~~~~~~~~~Gabe's POV~~~~~~~~~

I waited until Lara finished the granola bar, leaning against the wall as I glanced from her to outside, through the window. The white snow covered the ground and trees, barely any animals visible besides a few rabbits, squirrels, and deer.

Once she was done, she stood up, walking to the exit, making me raised a eyebrow. "Wait."

She tensed up, looking back at me as her ears flattened back, and I walked a bit closer. "Why were you out at night? In winter?"

"I needed some fresh air.." Was all she answered, quickly stepping out and starting to climb down.

I thought for a while, there's still so much I wanted to say from all those years back, things I wanted to know, and that I wanted her to know. But how would I know she'd answer? How would I even know her answers were the truth? She's lied to me before.

But I had to know.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I stepped out and climbed down, walking home as I hid my hands in my jacket's pockets. As I walked inside my house, Mom immediately wrapped me i a tight embrace. "There you are!!"

"Um?"

She pulled away, grabbing my faces and tilting my head around, as if checking that everything was in place. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Do I need to kill anyone?!?"

"Mom, calm down!!"

"Sorry, sorry! It's just.. Jade told me about the Riverton girl.."

Of course she did, I had planned for that to be a secret at the moment! Awesome, thanks, Jade.

After grumbling under my breath, I let out a sigh. "Yeah, I found her last night in the woods. She would've frozen to death if I hadn't taken her to our treehouse."

"I see.." She pulled her arms away from me, a serious yet gloomy expression on her face as she looked at the ground.

I could easily tell what she was thinking of.

"... you wanted me to let her die, right?"

"Wha- No! No, of course not, I just- ..." She looked back up, even more serious than before. "I don't want you getting hurt because of this.. We've seen what she can do.."

"I know, Mom, but I can't just let her die."

She stayed quiet at that, but soon let out a sigh. A small smile, though it was a bit sad, grew on her face. "You and your dad have the same mindset.."

"If it weren't for that though, you two wouldn't have ended up together and we wouldn't have been born."

"Fair point, Babey Gabey."

I cringed at the nickname. "Mom."

"What, it's adorable!" She ruffled my hair before taking her bag as Sahara and Ethan both walked downstairs, Sahara carrying Monica. "But anyways, I need to take these little trolls to school and daycare."

"Trolls?!" Sahara puffed her cheeks, making Mom let out a laugh before kissing her head, Sahara smiling at the gesture.

She then looked at me, worry clear in her eyes. "Do be acreful, okay, Gabe..?"

"I will, I promise.."

She kissed my cheeks and left with my siblings, letting me walk to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich. Jade soon walked downstairs with some clean clothes, sitting in front of the counter as she stared at it with worry. There was only silence in the room for the next few minutes as I ate, when she finally broke it.

"What if Lara's the danger Bill was referring to..?"

I tensed up at the question. She.. actually had a good point.

However, that danger could be anything at all, Lara's just a suspicious one in that scenario, which meant we did need to keep an eye on her.

I placed my plate on the counter. "If that's the case, we need to keep her in sight."

"Yeah.."

"C'mon, let's head to school."

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

The rest of the day went by pretty quick; however, we were all a bit on edge. Jade was a bit more quiet than normal, clearly worried. Fiona was pretty angry, but tried to keep her calm. Cassie still tried to be positive, and is probably the reason Fi's still calm. And Jake, well.. I never learned to understand him. Only Jade and Cass know him well.

As I closed my locker to head home, I noticed a familiar girl walking down the hall, her back facing me.

I thought for a moment, we were suppose to watch her, and I had my questions..

...

Without thinking twice, I walked over. "Hey."

She tensed up, looking back at me a bit nervously. "Um, hi.."

"You wanna go to town with me?"

"H-huh..?!"

"Don't think anything weird, I just want to talk to you about- ... what happened."

She seemed to understand right away, hesitating before giving me a small nod. "O-Okay.."

Thanks for reading!!! 'Till next time!!!

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