Six Little Secrets

by Katlyn Duncan

  What was going on?

  After a few seconds, he stormed out of the office and into the room.

  No one moved.

  ‘If I catch any of you out of your seats when I get back, you will be here every weekend for the rest of the year,’ he said. ‘Got it?’ He didn’t wait for a response. ‘I’m going to my classroom. I’ll be right back.’

  Zoe stared at him, confused about his outburst.

  The second the doors closed behind him, Jackie spoke, ‘What was that about?’

  Q shook his head. ‘No idea.’

  ‘At least we can talk now,’ Cece said. She lifted her phone and started typing on it.

  ‘Any luck?’ Zoe asked. She needed to know if there was any hope after a failed punishment.

  ‘No,’ Cece said. ‘But looking at my dad’s calendar, they are both at some brunch event. Mom probably has her phone on silent. She thinks it’s rude to keep it on in any social situation.’

  ‘Well, that’s good,’ Jackie said.

  Cece shook her head. ‘For now.’

  ‘Okay, we need to get back on track,’ Teddy said. ‘Let’s talk through the tasks. There we might be able to find the link to Jacob.’

  ‘How many people know about your bank account?’ Zoe asked him. Starting at the beginning of this whole mess made sense. Or maybe it didn’t. Did Jacob have a reason for the order of his ‘consequences’ or was it random? With Q finding his in the cabinet with the phones, it seemed like they were in order for a reason. Besides, she couldn’t help wanting to know more about Teddy’s current life situation.

  ‘I’ve never told anyone,’ Teddy said. ‘I suppose my mom knows it exists. I don’t let anyone in my room other than my cousin, Declan. He randomly barges into my house whenever he wants. Even if he knew about it, he wouldn’t have the ability to access it. At least I don’t think so.’

  ‘Have you used the money to do anything?’ Cece asked. ‘Something that might offend anyone?’

  Teddy shook his head.

  ‘Maybe it’s not about the money itself,’ Q said. He gently placed his hands on the table and winced, bringing them back to his lap. ‘Where do you work at night? Maybe it’s someone there?’

  It wasn’t a bad question.

  Teddy cleared his throat.

  Zoe’s eyebrows drew together. ‘Teddy?’

  ‘What?’ he snapped.

  ‘Do you have any enemies at work?’ Zoe asked.

  He snorted. ‘I’m sure there are a few.’

  Zoe couldn’t imagine that. She’d only asked the question to rule it out. Teddy was a good guy. However he’d upset someone at work was most likely an accident. And it couldn’t have been so bad to deserve to be stolen from. Teddy was the victim here.

  Then she came back to the idea of their connections. If Teddy worked at a diner or an ice cream place, then there were a lot of possible people that could have held a grudge against him. It would open up the pool of people to look into. And at the same time create more work for all of them.

  ‘Where do you work?’ Q asked again. This time Zoe saw the return of the glint in his eye. He wasn’t going to give up until Teddy told him.

  Now Zoe’s interest was piqued. Why wasn’t Teddy sharing what he did for work? Was it something embarrassing? In Zoe’s mind, high school jobs weren’t glamorous at all. She found the one time she searched for work in the area, the jobs available were ones that no one else wanted. That’s why the library assistant position had appealed to her. She could hide in school and among the stacks without anyone bothering her.

  Teddy didn’t seem like the type to be embarrassed. What was he hiding? Was this the secret that Jacob wanted him to reveal?

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Teddy said.

  ‘It does,’ Q said, leaning in.

  Teddy glanced around at the others. Now he had their attention, whether it was wanted or not.

  ‘You aren’t going to let this go, are you?’ Teddy asked.

  ‘Not as long as it’s relevant to this situation,’ Q said.

  ‘Any information you have might help us find out who’s doing this,’ Jackie said.

  ‘Fine,’ Teddy said. ‘But it doesn’t leave this room.’

  ‘Okay,’ they chorused.

  ‘It’s not like anyone would believe you anyway,’ Teddy said, then took a breath. ‘I sell for my cousin.’

  ‘Sell what?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘What do you think?’ Teddy said.

  Zoe’s forehead wrinkled, and the others shared blank stares among each other.

