Beta'd by xoxo Starry-eyed! I don't own The Clique; Lisi Harrison does :)

ʘ 4 ʘ

Lisa Andrews, the first teenager, brought her knees closer to her and hugged them, trying to conserve body heat. The man had taken her as she was walking to her school, Westchester High. He wore a mask, and he had covered her mouth with a cloth. Smelling it had made her feel drowsy, and then she woke up here in this dark room.

She was glad that she could move. In some books that she had read, some of the people who were captured were sometimes bound together tightly with rope, or they were caught in plastic bags with nothing to breathe but their own oxygen. Also, some people were left to battle with their own selves. Their eyes were glued shut, as were their ears and their mouths, so they couldn't scream and they had to stay trapped inside their own minds.

The door opened and she raised her head a little, hoping that it was help. It wasn't. It was that man, and he had her best friend, Chris Hadley. Chris was thrown in roughly, along with some food and two canteens of water. The door closed, and Lisa crawled up to Chris, snuggling against him and sharing his heat. She wished that day had never happened. Maybe this strange man wouldn't have taken them.

*Flashback*

She and Chris were coming home from their various schools. They walked home together, even though she went to Westchester High and he went to the improved Briarwood Boys Academy. She was crying that day; the school bully stole her lunch, her lunch money and he stuffed her in her own locker.

"What's wrong, Lis?" Chris asked.

"Nothing." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. He might have been her best friend, but she didn't need him to feel pity for her.

"Come on, Lis, you can tell me."

"It's okay, Chris. I'll tell you over the phone when we get home."

"No, Lis, you can tell me now, okay?"

"Well, the school bully took virtually everything of mine, and then he stuffed me in my locker."

"He did? And you were scared to tell me this?"

"I didn't want you to feel sorry for me. Now, if you don't mind, can we actually start moving?"

In the heat of the moment, they had stopped walking. Now, they resumed their walk, hand-in-hand, just like they always did. "Lis, do you mind if we cut through the park?"

"That's what I was thinking. I want to see the birds and the little children frolicking in the grass."

"Like lambs?"

"You know it."

When they got to the park, they wanted to sit down at their favourite bench. It was the bench where they had first met. As they approached the bench, Lisa lost her footing and stumbled to the ground. Only, it wasn't the ground. It was a piece of green cloth that was painted to look exactly like grass. She fell into a hole, and when she opened her eyes, she screamed.

"What's wrong?" Chris asked, running to her side.

"L-Look at that," she whispered.

Chris looked at what she was pointing at and nearly had a heart attack himself. He pulled her up and they stood together for a while. "I-I'll call the police," he said a little nervously.

Lisa looked at the two dead bodies lying in the hastily made grave. She recognized one of them… she was one of the people who went to the community centre with her. What was her name again? Oh, yeah, it was Eileen. Eileen was such a kind spirit; why anyone would want to murder her blew Lisa's mind. She didn't know the person beside Eileen, but it didn't really matter.

Within a few minutes, the police – more or less – arrived at the scene. They hadn't really believed Chris' story over the phone; it was hard to believe a teenager saying that there were dead bodies in the park, because, let's face it: it's not every day dead bodies are found in a place where children played in their spare time.

Lisa recognized the first detective: Detective Mike Smith. He'd come to Westchester High about a month ago to talk about what to do when strangers came too close to you. He headed over to Lisa and said, "Lisa, what happened?"

"Chris and I decided to cut through the park because I wanted to see the little children playing… and then we headed over to a specific bench, and I fell into that hole." She pointed at it and looked like she was about to cry.

Det. Mike stroked her hair and said, "Okay, let's get you home. Both of you."

Lisa and Chris were bundled into one of the squad cars and driven home, and at the time, she thought her life couldn't get any worse.

*Back to Reality*

"Why are we here?" Chris asked. His voice was barely above a whisper, and Lisa had to strain her ears to hear what he said.

"I don't know, Chris. I think it has to do with those bodies we found the other day."

"Who was that man?"

"I don't know. And, this might sound odd, but I felt like I'd smelt him before. And seen him before."

"Smelt him before?"

"Yeah. Weird, isn't it?"

"No offense, but totally weird, yeah."

Lisa sat up. She was sure she'd smelt him before. Thankfully, he hadn't searched her, and so she had a piece of paper and a pencil in her pocket. It was day, so there was some sunlight streaming in through the windows. She drew a diagram on the paper, wrote a few names… and then she wrote some more names. After crossing out and rewriting, she whispered – more to herself than to Chris – I've got it.

I was reading somewhere that asking for reviews is a tad selfish, and it makes me happy to know that you like the story :)

So, thanks to:

xoxo Starry-eyed

keep calm and sparkle

FanFicFanticGurl

4 (Guest)

Amor,

Kellie.