(Y/n)'s mouth dropped as she heard the name. "...What?" She blinked a few times as she stared at Genevieve's photo. Her heart was pounding, but she oddly felt less scared than before.

"Genevieve's been out the last few days, and when we called her parents they didn't seem to be too worried." (Y/n) couldn't believe what she was hearing. She hadn't even noticed that the girl had been absent the past few days as she wasn't really present for most of it. "They said she was probably at her boyfriends house. We asked who they said was her boyfriend, Brandon Skitz, what he had to say. He said that she had stayed there for a night, then went to your house for a sleepover? I'm sorry that this had to get into your personal life but we're concerned for a student and just want a bit of clarification."

The girl was in shock, she didn't know what to say. She had no leads on where she could've possibly been except... At Brandon's. But why would she be there? Why would she not show up to school, was there more to this than she thought? She was sweating now and hoped the principal didn't notice. "Uh, yeah, she came to my house for a night and then slept over Connor Yelon's house. She told me she didn't want to go home because her family was visiting." She was sitting on the edge of her seat in anticipation as she hoped the Principal believed her story. Her stomach was flipping at the thought of how many lies she had found herself in recently.

"I see.. well, I will have to call him in as well." He looked up his name in the school computer and proceeded to dial up the classroom he was currently in. "Hi, is it alright if Connor comes down to my office? Alright, thank you." He hung up and looked at the girl and smiled. "Thank you, (Y/n), you helped a lot! You can head back to class now." The girl nodded and quickly made her wake to the door. "Oh wait!" She had her hand on the knob but the sudden call made her grip the knob tightly.

"Y-yes...?"

"While you are here, maybe you can help out on another student?"

"Is it Jackson?" She asked, quite surprised how ballsy she was being by possibly forcing herself into another interrogation if it wasn't him.

"Yes actually, any idea where he is?"

"Yeah, he and his family went on an emergency vvacation to visit a relative. They just left like, two, or so, days ago."

"Oh... I see, thank you very much, (Y/n). One of the office attendants will sign you a hall pass. Have a good afternoon." The girl nodded and quickly exited the room. She walked towards the front to see Connor entering the office with a confused look. The two made eye contact and he almost immediately connected the dots as to what this was about. (Y/n) quickly looked away and was handed a hall pass. The woman pointed at Connor and pointed towards the office and he slowly made his way, giving one last glance at the girl. She cringed st the thought of her putting him in the spotlight like that, but she didn't know what else to do. She left the office and decided to go to 7th period instead of going back, seeing as the period was almost over.

-

(Y/n) walked home in silence. Her mind was racing, and she couldn't tell what to do. "What is going on.." she asked outloud. Her heart raced as she neared her house, but she didn't know why. She stared at Brandon's house, a weird feeling arose in her but she forced it down and ran into her house. She felt dizzy. Everything was spinning. Something was telling her to check next door, check for her friend, for.... "No! There's no way." She threw her bag on the ground and sat on her couch. She listed out all the reasons they wouldn't be there... Then listed why they could. She was shaking. "But if I don't at least check... It'll all come back to me tomorrow. They'll realize that Genevieve isn't staying over someone's house, she's missing. And I lied. If Jackson's dad calls the school... It'll all be over for me. I should've never lied." The girl felt sick, she hated this feeling but she ran to the bathroom and sat near the toilet. She wanted to throw up, but she hadn't eaten since the day before. She was going to pass out. "I need to know. I need to check." (Y/n) forced herself up and she grabbed her phone. She also grabbed a small switch blade that her dad had hidden in a vase, as she was not going to be taken advantage of this time.

She walked out of the house, closed her door, and stomped over to Brandon's house. She pounded on the door until the person she hated the most opened the door with a smirk. "Why hello there, doll. What's all this?" He chuckled.

"Where are my friends?" The girl demanded. She didn't truly know if they were there, but she didn't want to sound unsure of herself, so she decided to act as if she already knew.

