‹ Prequel: We Are Young
Sequel: The Motto ›
Secrets
Jayden
“I can’t do this” Jayden said outside the funeral home. “I can’t go in there and act like I’m okay with this”
“But you’re not okay with this” Brandon said. “and it’s okay because I’m not okay with it either” Jayden’s phone went off, telling her to eat. Yup, she was pretty much back to being a bulimic again. Brandon handed her some cookies.
“I just can’t go in there and be supportive, Brandon. Kylan and Kat are devasted”
“I know, I would be too, but you were her best friend and you need to be there for them” Jayden sighed. She ate a cookie and headed into the church.
Steve was there, he couldn’t even look at people.
“It’s been five days, you lost weight didn’t you?” Jayden joked. He cracked a smile.
“I haven’t been eating”
“Neither have I” she handed him a cookie. “This is probably one of the hardest days of my life. Watching my best friend be buried”
“I know. Did you talk to Kylan or Kat yet?” she shook her head. “I’ve been avoiding it”
“Me too”
“They still don’t have the god damn prints from that rock”
“Relax” she told him. “They’ll have it…even though I’m almost positive it’s Jill’s finger prints on it” Steve looked up quickly.
“You think so?” Jayden nodded.
“She was the only one missing when you said Kaya went missing that night. I’m one hundred percent sure it was Jill”
“I can’t believe this” Steve was shocked, he also looked very tense, like he was a guy who deserved to be in a strait jacket, or he was on hard drugs or something. He just looked…unhealthy.
“When I see her again, she’s dead” Jayden said.
“So she hasn’t been in school?” Brandon asked.
“Nope, not since Tuesday”
“Trust me I agree with you” Steve said.
Christian walked into the church. “I hate this” he said. “I can’t believe I’m doing this again” Jayden hugged Christian. “it’s just not fucking fair. Where the fuck is Jill?”
“I have no idea why you guys all think it’s Jill” Liv said as she walked over. “Dylan said she left before Kaya went missing”
“But we don’t know for sure when Kaya went missing!” Jayden exclaimed. “Everyone was there when the cops came expect for Jill. It can’t be a coincidence. They’d been fighting all night”
“I just” Taylor started. “This is the worst way to end senior year. We graduate in five days!”
“I know it’s unfair” Steve said. “I can’t concentrate on school knowing Jill or her killer is still out there”
“Me too”
…
An police officer brought in the rock with the results from the scan. He went straight to Mr. Thorne’s house with the results. He was on leave for Kaya’s funeral and such.
“Mr. Thorne, Mrs. Thorne” officer Johnson started. “We have the results”
“What’s that?” Kat asked from the top of the stairs.
“More people” Kylan said. “Maybe two of them, men, police officers”
“The prints” Kat and Kylan said at the same time. They ran downstairs to the door.
“Kylan, Katherine” Johnson said. “My have you kids grown”
“I don’t care, tell me who killed our sister” Kylan demanded.
Johnson turned to Mr. Thorne.
“Kids can we be alone?” Kylan shook his head.
“If I know that girl, if it’s Jill I want to know one hundred percent” Johnson said on the couch with the whole family.
“Kaya was in fact killed with the rock by Jillian Steinfield. If we had gotten a call sooner we could have saved her”
“Oh my god” Kylan said. “How do I live life knowing a girl she used to talk to killed her?”
“They were friends?” Mrs. Thorne asked.
“Yeah at one point last year, then Jill fucked it up by flirting with Steve”
“Don’t swear” Mr. Thorne said. “What do we do now?”
“We plan on arresting her ASAP, but I need to take these prints back to the station”
“Why?”
“You needed to be the first person I told” officer Johnson said. “I’m so sorry for your loss” Mrs. Thorne bursted into tears, Kat and Kylan have never seen there mother cry so much in their whole lives.
…
“So Jill was officially blamed for the whole thing” Jayden told Liv and Taylor in the cemetery. “They’re going to arrest her soon, as soon as it’s filed and such. According to Kylan”
“That must really suck” Liv said. “To loose your sister and then find out it was one of her class mates who killed her”
“I know. With Kaci’s death it was so easy because no one killed her on purpose” Brandon said. “She was with a drunk driver and it was on accident and she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt”
“I know, for some reason that’s easier to comprehend” Jayden said. “But someone killing my best firend is just unacceptable”
“Look at us” Zack said. “The gangs back together in a time of need”
“Unbelieveable what we’ve been through in the last two school years” Liv said.
