Chapter Five
Do You Like This Elisia Girl?

3rd Person POV

val woke up the next morning to the sun shining through her blinds and the smell of dew filling her nose. she looked around as she sat up slowly and stretched her arms above her head

she stared out of window as the sun shined through and hit web mirror just right. she heard a knock on her door and she got up as she opened it and was met with her mom

"hey sweetheart" sophia spoke and val smiled happily

"hi mom" she said and she walked back over to her bed as she sat down and her mom sat with her

"feels like we haven't talked in forever" sophia stated and val nodded

"yeah sorry i've been doing this project with my friend elisia and i've been at school a lot lately" she said and sophia nodded

"do you like this elisia girl?" she asked and val shrugged

"yeah as a friend, she's really sweet mom i think you would like her" val exclaimed and sophia smiled before allison wrapped her fingers on the doorway and looked at them

"shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" allison asked as she walked over and ruffled val's hair

"get ready val" sophia said and she kissed val's forehead as allison did too and they left her room. she got up and got dressed before she left the house and walked to school

she walked to the courtyard and she was met with hailey, rowan and elisia siting together

"val hey" elisia said and she sat down next to them with a smile

"hi" she spoke and hailey looked at her as did rowan

"hey v, elisia got attacked" rowan said and val snapped her head towards her as elisia nodded

"someone in a bunny mask shot at me with a paintball gun" elisia spoke and she lifted up her shirt and val sighed

"a bunny mask? i saw someone in a pig mask and a monkey mask" hailey said

"when?" rowan asked

"at my audition. they drove off in a blue truck, i didn't want to say anything" hailey stated and val spoke up

"someone in a rhino mask is stalking me, they know where i live" val said and elisia grabbed her hand as she started to rub her thumb over it

"should we leave town?" hailey asked them and val scoffed

" i did that with my last town i'm not doing it again" val spoke and elisia agreed

"yeah is that your solution to everything? just leave? why don't we take a bunch of pills, we can do that" elisia said and she leaned her head on val

"is that why you're mad?" hailey asked and elisia shrugged as she hid her face in val's shoulder

"hailey when this happened did you get a message?" rowan asked and val took a deep breathe in

"yeah, we like a moving target or something" hailey said

"did it have the hashtag #thezoo ?" elisia asked

"yeah" hailey stated

"like the one at nickis party" rowan said

"and like the one they sent me of my house" val spoke and they all looked at her as rowan slid over and wrapped her hands around both of theirs

"what does that mean?" rowan asked

"that's what i was wondering. i found a website called the hillan zoo. it's a basic message board like reddit or something i- it's for hillan high school students. it's a place for kids to post revenge fantasies about their bullies, vent about random shit , there's thousands of comments . everybody has animal names and animals profile pics and they throw these massive anonymous parties where everyone wears animals masks. you should see these photos" elisia ranted but val zoned out. her ears started to plug and tears grew in her eyes as she was back in that room

that room that milo was in, the room that he drugged her in, the room where he tried but he didn't succeed. the room where she beat her boyfriend up so hard that he almost stopped breathing, that he had a broken nose and that she felt trapped in

she was shaken out of it by rowan who was staring at her with wide eyes in fear

"are you okay?" rowan asked and val shrugged as she looked around

"yeah yeah i'll be fine, let's go find this stinger guy" val said and they walked to the location as they snuck in

"dude. brie has some weird ass friends" hailey said and the guy walked down from the upstairs floor

"you're telling me" val agreed

" i heard that" stinger called down

"stinger?" rowan asked

"bries baby sister. i'd recognize you anywhere" stinger said but val took one look at him and felt uncomfortable . she didn't like the looks of him at all

"thanks for agreeing to meet" rowan said

"gotta say i really went down a rabbit hole with this whole zoo thing , pun intended. First off, kids these days are mean. you all are assholes. everyone on this site is pissed at someone , it's like a virus. viral. one person says one thing and it spreads like mold. like disease. its gnarly" he said and they all followed him up to the platform as val between elisia and rowan

"you told me to look up the username, monkeyman. i pulled up one of his earliest post, says something about how he's gotta punish the girls for always disrespecting him" stinger said and elisia turned to val

"all 4 of them?" elisia said

"there is four of you here" stinger stated

" i wasn't here when this began" val exclaimed and they all looked at each other

" a year and a half ago" hailey stated

"monkeymans dead. So what we need to figure out who wants revenge now" rowan said and she reached out for val's hand as she grabbed it and also held onto elisias

" Someone started using his account after he died but now there's is bigger group coming after us. all different animals" hailey told stinger

"how are they communicating? how are they coordinating? can you figure that out?" rowan asked him

" I signed up. You have to make an animal name. I picked beesting. I like it. Menacing, right? Floating around making friends, Asking questions. If there's a leader I'll find him." Stinger stated

"hey. can you track a phone that's off? even dead?" rowan asked

"that depends" stinger replied

" The police report said they never found on dunbars phone. I'm wondering if someone picked it up from the party and logged in as monkey man" rowan said

"and then decide to pick up where he left off" elisia said

"punish us" hailey said

"yeah only val is involved now , and why is she? we know that it might be because you are friends with us but there has to be a different reason" rowan exclaimed and val shivered but elisia rubbed her back

"i think i can find it, it'll take time and effort but i can probably find it" stinger said and val smiled sadly as they nodded

"alright we should go guys, val you coming with me?" rowan asked and val nodded

"elisia we can talk about the project later, i promise just stay safe" she said and she ran her thumb over the back of elisias hand before she left with rowan. hailey had left before them and drifted off

"i'm glad you and elisia are friends" rowan said and val smiled

"yeah i am too" val said and rowan turned to her with a smile

"i'm going to protect you alright , even if it is the last thing i do. the zoo can't and won't hurt you val. you're too good for that" rowan said and they got to their houses

"thank you rowan" she said and rowan walked to her house as val got to hers. they smiled at each other before they closed the doors and val went up to her room

nala was there laying on the bed waiting as she slept there peacefully

"oh you lazy dog" she said and she laid down on the bed with a smile as she hugged her close

she felt butterflies in her stomach just thinking about rowan and elisia but why?

they were girlfriends and she liked them , should she though? she was worried about that

-ABBYS NOTES-
trust me they will get together but it's a slowburn so don't expect it too quickly