Sever

by Jesse Grey

  Sterling Jacobs spun on the tips of her toes then, content with abandoning Sumner’s old friends and letting them mull her words over like the serious proclamation that they were.

  Adelaide Llewellyn felt instantly nervous once she ended her phone call with November St. James. She placed her cell phone on the kitchen counter, her husband coming into the room with his inter-ests raised.

  “Who was that?” Ethan prompted.

  “Nova,” she responded, absentmindedly swiping at her cheek as she felt the heat rising to her face. “Celia showed up and wanted to have a dinner with everyone.”

  “Celia? Why?”

  Adelaide scoffed. “Some sort of mock apology for the incident beneath Arclan.”

  Ethan shrugged as he searched through the refrigerator for a pitcher of sweet tea he’d made earlier. Pouring himself a glass, he said, “I wonder what took her so long to do something like this. Her and Hendrick haven’t said two words to us since the night Sumner attacked the kids.”

  “I get it, they wanted to give us space.” Adelaide told her hus-band. “But I still feel uneasy about the whole thing.”

  “I just don’t know how the kids are going to react to it.”

  A dark thought crept into her mind then. A thought that had been a heavy shadow on her subconscious for a while now. Hesitation settled into her skin as she braced herself for what she was about to do. Adelaide had wanted to discuss her weighing thoughts with her husband for weeks. But fear of Ethan’s response had halted her proaction and implanted the seed of doubt deep within the abyss of her psyche; until now.

  “Speaking of the kids, I think we should tell Alex and Faith the truth.”

  Her eyes stayed on Ethan’s the entire time. At first, he remained impassive and unmoving. Then his eyes sparked and a huge exhale widened his nostrils in hindrance. Adelaide saw the hair raise on his knuckles. “No, Addie. No way in hell.”

  “Ethan—”

  “Are you ready for our kids to change the way they look at us?” He staggered in his stance, making her feel all the more uneasy. “I’m not. I may never be.”

  “They deserve the truth. Do you know how hard this has been to keep bottled up after everything that’s happened?”

  “And it’s just easy for me, right? You need to stop thinking that you’re alone in this, Adelaide. I’m your husband. This is something we agreed on. We’re not doing this to them.”

  “How long do you expect us to wait, Ethan? Until the twins leave for college? When they get married?”

  “Enough.” Ethan shook his head with as much vigor as his bari-tone carried upon every syllable he had spoken. “We’re not saying a word.”

  Ethan Llewellyn stormed off, his feelings distorting his words to the point of scaring him, not sure of what he would tell his wife if he didn’t walk away. A bedroom door slammed with finality out of her vision, Adelaide wishing she hadn’t decided to share the burden that she continued to feel aching in her heart. Instead, she swallowed the truth like she always did and grabbed her keys in a futile attempt to leave the house, taking her deep secret with her.

  “A friendly reminder that Homecoming nominees will be announced shortly before school officially ends.”

  Alex heard the announcement over the intercom system, but he wasn’t all that interested. He just cared that they got out of class for the last five minutes before school let out for the Homecoming an-nouncement. Cutting his way through the random crowd of stu-dents, he found his friends huddled together by his sister’s locker, talking mildly amongst themselves. Aside from his friends and his sister, Kirby and Willa were gathered around as well.

  “There you are.” Faith smiled at her brother.

  Abram came up to him, grinning like a wide eyed puppy as he put an arm around his shoulders. Mercer and Kirby were hanging off each other. Bridge was laughing at something with Willa. All eyes fell on him then, making Alex feel uncomfortable enough to invol-untarily laugh.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Though she won’t tell us who,” Bridge said. “Faith says at least one of us got nominated for Homecoming Court.”

  “Why would someone nominate us?” Alex huffed.

  “Everyone has pretty much gotten over the Sumner thing, and now most people feel guilty for how they’ve treated you guys, espe-cially after Sumner showed up underneath Arclan.” Faith explained.

