The Secret Inside

Chapter 05

It was a mad rush to the lockers the second the final bell rang. I picked up my work and shoved it in my binder, already running for the door knowing that in seconds the hallways would be flooded with waves of students. I didn't have to go to my locker, since the only thing I ever kept in it was a jacket and it was too warm for that now. I looked around the hallway to see if I could find Jess, since she was my ride home.
I saw Nikki at her locker at the other end of the hallway and turned in the other direction. I realized that I wasn't ready to confront Nikki about what happened. I would talk to her another time, maybe in gym, and at least try to be friendly. After a good five minutes I saw Jess sauntering down the hallway and quickly slammed my locker shut.

"Jess, where were you?" I questioned, "I've been out of class for over 10 minutes now!" I leaned against my locker.

Jess shrugged her shoulders and looked away. I stared in amazement, when didn't Jess have something to say.

"Jessie." I dragged out the 'e'. "what were you doing."

Jess just continued shoving books into her bag, completely ignoring me. I frowned at her and stomped away toward the stairs. I grabbed the railing and walked down the steps slowly, waiting for Jess to catch up. By then the hallways had completely cleared out, leaving a heavy silence. The thudding of my shoes reverberated around the halls. I have this irrational fear of falling down the stairs, because when I was younger I was extremely clumsy and tripped and fell no matter what I was doing. I make sure to clutch the railing tightly as I descend the stairs. When I finally reached the end of the second flight I realized that I had forgotten my laptop back in chemistry. I dropped my bag off at the end of the staircase, and quickly ran back up the stairs. I jogged, slightly out of breath, to the chemistry room and looked over for my laptop. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw my laptop laying on my desk, perfectly fine.
I hurried back downstairs so Jess wouldn't end up leaving without me. I grabbed my bag at the bottom of the stairwell and continued out the door. I basked in the sunshine for a moment, knowing that it wouldn't last long in Bellevue. The temperature would be cold enough for it to start snowing in only a couple of months. Bellevue was a really small town where everyone knew each other, and new people rarely went unnoticed. Jess liked to say that we were practically cut off from the rest of the world here, which I guess we kind of are. Jess pulled her car up and I immediately spotted the blank expression on her face.

"What-" I started.

"It's nothing Lai, so please, let's not talk about this." Jess said in a strained voice.

Jess was still staring straight ahead and I could see her knuckles turning white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. Her curly hair partially covered her face, but didn't conceal the worry she was feeling. I decided that I wouldn't pressure her into telling me anything, Jess was usually open with me and I was positive that if it concerned me she would tell me. I had full faith in her, over almost anyone else. The music blasted through the stereo and I tapped my foot along along with the music, already lost in my thoughts. Jess called my name and I vaguely remember thanking her for the ride and clambering out of the car. I opened the door and silently set my bag down beside the kitchen table. I went into the living room to let Winston, my puppy, out of his cage. I poured him a bowl of dog food and set it out near the front door.

I grabbed my laptop and went over to the couch to start working on homework. Since it was the first day there wasn't too much to do, but I could already tell that my English teacher would be assigning tons of homework. I got myself a small bowl of cookie dough ice cream from the kitchen, then went back to the living room to begin my homework. I looked out the window at the cloudy sky and cringed. I was going to miss summer so much. It's amazing how fast time passes when you don't have a care in the world. I opened my laptop and was bewildered when I saw a small slip of paper flew out. I unraveled the wrinkled paper and peered at the slanted writing scrawled across the center. I felt my heart stop as I finally processed the words staring back at me off of the paper. The hair on the back of my neck raised, and a sick feeling arose in my stomach. I suddenly felt the urge to throw it far away from me. The paper fell out of my hand, but I could still see the dark curled letters.

'We're always watching.'