School, Sex and Secrets (School, Sex and Secrets #1)

by Sheila Michelle

  Ava and Brad nodded with a smile.

  “I knew her better than anyone, Vanessa, believe that. I think she was truly sorry, that’s why I’m saying it for her since she obviously can’t. I know she’ll still want you to be a part of trying to get John’s DNA from him so he can be put in prison for life for killing her. Please continue to wanna help in getting justice for her,” Marie pleaded with me.

  Ava and Brad looked at me; I let out a sigh as I stared at the floor as I still held Marie’s hand.

  About twenty minutes later, Ava and Marie left, and I still had trouble taking in that it was Natalie who was behind the secret texts and the roses, and that she chose to see John over seeing me and that he killed her, so now she’ll never get the chance to tell me that it was her.

  Brad stared at me. “How come you never told me about those texts?”

  “Because I wasn’t sure who was sending them to me. I thought that they were gonna stop after a few days, but they just kept on and on, and besides, you had your own problems with Lisa so I didn’t wanna burden you with them.”

  He nodded. “I understand. Well, it’s unfortunate that Natalie wanted John as bad as Lisa wanted to keep me, and they went after you because you were involved with both of us. Shit. I’m so sorry, Vanessa, that all of this has happened to you, but you see how you’re still here and we’re together. You heard Marie — Natalie was really messed up, and Marc even told me that was one of the reasons why he didn’t wanna get back together with her because he even said that she was just that — messed up. But she’s gone now, Vanessa, and we all know that John killed her. I hope you’ll still consider being a part of trying to get justice for her by getting John’s DNA so he can be put where he belongs.”

  I stared at him as tears swelled up in my eyes. “I’ll still have to think about it, Brad.”

  A few hours later, I sat on the edge of my bed as I still couldn’t believe that it was Natalie who was in fact sending me the secret texts and putting those roses in my car. I was waiting on a call from Ava because she said that she was talking to Marie more about it while she drove her home, and told me that there was a lot more she had to tell me in regards to it.

  Suddenly, my phone rang; it was Ava. “Hey, Ava.”

  “Hey, Vanessa. Sorry it took me long to get back to you. But, oh, shit! Marie really poured all of the tea out of the pot when it came to those texts that Natalie secretly sent you!”

  I slightly smiled since I was still very upset. “What did she tell you?”

  “She told me that not only was Natalie the one that was sending you the texts, she’s the one who also sent the video to Lisa of you and Brad kissing in the student parking lot — she forgot to mention that while we were there.”

  I shook my head. “At this point, nothing surprises me anymore.”

  “I know, Vanessa, it shouldn’t. But Marie said that she didn’t know how that slipped her mind because she did wanna let you and Brad know that together since that was one of the two videos that Lisa shoved in his face the night that they broke up.”

  “Does Lisa know that Natalie sent it to her?”

  She sighed. “Yeah, she knows. But Marie also told her after Natalie was killed by John.”

  “Wow. Natalie did a lot of shit that caused a lot of shit to hit the fan. It’s too bad that she couldn’t say she was sorry to me and to everyone that she was causing a lot of problems for. Had she seen me first like she was originally gonna do instead of seeing John, she would more than likely still be alive.”

  “I know, Vanessa, even Marie said that. And like Marie said, she was really messed up and had a ton of her own problems. She was stalking the shit out of John and obviously stumbled into the secret of you seeing him as well, even though she really had no solid proof that you were. Then, she started stalking you because of what she assumed was going on between you and John, and then she stumbled into the possibility that you could’ve been secretly seeing Brad as well, and drew her own conclusions that you were and told Lisa about it so she could get her against you, too, and you see how that happened.”

  I shook my head. “Yeah, she did get her against me. I can’t really say anything about it because I was messing around with Brad while he was still with Lisa, but John wasn’t Natalie’s boyfriend just as much as he wasn’t mine.”

