"We have to go!"

"What? No!"

"Sars, this is a great opportunity. The whole of Amelia's gang will be together in one place. And they cannot run from us like they always do in school. Think about it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Vanessa knows something which she's been hiding from Sal too. We're going to have to corner her and we'll need Sal's help"

Sarah still didn't look convinced. She sighed and finally said, "Okay, we are going. But there's one more problem."

"What?"

"What are we going to wear?" Sarah smiled.

And I couldn't help but smile too after this long and excruciating day. Sarah always knew how to make me feel better. I rested my head on her shoulder and gave out a sigh, "I shouldn't be worrying about that when I have you."

"Correct," she said and rested her head on top of my head.

We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, gently swaying along with the porch swing as the night breeze played with our hair. I felt at peace.

Peace. Such a long forgotten word after all the chaos that has been happening in our lives. I made myself think that everything is alright. Just for a few minutes to enjoy this moment. That I and Sarah are sitting here on my porch swing just like any other regular day. That Hannah couldn't come because she has to babysit Kevin. That she is safe in the comfort of her home. That she never went missing in the first place.

That moment was over as my mom drove into the driveway honking. I have no idea why she always honks when she enters the driveway. Its not like I will be standing in the middle of it doing some random shit.

"I should get going," Sarah stood up.

Mom got out of the car and waved at Sarah, "Hey, Sarah."

"Hey, Julia."

"Not staying for dinner?"

"Nah, it's okay. Mom must be waiting for me."

"Okay. Drive safely, dear."

****

All three of us were completely silent as we drove towards Amelia's house in Sal's car. None of us knew what to expect. Or maybe Sal did as he had been to numerous such parties at her house.

I was sitting beside Sal in the passenger seat while Sarah was seated behind. She suddenly poked her head in the gap between the driver's seat and the passenger seat and said, "Nice cologne, Sal."

"Thanks." Sal smiled and glanced at her briefly.

It surely was a 'nice cologne'. So nice that I wanted to jump on him on the driver's seat and sniff his body top to bottom.

What? Did I just think that?

But yes, Sal did look dapper in his black leather jacket and dark blue t-shirt which he wore inside of it. His hair was all tousled and slightly wet. I wanted to sniff his hair too.

I need to concentrate outside the window so that I can stop thinking all these weird thoughts.

We reached Amelia's house, or should I say mansion, in about ten minutes. It wasn't totally a mansion but was somewhere between a really big house and a mansion. Sal punched in the code at the main gate and we waited as they opened slowly.

We got out of the car and Sarah whispered to me, "Why did she used to shoplift if she has so much money?"

"She had maxed out her credit card and wanted this really expensive necklace which was a limited edition," it was Sal who answered. Maybe Sarah's whisper wasn't a whisper at all.

"Why not just ask for extra money from her parents?" I asked.

"You guys wont believe this but her dad can be super strict at times. It's Amelia's mom who has turned her into such a brat," Sal replied matter-of-factly.

To this information, I and Sarah just simply nodded. Sal calling Amelia a brat in front of us was a first.

We walked towards the house and as we neared, we could hear faint thumping of some rock song playing inside. Sal didn't knock or ring a bell, he just simply went inside.

As soon as he opened the door, we were hit by the strong smell of cheese, beer, room freshener and sweat, all mixed together. And of course the music.

There were too many people inside even though we had arrived early. It seemed as if almost all the kids from our batch were here already. There were also some people who looked a bit older than the us. College students.

"I'll go find Amelia. You guys gonna be okay?" Sal asked.

"What are we? Three year olds?" I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Yes, you are," Sal pulled my cheek and went away.

I turned to look at Sarah who had a sheepish grin on her face. "What? It was just a simple cheek pull!" I said, trying to sound casual. But inside, I had butterflies in my stomach who were now travelling to my cheek which Sal had just touched.

"Rach, don't try to hide stuff from me. I always know." Sarah narrowed her eyes.

To hide my blush, I ignored her and went towards Amelia's living room. The speakers were set in this room and it was too loud and dark and chaotic. There were too many people drinking and dancing. I tried to look for any familiar faces but everything was turning into a blur. I knew it was due to my claustrophobia, though her living room was equal to three of my own house's living room, so I turned around to leave and bumped straight into a muscular chest.

The impact caused the person's beer to spill on my dress. "Shit!" I said and tried to move away so that I could get out of this room but that person's voice made me stop.

"Ohh, God. I'm so sorry," it was Aaron.

"Rachel, would you just stay-" Sarah came and stopped mid sentence when she saw me standing with Aaron.

"What's going on?" she asked looking genuinely confused.

"I wasn't looking and I spilled some of my beer on her. I'm really sorry. Come, I'll take you to the washroom or maybe you can use Amelia's blow dryer or something."

I and Sarah exchanged a glance. Why was Aaron being so nice?

"Okay." I muttered as he led me towards the washroom which was on the first floor. Sarah followed closely behind.

"What was that?" Sarah asked as soon as we were inside the washroom.

"I don't know! Maybe he's nice when he's drunk?"

There was a blow dryer attached to the wall near the sink and I used it to dry off the spilled beer. What a great start to this night!