The male's frown fell and he cocked his head. "Huh?" Hw had a confused expression on his face, but she wasn't picking up any sense that he was joking. Had this been a mistake.

"M-my friends... Where's Genevieve and Jackson?" She had faltered in her confidence and was now standing with wobbily legs.

"I don't know... And I'm sorry I sort of threw you under the bus earlier. I panicked because I don't usually get asked questions by the principal."

"I find that hard to believe.." The girl spoke under breathe. "Alright, well... Have you seen Jackson, or even Gen?"

"Nope, Gen left my house maybe the same day you saw Jackson last and never came over since. Only saw her in school until she stopped showing up one day." Brandon leaned onto his door frame. "Why are you looking for her anyway, aren't you guys, like, not friends anymore?" He smirked.

"We aren't... We just had a fight. I still care for her... for some reason." She looked passed Brandon and into his house as a passing car shown its light into his house. A glare bounced off something shiny and drew her attention to it. "Hey isn't that her necklace..." Brandon turned around and looked at what the girl pointed out.

"Huh...? Yeah, why?"

"Well she, she would never take that off... Why is it here?" The strange feeling in her stomach rose up again and attacked her whole body with chills.

"Oh, I don't know... I must've taken it off cause it was too cold when we were uh... yknow." He turned around to (Y/n) with a big smirk on his face. "Messin' around." He chuckled as the girl shivered at the thought.

"Gross, thanks for the imagery." She began to scan the entire room from where she stood. She just felt like she had to, something wasn't right.

"Hey, you're the one who thought of it!" Brandon began to laugh and threw his head back as he began to think of other things that happened that day. The girl looked towards the coffee table and widened her eyes.

"That ring!" The girl became aware of the sweat on her back as she froze in place. Brandon turned around again to look at the jewelry.

"Thats my dad's ring, genius. Are you going to interrogate me all day?" He was becoming agitated. The girl knew that ring, she knew he was lying.

"Let me see it then, please. I would never ask something of you but I need to know. Please let me see it..." Her heart and mind raced as she could hear the blood rushing to her ears. She swore that she had never been this scared in her life, but there was no danger in sight other than Brandon. He sighed, loudly, and walked over to the table and picked up the ring. He turned around and stood in place, showing it off.

"See it?" He chuckled, but didn't move.

"Brandon, stop!" The girl rushed in and grabbed the ring. One close look at it and she knew it was Jackson's. "What the fuck..." Before she knew it the front door slammed shut, making her head snap towards the sound. Chris stood there with a blank stare. The girl started to run towards a corner but fell when her arm was pulled by Brandon.

"You should know not to enter houses without asking, (Y/n)." He said as he pulled her towards him. She dropped the ring and grabbed the switch blade, pulling it out and pointing it towards him. He let go and put his hands up. She quickly backed away before Chris could run towards her from behind and turned towards the two. They froze in place, staring in fear at the blade.

"You motherfuckers. Where are my fucking friends?!" She cried out. They stood in silence. "Fine! I'll just call the police." She took out her phone, still holding the blade towards them, and unlocked the phone. She was dialing the number when she suddenly heard a creak behind her. Her body tensed and before she could react a pair of arms grabbed her. She screamed, swung the knife and dropped her phone, but hit nothing before it was smacked out of her hands. Brandon quickly ran and picked the knife as she squirmed in the unknown person's arms.

"It was a nice try, (Y/n). You had a good idea for bringing the knife. Actually scared me for a second." Brandon spoke softly as he closed the blade. "Its too bad you forgot I had more than one friend." The girl stopped moving and looked behind her. Gio stood there with a guilty smile plastered on his face.

"G...Giovanni?" She slowly recalled.

"Correct, my dear. Giovanni. Chris, will you take our new guest down to the basement?" (Y/n)'s head swung towards to his voice in confusion. "Oh don't look so surprised! You said you wanted to see your friends! I'm just being nice and giving you what you want." He laughed at his remark as her eyes widened in fear. Chris did as told and took the girl down to Brandon's basement.

~