21 Directions

Chapter Four

{Jasmine POV}

                I pushed past the crowd toward where I had seen the girl disappear to. I got a lot of glares in the process. About five hundred people later, I reached the set of stairs where I assumed she had gone down. There was a chain barrier.

 How had she gotten down without being seen?

I guess I’d just have to sneak in. Boy, I usually wasn’t this rebellious. What has gotten into me? I don’t know, but I’m kind of liking it.

Waiting until I was sure that no one was watching me, I grabbed onto the staircase banister and hoisted myself over the chains, scraping my thigh in the process. Making my way over the rest of the barrier, I cringed as a cut edge pierced through my skin. I hurriedly hobbled down the stairs and swiveled my leg around to check the damage.

Crap.

                The skin around the gash was grazed and the crimson wound looked disgusting. I fished some tissues out of my clutch and dabbed the injury, wincing every time I made contact with the skin. When the bleeding had subdued to a minimal amount, I threw the tissues in the garbage and navigated my way through the dimly-lit hallway. I then walked out into a brightly-lit space, where I could hear people talking behind closed doors. I stopped, blinking my eyes so that I could adjust to the light. In the background, I heard the boys belting out to “Last First Kiss” which made me start humming the tune, only to stop when I heard a faint noise.

                “Ack! Get… get away!” A voice angrily whispered. I turned toward where the noise had come from, quietly padding along on my flats towards the minuscule commotion. I found that the noise was coming from behind a cluster of chairs. The noise stopped as soon as I approached.

                “Great hiding spot,” I murmured sarcastically as I went around to the other side of the chairs and stared at a bewildered girl around my age. “Emily, is it?”

                “Actually, it’s Emma, thanks for remembering. And you’re… Jasmine?” she replied evenly.

                “Uh-huh. So, how did you get into the concert?” I asked carefully, “because look here, girlfriend. I saw your tweet about dying to come to this concert, but the tickets were sold out. I’d like to know how you got here.”

                “And I’d rather not tell you,” she said, a flicker of fear in her eyes.

                But I wasn’t letting her get away without an explanation.

{Emma POV}

"Look," I say to the other girl. I'm a little bit miffed by the fact that she doesn't even know my name, I mean, we've only been in the same classes since middle school. I scoff, "You and I have gone to the same school for seven years, and we barely know each other. Why do I suddenly owe you an explanation?"

"I'm sure the security guard would just love to know the answer to that question." She threatens.

Oh my, out of all five thousand people here at the concert, the one to catch me just had to be diabolical. Just my luck. 

"Fine, I'll tell you, but what's in it for me?"

"Hmmm, how about not spending the next six months in prison?" Jasmine says, all bright, cheery, and above all, fake.

I narrow my eyes at her, "All right, here's the thing: I'm not suppose to be here, you got that right. If I tell you how I got here, and why, then you never saw me here, got it?