  Teddy sighed. ‘Drugs.’

  Teddy sold drugs? He was right. She didn’t believe him. His serious expression gave her pause her questioning.

  ‘Wow,’ Q said, sitting back in his chair. ‘I’m impressed.’

  ‘You shouldn’t be,’ Teddy said. ‘It’s not what I wanted for myself.’

  ‘But you do it anyway,’ Holly said.

  ‘So you must meet some shady people?’ Zoe asked, still reeling over the fact that Teddy was a drug dealer. She had not seen that coming.

  Teddy shrugged. ‘I suppose.’

  ‘Are any of your customers named Jacob?’ Cece asked.

  ‘Not that I know of,’ he said. ‘Most of the time there isn’t much small talk during an exchange.’

  Zoe hated how nonchalant he sounded about dealing drugs. Maybe he wasn’t the Teddy she’d put on a pedestal in her mind.

  No one spoke for several moments. Zoe tried to think of another scenario where Teddy’s drug dealing would have any connection to her.

  ‘We can move on now,’ Teddy said. The tips of his ears were red, something that Zoe had found cute when they were younger. ‘Now you know my secret. Let’s move on to Cece. The klepto.’

  ‘I am not!’ Cece said.

  ‘Then what are you?’ Jackie asked. ‘You steal stuff that doesn’t belong to you. That’s the definition of a kleptomaniac.’

  ‘I’m surprised you even knew the definition,’ Cece shot back.

  Jackie rolled her eyes. ‘Did you steal from someone named Jacob? Maybe it’s Marc Jacobs.’

  Cece turned in her chair to face Jackie. ‘What about you? Yours was about your looks. Do you do Botox or something?’

  Jackie worked her jaw. ‘There’s no secret to my looks. I’m blessed with good genes.’

  ‘Jacob knows something about you,’ Cece said. ‘Teddy and I shared, and now it’s your turn.’

  ‘This is stupid,’ Jackie said. ‘I’m an open book.’

  ‘Everyone here is hiding something,’ Q said to Jackie. ‘We wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with if we weren’t.’

  She scowled at him and then let out a long and dramatic sigh. ‘The only thing I’ve ever lied about doesn’t have anything to do with my looks.’

  ‘What did the note say about your peers?’ Zoe said, unable to recall the exact wording.

  ‘How you present yourself to them,’ Teddy said. ‘Maybe it doesn’t mean looks, but how you make yourself appear to people.’

  Jackie’s breathing intensified, shooting out sharp puffs of air through her nose. ‘I don’t see how this is relevant.’

  ‘Of course it is!’ Cece said. ‘Teddy and I have had our lives ruined, while you and Q were physically hurt. Everything is relevant. Don’t you want this to be over?’

  ‘It’s already over,’ Jackie said and then glanced over at Holly and Zoe. ‘For me at least.’

  Zoe’s heart sank. They were finally getting along in their search for Jacob, and now their temporary alliance crumbled in front of them. That couldn’t happen! Not before her turn.

  ‘This is a safe space,’ Zoe said.

  ‘What are you? My therapist?’ Jackie asked.

  ‘You see a therapist?’ Q asked her.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘That was sarcasm. Zoe, why don’t you share something with us?’

  ‘We should go in order,’ Holly said. ‘Zoe and I haven’t been chosen yet.’

  ‘Who put you in charge
?’ Jackie asked.

  ‘Will you stop stalling?’ Cece said.

  ‘Just tell us,’ Holly said.

  ‘Fine!’ Jackie huffed. ‘I’m a virgin, okay?’

  ‘You are?’ Q asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

  ‘Yes,’ Jackie said.

  ‘I thought you and Logan…’ Cece said, clearly as shocked as the rest of them.

  ‘Ew, no,’ Jackie said. ‘That relationship was for convenience. He needed a boost in popularity, and I needed someone to keep the other losers away from me.’

  ‘And you give me crap for being with guys?’ Holly asked.

  ‘At least I’m lying. I’d rather be a fake slut than a real one.’

  ‘Why?’ Zoe asked.

  Jackie rolled her eyes. ‘Because it gives me a lot of attention.’

