Silence is Deafening || J.V.

CHAPTER #16 | Hide and Seek

"Ava!" Barbara yelled, making me wake up. "Ugh, what?" I answer.

She ignored me and smirked when she saw Jerome also on the bed. "What happened here?" She teased.

"A very intense game of Uno in the middle of the night." I answered honestly.

"Hm." Barbara hummed. "Well, Theo wants you two. And Ginger here might wanna get up soon because Tabby's about to start a riot since she can't find him." I laughed slightly and Barbara left the room.

I shoved Jerome to wake him up. He didn't budge. "Get up." I said, shoving him again. Still he didn't move. At this point, I knew he was playing with me. "Get up." I groaned, shoving him again, but this time he grabbed my wrist and pulled me on top of him.

Sure enough, he was wide awake, with a big smile stretched on his lips. I glared at him. "Get up." I repeated.

"Afraid I can't. There seems to be a drop dead gorgeous princess on top of me." He joked.

I rolled my eyes. "And whose fault is that?"

"It doesn't seem like you're too eager to move." He pointed out. I glared at him and moved away.

"Now you have no excuse, get up before Tabitha murders you." I said. Jerome laughed and left my room.

I changed clothes and went to find the rest of the group. I did it by following the sound of Jerome's laughter.

When I entered the room, Tabitha had Jerome pushed up against the wall with a blade to his throat.

"Wow, you weren't kidding." I said to Barbara.

"Tabby, put the knife away." Theo said calmly. Tabitha stood still before roughly shoving Jerome and putting her knife away.

Jerome laughed again. "Feisty."

At that moment, my face fell slightly. I looked away from Jerome and picked up a waffle from the table to distract myself from the weird feeling in my gut.

"You wanted us for something?" Greenwood said. In all honesty, I forgot he was here.

"Yes," Theo said "we have to discuss our next move."

****

We had a talk about what we were doing next, it was decided that we were going to kill some cheerleaders. They all seemed rather excited, but I couldn't really care less.

Of course we had to wait for the right time, so I had a couple hours to chill.

Jerome was following me around a lot more than usual today. I didn't really ask why.

"Princess, I'm boooorrreeedddd." He complained.

I sighed. "I'm not really sure what to tell you, J." I internally cringed at myself for giving him a nickname. Jerome smiled big at me, like he had won a bet or something.

"I think I'm growing on you, princess." He taunted. I rolled my eyes.

"No." I said flatly. He just laughed. "I am! Admit it!"

"No, you're not!" I exclaimed. Jerome just laughed at me.

"Are you still bored?" I asked, changing the subject. Jerome scrunched up his nose comically in thought, then dropped his shoulders in disappointment. "Yup."

I groaned. Because when Jerome is bored, I'm the victim of his attention. "I want to play a game!" Jerome exclaimed, sounding oddly more childish than usual.

"Of course you do." I reply.

"Let's play..." Jerome trails off in thought. His eyes light up, but then he shakes his head a mutters a 'no'. I cock an eyebrow at him. He continues to do this for quite some time until I get annoyed.

"Jesus, just pick a game already!"

"Hide and seek!" He blurts out.

I thought I would be more against the idea of playing Hide and Seek since I wasn't a kid anymore, but I kinda wanted to play. I hadn't played since I was 10 years old. And Jerome was kind of like a ten year old, if said ten year old was on cocaine and had murderous tendencies.

"Okay." I said. Jerome seemed pleased with my answer.

"I'll count, 30 seconds-"

"Um, no. This is a huge place, give me like, a minute." I interrupt. Jerome just rolls his eyes and waves me off. "whatever." He begins to count and I immediately run out the room to hide.

I run down one of the hallways, making my footsteps as light as I can. While running, I pass by Barbara and Tabitha sitting on the couch and talking about something. They both look up at me. "I am NOT here!" I whisper yell and duck behind the couch.

Barbara and Tabitha continued there conversation like I wasn't even there. I listened for Jerome's footsteps, waiting for him to pass by.

I begin to think Jerome was never going to check in here, until I heard Barbara. "Oh hey, Jerome." My eyes widen. I swear if she gives me away, I am going to kill her.

"Hey Babsy, Tabby, you haven't happened to see Ava around anywhere?" He asked. I cringed when I heard my name. I don't think I've ever heard him say it before.

"Ava?" Tabitha said. "No we haven't seen her." She said. I had to stop myself from sighing in relief.

"Hm." I heard Jerome hum. "I don't believe you." He said bluntly. I mouthed a curse word and listened carefully for Jerome so I knew when to move.

Right when Jerome looked behind the couch, I moved to the side of it. I heard him hum in disappointment, then chuckle. I heard him begin to leave. After about a minute, Barbara looked at me. "It's safe."

I let out the breath I had been holding. I stood up and checked the hallway to make sure he wasn't there. I turned my head back over to Tabitha and Barbara. "Thanks, your a life saver."

"Have fun you two." Tabitha teased. I rolled my eyes then went down the hallway. I was about to turn down another hallway when I heard Jerome whistling.

Out of panic, I quickly hid in the closest room, which was a closet filled with cleaning supplies. I hid behind the supplies and curled up in the corner, trying to be invisible. I knew Jerome heard me run in here.

I almost let out a yelp in surprise when Jerome swung the door open. Almost. Jerome peeked around, but didn't see me under all the stuff. I tried not to look at him, because people can tell when they're being looked at and I did NOT want to give myself away.

After a while, Jerome left. I stayed put for about two minutes just to be safe before I finally got out. I looked around and didn't see Jerome anywhere. I turned down the hallway I was originally going to go down, but I was lifted from behind and slammed into a wall.

I let out a yelp in both surprise and pain, and saw Jerome smiling down at me. "Gotcha." He said. I didn't say anything. "What's my prize?"

"Who said you get a prize?" I asked back.

"Winners get prizes." He said with a dark look in his eyes. I then became very aware of the position we were in. Jerome's hands were on either sides of my head, with my back pressed against the wall. He was also very close, too close for comfort. My face grows hot when I notice this, and Jerome notices my blushing face.

"I guess you're maybe-kinda-sorta, but not really, but probably growing on me." I admit to him. Jerome looks surprised, and pleased of my confession. His lips form a small smile, but this one was different, this time there was a hint of actual fondness there. However, it was quickly replaced with a cocky smirk.

"You're an ass." I say, shoving him away playfully. "You love it." He said. I roll my eyes to hide my resurfacing blush.