Just to make sure that I had read it right, I scrolled up and started reading the chat again.

Aaron
Did u tell anything to Amelia?!

Hannah
No! Are u crazy! Why would I say anything?

Aaron
I dont know. I feel as if she knows something.

Hannah
How on earth can she know about it?

Aaron
Maybe she saw us or maybe someone else saw and told her.

Hannah
There was no one there. And look if she confronts me I'm gonna be honest and tell her tht I was drunk.

Aaron
No! Don't u fucking dare tell her anything. We aren't sure if she saw us kissing or not.

I stopped and read that line again. Hannah kissing Aaron? Hannah kissing Amelia's boyfriend, Aaron? When? And why? What about Sal?

Hannah
It will be worse if she finds out through someone else.

Aaron
She should NOT find out! Not through us. Not through anyone else. She'll ruin our lives if she does.

Hannah
But what if she already knows?

Aaron
I hope she doesn't. And if I come to know that u told her Hannah then u are the one who's gonna have to pay! Just fucking remember that.

Okay, I needed a minute to process that in my brain. One thing was clear through this chat: Hannah and Aaron had ended up kissing eachother while they were drunk somewhere and they didn't want Amelia to find out about it. When did this happen? I had no idea. Amelia would surely ruin their both's lives if she came to know. But to what extent? That I didn't know either. What if she had known and was therefore trying to mess with Hannah. Maybe this was the reason why Hannah ran away.

Now I was sure that Amelia had done something but then there was what Aaron had said, "You are the one who's gonna have to pay." What did he mean by that? Had Hannah herself confessed to Amelia making Aaron angry? Had he done something to make Hannah run away? But by the look of it, everything seemed pretty normal between Amelia and Aaron right now. So did this chat mean anything at all or not?

Oh. My. God. I felt as if my head was about to explode. First that cryptic remark from Vanessa and now this totally unexpected chat. I'd had enough for one day. I switched off my phone and threw it on my bed. Massaging my forehead with my fingers, I lay back on my bed. I was in no mood to study so I decided to go to sleep. I would tell Sarah about the chat tomorrow in school and then we would figure something out. But as for now, I needed my precious sleep.

******

Me
Hey, where r u?

Sarah
At home. Feeling sick :(

Me
Is it bad?

Sarah
Cold and headache. I'll b fine by tomorrow.

Me
Ok. Take care hun.

As Sarah was not in school, I decided to spend the lunch break in the library to catch up on the study time that I had been missing lately. I was about to turn and leave the cafeteria when someone called my name. I turned around and saw that it was Sal standing with a bottle of Gatorade in his hand.

"Hey, Sal," I gave him a faint smile.

"Hey, any news on Hannah?" This was the first time I was ever talking to Sal. I had never heard his voice properly before. He had always been the quiet one in Amelia's group.

"No, it's like...she has disappeared into thin air. No one knows anything. Not even the police."

"Yeah," Sal frowned and nodded his head and looked at his feet. For a few seconds neither of us said anything. Okay, now this was getting awkward.

"Do you know anything that might have made her run away?" I tried my luck. There was a possibility that Sal might know something.

"No, I mean everything seemed pretty normal and then one day, she's just gone."

"Yeah," I gave a little sigh, thinking of what to say next.

"Um, do you...wanna..sit with me?" 

Huh? That was out of nowhere. Where was his rest of the gang? Probably out there smoking. His sea green eyes looked straight into mine and even though I wanted to look away, I was not able to. 

Before I could answer, Sal spoke again.

"To have lunch. Um, I noticed that Sarah's not here, so I thought. Only if you want to, you know. We could talk about Hannah."

It made me smile looking at Sal fumble for words. No wonder he was a quiet guy. Plus, he was the only one among Amelia's friends who seemed to be concerned for Hannah. If Hannah knew about this she would surely start doing one of her weird dances that she did when she was over the moon about something. I wonder if he ever talked much with her.

"Sure," I gave him an assuring smile and we walked over to a table in the far right corner.

This was a good chance for me to know anything about Hannah's relationship with the others of the group. Though I had to be careful not to push much farther because though Sal seemed like a nice person, he was still one of Amelia's friends.

"So you three were pretty close right?" He asked once we sat down.

"Yeah, until she met Amelia. We kinda drifted apart."

"But you were the one who told her it was okay to be friends with Amelia, right?"

I snapped my head towards him. How did he know?

"How...."

"After she hung out with us for the first time at the beach, Amelia invited her after a few days at her house. During a Seven Minutes In Heaven with me, she confessed her feelings and said that she was hanging out with us only so that she could be with me. And she also said that she wouldn't have done it if it wasn't okay with either you or Sarah."

"Then what did you say?" Shocked that Hannah had finally let Sal know how she felt about him.

"Seven minutes were up before I got a chance to speak. But I did tell her later that it was really courageous of her to confess her feelings because you know, not everyone has the guts to do it." He gave me a tight smile.

"So you never thought that...maybe...with her?"

"Nah. There's already someone else," there was a visible blush on his cheeks as he said that.

Suddenly, I felt as if someone had thrown a heavy stone on me. If Sal had feelings for someone else then it meant that all of this Hannah being friends with Amelia had been for nothing. I wonder what would she do if she came to know about this 'someone else'. I was sure that Sal hadn't told her because no guy would ever do something like that. Unless the guy was an obvious dick.

Hannah had befriended Amelia and her group for Sal. Sal was into someone else. Hannah could never have Sal. And now she had run away because someone from that group had done or said something to her. I felt as if all of this was my fault. I should have never told her that it was okay to be friends with Amelia. My thoughts were cut short by the bell informing the end of lunch break. I muttered a bye to Sal, stood abruptly and walked away. I didn't care if he thought it was rude of me. 

******

I was walking towards my car and reached for my car keys in the left pocket of my jeans. My right pocket felt strangely empty and I stood there for a few seconds thinking as to what was missing. Shit! My phone! Panic filled all over me. Losing your phone is the worst nightmare for anyone these days, they are like your freaking babies. I frantically started looking for it in my bag and panicked more when it wasn't there too. Sweat started forming on my forehead.

"Looking for this?" A familiar voice said.

Sal. Holding up my phone in his right hand.

"Oh thank God! Where did you find it?" Relief washed all over me.

"You left it on the lunch table after leaving in such a hurry," he smiled.

I looked down at my feet. Now I felt bad for being rude to him earlier. How had I not noticed that my phone was missing for this long?

"Thanks. And sorry for being all weird back then in the cafeteria," I returned the smile.

"It's okay," he ran a hand through his hair.

"Hey Sal, let's go," Kyle shouted from his car.

"See ya, then," I said and turned to get in my car.

"Rachel wait."

I looked back.

"Would you..um..like to go to the Dance with me?"

What? Did I hear that right? What about his 'someone else'? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a sec.Hold on.  

Does that mean I am that 'someone else'?