Chapter 4: Deal over the Silent Danger

S A G E

The quarter moon in the sky set the air in a mysterious dark escape. The crackling sound of the burning timbers and the laughter around the campfire mingled together at the night of celebration. The sweep of the air danced with the leaves to sing a gentle harmony in my ears. Although I wasn't expecting that I would have a guest who hated me almost all her life, so far, my little camp party was enjoyable. Gwen, Cayde, and I were compressed sitting on the tree log with wine glasses in our hands and a plate of foods on my lap.

"Now that you're seventeen, I'm still not gonna allow you to be in a relationship."

My head tilted to Cayde, frowning at his dumb statement. "You're not my father, ginger-wart."

"Maybe your Daddy," Gwen hinted, playfully nudging my arm with hers.

Cayde and I looked at each other and we almost gagged at that idea. No, that would never happen. Yes, Cayde was sweet and all, totally handsome with her ginger hair and an almost pale complexion and he had these pair of dark eyes that could lure every girl into him just as easily. However, we considered each other best friends. Even if there was more, we were just like siblings, completely platonic at all.

"And maybe I should tell you a secret."

Gwen's eyes sparkled and she stared at me in anticipation. "What is it?"

I chuckled. "No, not just a secret. Secrets."

"Who's the guy, Sage? I'll make sure that he won't live another day," Cayde growled protectively after he chugged a glass of red wine.

"Or maybe it's a woman. Is it a teacher from our school?"

My mouth gaped open, producing a small gasp from Gwen's naughty imagination. I briefly glanced at my parents who were chatting with the other adults while Primrose, Bren, and Julia were enjoying themselves burning marshmallows in the campfire. "Shut it. My parents might hear you. Worst, Primrose might be listening, and then she could spread that foul information to the whole school."

"Prim won't do that," Cayde commented, his tone was certain and without any doubt.

"Just because you've dated her the whole summer doesn't mean you already know her, Cayde."

Holy moly, they were bickering again! Once Gwen had found out that Cayde was together with that cheer-captain, their argument had become a routine——nothing harmful though. I couldn't blame Gwen because Primrose had done a lot of awful things to us so I was on her side. But at the same time, Cayde was free to date anyone he likes anyway and I wouldn't stop him just because I didn't like the girl. To my relief, they'd broken up at the end of the summer which was expected anyway, given that Cayde was such a playboy——the other reason why we couldn't be together.

"And you already know her, huh?" the ginger haired-boy retorted with a smirk on his face. "As far as I know, you're the one who threw your friendship away three years ago."

My head jerked to Cayde in surprise. Wow, that was——that was a piece of new information! I didn't know that Gwen and Primrose were friends before. I guess I wasn't the only one who had secrets here.

Well, Gwen seemed surprised too. "How——How did you know that?" she asked Cayde, her voice was low but my other best friend didn't answer her. Gwen inhaled sharply. "Never mind, I have my reason."

Cayde nodded at her and I was more astounded that he didn't argue back and he looked like he understood Gwen, contrary to my clueless head who didn't get it at all.

"Uhmm, should I feel jealous now? This is my party but you're arguing about this girl who wasn't invited at all in the first place?"

My two best friends shifted their eyes at me, guilt struck to their faces. They really should feel guilty though because I was about to tell my secrets just a while ago but the topic turned sideways so easily.

"Sorry, what was it anyway? Your secrets," Gwen urged me to continue, serving the glass in my hand with a light red wine.

I bit my cheek in hesitation, wondering how should I tell them about my short-lived relationship during the summer. "Cayde isn't the only one who had a little trip during this summer. I dated this guy for a while but we ended it for a weird reason."

"Who is it, girl? And what base were you on?" Gwen teased.

"We just made out, nothing more than that but do you know Ethan?"

Cayde snickered. "Ethan Haynes? He's gay, Sage."

My eyes widened. "How do you even know about that? That's a secret between us."

Gwen snorted. "Almost everybody knows about that, sagebean. Don't tell me you've broken up because he confessed his sexual preference to you. And these are your secrets? You've dated a guy you'd initially thought was straight and got dump because of it."

