Death in the Woods

Chapter 7

The bell rang, signalling the end of the third lesson. Sarah made her way to her locker to get her books for math class when she heard her name. She turned around to find her best friend waving at her from across the hall as she made her way towards her.

"Hey, how was history class?" She asked when her friend reached her.

"It was like watching grass grow. I wonder while she was employed as our history teacher. That lady is extremely boring, I tell you but obviously, everyone knows that already," She said while they both laughed at it.

"Have you heard the news in school?" Clara asked all of a sudden.

"No, I haven't."

"Jenna Cullen didn't come to school today." She whispered to her friend.

"You mean Jenna the leader of the cheerleaders club?" She asked while raising her eyebrows at her friend.

"No, I mean Jenna the leader of the boys changing room. Of course, I mean Jenna, the leader of the cheerleader's squad." She said with an edge of sarcasm.

"Maybe she got the flu, while are you all worked up over it," Sarah said feeling nonchalant about it.

"You don't get the point here, Sarah. Jenna, been the kind of person she is, wouldn't miss school, even if she breaks her leg talk less of a flu stopping her, " Clara said while shoving her books in her locker.

"So, what are you insinuating, Clara?"

"I'm not trying to insinuate anything. I'm just wondering what if something happened to her? Not like I am saying something did happen to her but see what happened with Lisa. She was missing for two weeks only to be found dead in the woods," She explained while looking at her friend straight in the eyes.

"You might be right and also wrong at the same time. Maybe she's got some family issues to take care of. Try to be optimistic okay?"

"You still don't get it, Sarah. Her phone is not reachable and her parents said she never came back home after the party on Friday night. She's been missing for three days," She said while they both headed for math class.

On the way to class, Sarah's mind was in chaos. What if her friend was right? What if someone was trying to kill Jenna, or she's been killed already? Who was sending her those messages? Was it just a prank or was someone after her life?

A headache was starting to brew its way to her head as the thoughts came tumbling down, but she would have to push all that behind her and focus on what was right in front of her, which was a math class, and she felt the headache doubling up at the thought of math.

*************

"Alright," Mrs. Marie said as she came into the class clapping her hands to get the class attention. "We'll start with a task. Open up page 63 and do task 105 with the person behind you."

Sarah opened her book like everyone else to find the task. Once she found it, she started to move around her chair to do it with the person behind her only to be startled by Adrian sitting there. She swallowed and pressed her lips in a thin line to prevent her from blushing at the gaze Adrian had on her.

She moved her book on his desk and turned her chair to sit properly in front of him. Adrian didn't do anything but watch her every movement. She looked down on the book as she read it not understanding a thing that was written on it. She had a problem with math.

The numbers and letters were in a mush as she read the question over and over again to understand it but ended up becoming more confused. She moved her head a little away from the book as she frowned which probably made Adrian speak.

"Did you get it?" He asked as he looked at her. Sarah's frown disappeared as she snapped her head up to Adrian and then looked up and then down again panicking.

"Y-yeah," she said quickly while stuttering a bit without thinking. She behaved like she totally got it, but she didn't.

Adrian raised both of his eyebrows, not believing a thing that Sarah just said. "What's the answer then?" He challenged her, while leaning back against his chair, watching as her eyes went wide.

Sarah pressed her hands down within her clenched thighs, given a quick and small glance at Adrian before diverting her eyes somewhere else. She had no idea what the answer was but didn't want to look stupid before him. So, she did the best thing she could think of and made a guess before she'd panic more than she already was.

"Um, i- its- it's seven, I t- think." She mumbled the last part as she shyly moved her eyes to look up at his reaction. Adrian did a small frown as he paused his lips to prevent himself from letting out a small smile for Sarah trying to be smart.

He nodded his head slowly in understanding before he leaned down towards her and asked, "you think or you sure about your answer, buttercup?"

Sarah knew she was on thin ice by that question, but she looked down at her book to distract herself, noting the proximity between them. She then moved her eyes up again to lock eyes with Adrian's green ones, and she started to flush.

"Yes, I am sure." She replied shyly knowing that Adrian has already kept up on her, but she tried to mask it. What would be the odds for Adrian himself to know the answer? She thought to herself.

"Are you sure about that?" There was something teasingly in his voice that made Sarah clench her thighs and bite on her bottom lip. The action made Adrian snap his eyes down at her lips and his eyes went black. Sarah's throat closed when he leaned in again, over the desk and asked in a whisper, "are you sure?"

Sarah realized how close they were and tried not to get distracted at that discovery as she answered in a small voice, "No!" Adrian made a satisfied smile as he moved away from her and leaned against his chair again. She crossed her hands stubbornly. "Do you even know the answer?" She questioned fussily.

"X - 1" Adrian said making a gesture with his head towards the book. Sarah uncrossed her hands as she hesitantly

Scrolled to the page where the answers were.

X - 1. It said.

Sarah's eyes went wide as she snapped her head to him in surprise. "How did you know the answer?" She asked looking surprised.

Adrian ran a heavy hand through his dark hair before he said in a deep voice. "Brain," And he turned towards the window, looking outside.

Sarah would never have thought that Adrian was so smart but when she didn't see any notes in his book, her doubts went flying out the window. He was way above her academically. He was smart. No wonder principal Donovan accepted him as a transfer student even if they were about graduating.