  “It’s obviously me.” Mercer said, his head raised in a show of con-fidence. “All of Westbrooke not only feels bad for me with my gun-shot wound, but they finally have come to terms with me being the hottest guy in school.”

  Kirby put a finger to Mercer’s lips. “Please stop.”

  They all laughed together as the PA system crackled back to life, silencing most of the chatter around them in the hallway.

  “And now it’s time to announce this year’s Homecoming Court.”

  The friends all listened while the principal announced the girls nominated for Homecoming Queen. But Alex wasn’t surprised when his sister was nominated, considering how many clubs she was in and how connected to everything within the school she was. Faith brushed it off, saying that she was way too busy to campaign for votes despite the smile on her face.

  “Our first nominee for Homecoming King is...Abram St. James.”

  Shock wasn’t even an accurate portrayal of what overwhelmed Abram’s senses when he heard his name being called. His friends congratulated him in a fury of smiles and eager embraces, all while Thalia Cobbins continued to elate the school with the remaining nominees.

  He gave Alex the last hug as he laughed.

  “Congrats, Abe.” Mercer grinned. “You really deserve it.”

  “Normally, there’s only four nominees for both king and queen,” Thalia urged everyone’s attention, waiting as everyone hung off eve-ry syllable she uttered. “But this year, there was a tie between the last two nominees, so this year there will be an additional student vote for Homecoming King. Congratulations to...Alex Llewellyn.”

  Alex felt completely numb after the announcement, seeing noth-ing besides Abram as the taller man swung him into a massive hug. It had been Alex’s dream back when he was Lissa to be Homecoming Queen, and of course, later, Prom Queen. But never in his wildest dreams did he conjure up a way where he could possibly win Home-coming King as his true self.

  “This is perfect!” Abram said, grabbing Alex’s hands, their friends still encompassing them. “I was going to do this whole grand gesture but now is the perfect segue.”

  Alex stood by, looking into Abram’s eyes with cloudy curiosity all while their friends looked on with just as inquisitive expressions as the one Alex had.

  “I know it’s been a weird couple of months and a lot has gone on in our lives since senior year started, but I’ve done a lot of thinking lately. I’m finally at a really good place in my life and the only thing missing, is you.” Their friends stood in anticipation as Abram squeezed Alex’s hands with his own. “I want us back. I want you back.” Abram went on. “That’s why I’m asking you...will you go to Homecoming with me?”

  “Abe, what about—”

  “I’m not done. I want us to go to Homecoming together, but I want you to go with me as my boyfriend.”

  Bridge and Mercer immediately clasped each other on the shoul-ders and gave half hugs to one another. Alex saw his sister looking on lovingly out of the corner of his eyes. But when he turned back to Abram, all he could see in his eyes was love.

  “Abe, I don’t want you to do this if it’s not really what you want.”

  Abram laughed. “Don’t you get it, Alex? I love you. I love you as Lissa and I love you as Alex. You were right. You haven’t changed. You’re the same person I fell in love with two years ago. I don’t care what other people interpret us as, because we’ll always be us. I love you, Alex. All you have to do is let me.” He beamed with radiating confidence and adoration. “Let me take you to Homecoming like we always planned. Say yes.”

  Alex laughed,
suddenly flooded with warm emotions. He saw himself reflected in Abram’s eyes and he realized that this is what true, concentrated happiness really felt like. Clutching back against Abram’s grip, Alex chuckled lightly, a nod preceding his answer.

  “Absolutely.”

  Holding onto his hands, Abram pulled himself forward and gin-gerly laid his lips on top of Alex’s, both of them finally feeling at peace with their relationship, not caring who saw them kiss. They heard their friends exclaiming ecstatically, but Alex and Abram were caught up in each other, knowing that they were back to how they were meant to be.

  Morning came all too quickly the next day for everyone. The huge news of the Homecoming Court was still looming on all of their minds. For Bridge particularly, it made him a little sad when he thought about the upcoming dance. He was the only one without an actual date. Abram and Alex were an official thing again. Mercer was obviously taking Kirby, Faith was going with Straton. Even Willa was unavailable to take pity upon his situation since she had a date too, telling everyone it was a surprise as to who she was going with. And then there was the issue of Ben, not that his friends knew any-thing about his secret relationship.