“Hey, where’s Steven?” Brandon finally asked.
“I have no idea” Jayden said.
…
Jayden woke up the same time she always did for one of her last days of high school. It was so terrible ending senior year like she did. She lost her best friend and now everything was super depressing.
The alarm on her phone went off, signifying she needed to eat breakfast. Why did she need it? Because she was so close to relapsing and she couldn’t put herself in that again.
She ate a big breakfast, she had a feeling she would bee seeing Jill today at school, and she couldn’t wait to give her a piece of her mind.
She drove to school herself, something Kaya did on Monday mornings but it was okay.
She arrived to school, and she saw Jill’s car in the parking lot. Only thirteen people knew Jill was Kaya’s murderer so she thought she was in the clear.
Jayden went up to Steve before first period started. They had first period with Jill. “Bro, Jill’s in school” she said.
“Are you serious”
“I’m pretty sure I saw her pink convertible in the parking lot. You can’t miss it”
“Oh my god, oh my god”
“Relax” she told him.
The last bell rung, and as always Jill was fashionably late.
“I haven’t seen you in a while” the teacher said.
“I’ve been sick” Jill admitted.
…
Meanwhile Mr. Thorne was heading to Jill’s house.
“Hello” Jill’s mother started. “Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for Jillian Steinfield”
“Why?”
“she’s under arrest for the murder of Kaya Thorne” Jill’s mom was shocked. “Where is she?”
“At school” Jill’s mom almost collapsed. “When…what…oh my god”
…
“I can’t do this Jayden” Steve said. “I need to say something”
“Don’t do it”
“I want to know why she killed her” Steve said. “and if I don’t know why I’m gonna go crazy”
“It’s too late for that” Alice told him. “You are already crazy”
“Why isn’t she being arrested?”
“I don’t know!” Jayden exclaimed. “Calm down and don’t say anything” Steve did things his own way…always.
“Why’d you kill her?” Steve asked Jill. The class had at least 15 people in it, and when he yelled he was screaming. “Why the fuck did you have the need to kill the best thing in my life?” Steve was practically crying at this point. Jill froze up, how did they even know?
“Steven Loren!” Jayden exclaimed. “Sit yo ass down”
“NO! She killed my girlfriend!” Steve exclaimed. “I’m not sitting down until I get answers” Jill ran out of the classroom.
“Good job”
…
Lunch was the best part of the day for all of them. And you will find out why.
Steve and Jayden sat together like always. “Jay, I don’t know if I can graduate”
“I know it’s going to—wait, what? You’re going to graduate!”
“I know I am, I just don’t know if I want to go” Jayden sighed.
“She won’t be there, she’ll be in front of a judge by the time graduation rolls around, trust me” they started eating.
“Guys I just saw police officers in the hall!” Zack exclaimed.
“When?”
“Mid way through forth period” he said.
“Good news or bad news?” Steve asked.
“I don’t know”
Jill walked into the cafeteria. She sat by herself in the corner, the whole school knew but no one knew how to react.
“Do you think?” Liv asked.
“I don’t think anymore” Steve said. they all sat together, which wasn’t normal since they had broken off a lot that year.
Two police officers walked into the cafeteria. “Oh no”
“We have the target” the table stood up.
“Jillian Steinfield, you are under arrest for the murder of Kaya Thorne”
“Oh my god” Jayden said.
“I know I’m stunned too”
“No this is hilarious!” Jayden said. Jill was literally handcuffed and taken out of the school like a prisoner. For Jayden is was the best thing that’s happened since Kaya died. But for Steve he still was not convinced.
…
Even though Jill was definitely being convicted of murder, things still weren’t okay. People were still grieving.
Jayden was going to miss Kaya a lot, but she needed to take care of herself before she relapsed. She didn’t know how easy she could throw her health away.
After school, a day before graduation, she went to see the Thorne’s to see how they were doing. She knew her parents were devastated and wouldn’t be better anytime soon, but she was mostly worried about Kylan and Kat. She couldn’t imagine losing an older sibling they looked up too so much.
“It’s sad” Kylan said. “But for the most part I’ve accepted it”
“Really?” Jayden asked, extremely surprised.
