Mezzanine

| 30 |

Clouds streamed across the sky, casting the street in shadow. I stood on the front porch of Lola's house, shifting on my feet to keep warm as I waited for her to answer the door.

"Come on, Lola," I muttered under my breath. She didn't have cheerleading practice today and she always drove to school, so she should be home already.

Unless Andy went after her.

I swallowed the fear rising in my throat and knocked again. "Lola!"

Right as I was reaching to take out my phone to text her, the door swung open. A young teenage girl who couldn't have been more than five feet tall stood in the doorway.

A gust of wind whipped by, sending her curly, deep brown hair flying around her face. She pushed it out of her hazel-green eyes, letting it cascade over one shoulder as she looked me up and down. This had to be Lola's little sister. She looked just like her.

"Hey, you're Val, right?" I asked. "Lola's sister?"

"Yeah," she said. Is this the friend Lola's been sneaking out to see? Her gaze traveled up to meet my eyes.

"Is she home?"

Val looked over her shoulder and into the house. "Lola!" she shrieked like a banshee. "Your friend's here!"

The sound of footsteps clomping down stairs echoed through the house, and finally Lola skidded into the foyer. She wore a pair of ripped jeans that hugged her slim legs in all the right places and a cut-off black T-shirt that said "Cheer" in silver block letters. The wide-cut neckline hung to one side, exposing her shoulder and collar bone.

I breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her. She made it home. She was okay.

Oh boy, I can't wait to watch this, Val thought.

Lola shot her sister a glare. "Scram, brat!"

"Whatever," Val rolled her eyes and huffed before retreating into the house, her thoughts fading as she rounded the corner.

Lola turned her attention back to me. "I wasn't expecting you so early. I thought you had detention."

"I skipped," I said.

She narrowed her eyes. "Okay, but—"

"I was running late. When I got to the classroom, I looked through the door, and Andy wasn't there."

Lola opened her mouth, but I continued before she could say anything.

"I thought maybe...what happened when he was in the car with me yesterday...happened again." I lowered my voice to a whisper. "I was worried he might have come after you."

My heart pounded just talking about it. Lola was safe, which meant Andy hadn't come after her...so where was he? Had he gone back to the factory? Had he gone after someone else? What if he went after Carter?

My hand shook as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I needed to call him to make sure he was okay.

"Jay, calm down." Lola placed a hand on my arm.

"I need to check on Carter." I shook my head. "If Andy didn't come after you then—"

"Andy isn't possessed," she cut me off.

I froze, my eyes meeting hers as I waited for her to continue. How could she know that?

"I saw him heading to football practice before I left school," she continued. "He got Coach Greyson to write him a note to get out of detention because they have a big game coming up this weekend."

"He...went to football practice," I repeated.

"Uh huh." Lola nodded. She tilted her head to one side. "You wanna come in now?"