  Zoe rubbed her forehead. Jackie lying about her virginity didn’t seem like such a terrible thing. Jackie started a lot of rumors, Zoe doubted all of them were true. Was she telling the truth now?

  As each of the secrets were revealed, Zoe became even more confused as to how all of them were connected. Even in their personal lives, they all took part in activities that were totally separate from the rest.

  ‘Are you sure that’s it?’ Holly asked.

  Jackie narrowed her eyes. ‘That might not seem like a big deal to someone like you, but my reputation is everything. I’m done talking about this. Q, you’re up.’

  He held his bandaged hands in front of him. ‘Since there hasn’t been any videos of me or wiping of my bank accounts, I’m in the same position as Jackie. I think my punishment was my mission.’

  ‘That doesn’t make any sense,’ Cece said.

  ‘I like to burn things,’ he said, under his breath. ‘I like to set things on fire. It’s my extracurricular activity, I guess.’

  ‘The floor was meant to catch on fire?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Q said. ‘But it appears that way. Nothing happened to me after I fell and burned myself.’

  ‘You could have come off a lot worse than you did,’ Jackie said, reaching out. As if she thought better of touching him, she placed her hand on the table directly in front of him.

  These tasks were getting quite serious. Zoe feared for her mission. If it had anything to do with her secret, she knew it wouldn’t be good.

  How could anyone have found out? She was careful, though apparently not careful enough.

  ‘So what do a drug dealer, klepto, virgin, and pyromaniac have in common?’ Teddy asked.

  ‘It sounds like the start to an awful joke,’ Q said, smirking.

  At least Q held onto his humor. It was one thing Jacob couldn’t take away. At least not yet.

  Q turned his attention to Zoe. Her insides squirmed. She knew he was about to push her to find out what her secret was.

  But before he could ask, Holly said, ‘I think we’ve reached the end of this little game.’

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  HOLLY

  One Year Ago

  The stiff black dress rubbed against Holly’s skin like sandpaper over her neckline. No amount of scratching helped, so eventually, she left it alone.

  Holly tried to concentrate on the priest’s words, but all she could think about was the person inside the closed casket only a few feet in front of her.

  She squeezed her dad’s hand, looking for some confirmation that this was happening.

  Even though it had been a few days since she saw Jacob alive, the image of his wide-open stare and bloodied face marred each one of her memories.

  Dad hadn’t wanted her to be there when he identified the body, but she’d insisted. She wanted to see what someone had done to him. She wanted the image burned in her brain, fueling the rage inside of her.

  The idea came to her the day before the funeral, after she and Dad went to the police station to ask the detective about any updates on the case. There were none. Someone had run over Jacob and left him for dead on the road.

  There was no confirmation, but there might have been a chance that he could have survived if the paramedics had been alerted.

  If one person would have helped him, then they wouldn’t be burying him in the ground.

  And that’s when Holly came up with the idea. She was going to piece together what happened to Jacob that night and get vengeance for his death.

  It took several weeks after the funeral to figure out who might be involved. And as Holly came to that realization, her revenge plot grew into a complicated web. It wasn’t one person, but several people who created the ripple effect leading to Jacob’s death.

  Those people led her to Pioneer Haven High School. Was it coincidence or fate that those involved with Jacob’s death lived in Pioneer Haven? As her solitary plan took shape, it was only a matter of time before she realized she needed an accomplice. Someone who she could trust and had as much at stake as she did.

  She would exact her revenge against these people and get the justice deserved for her sweet Jacob.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  HOLLY

  Saturday

  Holly glanced at her classmates, dropping her gaze to each of them. Cece couldn’t stop blinking. Jackie’s mouth was open wide enough to look almost cartoonish. She wondered if her tongue would roll out onto the table at any moment.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Zoe asked in a small voice.

  Poor Zoe. Her punishment was on hold until another piece fell into place. Mr. Curtis. He’d fought Holly every step of the way, but she’d expected him to. She wanted him to crash and burn for the disgusting deed, but she also liked playing with him. She enjoyed playing with all of them. Much more than she ever expected to.

  ‘You’re not making any sense,’ Teddy said.