  “Exactly, Vanessa. But Marie told me that Natalie had told her that she sent a text to you and put a rose in your car when she saw that you were over John’s that first time since you’ve been Brad’s girlfriend, you know . . . when you cheated on him with Brad. She didn’t wanna say anything in front of Brad about it, though.”

  I sighed. “I appreciate her not saying anything about it in front of Brad because he doesn’t know about me cheating on him with John, but I really don’t wanna talk about that, Ava. It was obvious that Natalie sent all of the secret texts to me as well as the roses, and even though she had no proof that I cheated on Brad that day, she was right, I did. She said it was sooooo over for me, but little did she know, it was gonna be sooooo over for her forever. Sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry, Vanessa. It’s not your fault for what happened to her. But please remember that she never got to say that she was sorry to you for all the shit she put you through, and Marie said that she did wanna say it to you, so I still hope you consider wanting to get John where he belongs for what he did to her.”

  I sighed again. “Ava, like I told Brad, I still have to think about it.”

  “I understand, Vanessa.”

  “But there is something that I wanna know about the secret texts that she’d sent me.”

  “What is it?”

  “Did Marie tell you about the one that was sent to me while I was talking to Lisa after she and Brad broke up? I checked that one later and thought that John had sent it, but now I found out that it was her.”

  “Yes! Actually, I remember that Natalie told me that she had to go to the bathroom while you and Lisa were talking, that’s when she obviously wrote and sent the text to you. She obviously didn’t wanna text it to you in front of me because she knows that I would’ve asked her who was she texting because you know I’m nosey like that.”

  I chuckled. “I know, Ava. Yeah, she was obviously being sneaky about it. I really thought it was John because he left after Lisa and Brad broke up, and I knew he was hotter than hell at me since Lisa exposed me and Brad’s secret relationship. I mean, I was really scared and watching my back like she warned in the text.”

  “I know you were scared, Vanessa. Oh, yeah, and about the one before that when you pushed Lisa off of the stage? Well, Lisa told her about being pushed off the stage, so that’s no surprise since we both know that she wasn’t there that night in the club, but she obviously came up there before we left for the night and put the rose in your car.”

  “Exactly, because I think I remember not locking my doors because I was so excited to get in there, and we both know there’s really no security out in the lot,” I said with a sigh. “And naturally, I thought it was John who sent that text to me because he was there that night and I thought he did see it. But she was wrong, I wouldn’t do anything for any guy, but it was obvious that she would’ve.”

  “Yeah, because what girl in their right mind would allow themselves to get pregnant by a guy who doesn’t love or care about her? And who hides his relationship with her from others on top of that? Natalie just didn’t have any common sense, Vanessa. I hate to say it, but she didn’t.”

  “Well, we all make mistakes, and unfortunately, her mistake was getting pregnant by John. She also made the mistake of wanting a relationship with him that was never gonna happen — a relationship out in the open; something that he wanted with me, but didn’t want with her. I guess she thought that if she couldn’t get that then at least she could get a child out of it — but that’s never gonna happen.”

  “Exactly. But you’re right, Vanessa. At least you had common sense about him and didn’t want an open relationship with hi
m. I can’t even imagine if you thought like Natalie and did what she did.”

  “Well, we all can’t say what we would do or especially what we would never do. I didn’t think that I would have a secret relationship with a guy who had a girlfriend, but I did, and I got lucky that when they broke up that he meant everything he said about wanting to be with me, and you see how we’re all out in the open now. Some girls get lucky like me, and some don’t like Natalie.”

  “That is definitely true. Well, Vanessa, like I said, I know you realize that you’re lucky to have gotten out of that secret relationship with John, and Natalie wasn’t lucky. Once again, please think about forgiving her for what she did to you.”

  I sighed. “I’m thinking, Ava.”

  A few hours later, I tossed and turned in bed. I got up out of it to take one of my sleeping pills. Less than an hour later, I was in a deep sleep.

  Out of the darkness, a faint grey light appeared with a door in the background. I couldn’t get out of it where this door was at, but it looked like it was at school, so I assumed that it was. The door slowly opened . . . and Natalie was lying on the floor, exactly the way Brad described it!

