Euphoria

CHAPTER 5

*FINN'S POV*

Friday. I slid into fifth period jumpy and uncomfortable. I hadn’t seen Tinsley all week and she didn’t seem to be in school today either. I had texted her earlier this week but she never answered. After a few more tries, I had given up on trying to reach her.

The teacher was talking but nobody seemed to be paying attention. The drone of his voice almost lulled me to sleep until my phone vibrated twice. Surprised, I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at it under the table. Evan.

You coming to Jax’s tonite? I rolled my eyes and typed out a response. A moment later another text came in.

There’ll be drinks.

I bit my lip debating it. I could really use a drink, forget the stress of school and all the annoying people. So I typed an okay to Evan and slid the phone back into my pocket.

*****

The bell rang and I hitched my bag onto my shoulder, walking towards the media center. It was Friday, which meant book club.

I didn’t usually attend because I wasn’t all that interested in books but today was an exception. I needed to know where Tinsley was.

I opened the door of the media center and headed towards the room where the book club took place.

Moments later, a couple girls walked in but there was still no Tinsley. Mrs. Brown, the book club sponsor, came in with a plate of cookies a few minutes later but there was still no Tinsley. Ten minutes in, another girl walked in.

She muttered a few apologies for interrupting the meeting and then quickly turned to one of the girls in the club.

I watched as they exchanged a few words and then the darker haired girl’s smile turned into a deep frown.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying but it sounded intense. A moment later, the two girls stood up at the same time and said, “We’re sorry, Mrs. Brown but we just realized one of our teachers wanted us to come in and finish an assignment. The other girl nodded vigorously.

It was an obvious lie but Mrs. Brown just nodded and pushed the plate of cookies towards them. “Well take some cookies with you. I made a bit too much.”

A moment later they left and everyone was quiet. Something was wrong. I could feel it. Something had happened to Tinsley.