"Oh my God, she knows!" Sarah gasped.

"She has known all along. And now she decides to hook up with Josh? What the hell was she waiting for?"

"She waited so that no one would doubt her. No one would doubt that Hannah going missing has something to do with her."

"Do you think...she did something?" I asked in a whisper.

"Rach, she's already on our list."

"God! If only Hannah had left some kind of clue!"

"Hey man, what the hell happened?" I heard Sal's familiar voice from behind me, near the cafeteria's door. He had asked the question to Aaron who was leaving after that little drama with Amelia and Josh.

"Nothing," Aaron mumbled and left without even glancing at Sal. I quickly turned my head back at Sarah before Sal could see me looking at him.

I did not look back again, but I could tell that he was coming at our table by the smile that was plastered on Sarah's face.

"Hello, girls!" He gave us an all-toothed grin and sat beside Sarah.

Well, someone's cheery. What's the occasion?

"Hello, Sal," Sarah matched his cheeriness.

I concentrated on my burger and took a huge bite which I regretted soon as it was making difficult for me to chew properly.

Both Sarah and Sal were staring at me, waiting for me to finish the bite and it made me feel all the more weird. I washed down the rest with the help of water. Coughed as some of it went in my wind pipe. Wiped my mouth with a tissue. Coughed again. And sighed.

"Jeez, Rach. Sudden hunger pang?" Sarah smiled.

"Guess we are equal now after what happened yesterday. That was a delight to watch," Sal was grinning again.

"Ha ha, aren't you just funny?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"If you want me to be honest, you are always a delight to look at," saying this, he winked and gave an heart-melting smirk.

I almost spat out the water from my mouth. Is he trying to flirt with me now? Because if he is then it's surely working! I felt the heat rush up to my cheeks and my hands started to feel clammy as I picked up my burger again.

No one was saying anything and I could see from the corner of my eyes that Sal was still looking at me.

Think of something smart to say. Think of something smart to say.

"What happened yesterday?" Thankyou Sarah!

"Oh, you just had to be there. Mr. Best Basketball Player over here, can't even eat his icecream properly." It was my time to gloat now.

"I don't think she wants to hear that. It's nothing really," Sal waved his hand in front of his face as if flicking off a fly.

"Actually, I do want to." Sarah grinned and raised her eyebrows.

******

I had a few minutes left with me before the lunch break got over so I decided to freshen up a little in the washroom.

First I headed into a stall to relieve my bladder. The washroom was completely silent and my each and every single little move seemed to be echoing. I was about to step out of the  stall when I heard the main door open and the clink-clank of someone's heels against the tiled floor.

"No, I don't know what happened exactly," the familiar voice said in a hushed tone.

There was a pause. She was surely talking on phone as I hadn't heard anyone else walk in.

"Yeah, I will. But he's been pretty distant from me lately. Most of the time he's with Rachel and Sarah."

Vanessa.

"Maybe he knows that I am hiding things from him....I just want this to get over....Yeah, I won't, atleast for now....Okay, take care."

Again the clink-clank of heels, the opening and closing of the door and she was gone. Leaving me in the eerie silence of the washroom.

What the hell? He knows I am hiding something from him? What is she hiding? And who on earth was she talking to? It definetly couldn't be Amelia, Aaron or Kyle as I had seen them all in school today.

I knew something was up with Miss. Cryptic-Much from the very beginning. And poor Sal thought that she was helping him in finding clues related to Hannah.

I couldn't wait for the day to get over so that I could tell Sarah and Sal about Vanessa's little secret phone call when they would come over at my house.

Something really big was going on. Amelia, Vanessa, Aaron, they all were hiding something. Maybe even Kyle, who knows? Maybe they all had to do something with Hannah's disappearance. It was not just Amelia or just Aaron who were the suspects here. All of them were.

I sat in the toilet seat, over thinking everything. What if they hurt Hannah? What if something really bad has happened to her? What if the girl I saw that day wasn't Hannah at all? What if she's lying somewhere in the forest in some ditch, injured and hungry and all alone? What if she's.....dead?

No no no. I should stop this train of ill thoughts right now. Sitting here on this toilet seat and over thinking stuff is not going to help at all. It has never helped anyone.

I take out my phone and text Sarah and Sal.

My house. After school. Urgent!!

Hey everyone! I cannot believe I uploaded a chapter after two whole years! I'm thinking of continuing this baby project which I started long back in 2017.

Need all your support and LIKES!

Thankyou for reading! ❤️