Secrets in the Shadows

Hello, Brother

"Then go," I demand.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Lena assures her and she nods. She gathers all of her stuff and hurries out of the kitchen. As soon as I hear the door close, I turn to Jeremy.

"You okay?" I ask, my voice soft and genuine.

He rolls his eyes with a scoff when he realizes I was talking to him. "Don't start," he retorts and walks out. I sigh and turn to Lena. She gives me a shrug before turning away from me. We'd both been trying to get Jeremy to open up to us but he just kept pushing us away, turning to drugs instead. I knew that everybody handled grief differently but drugs was just crossing a line. I just wanted to help him even though I couldn't if he wouldn't let me. But I wasn't going to give up easily.

*

Thirty minutes later, Bonnie, our best friend, was driving us to school and she had been talking non-stop. "So, Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that." I give her a look, sitting beside her while Lena sat in the back. "I know," she chuckles. "But she's going on and on about and I'm like "put this women in a home already"," she laughs and I smile, turning my head towards the window. "But then I started thinking... " Her words begin to zone until I could hear nothing. I had no idea how long had passed before I heard, "Louise!" I jump and my eyes find Bonnie's who had a soft smile on her face. "Back in the car," she glanced back and forth at me and the road.

"I did it again, didn't I?" I sigh sharply. "I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were saying that... " I trail off, waiting for her to finish the sentence.

"That she's psychic now," Lena answers for her and Bonnie gives her grin.

"Right," I murmur in disbelief. "Ok, then, predict something. About us," I challenge.

She studies me hard, her eyes drifting back to Lena as well. "I see... " Then, out of nowhere, something black hits the window shield, scaring all of us. The car starts to swerve uncontrollably until Bonnie slams on the breaks and the car comes to an abrupt stop right outside of the Mystic Grill. "What was what?!" Bonnie panics. "Oh my God. Louise, Elena, are you guys okay?" she looks back at Lena and then at me, her eyes filled with worry. She knew that we had both been pretty terrified of cars ever since the accident. "It's fine," Lena exhales sharply from the backseat.

"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere."

"Really—" I respond quickly, "—we can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of our lives," I scoff.

Bonnie looks at me unsure and then she forces a small smile on her face. "I predict this year is going to be kick-ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and both of you are going to be beyond happy." I nod and grin at her, hoping with everything in me that her prediction was going to come true.

*

When we arrived at school, the halls were flooded with students. Lena and I walked side by side while Bonnie was at least half a foot in front of us. "Major lack of male real estate," she says without looking at either of us and continues walking. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech," she points to a girl that was walking directly ahead of us. "She looks like a hot—" she turns around to face us when we approach her locker. "—can I still say "tranny mess"?" she questions.

"No, that's over," I shake my head and Lena leans against the lockers.

"Ugh! Find a man, coin a phrase. It's a busy year," she grins and opens her locker.

When she looks behind me, her grin disappears and my eyes follow hers. I frown when I see Tyler looking straight at me with no emotion on his face. I force a smile on mine and wave at him. He doesn't wave back and instead turns to Matt, who was standing right beside him. I frown and then glance over at Matt, noticing him smiling at Lena. Lena and Matt had been hanging out since sophomore year but they never started dating although it was clear that they liked each other in some way. "He hates me," I turn back to Bonnie with a heavy sigh and cross my arms.