Written in the Stars

Chapter 7: "Carnivore"

(Chapter 7)
"Carnivore"

Thursday, February 19
7:30am

Shae caught Jillian caught her locker the next morning.

"Sleep well?"

"Oh! Shae."

"Jumpy?"

"Just... tired."

"I should think so," Shae laughed.

"Oh, stop," Jillian rolled her eyes.

"What? He's so into you!"

Jillian's face turned red.
"I guess..."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just... trying not to get my hopes up," Jillian sighed.

"Don't overthink it, Jill. He likes you. Go with that."

"Thanks, Shae."

"Now, I need to know for sure right now. Are we going home together?"

"Maybe you should ask Jackson for another ride."

"Hm. Maybe I should."

"Why don't you?"

"Okay. I'll go get my man, you go get yours"

"Sure," Jillian laughed.
~

1:00pm

"Hey, Jill," Travis said when she sat down.

"Hey."

Jillian turned in her seat and made eye contact with Darren.
He winked at her.

"Jill?" Travis tried to get her attention.

"Hm?"

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm great," she smiled to herself.

Later, after the bell rang, Darren stopped Jillian in the hallway.

"Hey, Jill."

"Hey."

"So, um, am I still going to see you this weekend?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay, good," he kissed her. "I'll text you, okay?"

"Okay," she grinned.

"Hey, Jill!" Shae came running up to Jillian.

"Hey!"

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"I got Monica to ditch Lamar for the night; she's ours!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, come on, we're all going to my house like now! Come on!"

"Alright!"

Back at Shae's house, the three of them sat together in her living room.

"There's pizza, and popcorn, and ice cream, and there's a ton of movies we can watch," Shae explained.

"Jeez, how come you don't go all out like this when we hang out?" Jill asked.

"Because I can't get rid of you."

"You didn't have to go to all this trouble. I'm happy just to be here with you guys," Monica told them.

"We're really happy you're here too. We never see you," Shae responded.

"You guys know I'm sorry about that," Monica sighed.

"Forget that, let's just enjoy tonight," Jillian insisted.

"Absolutely!" Shae agreed.

"I feel like we should catch up though, what's been going on?" Monica asked.

"Nothing really new, but Jackson and I have been getting pretty close..." Shae beamed.

"Oh, my god, that's great! You two look adorable."

"I know, right?!"

"Jill, you've been seeing Darren, right?" Monica turned to her.

"Oh... yeah..." Jillian said sheepishly.

"How is he?"

"He's... really great actually! He's sweet, and funny, and really hot. I'm pretty happy with him."

"They had a fun time together last night," Shae winked.

"Oh, my god, really?!" Monica squealed.

"Shae!"

"What? It's just Monica."

"But, you guys aren't official yet, right?" Monica questioned.

"Well... no," Jillian lowered her gaze.

"That's okay, you two have time."

"I've really been enjoying being with him. He's even taken my mind off everything."

"Why? What else has been going on?"

"Oh... I guess I never told you."

"What? What happened?"

"Jillian's been getting weird notes," Shae answered.

"What weird notes?"

"Someone's been leaving me notes. There's been four in the last week," Jillian elaborated.

"What do you mean leaving you notes?"

"One was in my locker, another was in my purse, another was in my mailbox, and another was on my front door."

"What did they say?"

"Well... they kind of started off as love notes... but then they got weird and threatening."

"Threatening? Are you in danger?"

"Um..."

"Of course she's not!" Shae intervened.

"Do you still have the notes?" Monica asked.

"Yeah, they're in my room," Jillian replied.

"Did you recognise the handwriting at all?"

"No. No one came to mind."

"What if all you had to do was look at peoples notes and compare the handwriting?" Monica suggested.

"What the fuck? Why didn't I think of that?" Shae commented.

"Wouldn't that look kind of suspicious?" Jillian asked.

"Well... it's just an idea. But, you really don't know who's been leaving them?" Monica offered.

"No! I have no idea."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but we could spend all night talking about this. Can we just have a nice relaxing night off and not think about anything else?" Shae requested.

"Sounds perfect," Jillian agreed.

"Okay, but you guys have to keep me in the loop from now on," Monica told them.

"Deal."
~

Later, when Jillian returned home, Jesse was waiting for her by the door.

"Hey, Jill."

"Hey. You're not in bed yet?"

"I was waiting up for you. Plus, Luke ran out quick too."

"Alright, well I'm exhausted. I'm going to go to bed."

"Goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight."

Deep into the night, little did Jillian know, there was someone in a mask on the roof watching her through the window as she slept.

END OF CHAPTER