Dancing to the Answers

Chapter 7 || Clue Number Two

After the girls quietly devoured their chocolate chip pancakes, they headed back to the van for the short ride to the ALDC.

It was awkward, to say the least. Kendall had sensed that something had happened between Brooke and Maddie outside, and whatever it was, it wasn't pretty. The two girls sat as far away from each other as they could.

Unable to take the silent ride no longer, Kendall spoke up. "Gianna, can you put on the radio?"

Noticing the tension also, Gianna was quick to flip on the music and find a good station.

Thankfully, the van pulled up to the large brick building shortly after. Kendall was the first to get out, and she hurried (in her heels) to the heavy double doors, eager to see what the next clue was.

"Okay girls, I see you are all eager to see your next clue." Gianna taunted, waving the shiny envelope in front of all the girls' faces. "Kendall, do the honors."

Kendall snatched the envelope from Gianna's grasp and eagerly opened it. Pulling out a piece of paper identical to the first one, she read the name of the dance aloud.

"The Last Text," she remarked, thinking of different ways that the group dance could be interpreted.

"Let's head to the costume room," Kendall suggested. "Maybe it has something to do with the dresses we wore."

The girls nodded, and she looked to Gianna for approval, but she was nowhere in sight.

Nonetheless, Kendall lead the girls to the ever so famous costume room. It was overflowing with costumes that ranged from sparkly, to mysterious, to feathery, to bright, to haunting, and there was an array of different sizes.

It took the girls a while to find the torn, bloody dresses amidst the others, but when they finally spotted them, nothing was there. This clue was definitely proving to be harder than the first one. Either that, or Nia was just really smart.

"Maybe we should check our phones for any suspicious text messages," Chloe suggested. The girls were willing to try, so they headed into the den, and pulled their phones out.

"I have none," Kenzie remarked.

"One from my mom."

"Same."

"Two from Josh."

"One from my Grandma, I thought I told her to stop texting me!"

"I don't have any, either."

"Some from my friends, they asked if I could go to the mall," Kendall added, brow furrowed.

The girls giggled. Even when she was in a life or death situation, Kendall was focused on buying new shoes and making plans.

"I guess that's a no, then," Brooke spoke up, for the first time, sighing.

"Come on guys, think. The Last Text had to do with phones, which we've checked, and....the accident! Of course! What better place to check than the parking lot?"

The girls excitedly followed Nia, hopeful from her recent discovery. Kendall tagged along reluctantly, something about this didn't feel right. The last clue was taken very literally, what if this one actually involves a car?

And an accident?

The sunlight blinded the clan when they stepped into the cool air, and they immediately began looking around for clues.

"Maybe we should check under the cars."

Kendall and the girls crossed the street to examine the few cars that were actually in the parking lot.

"Wait guys!" Paige called. Kendall spun around to see what she was so worried about, and noticed her phone had fallen out of her pocket. Paige bent down in the middle of the road to pick it up, but she wasn't quick enough.

"Paige!"

Just then, a car came out of nowhere, and hit her, knocking her to the ground limply.

Everyone rushed to her side in aid, frantically asking if she was okay. As far as Kendall could see, they definitely needed to call an ambulance, but her injuries didn't look that bad. She might have a few bruised ribs, and the blood oozing from her arm made it clear that she would need stitches.

"Did someone call 911?" Kendall cried.

"I did," Nia replied.

Not long after that, Paige was being taken into an ambulance. Just before the doors closed to take her away, she called out something that was barely audible to the girls.

"Guys, that was the clue."

--

It was Paige's clue. It wasn't a hit and run, she was meant to be run over. Now it's up to you to figure out why.

--

author's note: heyyyyyooooo so only 5 days til school starts I'm going to cry. sorry for the *insert poop emoji* chapter, my friend is sleeping over and I literally just wrote this but I promised I would update so here I am. I have so many ideas for this story but they're all going in different directions omg. but yay now we're into the part where we find out all the girls' secrets!! yay! keep reading, thank you for all the nice comments!

-cai the bae ♡♡