  Ben and Bridge had been pretty much seeing each other ever since the incident at the Meadows residence when they had made-up. Bridge still held a bundle of guilt about it, but Ben swore he was go-ing to break things off with Paige when the time was right.

  He was waiting for his friends to meet him at school, passing by one of the faculty-only bathrooms when he was quickly pulled inside the one closest to him. Ben’s darkly handsome face came into view as he flipped the bathroom light on, Bridge’s mind ever spinning from the abrupt change in scenery.

  “Ben,” Bridge giggled, mentally chastising himself at the occur-rence. “What are you doing?”

  “I wanted to see you.” Ben said with a quick kiss and a smile to match it. “And to tell you that I’m gonna be at Homecoming.”

  “You are?” This was news to Bridge, considering the point that Ben hadn’t really stepped foot into the halls of Westbrooke since he’d been relieved of his Abram advisory duties just about a week before.

  He nodded quickly. “Paige has to supervise and I’m going as her date.”

  “Right,” Bridge exhaled, over their conversation already. “You’re going because of Paige.”

  “Hey.” Ben let a hand cup the rigid jaw line he loved kissing, star-ing into Bridge’s mysteriously dark irises as he spoke. “I was serious about us, Bridge. It’s just not the right moment for me to break-up with Paige right now.”

  He sighed again. “I know. It’s just hard. I want to be with you, for real. And keeping this from my friends—”

  “I know.” Ben softly pressed a kiss on Bridge’s forehead. “It won’t always be like this. I promise.”

  “I gotta go.” Bridge said, giving him a weak smile. “My friends are probably wondering where I am.”

  “Alright. See you at Homecoming?”

  “Just try and keep your eyes off me.” He leaned into Ben and gave him a rough kiss full of I-can’t-waits and wait-until-we’re-alones, leaving Ben wanting more as he left the older man in the bathroom, and exited once a few moments had passed. Bridge stepped out of the bathroom, only to be face to face with Principal Cobbins.

  “That doesn’t look like the student bathrooms, Mr. Mathison.”

  He gave her an abashed wince of an apology. “Sorry, Principal Cobbins. Won’t happen again.”

  Bridge turned and ran down the hall, causing Thalia to roll her eyes and yell, “You’re indoors, Mathison!”, which triggered him to ultimately slow his pace as he ran toward the meeting place in be-tween the two school buildings to gather with his friends.

  When he stumbled upon his friends in their signature nook, he saw Alex and Abram holding hands, something he hadn’t seen them do in quite a while. It inspired a smile to tickle his upper lip.

  “You guys took no time getting gross again.” Bridge snickered.

  “Jealous?” Alex raised an eyebrow in mock annoyance, a smirk on the tips of his lips.

  “Hardly,” he smiled back. “How’s it feel to be back together?”

  Alex looked to Abram before regarding Bridge again. “Surreal.”

  “Yeah. It’s different now. It feels more authentic than before.” Abram explained.

  “Now we just gotta find you a date, B.” Mercer guffawed. “Unless you’ve already found a willing one-time victim.”

  “Hey, contrary to my track record, I do want to have a meaning-ful relationship and I am capable of one.”

  “I know.” Mercer nodded. “I was joking. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I’m just gonna go stag to Homecoming. I don’t need a date to get a guy to dance with me.”

  “True.” Alex chimed in. “Plus, you can spend extra time laughing at those of us on Homecoming Court when the karaoke thing starts.”

  “What karaoke thing?” Abram’s voice heightened, terror taking over his tone.

  “I’ve been waiting to tell you,” Alex stated. “Faith only told me this morning. The Homecoming Court is going to perform, singing a song of our choosing to the school. Then after all the nominees perform, voting will be open.”

  “Why?” Mercer asked.

