Love & Carnage✗Noah Foster [2]

Chapter Eleven// Vacancy

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"Promise you'll take no prisoners, and kick ass as needed."

--Gustavo Acosta

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I stood in the line-up with the other girls, while Mrs. Lazar inspected us. Suddenly, my phone buzzed.

Audrey:

HE'S GOING TO FIND OUT. HE'S UPLOADING THE CAMERA FOOTAGE RIGHT NOW!

I stared down at my phone in fear. Oh, God. Oh, God! He was going to find out.

Me:

Figure something out!!!!

I sent the text, and just as quickly another text appeared on my screen. But it wasn't from Audrey. It was from Unknown. It was a GIF. In the GIF, Audrey and I were crouched in front of Jake's body, picking the pieces of paper off of him. I gasped once I saw it. "Oh, shit."

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I stood with Audrey and Noah by the girl's washroom. "Did... you find anything?" I asked him nervously. "Nope. It's streaming only. Nothing." Noah said. I sighed in relief. "Oh, that's good." Noah looked at me in suspicion. "I mean... good for the bad guy. Which is ultimately... bad." I played it off.

"Hey, guys." Kieran walked up to us, Eli at his side. I thanked God that Noah didn't interrogate me any further. "This is my cousin, Eli. Feel free to ignore him. This is Audrey, Noah, and Arielle." Kieran introduced. I smiled at Eli, "you said whenever I wanted, right?"

"Yep." Eli nodded. "Nice to meet you." I said. "Nice to meet you, too." Eli played along. "Do you two know each other?" Kieran pointed between us. "Oh, yeah. We met when Arielle punched that girl in the face." Eli told. I widened my eyes at him. "Yeah... that was fun." I nodded. "Hey, man. First day, huh?" Noah said in a loud voice, stepping in front of me. "School is school." Eli shrugged. "Sure. Except, in this school, people get killed by knife-wielding maniacs every twenty years, give or take." Noah said. Wow...

"Excuse me." Brooke and Emma were rushing past us. But Brooke stopped to grab my arm, pulling me past Noah, and grabbing Audrey with her other hand. "Girls only moment." She said. She rushed us into the bathroom.

Brooke walked to the sink, and leaned against it, facing us. Audrey hit the wall, already looking bored. "So, out of nowhere, Branson hits me up this morning." Brooke said to us in a hushed whisper. My eyes widened. "Yeah. He said he just 'heard' that Jake and I broke up." Brooke used air quotes. "Whoa! How did he hear that? Barely anyone even knew that you were together." Emma said. "What is it with men from the past mysteriously showing up?" Audrey muttered. "Wait, what does that mean?" I asked her. "Emma's deadbeat dad resurfaced, too." Audrey told us. "Okay, not cool. And that is a totally different thing." Emma snapped. "And I was also not ready to share that!"

"You weren't gonna share it with us?" Brooke asked, gesturing to me and her, looking hurt. "Well, the person I told this morning wasn't exactly supportive, so..." Emma scoffed. "And how was your breakfast this morning?" Audrey retorted. "It went...really well." Emma said, and I knew she was lying. "Oh, I can tell that's 100% not true." Audrey cocked her head. "Okay, are you two, like, legit fighting?" Brooke asked, looking at me for support. I took a sudden interest in the tile. "No, it's fine. It's just...Audrey has some unflattering opinions about my dad, that's all." Emma spoke. I looked back up. "No, they're memories, not opinions." Audrey shot back. "And sometimes people are going through big things that have absolutely nothing to do with you, Emma." She said. "Big shocker!" Audrey used her hands to act as if something were exploding. With that, Audrey turned and left the bathroom. Emma scoffed. I backed up. "Uh, I'll see you guys later."