  ‘Did you do this?’ Q asked, standing up from his chair. ‘Did you burn my hands, Holly?’

  ‘Yes,’ Holly said. ‘I did.’

  Q rushed at the table, moving it a good two feet from its spot before Jackie and Teddy grabbed both of his arms. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

  Holly smirked and clicked her tongue. She held a cell phone in her hand. The one she’d hidden under the table after she’d set up the library late last night. It was the key to all of the consequences she’d established for them. ‘If you attempt to hurt me, all of your secrets go public.’

  ‘What else can you do to ruin us?’ Q asked, coming around to her side of the table.

  Teddy stood up and tried to block him, but Q shoved him out of the way.

  Holly stood and held the phone in front of her. ‘I dare you to test me.’

  ‘Stop!’ Zoe said at the same time Jackie said, ‘Q, don’t.’

  Q held his hands at his sides. He winced as they tried to curl into fists. ‘Look what she did to us.’

  ‘My mom can’t know,’ Teddy said.

  Holly glanced at Zoe who was practically vibrating. While the rest of them had terrible secrets, hers was just as bad, possibly worse.

  ‘Fine,’ Q said. ‘I don’t have to listen, though.’

  ‘Yes, you do,’ Holly said. ‘You will all sit down and listen to me. This is part of you consequences.’

  Those who were standing sat down. Eventually, Q did as well. Even if they wanted to hurt her, they’d never get the chance. She’d spent too much time planning to allow any of them to leave unscathed. Even poor Zoe.

  ‘You’re Jacob?’ Cece asked. ‘I don’t get it.’

  Holly gave her a look. ‘I’m doing this for Jacob. Jacob Hollis.’

  Confused expressions looked back at her, which made her angrier than when she decided to start this elaborate game. ‘Of course you wouldn’t remember him. That’s the point of all this. You lived your lives every day oblivious to what you did. My real name is Megan Hollis. Jacob was my brother. Well, foster brother. And you all played a part in his death,’ she said.

  ‘I’ve never killed anyone,’ Cece said.

  ‘I don’t even know a Jacob Hollis,’ Teddy said.

 
‘He didn’t die by any of your hands,’ Megan said. ‘But each of your deep, dark secrets formed a finger on the hand that caused his death.’

  ‘That’s bull,’ Q said. ‘I’m going to call the police.’ He pulled out his phone and placed it on the table. He stared at it, unable to use his burned fingers to key in numbers. Q’s consequence was her masterpiece. She’d imagined it in her dreams, but when she saw the stage light up under him, she couldn’t help but feel awestruck.

  ‘Go ahead,’ Megan said. ‘See what happens when they ask how you got burned. Or how you broke out in that terrible rash, Jackie. Or how a nude picture of Cece appeared on the internet, and why Teddy’s drug money was stolen.’

  ‘So you’re blaming us for some kid’s death?’ Q asked. ‘Looks like you’re fishing for someone to blame. Where were you when it happened?’

  ‘I’ve already paid my dues,’ Megan said, thinking of the day she put her brother in the ground when she could have tried harder to prevent that night from happening. Reliving that day for the last year had been her punishment. Now justice would be served, and she hoped that she could be redeemed.

  ‘How are we all connected?’ Zoe asked. ‘I never met Jacob, but I do remember seeing his face in the paper. It happened a few towns over from here.’

  Megan glanced at Zoe. She didn’t think Jacob had affected anyone but herself and her dad. She wondered how many details Zoe remembered. Probably not much. Since no one dared to come forward with information, she knew that Jacob’s death was quickly forgotten.

  ‘Don’t fall for this, Zoe,’ Q said. ‘There isn’t anything left to reveal. Her brother died, and she’s looking for someone to blame. I won’t be that person. I’ve never met him—’

  ‘Oh, but you have,’ Megan said sharply. ‘All of you had the opportunity to save him, and you didn’t. I pieced together everything from that night. I’ve done my research.’

  Q moved, and Megan held out her cell phone, warning him. His face pinched with pent-up frustration, but he didn’t make another move.

  ‘The night he died, there was a party,’ Megan started. ‘A few of you might remember it. I heard it was a rager.’