Jane Salvatore hopped out of the passenger side of her brother, Jake's, cherry red Camero, her field hockey bag draped over her right shoulder. A shiver ran through her as she made her way into Rosewood, the town's top private school. Jane's watch beeped, letting her know that she had ten minutes to put her bag in the locker room and make it to class on time.
"Shit," she whispered, "Jake, can you take this to the locker room for me? If I'm late again Mr. Walden will bite my head off."
Jake slipped the bag off her shoulder.
"Sure. Any chance to get into the girl's locker room I'll take." He lifted his eyebrows twice, as if to say, Chicks getting undressed? I'm there!
Jane rolled her eyes at her perverted brother and scurried off to her locker. Once there, a pile of papers tumbled to the floor.
She cussed under breath for the second time that day and bent down to pick them up. A shadow soon loomed over her. Jane's breath caught in her throat. She slowly looked up. Standing over her was Cassadi.
"Oh," Jane said, standing.
"Sorry. Did I scare you?" Cassadi's expression was full of concern.
"No," Jane lied, "I'm just sort of in a rush." She then shoved the papers at the back of her locker and grabbed her Chemistry book. Ever since Keanna went missing, Jane's mind had been jumbled. She could never keep anything in order for more than two days.
Cassadi peeked over Jane's shoulder, sensing something wrong.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
Jane snapped out of it and shut the locker door.
"Uh, yeah." She fiddled with the strings on her green hoodie, an article of clothing most Rosewood girls were unfamiliar with unless it had Juicy written on it.
"So, I guess I'll see you later?" Jane finally said.
"Yeah. See you later." Cassadi turned to walk away, but then she froze. Carolina Donastrong breezed past, giving the girls a once over and a smirk. It was like she was in on an inside joke. One that wasn't so funny.
"Cass? You okay?" Jane deviated from her path to Chemistry and headed back to Cassidi.
"Yeah. That girl just freaks me out." Cassidi made a face. Like she was trying to remember something.
"I know. She always walks around with that smug look on her face."
Just then, a blare of classical music played, letting everyone in class know that it was time to settle down and everyone that was out of class that they were late.
Jane groaned and kicked the lockers.
"Whoa, sports star! Better keep that foot well for soccer season." Cassadi grinned.
A pang of remorse struck Jane. She felt bad for just falling out of step with her best friends after Keanna disappeared. It was all she could talk about. Even over a year later, she still asked herself questions about that night. She wanted desperately to remember something important. Something that would bring Keana back.