  She slowly sat up! As her elbows were still pressed to the floor, she looked down at her hand as she held an older-looking phone in it that I didn’t recognize, as a red rose laid next to her. She looked up at me. “I’m sorry,” she said, and then slowly laid back down as she closed her eyes as the door slowly closed in front her, and then it disappeared.

  I woke up and burst into tears.

  As I sat in bed and cried about the dream that I just had about Natalie telling me that she was sorry for what she’d done to me when she was alive, a call came into my phone. I snatched it off of my nightstand and pressed the talk button without looking at it first to see who it was. “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s John.”

  SNEAK PREVIEW

  OF

  SCHOOL, SEX and SECRETS II

  CHAPTER 1

  I started to hyperventilate as tears streamed down my eyes. I couldn’t believe that John was calling me, and the scary thing about it was that I didn’t know what he was calling me about . . . and I was scared to ask.

  “Hello? Vanessa?” he said.

  “I . . . I’m here,” I replied in a shaken voice that I couldn’t even hide.

  “What’s wrong? You sound like something has upset you; sounds like you’ve been crying.”

  I shook my head as I continued to breathe heavy as I tried to think of what to say to him. I decided to tell him the truth. “I had a dream about Natalie,” I told him.

  There was a dead silence that loomed over the phone.

  “John?”

  He sighed. “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “What are you doing up so late?” I decided to ask since he obviously didn’t wanna hear about the dream that I had about Natalie . . . just as I suspected.

  “I don’t think it’s late, even though it’s a school night. I’m used to being up this late because I study much longer than most. I just got done that’s why I decided to call you to see how you were doing.”

  “I’m fine, John,” I lied.

  “You don’t sound fine, Vanessa. Listen, I know you’re Brad’s, but if there’s something wrong then I wanna know about it. I mean, you were telling me things that were wrong with you before you started seeing him.”

  Yeah, and it seemed like you didn’t care, I thought. “I told you, John, I had a dream about Natalie. I’m still very upset about her death,” I said. I just didn’t wanna tell him that I knew that he was the reason why she was dead because I didn’t want him coming over here and killing me because after all, I had just about all the proof that I needed that it was him. I didn’t want him to even think that I suspected him of it since Brad, Zac, Ava, Marie, and I agreed that it would stay between all of us for now until we found a way to get his DNA, but I knew that he’d killed her. “John, I’m very tired; I wanna go to sleep now. It’s been a very rough day and I feel that things aren’t gonna get better anytime soon.”

  “Probably not, Vanessa. But if you need to talk to me about anything you know I’ll listen. Just because you and Brad are together it doesn’t mean that we can’t talk like the way we used to, right?”

  I only wanna talk to you about you killing Natalie, I thought. “Right, John,” I very reluctantly replied.

  We sat in a very awkward silence for a few seconds.

  “Can I confess something to you, Vanessa?”

  I tried not to gasp! “Uh, yeah . . . what is it?” I asked, and then tried very patiently to wait for him to confess to me what he wanted to confess to me. I felt that I wasn’t gonna have to ask him about his involvement with Natalie after all since in a second he was gonna tell me that he was the one who killed her.

  “I still have strong feelings for you,” he confessed.

  I let out a deep sigh that I couldn’t hold in. This was not what I was expecting for him to confess to me, and since I knew that he was the one who killed Natalie, him saying this to me now had a whole different feeling than it did when he first told me this several months ago, which led to us secretly seeing each other. It now gave me a sick feeling, as well as a scared one. “John, you know I’m with Brad. You can’t have these feelings for me anymore, it’s just not right.”

  “What’s not right is you being with Brad when you know that you should be with me . . . sorry,” he said.

  I gasped! I knew deep inside that he was not being honest with me or Brad in saying that he was cool about us being together, and what he just said had said it all. “John, please. I can’t possibly be the only girl that you’ve ever wanted to be with or been involved with . . .”

  “You are,” he profoundly stressed.

