Enemy Beloved

37 | Thea

★

C L A I R E

Thea Willows. Thea. Thea. Thea

The end of my pencil makes a clipping sound as I tap it on the desk agitatedly. The pop quiz in front of me is already filled up, with all the right answers marked among the multiple-choice questions. The quiz came as a necessary escape to me just at the right time because I haven't been able to stop thinking about the name on Vaughn's phone screen last night.

I have avoided talking to him since and pretended to be asleep when he came to our room from his study. It seems stupid to act this way. This Thea maybe anyone, yet, my heart doesn't want to believe that.

It's her. It's definitely her.

The piercing sound of our professor's timer causes the classroom to erupt in chaos as he collects the sheets. I hand it to him and rush out, a baseball cap shadowing my face to hide the marks on my face. I push past people until I collide with someone who holds my arm to steady my hurried steps.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

I look up to find Nina's concerned eyes staring down at me. She looks like she dressed in a hurry today. Her T-shirt isn't tucked properly, her hair is messy and her eyes are puffy. I haven't seen her since that woeful day at the warehouse and her voice reminds me of why I went there in the first place. I let her go off my arm as Jesse stalks towards us, dressed in a red boyfriend shirt and jeans.

"Nothing." I shrug, starting to walk towards the exit while they follow me.

"Claire, slow down," Jesse says as she struts beside me. "Vaughn told Nina to never let you out of sight after what happened the other day."

"You're my friends, Jesse. Not Vaughn's. You don't have to do anything he says." I look at the sky and the weather is burning hot outside. The sun shines too bright, making me squint my eyes. It was cloudy in the morning so I didn't bring my sunglasses. I regret my choice now. "I wanna grab a coffee. You coming?"

"I would like to differ. I'm craving an ice cream," Nina groans, fishing out a face mist from her bag and spraying it on her face.

Something in her voice irks me. She pretends to be so perfect all the time, all innocent and sweet but it was her voice the killer recorded somehow.

Why and how did he do it?

"Not everything's about you," I mutter under my breath as I climb a step down.

When I don't hear them following me I look back to see Nina with her jaw slackened as both of my friends look at me.

"What did you say?" Nina folds her arms over her chest, a stoic look getting on her face.

"Nothing..." I lie.

"No, what did you say?" she repeats, stepping down until we are face to face. "What's your problem with me, Claire?"

"I don't have any problem with you."

"You're lying. You have been breathing down my neck for days now. Just say it to my face. What the fuck do you want?"

"What the fuck do I want?" I snap. "What the fuck do you want? We both know that you don't like being with us very much so maybe it is you who should be doing the explaining here."

"Explaining? Mind elaborating a little?"

"Your phone," I say. "Did you get it back?"

She looks between me and Jesse and then rolls her eyes. "I did. It was at home only. I found it under the microwave."