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Excuse any errors.

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"Hey Sawyer."

I frowned at Kaia as she walked by, her clones following behind with the same knowing smile on their lips. Norah and I exchanged confused glances. "What was that about?" Norah asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I have no idea," I replied with a shrug. I slammed my locker shut and Norah and I started walking towards the cafeteria for lunch.

This had been going on all day. Kaia would send me all these glances, and she was also being really nice to me. I had no idea what sickness she was suffering from, but I wasn't about to argue with it. Kaia not being a bitch was a miracle.

Norah and I sat down in the cafeteria, since it was getting too cold to sit outside, and I slid my lunch bag onto the table. As I took my first bite of my turkey sandwich, someone pressed their fingers into my sides, causing me to jump and cough on my sandwich.

Griffin plopped into the seat next to me and patted my back to help dislodge the food that had gone down the wrong pipe. "I'm... going... to... kill you!" I choked out, slapping him on the arm.

"My bad," Griffin replied, sharing an amused glance with Colby as he sat down next to Norah. I just rolled my eyes and wiped my mouth with my napkin. Griffin snatched a pretzel from my lunch bag, and as it crunched in his mouth, he asked, "Did you know the party tomorrow night?"

"The one at Rocco's house?" I said, and Griffin nodded. "What about it?"

"Can you get a ride there? Griffin asked. "I can give you a ride home, but I have to babysit Mia until my parents get home, and they haven't actually told me when that would be."

My eyes met with Norah, and she knew what I was thinking. "Sure," she sighed, "Colby and I will pick you up at seven thirty."

"Thanks!" I said, leaning against Griffin. Lunch went by quickly. Griffin and Colby stole small morsels of food from Norah and my lunch, and we laughed hysterically at some story about the lacrosse coach getting drunk at a concert.

As lunch ended, Griffin and I got up, and when I reached for my amazingly heavy science textbook, Griffin took it instead. I frowned at him, and he said defensively, "I'm trying to be a gentleman."

"Ah," I said as we walked out of the cafeteria, "And how's that working out for you?"

Griffin wrapped his arm around me and kissed me softly on the lips. He smiled, the movement tickling my mouth, and said, "I think it's working out great."

*

My doorbell rang and I quickly finished applying my mascara. I grabbed my phone off of my bed and hurried downstairs. Grandma Aggie was out at the vintage movie theater with her friends, so I opened the door to find Norah standing on my doorstep.

"You look hot!" She cried, taking in my outfit. I glanced down at my turquoise long-sleeve shirt tucked into my black, tiered skirt.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I replied, and Norah twirled. She had on a floral dress with a wide, woven belt, and a leather jacket that looked suspiciously like one Colby had worn last week. Her pale blonde hair was braided into a tight pleat that fell carelessly over her shoulder.

"Ready to go?" Norah asked, and I nodded. I slammed the door shut behind me and locked it with the key that Grandma Aggie kept hidden in a flower pot on the porch. I laced my arm through Norah's and we walked down the walkway and slipped into Colby's waiting car.

"Sorry we're late," Colby said as I closed the door and buckled myself in. "I had to get gas, and then my girlfriend decided that she needed a slurpee."

I glanced at Norah, who had said slurpee in her hand, and she stuck out her tongue, which was dyed a bright green. I burst out laughing, and Norah dissolved into giggles as well. We drove to the party with the stereo blasting some Katy Perry song that Norah screamed the words to.

We pulled up to the party when it was in full force. Cars crowded the street, and the front lawn was littered with cups and slightly intoxicated teenagers. Colby and Norah walked towards the house in front of me, holding hands, and I walked by myself.

As I padded across the soft grass, a boy came over to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Hey!" He breathed into my ear as I tried to pull away. "I want some drugs."

"Excuse me?" I asked, gagging on the stench of alcohol on his breath.

"You heard me," he said, "I know you're selling."

Without a word, I shoved the boy off of me and he sprawled against the ground and started laughing. I just rolled my eyes, deciding that he asking about drugs had been because he was so wasted, and I continued on to the house. I had just walked through the door when the whispers started.

I knew that they were aimed at me, but I just assumed that everyone was still fixated on the fact that I'd punched Kaia in the face. However, as I walked through the rooms of the house, the looks I was getting from people started to make me feel sick to my stomach.

I had just walked into the kitchen when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around to find Norah gaping at me. "Do you know what-"

"Your dad's a drug dealer?" Norah blurted, cutting me off. My jaw dropped and I took a step back, bumping into the counter behind me.

I didn't know what to say.

No one was supposed to know about that. I had made sure to cover my tracks, to keep my past a secret. I mean, how could anyone have found out about my dad? The only person I'd told had been Griffin.

Griffin.

I pushed past Norah and started searching for him. The only way people would've found out would have been if Griffin had told them.

"Sawyer!" Norah called, following me. "Is it true?"