“I’m going to miss the person I could talk to about everything, and she knows the most about me…but I know she’s dead and there’s no point in obsessing over it and crying over it” he explained. “I just can’t afford to”
Jayden put her hand on Kylan’s thigh. “If you want to talk you can always come to me. Kaya passed on some of her…skills to me. She’s always been a really good listener, and I know I can do the same” Kylan smiled.
“Thanks. So, where are you going again?”
“Ah, BU”
“You guys had it all planned out, to go to college close to each other…right?” Jayden nodded.
“I didn’t want to miss them too much”
Kat came downstairs and saw Jayden and Kylan talking. “Hey Kat, how are you doing?” Kylan asked.
“What do you want?” Kat asked Jayden.
“I just wanted to talk to you guys” she said innocently. “is that okay?’
“What is there to talk about?” Kat asked. “My sisters dead and no one can bring her back”
“I know that” Kylan said. “But you need to talk about it”
“Fine, you wanna talk? I’m angry. I’m angry that I don’t get a big sister anymore, I’m angry because I have no one to talk girl stuff with!” Kat exclaimed. Kat started to cry. Jayden hugged her.
“I’ll be here”
…
“Have you cried yet?” Brandon asked her. Jayden shrugged.
“Of course I have, just not around other people”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, watching other people cry makes me not cry for some reason, I cry a lot when I’m about to go to sleep. I just cry for like hours”
“Wow that’s depressing”
“It’s true” Jayden’s phone started to vibrate.
“Who calls you at midnight the day before graduation?” Brandon asked me. Jayden shrugged, she looked at her phone.
“It’s Steve” she got up and left the room to talk to him. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I’m leaving”
“What do you mean you’re leaving?”
“I’m running away”
“Bro, it’s not running away if you tell me”
“That’s why I’m telling you, convince me not to” Jayden sighed.
“Do it” Jayden told him.
“What do you mean do it?”
“Run away”
“Aren’t you supposed to convince me not to! That’s what I asked!”
“Maybe it’s just best if you clear your head for a bit”
“I hate you”
“I hate you, too”
“You promise not to tell”
“Yeah” she muttered.
“I’ll call you soon”
“Stay safe”
“I will” he hung up
“But you’re not okay with this” Brandon said. “and it’s okay because I’m not okay with it either” Jayden’s phone went off, telling her to eat. Yup, she was pretty much back to being a bulimic again. Brandon handed her some cookies.
“I just can’t go in there and be supportive, Brandon. Kylan and Kat are devasted”
“I know, I would be too, but you were her best friend and you need to be there for them” Jayden sighed. She ate a cookie and headed into the church.
Steve was there, he couldn’t even look at people.
“It’s been five days, you lost weight didn’t you?” Jayden joked. He cracked a smile.
“I haven’t been eating”
“Neither have I” she handed him a cookie. “This is probably one of the hardest days of my life. Watching my best friend be buried”
“I know. Did you talk to Kylan or Kat yet?” she shook her head. “I’ve been avoiding it”
“Me too”
“They still don’t have the god damn prints from that rock”
“Relax” she told him. “They’ll have it…even though I’m almost positive it’s Jill’s finger prints on it” Steve looked up quickly.
“You think so?” Jayden nodded.
“She was the only one missing when you said Kaya went missing that night. I’m one hundred percent sure it was Jill”
“I can’t believe this” Steve was shocked, he also looked very tense, like he was a guy who deserved to be in a strait jacket, or he was on hard drugs or something. He just looked…unhealthy.
“When I see her again, she’s dead” Jayden said.
“So she hasn’t been in school?” Brandon asked.
“Nope, not since Tuesday”
“Trust me I agree with you” Steve said.
Christian walked into the church. “I hate this” he said. “I can’t believe I’m doing this again” Jayden hugged Christian. “it’s just not fucking fair. Where the fuck is Jill?”
“I have no idea why you guys all think it’s Jill” Liv said as she walked over. “Dylan said she left before Kaya went missing”
“But we don’t know for sure when Kaya went missing!” Jayden exclaimed. “Everyone was there when the cops came expect for Jill. It can’t be a coincidence. They’d been fighting all night”
“I just” Taylor started. “This is the worst way to end senior year. We graduate in five days!”