  “They’re looking for chemistry between the noms and their dates. The hope is that it’ll be about that instead of a popularity contest, even if two of the winners aren’t actually together.”

  “Interesting. Weird logic, but interesting.” Bridge shrugged.

  “Honestly, I just think Mrs. Wingfield has been watching too much of The Voice.” Alex laughed.

  “I assume you guys haven’t heard from any of the potential Em-my Walkers?”

  Mercer’s inquiry shifted the vivacity amongst them. Abram and Alex had been the ones to leave the messages with the people they called, so it was up to them to keep tabs on the prospects of finding the connection between Sumner and this conundrum of a woman.

  “Nothing yet.” Abram admitted. “But hopefully soon. Emmy Walker has to tie this whole thing together.”

  The conversation was altered yet again when they saw Sterling wandering around campus.

  “The hell?”

  Bridge led the others away from their nook to the pathways around campus until they approached Sterling on the quad, the grass still slick from the morning’s dew.

  “Sterling,” Alex took the reins on the questions, Sterling’s eyes resting on them with intense and irritated pupils. “What are you do-ing back here?”

  “I’ve been looking for you.” Sterling stated. “I’m taking the rest of the week off since I’m transferring here Monday.”

  “You’re still going through with that?” Abram interrogated.

  “Without question.” Sterling affirmed. She reached into her bag, pulling out a letter. “And this just solidifies why I have to.”

  She shoved the letter toward them, allowing them to huddle to-gether and devour the words scribed on the page.

  Sterling,

  Don’t worry about me, I’m okay, but I won’t be for much longer if what I assume is happening turns out to be true. Trust the Slayer Society, they’re trying to put an end to Sumner, something I could never do. Show them this letter, hopefully they’ll realize I trust them and, maybe, they’ll re-turn the favor. I’ll be at their Homecoming. I’ll explain everything there. Meet me on the roof. I’ll see the five of you there.

  Blanche

  Saucers for eyes, the once again dubbed Slayer Society didn’t know what to do with their soon to be meeting with Blanche Baxxen and her vague and choppy attempt at warning them about impend-ing dangers.

  “I found it this morning,” she said. “It was on my bed when I woke up.”

  “How do we know she’ll show?” Mercer’s worry was easily mir-rored on all of his friends’ faces.

  “Can’t you read between the lines?” Sterling’s feeble state of being began to quake in front of them. “Blanche is scared. She s
aid she won’t be okay for long. Sumner might be trying to track her down, which means this is her last chance to tell her story before something awful happens.”

  “Well then we better be ready for Homecoming.” Abram said.

  “Are we really, for once, actually going to figure something out about why Sumner started all of this?” Alex said, his open ended question full of hope.

  They all begged it to come to life, because the reason behind why they were henceforth referred to as The Slayer Society was a mystery they really hoped to solve. If a situation presented itself in the form of meeting with Blanche, they could go back to lives free of secrets and finding answers to questions that, whether they knew it or not, they might not be ready for.

  16

  HOMEKILLING

  Westbrooke had been buzzing with Homecoming hysteria throughout the week. Now that Friday had finally fallen upon the masses, the entire school was bubbling with anticipation for the dance. But before the gym became the dancefloor, it first had to hold the very important event that was the pep rally.

  Classes were done with and everyone was either on their way to the pep rally or was already attempting to find a coveted seat in the bleachers. While almost every able body in Westbrooke High was piling into the gymnasium, Abram was lingering in the weight room with the other Westbrooke Wolverine cheerleaders for the pep rally to begin.

  He was standing with his sister, nerves welling against every ac-tion he displayed as he retied his shoes for the third time.

  “Abe, relax.” Willa laughed. “You’re going to do fine.”

  “It’s just been a long time since I’ve done this. And the last time I did…” he trailed off, not wanting to say the name of the marauder that had actually gotten him into cheerleading.

  The door to the weight room flung open, Alex gliding in and greeting everyone with a smile. Harley was quick to notice his sud-den arrival and swiftly went to meet him at the head of the room.