The afternoon sun illuminates the sidewalk Eloise walks down, its warmth heating her bare arms and face. Her shoulders feel lighter than they have been, though her heart is still heavy. She's on her way back home from having lunch with Alev and her mother. Visiting the two used to add to the weight, but the atmosphere was so much lighter this time.

The back of Eloise's neck heats up as she feels the tingling suspicion of someone's eyes on her. It is a familiar sensation now, and though she usually ignores it, she decides she's tired of feeling like she's under a microscope.

Eloise whips around, almost getting whiplash at the speed of her turn. Her eyes catch a figure quickly turning around and ducking behind a building at the end of the street.

"Gotcha," she whispers under her breath as she takes off towards the stalker. Her sneakers smacked against the sidewalk, her arms pumping to make her go faster. There's no way she's letting them go now.

Eloise accidentally bumps into a passerby's shoulder, but she doesn't pause or acknowledge the fact. The person mutters something about the new generation being rude before walking away, shaking their head. Normally Eloise would apologize, but she's on a mission and she's not letting the figure slip from her fingertips.

When she turns the corner, she spots the figure—a five-foot something male with blond hair and an expensive-looking jacket. He tries to duck into a building, but Eloise uses her powers to make him freeze in his spot.

"Hey!" She calls, ignoring the people on the street's glances. She jogs up to the figure as he tries to fight against her grip on his body's control. She lets it slip so it's less obvious that it's her invisible force holding him in place.

Before he can get away, though, Eloise grips onto the back of his shirt and pulls him into an alley. She presses him up against the brick wall with her arm against his chest to trap him.

When she gets a good look at the boy in front of her, her eyes widen in shock.

"Mason?"

The blond boy seems surprised at her strength pinning him against the brick. He sheepishly looks away, breaths ragged from his running.

Eloise presses him harder against the brick and demands, "Why are you watching me?"

"I wasn't," Mason blatantly lies.

She doesn't fall for it. "Then why did you run away when I caught you following me?"

Her eyes narrow as she waits for his answer. Mason sighs, finally looking her in the eye. "Okay, fine. You've been ignoring all my texts and Snapchats, and I wanted to see you but I knew that you wouldn't listen to me."

"So you decided just watching me would be okay?" Eloise asks incredulously, blinking at how creepy it sounds and wondering why he'd ever think that it was okay.

Mason's eyes fill with shame as they dart to the ground embarrassingly. "I can see how it looks, but I just—I just feel bad about how things ended between us," he confesses, looking back up at her. "I would really like to start over and get to know you better."

Eloise's brow pulls forward. She's pretty sure the last time they talked, Mason called her a bitch. She wonders if Mason knows about her and Peter's relationship.

Realizing she hasn't replied yet, Eloise says, "I'm busy."

"C'mon, just one movie or something," Mason tries.

Eloise's gaze hardens and she presses him harder against the brick. His eyes widen and he grunts in pain.

"Geez, since when are you so violent?" He exclaims.

Eloise leans in threateningly. "Since I decided I don't want to be pushed around anymore."

Despite her tone, Mason's eyes flicker from Eloise's eyes to her lips. She catches the action and immediately pushes away from him, releasing her grip on his collar and letting her arms fall to her sides. Mason sighs and adjusts his dark jacket.

Her gaze studies him, searching for his motives, before she finally decides that he's not worth it. Eloise tucks a strand of her brown hair behind her ear and crosses her arms.

"Don't follow me around anymore, please," She says, adding in the please as an afterthought.

Mason, although visibly disappointed, nods. "Sorry. I didn't mean to creep you out or anything."

Stalking usually has that effect, Eloise thinks, but just gives Mason a tight-lipped smile before walking away and leaving him in the alley.

Although she isn't happy about the fact that the person following her around was Mason, she is relieved it wasn't a serial killer. But, as the thought crosses her mind, she wonders how long Mason has been following her around. Suspicion starts to sink in, and she pulls out her phone and calls MJ to meet her at her apartment.

🕸

"You think Mason killed Cliff?" MJ asks, her brow raised as she looks at Eloise like she's crazy. "Mason Stevens, the rich, snotty boy who probably has butlers tie his shoes for him every morning?"

Eloise ignores MJ's blatant jabs at the boy and nods. "I know it sounds crazy—"

"Completely ludicrous, far-fetched, and stupid, actually," MJ admits honestly, cutting her off. When Eloise's suspicion doesn't drop, MJ sighs. "Look, I know this kid has been barking up your tree for a while, but you can't just accuse him of murder."

Eloise lifts her hand to her mouth and bites her nails, pacing the floor in front of her bed MJ is seated on. Obviously there isn't a lot of evidence, or any for that matter, that point to Mason of being the one to pull the trigger that killed her friend, but Eloise has this gut-instinct. Peter has his Peter-Tingle thing from his spider bite, so maybe Eloise's gave her good instincts?

The anxious girl notices the look MJ is giving her. She stops pacing in front of her and says, "I'm not crazy."

"Well . . ."

"MJ, think about it," Eloise insists as she attempts to defend her theory. "So the bullet hit Cliff straight in the chest, really close to his heart. That means that the shooter has good aim and that Cliff was his target, but the shot was from far away since I didn't really hear anything and the bullet didn't go all the way through."

MJ would usually nod along to whatever conspiracy Eloise was trying to explain, but she can't even try to see the logic in her words. She just sits there, wondering if Eloise has finally lost it as she accuses one of the least-threatening people MJ knows of murder.

"Is it a coincidence that Mason has also been watching me from afar for a while? I couldn't even see him half the time I felt him watching me," Eloise continues as she talks with wild hand motions. As she speaks, her volume subtly increases and she gets more into the theory. She's so deep into it that she doesn't notice the pencils and glass of water on the desk start to shake.

MJ glances over and realizes that she needs to calm Eloise down before she makes a mess of her room again.

"Woah, breathe," She coaxes, holding out a hand. "You're going to cause an earthquake."

Eloise pauses mid-rant. The items stop shaking, and she sighs, running a hand through her messy hair. She wishes she could better control her powers, but they just seem to pop up whenever her emotions are high.

"Sorry, I just think I'm onto something." She sits next to MJ. "I know you don't think I'm right, but I just have this . . . feeling. In my stomach."

"I told you that eating all those breadsticks last night would mess up your system."

Eloise rolls her eyes and gives MJ a flat look. "I don't mean indigestion, I think it's kind of like Peter's spider-sense."

MJ narrows her eyes curiously. "Interesting."

Eloise stands and sets her palms on her desk, leaning her weight on them as she scans the papers and theories spread out. The board that used to hold up pictures is now covered in sketches and retellings of people who were on the street the day of the incident. Figuring out who killed her friend hasn't left her mind for weeks, and she's okay with that. If she doesn't solve it, then who would? She's not letting her friend's murderer get away with the crime, even if it means she has to question everything. Even the people she used to trust.

_____
So it has been weeks since I've last updated and this chapter is super short, but I have excuses. One of those excuses is that I've started two other books. (On an unrelated note, how many of you are Maze Runner fans?)

Anyways, I want to sincerely thank every single one of you guys, even my silent readers and my readers who like to spam me with notifications—I love all of you from one extreme to the other. The support, polite criticism, and love I have received from you lot has been lovely and I can't thank you all enough. Walking the Wire has like 163K reads, which completely blows my mind. Again, you guys are amazing. It's your humorous and loving comments that make me smile when I read a negative comment.

Thank you all so so so much for reading my book, you all mean so much to me!

I love you all 3000!

Chapter Song:
Stronger | The Score