What Happened To Her

4

9:45pm...
I walked out of the study and doubled back towards the staircase and through the kitchen. The door that Eric said was a bathroom was closed and locked. I stood there for a moment before abandoning this one and opting to find one of the two others upstairs.
I quickly ran up the stairs before anyone could see me aimlessly wandering around and I quickly found a room with a toilet. I went in, closed the door behind me and locked it.
Now I'm washing my hands with fancy bar soap that I swear had gold flecks in it and the door handle jiggles. A second later someone knocks three times.
"One second," I call out.
I shut off the water and wrap my hands in the softest hand towel I've ever touched.
Outside of the door I can hear hushed voices, like they're trying to whisper but not doing a very good job at it.
"I still can't believe she brought the freak with her," one voice says. Instantly I know they're talking about me.
"Oh, who cares," says the other voice. "She can sit front and center at the 'Expose Olivia Taylor' show."
I'm almost positive that's Heather. Her nasally tone and the way she puts the emphasis on the front of Olivia gives her away.
"You sure you want to do it here?" The first voice says. Process of elimination brings me to believe it's Keri. Tara is most likely still with Grant and it's obviously not Olivia. I'm pretty sure Heather wouldn't talk to anyone else about her villainous plans.
"Yes, I'm sure. The more people that know about what a whore she is, the better. No one sleeps with my boyfriend and gets away with it."
Before she finishes the last word, someone pounds on the door three more times. I jump and let go of the towel I'd still been wringing. I look at myself in the mirror, smooth my hair and pull down my makeshift dress.
I unlock the door and open it, feigning surprise.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I say, glancing at them and stepping to the side. My eyes confirm that it is Heather and Keri.
Heather looks at me, her eyes narrow. I do my best to look innocent and it must work. She rolls her eyes and steps into the bathroom, Keri following behind.
The door closes and I let out the breath I was holding in. I realize my fists were clenched, my nails digging into my palms, so I slowly relax my muscles. I close my eyes and gather my thoughts. I have to find Olivia.

I race down the stairs before Heather and Keri come back out. I'm looking down instead of in front of me so I don't see the person I collide with at the bottom of the stairs until after I run into them.
"This isn't exactly what I meant by catching up with you later," Mateo says, smiling down at me.
He saved me from hitting the floor with one hand around my waist. The warmth of his skin radiates through the thin fabric.
"I'm sorry," I say, looking in his eyes for a split second before straightening myself. Mateo let's go and the fire that had started in my stomach subsides.
"No worries," he says, rubbing his hand over his less than an inch long hair.
I really wish I could just stand here and talk with him all night but I have to find Liv and tell her what I heard. I glance over at the couch and notice no one sitting there.
"Have you seen Olivia?" I ask Mateo but keep my head turned away.
"Check the pool," he says, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "I saw a lot of people head out there."
I steal one more glance at him, mumble a thank you and walk toward the sliding glass doors. I step outside and the fresh air helps calm down my nerves. You'd think seeing him everyday and working with him in science I wouldn't be such a fool around him. He just does something different to me, something I never feel around anyone else.
There are more people in the pool, the sounds of splashing and music are much louder than before. My eyes scan the entire area before finally landing on Olivia, sitting on the side of the pool with her feet dangling in talking to someone sitting next to her.
As I get closer I realize she's talking to Jake. Alone.
I finally get close enough to her to tap her on her shoulder. My lingering nerves and new found panic cause me to tap her way harder than I meant to. She turns her head around quickly and looks at me with a scared expression. It relaxes as soon as she realizes it's me. I'm sure she was expecting Heather.
"Hey, what's up Chlo," she asks, nonchalantly.
"Can we talk, like, somewhere else?"
Liv pulls her eyebrows together for a split second before pulling her legs out of the water and standing up. She doesn't say anything to Jake, she just grabs my hand and leads me away from the pool.
Standing in almost the same exact spot as before, Olivia looks at me and says, "What's wrong, did someone say something to you?"
"First of all," I say, gathering my thoughts and resisting the urge to wag my finger at her, "what were you doing talking to him?"
"Calm down, we were just talking," she says, throwing her hair over her shoulder.
"Yeah, well Heather could've seen you."
"And? This is his party, it would be kind of weird if I didn't talk to him. Plus she doesn't know anything, there's no way she could," Olivia says, her voice gradually turning to a whisper.
"Liv, she knows something, I heard her talking to Keri while I was in the bathroom. She said something about exposing you."
Olivia's eyes widen slightly, if you didn't know her expressions the way I do you would've missed it. She takes a deep breath through her nose, her nostrils flaring the way they always do.
"I have to tell Jake," she says, her voice at the same volume it left off at. "He can talk to her and sort it out, it looks bad on me but just as bad on him."
I grab her hand to calm her before she starts rambling. "We can just leave," I say. I didn't want to be here in the first place, now we have an excuse to go home.
"No, no, it'll be fine," she says, shaking my hand off of hers. "Just let me talk to Jake."
Before I can say anything else, she's gone.