"No, we dumped each other because I'd finally realized that I prefer girls just like he is with boys," I finally admitted, knowing that they would accept me nevertheless. "Think of it, I just needed to date a guy in order to realize this fully and I couldn't be more glad to Ethan when he told me he's gay. It saved me from breaking his heart."

"Are you kidding me?" Gwen exclaimed, staring at me in disbelief. "The way you always watch your parents being lovey-dovey is enough indication that you're into girls, Sage. That's not a secret anymore, at least to the both of us."

"She's right. That's not a secret anymore. Anything we don't know about you want to share?" Cayde asked, his tone was mocking.

I let out a puff and grimaced at both of them. "You're both ruining my night."

My best friends laughed out loud, earning all the attention around us. Particularly, Primrose who tossed a sharp glare at me which I just brushed off. However, Bren decided to finally hang out with us and the two cheerleaders trailed behind as they sat on the log near our spot.

Bren poured himself a glass of juice then added a bit of alcohol from a silver flask he had brought with him. "So... I've heard that you had an argument with those new kids, Cayde."

Cayde's expression turned cold while my mind took its own accord, recalling how mysterious those blue eyes were.

"I was just making it interesting for them after I've heard them talking about our place being boring."

I almost rolled my eyes about how childish he was. If only Gwen and I hadn't interrupted, he would be beaten to a pulp. Val's brother looked ripped and solid hard while Cayde's body was leaner and taller. But maybe I could trust his speed, given that he was the best player on our ice hockey team.

"But Val here seems to get along with that blonde girl," Primrose chimed in.

Of course, she must have seen me talking to Val in our last class of the day. She was also there or better yet, she'd found out about it from another source, knowing she had a lot of connection in our school. Or maybe she'd heard it from Bren.

I could feel two pairs of eyes aiming at me but I just ignored them. "I was just trying to help Val to navigate around the school. She looks nice anyway and I think we could be friends."

"Oh no, don't even try to pull her into your lameness," Julia unnecessarily chided. "We're going to invite her to tryouts into our popular clique. Right, Prim?"

Prim was about to speak but Gwen suddenly interjected. "For the first time, I would like to agree with her. Sorry, but you better stay away from them, Sage."

I looked at her in disbelief. "Cayde?" I called out, hoping that he would oppose for me. It was my damn birthday anyway.

But unfortunately, he was on their side. "Sorry, Sage. Gwen is right. You don't even know them."

I sighed heavily. "Yet. I can be friends with whoever I want anyway. I don't need both of your permission." I saw Primrose rolled her eyes, annoying me further. "And I'll make sure that Val won't even step foot in your own dolled-up club. I can sure assure you that."

Primrose raised one of her brows. "Is that a challenge?"

"Yes, are you scared?" I taunted, giving her a curved-up smile.

The brunette clenched her jaw but she gave me an impish smile in return. "Of course not. Loser gets to be a slave for a week. Deal?"

I gulped nervously but eventually nodded in agreement. I couldn't back down anyway because I was the one who had challenged her in the first place. "Deal."

"No!" Gwen cried out, giving me a look of horror. "Sage, what are you doing? Don't you know you're challenging a conniving vixen? You will surely lose!"

"Gosh, thanks for that compliment, bitch," Primrose retorted, flipping her hair. "But it's a deal between me and Miss Crochet here. You got nothing to do with it."

Gwen stood up, clearly irritated about the situation. Of course, she was. She didn't want me to be a slave for Primrose and on the other hand, she also didn't want me to be friends with Val for some reason. I turned to Cayde and he was shaking his head in disapproval, too. I knew they meant well but I also had to decide on my own. I was glad that I didn't tell them about this indescribable connection I had with Val, that I was crushing so hard on her already.

"Hey, who's coming?" Julia said, earning our attention to the car pulling over along with the police vehicle.

"It's my father," Cayde said, standing up in alarm.

Mr. Russell and my Mom also came over to them as Mr. Voss climbed out of his SUV with three police officers getting out of their own. Something must have happened because their faces looked like a war was about to start. And they needed to report it to the town sheriff as soon as possible, hence why they were here, probably about to spoil my camp party.

