Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Party

“What were you doing outside?” Lizzy asked me instantly. When I sat down, I accidentally spilled my drink on the table so she asked for some table napkins.

“Nothing,” I shortly answered. I calmed myself by taking a deep breath.

“Thank you, Jace,” Lizzy said when he handed her the napkins she asked for. “Oh, and by the way, this is my friend. She just moved to Mirfield a few weeks ago.”

“Hi.” He flashed a genuine smile. “Ivana, right?” he asked, offering a hand to me.

“Y-yeah,” I agreed, not asking why he knows my name. It’s not like not everyone talks about me the time I stepped on Mirfield College. “Just Ivy,” I said as I shook his hand.

"Well, it’s very nice to meet you. Jace, Jace Remington," he politely introduced himself. "Uhm, do you guys wanna go to a party?"

"Yes, of course!" Lizzy exclaimed as if she was already invited by him.

"Great. There will be a thanksgiving party tomorrow at our house because my mom became the mayor of Mirfield. Both of you should come," he said, inviting us.

"Well, yes! I'd be happy to come," Lizzy happily said with the biggest smile ever on her face.

"That's fantastic," he said and smiled at her. He suddenly put his hands on the table before he leaned and looked at me directly in my eyes. "You'll come too, right?" he asked me as if he couldn’t a ‘no’ for an answer.

"I'll think about it," I answered him.

___

Lizzy keeps on telling me that I need to go with her to Jace’s party. Leaving me no choice, I said yes. I wore blue sweatpants and a white hoodie. I tied my hair into a ponytail before going downstairs. Lizzy texted me her address so I started walking toward her place.

The cold air was penetrating my clothes, causing me to put my hands inside the pockets of my hoodie. I smelled something sick to the stomach as I peacefully walked. I looked around, only to see a pile of dead deer with fresh blood all over its place.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered while I felt my heartbeat getting faster. I ran and as soon as I got into Lizzy’s place, I aggressively knocked on the door.

“Hey, easy on the door, Ivy—”

“I saw something. I saw dead animals, Lizzy,” I told her, catching my breath out of my nervousness.

“What? Where?” Lizzy asked.

“Right…” The pile disappeared from where I saw it, a minute ago. “…there.” I pointed out the place.

“Wait, are you messing up with me?” Lizzy crossed her arms, not believing what I had just said.

“Lizzy, I saw it with my naked eye. This isn’t the first time—”

“Okay, stop. Maybe you’re just hallucinating, Ivy,” she said, cutting me off.

“But—”

She didn’t let me finish again. “Shhh.” Well, I hope she’s a hundred percent right that I was hallucinating because I couldn’t bear to see something like that ever again. “Oh, my God. What are you wearing?”

“Clothes?” I said, literally.

“No, I mean what are you wearing exactly? Ivy, we’re going to a party, not jogging,” she said, throwing a disgusted face while looking at what I was wearing.

“I know. Is there a required outfit for parties?” I asked because I don’t go to parties as she does.

“Of course! You should wear things like this," she said and flexed her outfit to me.

Lizzy forced me to wear a white sleeveless dress but I told her that I’m not comfortable wearing clothes that are revealing so she also lent me a denim jacket. When we got inside Jace’s house, I saw him coming toward us with a glass of liquor in his hand.

“Oh, there he is.” Lizzy was smiling, very excited to see her ultimate crush.

“I’m glad you made it,” he said while looking at me. “Both of you.”

“We’re glad that you invited us too,” Lizzy told him with a smile.

“Come, let me show you where the drinks are,” he said, leading us the way. I sighed in relief as soon as I saw non-alcoholic drinks. When we got our drinks, someone suddenly called him, it was probably his friend or something. “Excuse me for a minute,” he said, smiling.

Lizzy spilled some drink on her dress. “Oh, what a clumsy hand I got. I’ll just be going to the bathroom, Ivy,” she informed me and I nodded. She then left and went to the bathroom to get herself cleaned up.

“Hey, you left this on the floor.” I turned around and saw someone very familiar. He was holding my handkerchief that I must’ve dropped while walking.

What’s he doing here?

He looked surprised to see me too. Before I could get my handkerchief from his hand, I heard Jace’s voice. “Zion, there you are.” It looks like they’re close. They might be friends. “Oh, Ivy. This is Zion, my uncle,” Jace introduced him to me.

“Uncle?” I confusedly asked. I’m pretty sure they’re the same age.

“Yes. He’s my mom’s youngest brother,” he told me. Makes sense.

“I’ll just head outside,” Zion said. “Nice meeting you,” he added while looking at me like we haven’t met at school already. He then left and used the backdoor in the kitchen, I think.

“Where’s Lizzy?” Jace curiously asked.

“Uhm, she’s in the bathroom. I’ll go get her,” I told him and he said, “Okay.”

I walked away and instead of going inside the bathroom, I went to follow Zion. I went through the backdoor too and he was there, struggling to light up his cigarette.

“It’s kind of windy, you know?” I said which made him look startled when heard me. But after he saw me, he didn’t give any reaction and tried to light up his cigarette again.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, not looking at me.

“Just give up on it already,” I told him. “Smoking isn’t good for anyone’s health.” He just gave up and put the cigarette back in its silver box and put it in his pocket. I went closer and stood beside him but I was weirded out when he went a step to get farther from me. I didn’t bother to ask him about it anymore. “It was you, right?”

“What?” he asked, leaning his back on the wall and putting his hand in his pocket.

“You were there at the diner,” I told him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said right away but I didn’t buy it.

“Why were you looking at me like that?” I asked again but he didn’t speak. “And now you’re avoiding me. You weren’t like this when we first met.”

“Can you just please go back inside? I need to be alone,” he said, sounding annoyed that I’m here with him.

“Not until you admit that it was you,” I said. I didn’t care if it would make him frustrated.

“Okay, fine.” He faced me. “Yes, it was me. So, can you leave me now?”

“Not until you tell me why I felt like you needed to tell me something,” I replied. He was getting furious. Too bad, he won’t get rid of me until he tells me what I need to know. He looked like he was planning on avoiding my question again but realized it was hopeless.

He leaned his back on the wall again before sighing. “I saw you in my dream.”