“I know it’s unfair” Steve said. “I can’t concentrate on school knowing Jill or her killer is still out there”
“Me too”
…
An police officer brought in the rock with the results from the scan. He went straight to Mr. Thorne’s house with the results. He was on leave for Kaya’s funeral and such.
“Mr. Thorne, Mrs. Thorne” officer Johnson started. “We have the results”
“What’s that?” Kat asked from the top of the stairs.
“More people” Kylan said. “Maybe two of them, men, police officers”
“The prints” Kat and Kylan said at the same time. They ran downstairs to the door.
“Kylan, Katherine” Johnson said. “My have you kids grown”
“I don’t care, tell me who killed our sister” Kylan demanded.
Johnson turned to Mr. Thorne.
“Kids can we be alone?” Kylan shook his head.
“If I know that girl, if it’s Jill I want to know one hundred percent” Johnson said on the couch with the whole family.
“Kaya was in fact killed with the rock by Jillian Steinfield. If we had gotten a call sooner we could have saved her”
“Oh my god” Kylan said. “How do I live life knowing a girl she used to talk to killed her?”
“They were friends?” Mrs. Thorne asked.
“Yeah at one point last year, then Jill fucked it up by flirting with Steve”
“Don’t swear” Mr. Thorne said. “What do we do now?”
“We plan on arresting her ASAP, but I need to take these prints back to the station”
“Why?”
“You needed to be the first person I told” officer Johnson said. “I’m so sorry for your loss” Mrs. Thorne bursted into tears, Kat and Kylan have never seen there mother cry so much in their whole lives.
…
“So Jill was officially blamed for the whole thing” Jayden told Liv and Taylor in the cemetery. “They’re going to arrest her soon, as soon as it’s filed and such. According to Kylan”
“That must really suck” Liv said. “To loose your sister and then find out it was one of her class mates who killed her”
“I know. With Kaci’s death it was so easy because no one killed her on purpose” Brandon said. “She was with a drunk driver and it was on accident and she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt”
“I know, for some reason that’s easier to comprehend” Jayden said. “But someone killing my best firend is just unacceptable”
“Look at us” Zack said. “The gangs back together in a time of need”
“Unbelieveable what we’ve been through in the last two school years” Liv said.
“Hey, where’s Steven?” Brandon finally asked.
“I have no idea” Jayden said.
…
Jayden woke up the same time she always did for one of her last days of high school. It was so terrible ending senior year like she did. She lost her best friend and now everything was super depressing.
The alarm on her phone went off, signifying she needed to eat breakfast. Why did she need it? Because she was so close to relapsing and she couldn’t put herself in that again.
She ate a big breakfast, she had a feeling she would bee seeing Jill today at school, and she couldn’t wait to give her a piece of her mind.
She drove to school herself, something Kaya did on Monday mornings but it was okay.
She arrived to school, and she saw Jill’s car in the parking lot. Only thirteen people knew Jill was Kaya’s murderer so she thought she was in the clear.
Jayden went up to Steve before first period started. They had first period with Jill. “Bro, Jill’s in school” she said.
“Are you serious”
“I’m pretty sure I saw her pink convertible in the parking lot. You can’t miss it”
“Oh my god, oh my god”
“Relax” she told him.
The last bell rung, and as always Jill was fashionably late.
“I haven’t seen you in a while” the teacher said.
“I’ve been sick” Jill admitted.
…
Meanwhile Mr. Thorne was heading to Jill’s house.
“Hello” Jill’s mother started. “Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for Jillian Steinfield”
“Why?”
“she’s under arrest for the murder of Kaya Thorne” Jill’s mom was shocked. “Where is she?”
“At school” Jill’s mom almost collapsed. “When…what…oh my god”
…
“I can’t do this Jayden” Steve said. “I need to say something”
“Don’t do it”
“I want to know why she killed her” Steve said. “and if I don’t know why I’m gonna go crazy”
“It’s too late for that” Alice told him. “You are already crazy”
“Why isn’t she being arrested?”
“I don’t know!” Jayden exclaimed. “Calm down and don’t say anything” Steve did things his own way…always.
“Why’d you kill her?” Steve asked Jill. The class had at least 15 people in it, and when he yelled he was screaming. “Why the fuck did you have the need to kill the best thing in my life?” Steve was practically crying at this point. Jill froze up, how did they even know?