"I've got to find Griffin," I mumbled numbly, "I've got to find Griffin."

Now, I knew what the whispers were about. They were about me; I'd been right about that. However, they weren't about what had happened between me and Kaia. They were talking about how my dad was a drug dealer. They were talking about the past I'd worked so hard to keep hidden.

I stepped into the back room and scanned the people in there, searching for Griffin. Instead, I found Kaia leaning against a wall, smirking at me. I glared at her as she straightened and flounced over to me. Kaia got very close, and it was like the room had gone dead silent.

"Got any crack I could borrow?" she asked, smiling victoriously at me.

It was as if everybody was holding their breath, waiting for me to back hand Kaia, but I couldn't. Instead, I swallowed hard, blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall, and I turned on my heel and walked out of the room.

About halfway to the front door, I couldn't help but break into a sprint. I pushed through the door and smacked into a tall, solid chest. I looked up and fury washed over me. "You," I spat, shoving past him. I hurried down the steps, and I could hear him coming after me.

"Sawyer, what's wrong?" Griffin asked, but I just ignored him. I'd just made it to the sidewalk when Griffin gripped my arm gently and turned me around to face him. "What's going on?" he asked again.

I felt so many emotions in that moment; anger, hurt, and betrayal. How could he have done that to me? I'd shared something from my past, something I hadn't wanted to tell anyone, and he went and shared it with the whole school. Now, everyone knew, and I wouldn't be able to show my face without being

teased and embarrassed, just like at my last school.

"You told," I stated, crossing my arms across my chest. "You told people about my dad."

"What are you talking about?" Griffin said, shaking his head, "I didn't tell anyone."

"Well they know!" I snapped, pointing towards the party. "Everybody knows, and you're the only person I told, Griffin."

"I didn't tell anyone, Sawyer, I swear!" Griffin insisted, but I just bit the inside of my cheek and turned around. I started walking, and Griffin called out to me. "Please!"

"Don't follow me!" I shouted, my voice cracking. I turned the corner of the street and as soon as I was sure that I was out of sight, I let the tears fall. They weren't hard sobs that wracked my body, but rather silent tears that just slipped down my cheeks and stained my shirt.

The sound of the soles of my shoes slapping against the pavement was the only nose on the street, so when my phone rang after about five minutes of walking, I jumped involuntarily. I flipped open the phone and pressed it to my ear, not checking the number.

"Don't hang up," Griffin said, and as much as I wanted to disobey, I didn't. After a second, Griffin started talking again. "You need to believe me when I say I didn't tell anyone. I don't know how people found out, but I do know that it's not because of me."

As Griffin went into trying to convince me that he hadn't told anyone, I become increasingly aware that there was a car behind me. I turned and made it look like I was talking animatedly on the phone, but I was really getting a look at the dark escalade with the blacked out windows.

I had no doubt that it was Marcus's men.

I started walking again, like I hadn't noticed I was being stalked, and I said, "Griffin, stop talking."

"No, Sawyer, I-"

"Stop!" I ordered, "I need you to listen to me very carefully." I waited, but there was only silence on the other end, and I understood that he heard the urgency in my voice. I took a deep breath and said, "Marcus has found me."

"What?"

"His men are in a car behind me, and they're going to take me. I'm not strong enough to take them all on."

"I'm coming to get you," Griffin said, and I smiled sadly at his naïve heroism.

"You won't make it in time," I replied. "I need you to do something for me. I'm on Orchard Road, and I'm going to leave my cell phone next to the sidewalk. You've got to find it and then call Danny. Tell him what's happened, and he'll be able to help."

"Sawyer! I'm coming!"

"Don't call the police," I said, and then I pressed the end button, cutting off the call. I bent down, like I was tying my shoe, but in reality, I dropped my phone into the grass and moved it so that it was the least noticeable. I stood up and I heard the door to the escalade open.

Without looking back, I started sprinting down the sidewalk. I knew I couldn't escape, but if I was going down, I was going down fighting.

"Get her!"

I could hear the men stampeding after me, but I didn't know how close they are. So, I made a fatal mistake; I glanced over my shoulder to look at the men, and I didn't see the crack in the pavement. My toe caught, and I fell, catching myself moments before my head slammed into the ground.

I didn't even have a chance to get myself up before the men had me. One of them grabbed my arms and twisted them painfully behind my back, and the other man grabbed my legs. I twisted and writhed in their arms, but the only thing that accomplished was the men tightening their hold on my limbs.

Just as I opened my mouth to scream, a cloth was pressed to my face, covering my nose and mouth. I knew it was soaked in chloroform, but I had no choice. I had to breathe in. As I inhaled the fumes, my brain went fuzzy and my eyelids drooped. I tried yelling again, but my jaw was like heavy iron, and I couldn't open my mouth.

My eyes rolled back into my head and the world went black.

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Sorry for the late update. I had a sleepover with my bestie.

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