We didn't stay at the mall for long.

I over-estimated how ready I was to be surrounded by people. Every few seconds I kept checking over my shoulder, feeling like someone was watching me.

It was ridiculous, no one here knew me. There was no way they could.

But I still felt like it.

If Colton was as powerful as he made me believe, it wouldn't be that outlandish for him to have someone follow me here.

"Daytona? What's wrong? You've gone white, and you keep looking over your shoulder." Jordan grabbed my hand and pulled me into the food court to our right. "Is there someone following you?"

"I don't think so," I said, my voice shaky. "It just feels like someone is though. I know it's crazy, but what if Colton has people here who are following us?"

Jordan squeezed my hand. "It's not crazy. Colton is crazy. Not you. Do you want to go home? I can call Danni and tell her something came up and that we can't go."

"No," I said suddenly, "Let's go to the party and let's get a new outfit."

With our hands still together, I guided him to a Charlotte Russe near us. Once in there I began to quickly look through the clothes. Even though I told Jordan I wanted to go to the party, I still wanted to leave the mall as soon as possible.

I ended up just getting an outfit that was being displayed in the window. It was a tight black tank-top that criss-crossed down my stomach and a tight white plaid skirt.

Quickly paying for it, I grabbed Jordan's hand and left the mall. As soon as I was out of the crowd, the feeling I was being watched stop.

I kind of felt bad because in my rush to leave the mall, I forgot Jordan had wanted to get himself a few shirts and didn't.

"Hey, you didn't get to get yourself shirts." I said with a frown on my face. "Do you want to go back inside?"

A small smile formed on his face as he shook his head. "I'm fine Daytona. Don't worry about me. I'll just get some later. Are you fine with still going to the grocery store?"