  This gave me chills. I didn’t wanna elaborate on this because I didn’t feel comfortable asking him about any girl by myself since it was known that he was never involved with anyone at our school, including me, since the only involvement that I had with him was in secret . . . just like Natalie. “Okay, I believe you,” I lied. “Look, I have to get going, okay?”

  “Bye,” he said, and abruptly hung up.

  I sat with the phone still to my ear. I didn’t know what to think, but it seemed as though that he could know that I know now that he could’ve possibly had some other involvement with some other girl, but I just didn’t wanna ask him if he was involved with Natalie because I didn’t know how he would’ve reacted to it. Now I was wide awake, and feared that John knew that I was already on to him. I called Brad.

  “What’s up, beautiful?” Brad said.

  “Brad, I’m so sorry for calling you this late, but I had to,” I told him.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked in a concerned tone.

  “John called me a few minutes ago,” I informed him.

  “Really?! What did he say or want?”

  “He said that he just wanted to see how I was because of what’s been going on. I didn’t wanna tell him that I know that he killed Natalie.”

  “Good, I’m glad you didn’t because we need to get his DNA first before we confront him.”

  I started crying again.

  “Vanessa! Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “Brad, before John called me, I had a dream about Natalie. A door to a room slowly opened, and there she was, lying on the floor in the room just like the way that you said that she was when you saw her, and then she slowly got up a little while she held an old-looking phone while a red rose laid right next to her. She said that she was sorry to me, and then laid back down and that door closed and disappeared.”

  “Wow, Vanessa. I believe you. It’s obvious that she’s watching over you and wanted you to know that she was sorry for those secret texts and the roses. Now do you forgive her?”

  I continued to cry. “I do, Brad. And yes, I’m officially back on board about getting John’s DNA and seeing that she gets the justice that she deserves.”

  “That’s great, baby. I know that y
ou’re a very kind-hearted and forgiving person, and those are definitely some of the many things that I love about you. Since she couldn’t tell you that she was sorry in person that day, she told you through the dream. I know that she’ll want us to do the right thing and get John’s DNA so he can be put where he rightfully belongs, and we’re not gonna let her down.”

  “Oh, and when John called me, I did tell him that I had a dream about her.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “Nothing. He just sighed, that’s all.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

  “I mean, I was gonna ask him about her, but I was afraid to because I didn’t know how he would react. But I did ask him had he been involved with any girl besides me, and he told me no — I mean, he really stressed no.”

  “Well, we know he’s full of shit when it comes to that, but I’m glad you didn’t directly mention Natalie.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t want to because I don’t know what he’s capable of; I wanna mention Natalie to him with all of us. This is just so fucked up, Brad, it really is.” I didn’t wanna dare tell him what John said in terms of him believing that it was wrong that I was with Brad and not him, and this confirmed to me that he was not over me and Brad being together . . . and never would be.

  “Yeah, this is fucked up for sure,” he replied with a sigh.

  “Brad, I’m really fuckin’ scared. I don’t know how I’m gonna get through the rest of the school year knowing that someone that I used to secretly see killed one of my friends that he was also secretly seeing.”

  “Baby, don’t worry. I’m gonna be here for you. John is not gonna hurt you — believe that. If I hear you scream and he’s anywhere near you, I’ll shoot that motherfucker without hesitation. And just to let you know, Marc and I are carrying our guns to school every day until we get John’s DNA so he can be where he belongs. Fuck the cops, fuck everything else because this is a personal quest for justice since Natalie was our friend, and an ex-friend of ours killed her. I say ex-friend because I don’t consider him a friend anymore, Vanessa, and I hope that you and Ava don’t, either . . . but I don’t want him to know that yet because if need be, I’m gonna need to still hang out with him so I can get his DNA that way. Marc has no idea that John is the one who killed Natalie and we’re gonna keep it that way because I don’t want him shooting and killing him for trying to frame him for killing her by planting her phone in his drawer because I believe that he’ll be so mad about it that he’ll actually do it, and we don’t need anyone else in trouble right now.”