JJ, after signing out stepped away from the group to take the phone call. "How did you get this number?" she asked rather angrily.
"We've all got to have some secrets right?" was the reply. JJ told herself to go online later and interrogate everyone until they told her how Will had gotten this particular phone number.
"Fine. What do you want?" she asked looking over at the group. Most had walked out and were walking down the street to the café. Kelly and Isabelle stood waiting for her.
"You've been avoiding all my calls."
"It's this little thing called work… you should try it some time!" JJ muttered.
"What's gotten into you?" he asked.
"Look, was there a reason you called?" JJ asked. There was silence over the phone.
After a minute of silence Will spoke "JJ… I -"
"Come on Kate, we have to go," Kelly called out.
"Sorry Will, I have to go! We'll talk later ok," JJ said and without waiting for an answer hung up. She joined Isabelle and Kelly and the threesome headed out into the street in the direction of the café for dinner.
JJ was silent on the trip to the café, and Kelly knew she wouldn't want to talk about it so she let it slide. They walked into the café silently and took seats at the end off the table, next to Megan and Laura.
"We ordered you ceaser salads" Megan said smiling.
"Thank you," Kelly replied.
"So…" Laura started "Who's Will?"
It seemed like the entire table went quiet as soon as she asked. Everyone was staring at her, waiting for an answer. Obviously, everyone had heard her say his name, when she found out who had called her, and all wanted to know who he was. One bad thing about being a high school cheerleader, everyone knew everyone's business. Almost like being in her team, they knew everything about each other.
JJ quickly thought of an excuse she could use. She was silent for almost an entire minute and everyone was starting to get annoyed.
"Well?" Taylor questioned.
"He's my possessive ex-boyfriend. We broke up a month ago and he has been calling me at all odd hours, asking me where I have been and who I'm with as if we are still going out."
"Oh, honey, I feel for you," Emma spoke up "my break up with Chris was exactly the same."
The arrival of food stopped them from asking more questions and JJ from having to invent more excuses. They ate their meals in silence. The only sounds that were heard were various other conversations from the other customers in the café and clanging from the kitchen as the staff prepared meals.
"So how long did you go guys go out for?" Laura asked, taking a bite of her salad.
"Ah, about 6 months," JJ replied uneasily. This was true; she and Will had gone out for six months. The only problem was, they were still going out.
"Wow, long relationship." Samantha.
"Yeah, it was… probably one of my longest."
The conversation quickly turned to long term relationships, and turned into a debate about who had had the longest and with whom. JJ gave a quick sigh of relief. At least now the attention was off her and Will.
After finishing, instead of hanging around like they did the night before, the girls all stood up and quickly walked out of the café. Kelly dragged JJ up, and, holding onto her arm tightly steered her to the front door, pushing her outside.
"They are going to have a party for you tonight in the common room. You know, to welcome you and all," JJ nodded so Kelly continued "and afterwards, they will come to our room…" JJ paled.
"I'll hide everything that has your real name on it while you are all in the common room, but you have to distract them from my absence."
JJ nodded slowly checking behind her to see if anyone had heard them. No one had as they were all chatting loudly, about 500 meters behind them.
They walked slowly back to school and signed in. JJ took the opportunity to go get cleaned up from practice. After all, she didn't want to be sweaty for her party. As she let the water run over her skin, she wondered what Will had wanted to say to her. A part of her felt bad at being so dismissive and rude. The team didn't know they were seeing each other and she wanted to keep it that way. A thought suddenly crossed her mind. If Will had gotten her new number from someone on the team, had he told them? Did they know the last secret she'd had?
"JJ, hurry up. People are starting to show up downstairs!" Kelly called from outside the bathroom door. JJ cut the water and grabbed a towel.
"I'll be right out."
A short time later, both JJ and Kelly appeared in the common room. The girls from the squad had decorated and there was punch and a few other bottles lying around. JJ assumed they had been filled with alcohol. She'd have to remember to not drink the punch.
"I'll be right back," Kelly whispered in her ear. JJ nodded and went to go join some of the other girls.
Kelly snuck out of the party and ran to their room. She grabbed all the things around the room which could give away JJ's true identity and went to hide them in the underwear drawer. Just as she pulled the drawer open, she realized that the girls would probably go through it all, so she stuck them all under her mattress. Once done, she checked every other item in the room, and, once satisfied she was done, and their secret was safe, ran out of the room and back down to the common room to re-join the party.
However, Kelly had missed one thing. The pregnancy test JJ had taken early that morning. She had left it in the bathroom.
- - - - - - - - - -
The key fit exactly into the keyhole, and, with a quick, silent twist, unlocked the door. The figure snuck into the office, silently closing the door. They quickly made their way to the files and located the one they were looking for.
Kate Miller.