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❝ i heard you on the PHONE
last night, we live and die by
pretty LIES, you know it, oh,
we both know it ! ❞

nothing breaks like a heart,
mark ronson & miley cyrus.

JAELIN WOKE UP to an early sunrise. she checked her alarm clock next to her which read 8:20 am. she rubbed her eyes and got up, stretching as she did so.

"morning ro- oh." she stopped herself as soon as she saw the empty space next to her, remembering she wasn't at robin's house and he didn't stay over.

she sighed in embarrassment and got out of bed and straight to her bathroom to do her morning routine. she got dressed in cuffed jeans and a black and dark green striped sweater, along with her necklace of course.

once she got out of the bathroom, she retrieved the piece of paper and stuffed it in her pocket. she opened the door and was immediately hit with the smell of fresh bacon and eggs.

did mom make breakfast?

jaelin wasted no time and dashing towards the kitchen, even sliding at the end with her socks. however, her smile turned into a tight lipped one as soon as she saw max placing a bit of bacon on a plate.

"oh, morning! hope you don't mind, i cooked breakfast!" he gestured to three plates on the counter.

she nodded slowly before making her way to the counter, sitting on the barstool. "uh, thank you. smells good." she complimented and immediately started eating it.

"no problem. all my brother has in his house is sprite and a shit ton of eggs, weird right?" he laughed as he tidied up.

"yeah, that's strange." she replied, not wanting to be rude. all she wanted to do was eat and go do what she wanted to do.

max was rambling on about his brother's taste in food and other random things. jaelin didn't mind too much, considering she was only half listening to him.

he's not that bad i guess. she concluded. though, she still felt cautious around him. after all, he was still a stranger to her in her books.

"-but i guess that's just how it is. what do you think?" max turned to her after his talk.

jaelin looked up from her now empty plate, looking like a deer in headlights. "uhm, well i think that.." she trailed off because she was certainly not paying attention to what he was talking about.

unexpectedly, the phone rang. jaelin internally thanked the phone for saving her. she got up and gave max an awkward smile, "i gotta answer that, sorry."

max waved her off and took their empty plates to the sink. she got the phone and put it up to her ear, "covey residence."

"hey aylin!" gwen's voice chirped from the other end.

jaelin smiled, "morning gwenny, how are you? it feels like we haven't talked in ages."

gwen laughed, "by ages you mean just yesterday morning, right?"

jaelin chuckled and fiddled with her necklace. "so, finney told me why you left and said for me to call you..you sure your okay?" gwen asked her.

"no yeah, i'm fine. i just wanted to ask you a favour if that's okay."

"that's good, anyway, what do you need?"

"first things first, is finn still asleep?" she asked the younger sibling.

"yeah he always sleeps in on saturdays, why?"

"gwen, promise you'll keep your mouth shut and you won't overreact, okay?" jaelin told her.

gwen's brows furrowed, "uh, okay? promise."

"good. now i want you to quietly go into his room and check him for any injuries- make sure not to wake him up, and then come back and tell me."

gwen grew confused, "okay..? what's this for?"

jaelin sighed before speaking in a quiet tone, "you know how i left halfway through school and robin did too? well long story short, he told me school was fine and nobody fucked with him. but i think he's bullshitting."

gwen frowned, "oh. he didn't tell me anything when we were walking back from school.."

"sorry to put you on this gwenny- i just wanna see if he's lying or not. and remember, don't make a sound and come straight back to tell me, got that?"

"gotcha." gwen replied, "be right back, standby." she put the phone on the hallway table and silently made her way to finney's room.

she opened his door as silently as she could and peeked her head in. finney was still fast asleep, sleeping on his left side. she looked to his beside table to see a pack of frozen peas..?

she pulled a face at the random object, but nonetheless crept her way towards her older brother. the covers were already slightly off of him, so she carefully placed it towards the bottom of his bed.

she checked his arms and head, not seeing anything that stuck out to her. she then moved to his torso. something was weird about it. it had an outline of something paper like near his side.

she didn't have to worry about finney waking up, since most of the time he was a deep sleeper when sleeping in. so, she carefully lifted up his shirt.

as soon as she did, she wish she didn't.

she covered her mouth and stumbled back, eyes widening at the horrible sight in front of her. her heart probably shattered at that moment.

tears brimmed in her eyes as she looked between the bruise and her brother, then at the frozen peas and how he's sleeping, trying to avoid laying on the injured side.

everything clicked in her head.

"YOU'VE GOT TO be kidding me finney blake." jaelin muttered whilst walking out of her house. after gwen told her everything she saw, jaelin was both heartbroken and furious.

he lied to her. she understood that he might've been scared to tell her or something, but something like that could not go by so easily. so, she decided she'd visit the blake household later. gwen's dad would be at work, so it was safe to go over.

she just had one thing to do first.

she took out the piece of paper and went to the closest circled address, which was a house just a block down. she walked there, enjoying the blue skies and small breeze.

after a semi-short walk, she checked the first house. it didn't seem sketchy at all. it had a driveway but a blue car occupied it instead. however, she never judged a book by its cover.

she made sure to grab a picture of the three boys and ask people in the specific households if they've seen them.

after a couple checks, she was beginning to feel hopeless. everyone she asked had told her the same thing: no they haven't. she'd reply with a small smile and continue on with her day, but she would soon be frustrated about coming up empty handed.

she stuffed the paper back into her pocket with a huff and started to make her way towards the blake household, which was not too far from where she was.

she was walking down the pavement until a black van caught her eye in the distance. she narrowed her eyes, seeing the word 'abracadabra' plastered on the side of it.

୧ ׅ𖥔 ۫ iloveblondead speaks ! ⋄ 𓍯

.... 😃☝🏼😶✊🏼

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