I forced a smile on my face, "Yeah I'm fine."

~~~~🌻~~~~

Evening rolled around and I found myself dressed up and ready to leave which was weird and unusual. Obviously I had been to parties before but I had isolated myself from society so much, I felt wrong going back. Almost like I didn't know what to do or how to behave.

Jordan's hand felt warm in mine as we walked up to Danni's doorstep. The outside of her house looked strikingly like mine and it made my stomach twist.

Tony had texted me letting me know he had already arrived and was waiting inside. That being said, I had no reason to be nervous. But I was.

"Hey," Jordan gave my hand a small squeeze, "everything will be okay. If you want to go home we can-"

"No!" I had already ruined one thing for Jordan today, I had no intention to make it two. "I'm fine." Another tight-lipped lie.

His eyes turned sad as he studied me. "Alright. But the moment you want to leave, tell me and we will."

A quick nod was all I could offer in response. I was afraid if I tried to speak i would accidentally admit how terrified I was to be here.

The door swung open as we went to knock. Danni stood behind it, even prettier than usual with a tight yellow strapless shirt and black leather pants.

Her eyes dashed straight down to Jordan's and my intertwined hands. "Hey," she said. Her voice was filled with the fake cheer I had been using recently. "Glad you could make it!"

Her arms wrapped around Jordan and their hug seemed to have lasted for years.

In an automatic response, Jordan let go of my hand to hug her back. The moment he did, a coldness washed over me and I shivered.

Grabbing the hand I was just holding, she led Jordan away from me. "Let's give you the tour shall we."

And just like that, Jordan was swept into the sea of people.

"You shouldn't let your man get snatched like that you know. It gives other girls permission to walk all over you." The voice startled me and I jumped back to see Tony.

"Jeez Tony," I exclaimed, my hand clutching my chest as if that could calm my rapid heart beat. "A hello would've been nice." 

"My bad, hello, you shouldn't let you man get snatched like that-"

"Yeah I get it! Girls will walk all over me and so on." My eyes did a quick scan of the living room to find the emptiest spot.  When I didn't see one, I grabbed Tony's hand and dragged him into the kitchen with me. "I need something to drink." 

I could feel my throat start to tighten as the anxiety washed over me in slow waves. 

"Are you sure that's a good idea Daytona? I mean, based off your past encounters with alcohol, I would try to stay away from alcohol if I was you." 

"I wasn't meaning alcohol, though alcohol would really help right now." I found a couple of closed water bottles near the fridge and grabbed on, promptly drinking half of it in one go. 

You can do this Day. A little party never hurt anyone. 

It was pretty sad that I needed to give myself a mental pep-talk but whatever. I shook my head, clearing all my negative thoughts and headed into the living room where everyone was dancing. The crushing weight of, quite literally, standing out hit me like a ton of bricks. I let my hips sway to the music that was playing, letting the rhythm calm my nerves. 

"Okay, get it Daytona. I see you." Tony did his best to hide his chuckle, but his smirk was clearly visible. 

"Oh whatever Zhang, get over yourself. Have you never seen a girl dance before?" Rolling my eyes, I continued to dance to the music. 

Tony's eyes glued to my swaying hips. "Oh I've seen plenty of girls dance, just none like you."

Quicker then a bullet, I cut my eyes over to him. "Watch what you say or I will rip your tongue out." 

He laughed a little, "Chill, I'm just trying to get you to loosen up. You're not my type anyways. Your shoulders are too broad." I punched his shoulder. "Ow, and you hit hard. Remind me to not get on your bad side." 

For the next hour or so, Tony and I just danced and goofed off as Jordan was with Danni doing god knows what. 

"Hey Tony, I'm going to go-" as I turned around, I saw a streak of blonde hair dart across the living room and run upstairs. "I'll be back." 

"Daytona!" He called after me but I didn't listen. My mind was so preoccupied with the blonde girl that nothing else was processing. 

This is exactly what I had been fearing since I had moved here, so why was I not scared now? Whatever the reason may be, I ignored it and followed the girl up the stairs. 

At the top, it split off into two hallways, I took a guess and went to my left. It wasn't long until I saw a girl with long blonde hair push a dude with brown hair into the nearest room. 

My heart thundered as my feet pounded on the floor. I threw open the door, "Jordan?!" 

The dude with the brown hair turned around. It wasn't Jordan. "Yo, can I like help you with something?" 

"I'm sorry, I just thought my friend was still in here." 

"Nah, I'm the only one in here." 

I nodded my head and started to leave before it registered what he had just said. 'I'm the only one in here'. "Wait, did you say you were the only one in here? What happened to that blonde girl who just pushed you in here?"

The dude (who i could clearly see was very stoned now) stood up. "Are you like stalking me or something?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "No I'm not stalking you. Just, blonde girl, where did she go?" 

"Out that window dude. It was pretty badass not going to lie." 

Shoving past him, I ran and looked out the open window. Sure enough, whoever she was, was running away. 

The blood inside my veins started to boil. 

"Daytona?" Jordan's hand was on my shoulder, pulling me out of my anger induced trance. "What's wrong?" 

