Catriona looked at the room doctors confined her in.
"She's in shock." One doctor murmured sympathetically outside of the room.
"She'll be fine." Another doctor observed from the corridor.
Cat sighed. Why is she even here? Sure, she was on the raft where Drew got murdered and was supposedly to be 'in shock' but she isn't. She just didn't feel like answering the police's questions and didn't answer them. They seriously have to hire better doctors.
As a team of doctors outside continued starring through the glass window, Cat thought back to the incident, how she ended up being locked in a room.
Drew looked at the bamboo raft. It is sufficient to carry Ms. Indigo, Kerri, Cat, Kaylee and herself across the river. However, Drew was pretty sure she'll get wet during the ride. Calm down, she told herself. Getting wet would probably be the best thing next to all the other activities she had to choose from.
"Can I go on first?' Drew asked politely. "I don't like being on the side of the raft."
Ms. Indigo frowned but nodded. "Sure, go ahead." Drew smiled with satisfaction. This is why Ms. Indigo is her favorite teacher. She is in her early 20's and had just graduated from Art School. She is quiet, gentle and soft-spoken.
"Teacher!" Kaylee's blue eyes grew wide. "You don't just let students go first. You're the teacher, you have every rights to go first."
Drew's eyes grew cold. People assume that Kerri, Cat and Kaylee were her best friends but really, they hated each other. They took every chance to go against each other. Kerri, Cat and Kaylee against her.
"Oh yeah." Ms. Indigo nodded, torn between which girl she should be listening to. "Drew, sorry dear!"
Kaylee smirked as Drew had to step out of the way for Ms. Indigo to step on the raft.
"Kaylee, I suggest you to go last." Drew smiled coldly. "The last one gets the best seat and we all want to treat you like a princess don't we?"
"Drew!" Catriona said sharply. "You know it's best for you not to say anything under the circumstances!"
Drew's brown eyes flashed but she knew exactly what Cat was talking about and piped down. Fuck Cat and her little, know-it-all brain.
As soon as Ms. Indigo and all 4 girls were on the raft, they started paddling towards the currents. Ms. Indigo looked at the girls and smiled wryly. "Girls, you know what to do don't you?"
"Yup!" Kerri nodded as all of them remember the briefing they got before they were to build the raft. They all had different assignments during the raft and had to report their findings to Ms. Indigo the next Wednesday. Easy! Ms. Indigo would compliment any reports no matter how sucky they are and give good grades. She didn't have the guts to insult one one them.
"Can I get a photo of all of us together on the raft?" Kerri asked suddenly bringing her waterproof polaroid camera out of her bag.
"Sure!" Ms. Indigo nodded as Cat and Kaylee got into position.
"You joining the picture?" Kaylee gestured towards Drew who has been sulking in the side. Drew got a bad feeling about this, especially when they didn't like each other. However, everyone knows Kaylee loves uploading pictures onto Facebook and this picture will be gold. It will show that Drew is actually friends with the three.
In Goode High, there is the most popular girl - Piper McLean with her movie-star dad and Hollywood socialite mom. Whoever that is friends with her is considered to be popular and sociable. Everybody wants to be friends with Piper, mostly to get into Hollywood, meet celebrities and hopefully get a few snapshots of them on the latest magazines. However, there is only one clique in the school where people would like to become apart of and it's formed by Cat, Kaylee, Kerri, Brittany, Chelsea and London. If you're a new girl, the one thing that can lead you to instant fame across the school is to become apart of this clique and Piper's friend.
If Piper and Cat were friends, they would be way out of everybody's league. They all remembered middle school and nobody wants to repeat that. Luckily, Piper and Cat fell apart a few years ago and they don't seem like they are getting back together in any ways.
A picture with Cat, Kaylee and Kerri can lead to that instant fame Drew wanted. It was something she left behind but never got back. It wasn't Piper, it was Drew who was the most popular girl at high school before she left. Now she came back, everything is lost. Drew hesitated trying to indicate that she didn't really want the photo but reluctantly nodded. "Count me in."
Cat's smile twisted into a sly shape and made space for Drew as she slipped into position.
"3, 2, 1!" Kerri called behind the camera as somebody grabbed a sharp knife from their bag and stuck it behind Drew Tanaka's back.
Piper McLean walked into the hospital with a small box of chocolates. If Cat has visited her when she was unconscious, it's only fair to visit her back when she's stuck in the hospital. Hopefully, the visit before meant that they had both forgiven each other.
"May I help you?" A young nurse asked behind the counter offering a bright, warm smile.
"Yes, I'm here to visit Cat. Catriona Fontaine."
"Ah, poor girl isn't she?" The nurse shook her head and sighed. "Take the lift to the first floor and turn straight left. You should see a row of rooms with glass windows. She should be in one of those rooms."
"Thanks." Piper turned and went up to the first floor by elevator. Cat was in the first room as mentioned by the nurse looking outside of the building. Piper looked at her wistfully and almost turned back. She felt nervous going inside to meet the girl she once told everything to.
"Hello, and you are?" A doctor tapped Piper's shoulders gently.
"Piper. Piper McLean. I'm here to visit Cat."
"Ah, you can see that she still isn't very responsive." The doctor glanced inside the room. "She had spent hours gazing out of the building. You are her friend, I assume? Maybe she'll talk to you."
You are her friend, I assume? Piper's mind repeated that phrase. Ex-friend, she wanted to correct the doctor but couldn't bring herself to. After all those years, she had to admit that Cat had never stopped being her friend. Yeah, they haven't talk but that doesn't mean they aren't friends. Just..friends who don't talk to each other. "Maybe." Piper nodded.
