them dye their hair or pierce their lips or listen to Pierce the Veil or anything cool like that. None of them would chase after a monster just to help an old lady." Tony shook his head.

Paige was speechless. She opened her mouth, but couldn't find any words that could say what she needed them to. Tony laughed.

"And so," he continued. "I am going to follow you on this crazy lead, or anywhere else for that matter. And you wanna know why?"

"Why?" Paige was laughing too now.

"Because I'm different too."

*******

It was three hours past when Paige was suposed to have gone home. But she didn't care. For the first time since she had moved to Henley, she was truely happy. As she sat, wrapped in Tony's sweatshirt, on his couch next to him, she could forget about Julie and Jeff and the Tall Man and every other fear that had been following her around.

"What movie are you guys on now?" Tony's mother asked, walking into the living room with a smile. Paige couldn't even remember. She looked at Tony for help.

"Empire Strikes Back, Mama." He said, raising a fist in the air. The three burst into laughter, his mother shaking her head and handing over a bowl of popcorn.

"Thank you Mrs.Prenly." Said Paige sweetly, putting a kernal of buttery corn in her mouth.

"Oh," She laughed. "Call me Michell, dear. "Mrs" sounds too official." She added with a wink. And with that, she left the room.