When I turned to look at him, my eyes must've been wild and crazy because he took a step back. "What happened. Who did you see?" 

I looked past him to Danni and who I could only assume was her younger sister. Right now was not the best time or place to tell Jordan the truth. "Nothing, I'm sorry." 

Is that her, signed Danni's little sister. 

"Yeah that's her alright." Danni's voice was flat and sharp, digging under my skin like a dagger. "Lilly, this is Daytona. Daytona, this is Lilly."

I offered up a shy smile. "Hi."

Lilly just starred at me. 

"Uh, right. Um I'm just going to get a ride home with Tony, Jordan. Just text me when the party is over." I walked past Danni and Lilly and practically dragged Tony out of there. "Let's go please. Can you take me back to my apartment. I need to get out of here."

"Yeah of course, are you okay?" At that moment, I greatly appreciated Tony's kindness.

"I will be as soon as we get out of here." Without hesitating a moment longer, Tony led me out of Danni's house. 

The moment we stepped out, I was overwhelmed with exhaustion. To think that Sophia was so close to me. She made it very clear that I'm still not completely free and that Jordan isn't completely safe. 

But that wasn't the only thing on my mind. 

I was dying to know what the heck Danni had told her little sister to cause her to hate me so much already. 

"Let's go get some food okay?" Tony turned on his seat warmers and we just quietly drove to whichever place he wanted food from. 

A couple minutes later we pulled into a Burger King drive-in. "Are you serious? Burger King?" I raised my eyebrow at him. 

"Listen, I've really been craving their Chicken Fries okay?" He whined back at me. 

I rolled my eyes but cracked a small smile nonetheless. 

"What do you want? I'm buying." 

I raked my eyes over the menu several times, but nothing really caught my interest. "I guess I'll just take fries." 

"Fries? That's it?" 

"Um, yeah?" 

"You are literally so lame, but whatever." Tony sighed, pulled up, and placed our orders.

Once we got our food, Tony drove us back to my apartment and we sat down on the couch.   

"Okay, not going to lie, Burger King was a good choice." I shoved a couple of fries into my mouth.

"See," he dragged out, "You should always trust me when it comes to food. I know what I'm doing."

"Hm, I'll hold you to that."

We continued to eat our food, cracking jokes here and there.

It wasn't until hours later when our eyes were filled with tears from laughing to hard did we hear a small cough from the doorway.

Tony and I turned to see Jordan standing in the door frame, watching with a small smile on his face.

"Oh Jordan, you're home. I didn't even hear my phone go off." I picked my phone up to see that I indeed did have a couple of messages from Jordan.

"Its fine, I haven't seen you this happy in awhile." His eyes twinkled, but then almost quick enough to miss, a shadow crossed over them.

"Well," Tony pushed his chair back and stood up with a slight cough, "Um I will be heading home. See you tomorrow Daytona."

"See you Tony."

When Tony walked out, Jordan turned to me with a remorseful smile on his face.

"What's wrong Jordan? Did something happen at the party?" I got up and gently laid a hand on his arm.

Jordan looked at me hand. Then at me. Then at my hand again. "It's just- nevermind. Anyways, what had you so freaked out earlier?"

And with those words, I was dragged back down to Earth.

"I think I saw Sophia, Jordan. And I thought I saw her push you into a room. I think she's trying to tell me something." It felt as all the heat and warmth was sucked out of the room all at once. 

Jordan leaned back against the wall. "Sophia? Like the little sister of Colton?"

"Yes."

He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends. "Alright. I can get us the first plane out tomorrow-"

"No, Jordan, I don't want to run away." But I did want to run away. I wanted to run until my skin on my feet burned off. I wanted to run until my heart stopped beating. Running was the best way to keep everyone safe.

But I knew I had to stop running eventually. It was either going to be on my terms, or theirs.

"Running isn't going to solve our problems Jordan. It's only going to drag them out. And I can't risk the people I love getting hurt any longer. This needs to end." I was not going to let Jordan, or my mom, or Mason, or Tony to get hurt because of me.

"Daytona, get a hold of yourself. What you're talking about is suicide!" He held my arms, almost as if he let go I would disappear right on the spot.

I picked my eyes up from the floor to look at him. "Then so be it. My brother risked his life to save mine. You're crazy if you think I will not do the same thing to save the ones I love Jordan."

Pulling my arms out of his grip, I stalked back to my bedroom. 

"Yeah, but Cooper knew what he was doing!"

I spun around on my heel so fast I almost lost my balance. "What, and you think I don't? Trust me Jordan, I know exactly what I'm doing. It's time you should stop trying to hide me and start trusting me."

"No, Daytona, that's not what I meant!" But it was too late, I was already in my room, trying to figure out exactly what it was that I was doing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oof, well this is chapter 2 for you guys.

Believe me when I say I have had NO motivation to do anything lately so sorry it's taken like 5 years for me to finish this chapter but I mean better late then never right?

I also realized that I forgot i had a competition lol. So um let's just say I've extended the deadline to May 29. So if you want to write one, or go back and edit your entry, go ahead lol.

Well, I love you all so much!
See you in the next chapter,
~May C. ❤🌻