"You can go inside." The doctor opened the glass door. "Catriona? You have guests!"
Cat's gaze tore away from the window and remained on Piper as the doctor closed the door. Neither of the girls talked to each other, just staring. A few years ago, they would be chattering about the latest gossip but now they are silent.
"Hi." Piper breathed with butterflies in her stomach.
"Hey." Cat nodded.
"You alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
Small talk. Nothing like what they would have been a few years ago. Piper wanted to chat to her freely as if they were best friends again. She wanted that feeling where she can tell everything to her.
"The doctors kept on pestering me so I ignored them. Like Tiara."
Piper laughed. Tiara. Cat was talking about one of a movie - more like documentary they watched when they were 13. It was about a girl called Tiara who never talked to anyone for her whole life and her parents got a group of scientists to figure out what's wrong with her. Turns out, she just didn't want to talk as talking to people annoyed her and she found it frustrating answering all those questions she has been asked.
"They do think you are in shock." Piper told her. "They are like stalking you outside of the glass recording everything you do."
"I know." Cat nodded. "It's so annoying! It's kind of like we're at the movie premiers with your dad and there's the paparazzi wanting to know Tristan McLean's daughter and her friend does."
"Oh yeah," Piper giggled. "I remembered that time. They stalked us all around New York."
It was almost like they're 13 again, Giggling, chatting, talking about things nobody but they'll know.
"Oh by the way," Piper remembered something given to her a few weeks ago. "Why did you give me a phone number when I was unconscious?"
Catriona's face grew pale. "You didn't call, did you?"
"No, sorry." Piper shook her head rather embarrassedly. "Sorry! I kept meaning to but I always forget."
"Good." Cat's pretty blue eyes narrowed. "Don't call that number. Just don't. Anyway, do you remember the time we were watching Hairspray and Miles Wrentz was trying to get a good view of the movie screen outside of my house? God! That gave me a heart attack when I saw him!"
"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! Thy leaves are so unchanging!" A children choir sang at the front door of Reyna's house.
"Great singing!" Reyna's mom applauded.
"Why are you going christmas caroling so early?" Reyna's dad complained to a whole bunch of kids.
Reyna sighed, she can hear all of these up in her room. It's very distracting especially when she is studying for her maths test which she needs to get at least 90% of it right.
She couldn't say she isn't tempted to sing along the kids. The thing she likes most about christmas is singing the christmas carols. Every christmas, she belts out the tunes loudly but not this year. Good grades come first.
"Another song!" Reyna's mom cheered. "These kids are good!"
"These kids have the wrong timing." Reyna's dad grumbled. "You're suppose to carol on Christmas Eve! It's common sense."
"Rudolph the red nose reindeer, has a very shiny nose!" The kids happily sang.
Reyna threw her maths book down in annoyance. No, she could not work like this. She took out her IPod from a corner and put it on her christmas shuffle list.
"Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away." Taylor Swift sang melodically through the speakers.
Unconsciously, Reyna sang along softly as the flipped the pages of her textbook one by one. Soon, she was actually more into the carols than the maths. The music drowned everything in reality, she didn't hear the kids choir moving onto the next house and she certainly didn't hear her parents coming into her room.
"Reyna!" Her mom scolded. "What are you doing? Listening to christmas carols?"
"It's not even December the 25th!" Her dad frowned. "What's up with kids nowadays?"
"Just having some holiday spirit, mom." Reyna mumbled. "You were listening to christmas carols too! The kids were singing it."
"That's different." Her mom defended herself. "I don't have a test to be studying for."
"Hey, Rach!" Annabeth greeted her friend. "I was just looking through the yearbooks." She tried making herself sound casual. "Look at Percy when he was younger!"
"Um.." Rachel looked around nervously. "Do you want to do something else? Like catch a movie or something?"
Anxiousness, Annabeth observed. A sign showing she has a secret to hide. "Naw! Come on!" She grabbed Rachel's arm and pulled her down to look at the yearbooks with her. "Say, Reyna looks pretty is this picture!" She pointed to the picture innocently. The same two year old picture were she spotted a 'Rachel Elizabeth Dare' on while Rachel is suppose to be new.
"Look at me!" Annabeth exclaimed. "I look crap! And Piper is like Angelina Jolie next to me!"
"Yeah." Rachel's green eyes darted around the room. "You sure you don't want to visit the ice cream parlor or something?"
"Hey!" Annabeth ignored her friend and pointed straight on Rachel on the picture. "Don't this girl look kind of like you?"
"Kind of." Rachel's fingers fidgeted and slam the yearbook close abruptly. "Come on, let's go to Starbucks. My treat."
Annabeth turned the pages to the picture calmly. "Rachel, why are you in this picture?"
"Me? What? No! That is just someone who look like me! Oh my god! How can we be so alike! I swear, it's not me!" Rachel rambled on.
Denial. Final stage of a secret. "Rachel, just tell me what's wrong." Annabeth asked softly. "It's not a secret anymore."
"I..I can't!" Tears streamed unexpectedly down Rachel's face. "I'm sorry, Annabeth! I can't!" She sobbed and ran straight out of the door.
"How rude." Matthew, one of her brothers stormed down the staircase. "She just ran straight out without saying goodbye or giving me candies."
AN: Okay, Rachel got a bit too emotional/cheesy over there but I suppose if you have a secret that big, you would be just like her. Don't worry, I hope my next chapter would explain why all that happened but I guess it depends on how the story flows, doesn't it?
For all Swifties out there, IT'S TAYLOR SWIFT'S BIRTHDAY! And happy (belated) 12/12/12! It won't be until next century we'll get a date like that...
~Kisses, Emily