“Steven Loren!” Jayden exclaimed. “Sit yo ass down”
“NO! She killed my girlfriend!” Steve exclaimed. “I’m not sitting down until I get answers” Jill ran out of the classroom.
“Good job”
…
Lunch was the best part of the day for all of them. And you will find out why.
Steve and Jayden sat together like always. “Jay, I don’t know if I can graduate”
“I know it’s going to—wait, what? You’re going to graduate!”
“I know I am, I just don’t know if I want to go” Jayden sighed.
“She won’t be there, she’ll be in front of a judge by the time graduation rolls around, trust me” they started eating.
“Guys I just saw police officers in the hall!” Zack exclaimed.
“When?”
“Mid way through forth period” he said.
“Good news or bad news?” Steve asked.
“I don’t know”
Jill walked into the cafeteria. She sat by herself in the corner, the whole school knew but no one knew how to react.
“Do you think?” Liv asked.
“I don’t think anymore” Steve said. they all sat together, which wasn’t normal since they had broken off a lot that year.
Two police officers walked into the cafeteria. “Oh no”
“We have the target” the table stood up.
“Jillian Steinfield, you are under arrest for the murder of Kaya Thorne”
“Oh my god” Jayden said.
“I know I’m stunned too”
“No this is hilarious!” Jayden said. Jill was literally handcuffed and taken out of the school like a prisoner. For Jayden is was the best thing that’s happened since Kaya died. But for Steve he still was not convinced.
…
Even though Jill was definitely being convicted of murder, things still weren’t okay. People were still grieving.
Jayden was going to miss Kaya a lot, but she needed to take care of herself before she relapsed. She didn’t know how easy she could throw her health away.
After school, a day before graduation, she went to see the Thorne’s to see how they were doing. She knew her parents were devastated and wouldn’t be better anytime soon, but she was mostly worried about Kylan and Kat. She couldn’t imagine losing an older sibling they looked up too so much.
“It’s sad” Kylan said. “But for the most part I’ve accepted it”
“Really?” Jayden asked, extremely surprised.
“I’m going to miss the person I could talk to about everything, and she knows the most about me…but I know she’s dead and there’s no point in obsessing over it and crying over it” he explained. “I just can’t afford to”
Jayden put her hand on Kylan’s thigh. “If you want to talk you can always come to me. Kaya passed on some of her…skills to me. She’s always been a really good listener, and I know I can do the same” Kylan smiled.
“Thanks. So, where are you going again?”
“Ah, BU”
“You guys had it all planned out, to go to college close to each other…right?” Jayden nodded.
“I didn’t want to miss them too much”
Kat came downstairs and saw Jayden and Kylan talking. “Hey Kat, how are you doing?” Kylan asked.
“What do you want?” Kat asked Jayden.
“I just wanted to talk to you guys” she said innocently. “is that okay?’
“What is there to talk about?” Kat asked. “My sisters dead and no one can bring her back”
“I know that” Kylan said. “But you need to talk about it”
“Fine, you wanna talk? I’m angry. I’m angry that I don’t get a big sister anymore, I’m angry because I have no one to talk girl stuff with!” Kat exclaimed. Kat started to cry. Jayden hugged her.
“I’ll be here”
…
“Have you cried yet?” Brandon asked her. Jayden shrugged.
“Of course I have, just not around other people”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, watching other people cry makes me not cry for some reason, I cry a lot when I’m about to go to sleep. I just cry for like hours”
“Wow that’s depressing”
“It’s true” Jayden’s phone started to vibrate.
“Who calls you at midnight the day before graduation?” Brandon asked me. Jayden shrugged, she looked at her phone.
“It’s Steve” she got up and left the room to talk to him. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I’m leaving”
“What do you mean you’re leaving?”
“I’m running away”
“Bro, it’s not running away if you tell me”
“That’s why I’m telling you, convince me not to” Jayden sighed.
“Do it” Jayden told him.
“What do you mean do it?”
“Run away”
“Aren’t you supposed to convince me not to! That’s what I asked!”
“Maybe it’s just best if you clear your head for a bit”
“I hate you”
“I hate you, too”
“You promise not to tell”
“Yeah” she muttered.
“I’ll call you soon”
“Stay safe”
“I will” he hung up
♠ ♠ ♠
secret: Steve runs away