Fangs Beneath the Ice

Chapter 10: Too many eyes

WREN'S POV

I barely slept that night.

Every time I closed my eyes, the message kept appearing in my head.

[I know who you are.]

I didn't know who had sent it or what exactly they knew, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I kept checking my phone as if another message would suddenly appear and tell me who the person was, but nothing came. By the time morning came, I had darkness underneath my eyes and felt like I hadn't slept at all.

I sat at the breakfast table staring at my food without actually eating anything. My mind was somewhere else, and I didn't even notice when my mother called my name.

“Wren.”

I didn't respond.

“Wren.”

She suddenly snapped her fingers in front of my eyes, and I blinked, finally looking at her.

“What?”

She frowned at me. “What's wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“You've been staring at your food for the past five minutes.”

I looked down at my plate and forced myself to pick up my fork. “I'm fine.”

“You don't look fine.”

“It's the exam coming up.” I quickly said, hoping she would accept it. “I'm just thinking about it.”

Maren, who was sitting across from me, suddenly looked up from her food.

“That's a lie.”

I slowly turned towards her. “What?”

“You have a boyfriend.”

I stared at her for a few seconds before letting out a dry laugh.

“Ha. Ha.”

Maren grinned, clearly pleased with herself.

My mother shook her head. “Maren, that's not true.”

“How do you know?” Maren asked.

“Because your sister would tell me if she had a boyfriend.” she brushed her hair behind her ear, smiling.

I nearly choked on my food.

Maren looked at me suspiciously. “Then why is she acting weird?”

My mother's attention returned to me, and I immediately knew I had to leave before she started asking more questions.

“Wren, what's really happening?”

I dropped my fork and stood up, grabbing an apple from the table.

“I'm telling the truth. There's nothing wrong.”

“Wren.”

“I'll be late today from school if I don't leave now.” I said.

My mother opened her mouth but I was already walking away. “Wren, wait.”

“I'll see you later.” I left before she could stop me. I rushed outside and immediately saw the school bus waiting. I quickly climbed inside and found a seat near the window just as Maren came running after me.

“Sister! Wait!”

The bus door closed before she could reach it and the bus started moving.

I looked through the window and saw her standing there with her hands on her waist, looking annoyed.

‘My mother will take Maren to school.’ I leaned back against the seat and sighed.

I already had enough problems without having to explain myself to Maren too.

When I finally arrived at school, I immediately noticed the stares.

People were looking at me.

I lowered my head and continued walking, pretending not to notice them, but the feeling didn't go away. It felt like their eyes were following me everywhere I went and I couldn't understand why they wouldn't forget about what happened and move on.

This isn't the first time a boy and a girl are seen in public together. I'm not the first person, jeez.

I risked a glance over my shoulder but nobody was there.

I frowned and turned back around.

Maybe I was just imagining things.

After everything that happened yesterday, it wouldn't surprise me if I was becoming paranoid.

I entered my classroom and immediately saw Pearl. I dropped my bag beside my seat and looked at her.

“Hey, where were you yesterday?”

She looked at me for a moment before leaning closer. “I need to show you something after class.”

My heart dropped. “What?”

“After class.” she whispered, turning away.

“Pearl.” I frowned, my stomach twisting as a thought crossed my mind.

“I said after class, Wren.” She looked at me..

I stared at her suspiciously but she turned away from me, leaving me with no choice but to wait.

The entire class felt longer than usual. I couldn't concentrate on anything because my mind kept returning to the message from last night and now Pearl was acting strange too.

By the time the class ended, I was already impatient.

Pearl immediately grabbed her phone and stood up.

“Come on.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“The cafeteria.” she answered, turning to the door.

I followed her, confused. “Why are we going to the cafeteria?”

“You'll see.”

We found a table towards the side of the cafeteria and Pearl sat down before opening her phone. She went straight to her gossip account and started scrolling through different posts.

I rolled my eyes. “You're still running that thing?”

“Of course.” She looked offended. “How else am I supposed to know everything happening in this school?”

I shook my head and watched her continue scrolling until she suddenly stopped.

“Wait.”

“What?”

Her eyes widened as she stared at her screen. “No way.”

I leaned closer. “What is it?”

“Wren, look at this.” She turned her phone towards me and I immediately saw a sports blog.

At first I didn't understand why she was showing it to me until I saw the headline.

INSANE PLAYS THAT SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE: WESTBROOK'S TWO UNREAL ATHLETES

My stomach tightened. “What is this?”

Pearl's eyes were practically shining with excitement. “I stumbled onto it while checking another post. Look!”

She started scrolling through the page and my eyes immediately caught the pictures.

Was that Asher… and me?

Asher again!

There were pictures of him during hockey practice and games, along with videos of some of his plays. There were also videos of me during training, pictures of me running and even clips from moments I didn't remember anyone recording.

My fingers tightened around the phone.

“Where did they get these?”

“Probably someone recorded the games.” Pearl shrugged. “People record sports all the time.”

I didn't answer her.

I kept scrolling.

There were comments from strangers talking about Asher's speed and strength and how some of the things he did didn't look normal.

Then I saw comments about me.

[Who is the girl?]

[How did she move that fast? She disappeared from the camera for a second.]

[There's something weird about these two]

My entire body went cold.

Pearl continued scrolling, completely unaware of the way my breathing had changed.

“Look at this one,” she said excitedly. “Someone thinks Asher might be some kind of freak athlete. That's actually hilarious.”

I barely heard her as my eyes remained on the screen.

There were too many videosn and many pictures. Oh, God. I held my hair, realizing many strangers were watching us.

Then yesterday's message came back into my mind.

[I know who you are.]

My heart started beating heavily.

It suddenly made sense. Someone wasn't just sending me a random message.

Someone had been watching all along.

Someone had been collecting these videos and pictures and whoever sent that message had probably seen enough to know there was something different about me.

My hands became cold.

Pearl finally noticed my expression.

“Wren?”

I looked at her.

“Who runs this blog?”

She shrugged. “I don't know. Why?”

I looked back at the phone.

I didn't have an answer for her but I knew one thing: I couldn't ignore this anymore.

I needed to talk to Asher.

I clenched my hands tightly, ‘Again.’