Page 76 of Shadowed With Fear

My brother and his best friends have become vigilantes, staying under the radar to try to protect the town from falling apart even more.

Why, how, and when this all started, I don’t have a damn clue. I just know that I want in.

The missing girls still haven’t been found. I’ve been attacked three times by the same guy who has connections to those missing girls. I want to help. If anything, I want to at least try to save other girls like me.

Yet, while all of this happens, I’m still stuck going to school.

The glories of a Monday morning. I have my laptop set up on a table in the plaza, no headphones this time because I don’t want to ruin my good mood. The crows are cawing in the distance and the sun is beginning to peak over the tops of the mountain ridge.

I’m filling out some weird ass questionnaire thing for Seminar about my work ethic, and which study habits are the best for me. As if I don’t already know. Flashcards, highlighters, and mind maps for the win.

The only thing that could possibly make this a better start to my day would be having Liz here with a hot cup of coffee. Not even for the caffeine but for the warmth that spreads through your veins with the first sip after a chilly morning.

But I guess I’ll settle for Issac.

He’s walking swiftly across the grounds, which is a little weird considering he doesn’t have class for another hour or so.

His hair is a little unkempt, but he’s still got on nice jeans and a short sleeve button up. Issac keeps glancing around him, but I don’t think he’s seen me yet.

Just as he passes a large oak tree, an arm shoots out grabbing him, pulling him behind it, out of my view.

I jump up, moving behind the half wall blocking the plaza in, listening. At first, all I could hear was the faint caws of the crows and the wind rustling the drying leaves in the trees above. But the longer I sit there, the more apparent the hushed voices become.

“I don’t want to keep doing this— “

“Shut your mouth. You know it has to be this way,” a cold voice cuts Issac off. “You just have to keep it up for a few more weeks and then it’ll be set.”

“Yeah, fine. Whatever. You owe me for this,” Issac hisses as leaves start crunching. A twig snaps just on the other side of the wall and then—

“D?” Issac laughs. “What the hell are you doing?”

I straighten, forcing a wide smile. “Hey! I thought I—…I thought I seen a squirrel?” I cringe internally.

“A squirrel?” He raises his brow.

“Uh, yeah. It ran behind the bush.” I point to the bush by the half wall, and he nods.

“Righht,” he says slowly. “So, what’s new?”

Issac walks to the table I was at, tossing his bag down next to mine.

“Seminar homework,” I sigh.

He makes a face, then reaches for his bag, digging around before pulling out a box of Skittles. “Want some?”

“Please.”

We sit there for a while, moaning about the idiocy that is Seminar, munching on the hordes of candy he has stashed in his bag.

“Hey, you figure out what you’re doing for the portfolio?” he asks, throwing a peanut M&M into the air and catching it in his mouth.

I groan, laying on the table. “No. No I haven’t.”

“Have you talked to Ethan? I’m sure he’d— “

“NO! Just. No. Professor Logan said I should too, but I’m probably just going to talk to Grayson.”

Issac posture shifts. He glances at me quickly, eating another M&M. “You talking to him again, then?”