We watched them conversing from a distance, the rattling sound of the leaves covering their murmurs. The air was getting colder already as if to warn us about something. I'd noticed that Gwen and Cayde were looking at each other's eyes, their faces were stone cold. Were they really upset about my little fiasco with Primrose just a while ago? I hope not because I was determined to get close with Val though.

After a few minutes, my Mom left them to walk towards us and my other mother met her halfway. They talked for a while then they sauntered directly towards me, guilt flowing in their eyes.

"I'm sorry, love. We need to pack up now," Ma informed us as my Mom held me inside her embrace.

"What? Why?" I questioned my Mom straightaway.

"It's dangerous here. I'll tell you tomorrow but first, we all need to get you home," she answered, rubbing my arms comfortingly. "Please, all of you, get into the RV. My wife will drive you all home with one of our officers."

"What about my car? There's school tomorrow. I can't leave it here," Bren asked, worried about his big Chevy. 

My Mom tossed him a glance while running her fingers through her short hair in distress. "Right. How about this? I'll let Olsen drive my daughter's car so that he could tag along until you're home."

Bren looked satisfied with the idea but I was still upset that some bad circumstances out there had ruined my night. Unfortunately, we didn't have a choice but to pack up quickly and contained ourselves in the RV my parents rented for this oh-so-joyous event. But somehow, I understood that they were just doing their job and it just so happened that my Mom was in-charge of the patrol team all over the town.

Cayde had suggested driving the RV but Mr. Voss called him to accompany him back home. So it was just Ingrid on the passenger seat with Gwen and me who were in the backseat of the RV with my Ma as the driver while the two cheerleaders were in Bren's Chevy.

However, once the engine roared to life, Primrose suddenly climbed into the van, startling Gwen according to the face she was making. Their eyes locked and they probably would be dead by now just from the way they kill each other with their intense eyes.

"Mrs. Sullivan, my Dad wants me here instead, if that's okay with you?" she questioned, grimacing at both of us.

"Of course. Suit yourself, darling," Ma responded with a warm smile.

There were just two seats facing each other inside the vehicle with an attached table in between. The rest of the space was behind a curtain further back. Gwen and I were sitting next to each other so Primrose just decided to settle herself on the other seat. I only heard her let out a tired breath before occupying herself with her phone.

There was only silence inside the recreational van along with the low noises from the stereo my Ma had turned on. Glancing at the dashboard, the digital watch was showing it was already nine in the evening. Gwen was staring out of the window and I was wondering if she was still upset with me—— for even provoking the brunette in front of us.

I opened my mouth to say something but the wheel suddenly rolled over a deep bump, causing the vehicle to lurch more on the side.

"Sorry, didn't saw that coming," I heard my Ma apologized from the driver seat.

By chance, I was able to grab a handgrip to support myself but when I turned to see if the two were fine, I saw my best friend and Primrose in an awkward position. Her forearm was pressed across the cheerleader's chest while her other hand was gripping her sleeve, perhaps to stop her face flat on the table.

I cleared my throat, startling the two to jerk away from each other. They didn't say anything to each other after that scenario and just went back pretending they didn't exist. Now I was curious why they had a fallout. 

"Hey, look at that," Gwen finally had gathered herself and slid the windows, seeing a few police vehicles on the side of the road.

Mr. Russell and my Mom were already there but when I saw a familiar car surrounded by the authorities, my heart instantly assaulted with fear. As my mother passed slowly across the scene, probably curious too, I did a double-take and looked for the plate number of the car.

And without any doubt, I knew that it was Ethan's. Of course, I was familiar with that car because it was the one he'd been using on our dates before. What the hell happened to him? Was he okay? Was he alive? Was it a car accident? Or did he go missing? Or maybe...

I shook my head, erasing that vile thought in my head.

"Are you okay, Sage?" I heard Gwen asked, her tone was concerned.

"It was Ethan's car, " I mumbled but only silence responded. Gwen and Primrose were shocked as well, sensing that this was going to be a similar case. Same as a couple of teens gone missing every month which hadn't been solved yet. The reason why my Mom had to work overtime and had only too little time for her family.

I hoped not. I wished it was just a car accident and he only had gotten minor injuries. Otherwise, I would be devastated because Ethan was a good friend of mine.

Dammit, Ethan! I just wished he's fine.

........