I stood out by the pool long enough to see Jake get up and walk inside, presumably going to find Heather. I was going to walk over to Olivia but she started talking to Tara and Grant and I didn't feel like being fake nice.
So, I wandered inside by myself and noticed the kitchen was empty, for once. For a high school party thrown by a bunch of guys, there's a decent amount of edible looking food here.
I pick through the fruit bowl, digging out all of the grapes and cherries. Someone brought a taco dip in a glass serving dish. Even at my birthday parties my parents would just order a pizza and open a few bags of chips. Rich people.
The other thing noticeably different from my birthday parties is the lack of non alcoholic drinks. Since I left my wine cooler somewhere, my throat has gone completely dry. There's two bottles of soda but they have duct tape wrapped around them with the words "mixer only" written on it. My other choices are pineapple juice or water.
"Tough choice?" A voice behind me says.
I turn around to see Jake Parker standing in his kitchen and I realize he's talking to me.
"Let me make you something," he says. It's not a question.
Jake comes closer, pulling a red solo cup off the top of the stack. He points at a bottle of soda and a bottle of juice. "Preference?"
I don't really have one so I just shake my head, it's easier than trying to talk.
Jake grabs the bottle of pineapple juice and a white bottle which I assume contains liquor. "So, Chloe right?"
I nod.
"Olivia's best friend." Not a question.
I nod again.
"So I assume she's told you about what happened the other day," he says. This one curves up at the end like it might be a question but he already knows the answer.
I just nod again. I don't know where he's going with this.
"It's not a big deal but let's just keep that between the three of us, yeah?" He asks.
"Yeah," I breathe out.
"It's just, we both know how Heather is and I wouldn't want anything to happen to Olivia," he says, his voice taking a sinister turn.
He grabs a straw and sticks it into the liquid, swirling it around. Jake looks over at me, making eye contact. He squints his eyes slightly, picks up the cup without looking at it and hands it to me.
"Enjoy," he says, smiling an unnatural smile and walks away.

I watched Jake walk out the sliding glass door and counted to thirty to give him a head start. I take a sip of the drink he made me and immediately hate the taste. My mom has let me have wine before but I've never tried hard liquor.
I keep my face composed and walk out to the pool area. I scan the thinning crowd in search for Liv. I spot her on the other side of the pool with Tara, laughing at Grant splashing around in the pool in front of them.
Olivia has such a captivating smile. Everyone she meets always compliments her on her beauty but they don't know how beautiful she really is on the inside. Only I know that and only I ever will. She puts on a different persona when she's with these people. With me, she's her true self.
I make my way around the pool and just as I make it to Olivia's side a loud noise comes from the direction of the house. Practically everyone looks in that direction to find Heather had slammed open the door and is now stumbling her way toward the pool.
Keri is behind her but keeping her distance. Even she seems concerned and possibly a little embarrassed.
Heather is shouting and waving her arm in the air but she's completely incoherent. Although I can't understand her, I'm almost positive she's staring directly at Olivia. Glancing at Liv's face, she thinks so too.
If Heather keeps walking in the direction she's going, she'll end up in the pool in three more steps. Jake comes from seemingly nowhere and grabs Heather around the waist. He whispers something in her ear before turning his face forward again and displaying his usual charming smile.
"Looks like Heath had a few too many already," he says, his voice somehow carrying across the pool in a way Heather's didn't.
Jake spins Heather around with ease, calming her down with either what he said or just showing her attention in general.
I would've liked to know how different this would've played out had Jake not been around. Heather splashing into the water, no one jumping in to save her, finally happy that she's stopped talking.
Keri comes over and sits next to Tara and I take my place next to Olivia.
"What the fuck?" Tara asks Keri.
"I don't know, I guess she's drunk," she says.
"That's What Jake says anyway," Tara says.
"Exactly," Keri says. "He probably slipped her something again. She was starting to bug out."
I take the straw out of my mouth that I've been idly sipping. The alcohol has numbed my taste buds making it a lot easier to get down. "Slipped her what?" I ask Olivia but my voice comes out much louder.
Tara and Keri lean up to look around Olivia and stare blankly at me like I just spoke a foreign language. Keri narrows her eyes at me before leaning back.
"Anyway," Keri says, "at least we won't have to deal with her for a while."