"Who knows! Or maybe he's just looking to get laid now that he's single?" Sarah rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Eww! No, no, no. Please, no."

"Just saying. You never know."

"Not interested. Period."

"Then whom are you interested in?"

"Sal, obviously." I froze.

I slowly turned my head towards Sarah. My eyed wide.

First she smiled and then that smile turned into a huge grin which showed all her front teeth. "YESSS! I knew it! I fucking knew it!"

"I mean, that's not what I-," I tried to think of some excuse but there was none, "it's just that, it just came out, you know. I wasn't thinking straight and it's so chaotic in here and-"

"We are in a closed washroom, Rach."

I sighed, "Okay fine, yes. I like him. There it is. I said it."

"Let's go find him then," Sarah said and went out before I could stop her.

"Sarah, wait!" I ran after her but she was already down the stairs giggling. Before I could go after her, I saw someone standing from the corner of my eye.

It was Aaron. Standing a little further down the hallway, looking at his phone. He suddenly looked up and saw me staring at him. "Hey, all good?"

"Yeah."

"I'm really sorry again."

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" He seemed confused by this unexpected question.

"Did you do something to Hannah?" Another unexpected question. I myself don't know why I asked it. It isn't as if he was going to tell me if he really had done something wrong.

"What?" Aaron scoffed.

"Who were you talking to on the phone? At the mall before the Dance? I heard you threatening someone." I don't know what had gotten into me.

Aaron scoffed again and started to go towards the stairs, "That's none of your business."

"Well, it fucking is." I said through gritted teeth and held Aaron's arm tightly to stop him from leaving.

"Rachel, wha-" Sarah appeared on the stairs and stopped mid sentence again. We both turned to look at her.

Aaron pulled his arm to free it from my grasp and looked straight into my eyes, "It was Josh, okay? Amelia's new guy."

He turned to leave and I grasped his forearm this time. "I saw your chat with Hannah, the one where you told her that she'll have to pay if anyone came to know about you two."

"You know what, you should start looking inside before pointing fingers at others," he flicked his hand went down the stairs.

Sarah moved aside so that he could pass through and came near me.

"What is going on? Why was he standing so close to you? And what the hell was he talking about?" Sarah asked.

"Hannah."

"About the chat? What did he say?"

"As cryptic as Vanessa. Did you find Sal? We need to talk to Vanessa."

"No, I came up to see what was holding you."

"Let's go," I began towards the staircase.

"Rach, wait," Sarah held my hand to stop me, "Look, I guess it's Amelia's room over there." She pointed towards a door which was left ajar.

Without letting my mind convince me otherwise, I pulled Sarah towards the room and quickly shut the door. It surely was Amelia's room. Pastel pink and huge with a round bed against the left wall and a white and pink dresser against the opposite wall.

The wall beside the door was covered with photo frames from various family trips to France, Spain, Australia and Hawaii. No time to look at them now.

"What exactly do we expect to find here?" I asked, my heart thudding loudly in my chest. I had never done something like this before.

I went towards her laptop but it was password protected so I started typing some commonly used passwords.

Password1234
Queenamelia
AmeliaHeartAaron
Amelia1810

Incorrect password. Everytime.

Sarah was going through the drawers on her dresser so I went to check the wardrobe. This is so wrong. This is so wrong. My mind kept shouting at me. I ignored it.

While I was going through the first drawer in the wardrobe, Sarah called out, "Rach, I think I found something."

Sarah was holding a fat notebook. "Please tell me it's her diary."

We took it back in the washroom and started reading it. It wasn't a diary as such but contained small snippets from Amelia's thought process.

Samantha Marshall is such a wannabe. Trynna be me. As if!

Kyle has a thing for Vanessa. Maybe.

Aaron liked Kiara Hudson's 11 photos on Instagram. All bikini photos. That slut!

I turned the pages ahead and stopped when I spotted Hannah's name. Sarah looked at me and we both took a deep breath before starting to read.

****

"Rachel! Rachel, wait. Where are you going?"

Sarah's voice sounded so distant. My vision was starting to blur. But not due to claustrophobia this time, due to the tears in my eyes. I was fuming. To angry to stop and listen to her.

I ran down the stairs and into the living room where everyone had gathered for the cake cutting time. Thr room wasnt dark anymore so I was able to see clearly. I spotted Amelia, smiling and being all pretty in her red, body hugging dress. She was waiting for the cake to be brought on the table.

I pushed through people and rushed towards her. Her smile faded when she saw me charging at her.

"Rachel–" she started to say with a confused look.

"WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU FUCKING BITCH!" My hands were on her neck and I pushed her against the wall. Hard. Her head banged due to the impact.

I heard gasps all around me. Someone shouting Oh my God. Maybe Vanessa.

"Tell me what you did to Hannah! Just tell me!" I screamed, letting the tears flow freely. I knew I was choking her. I knew people were shouting at me to stop.

Amelia's eyes bulged and she started gasping for air. Her hands pulling at my hands but my grasp was too tight, fueled by the anger. I felt someone pulling me away from her. Someone trying to pry my hands away.

"Tell me! Tell me!" I kept shouting. Finally, I let go as the person pulling me took me further away with all their strength.

"TELL MEEE!" I screamed one last time.