Deception (Dirty Secrets #2) (4 page)

I love you too, Jace Axel William. — Madi

“Madelin Grey and Jace William, unless you want me to read what the two of you are writing back and forth to each other, I suggest you stop,” Mrs. Duff says.

“I was just telling Madi how much I love her,” Jace tells her. “Which is a lot, if you wanted to know.”

The class all turns to look at us. Some of the guys are laughing, but most of the girls are going
awwww
.

Yeah, I pretty much have the best boyfriend ever.

Lunch

It’s about time.

At lunch, I tell Jace to eat with Trey, and I eat with my friends. Mostly because, I need to talk with them before tonight. I need to know if anybody besides Cassidy and me have gotten text messages. The selfish part of me hopes they have so we can all face this together, but more of me doesn’t want them to have gotten texts.

As I’m walking into the cafeteria, I spot Cassidy. I grab her arm and pull her into the corner.

“Has anybody else gotten texts?” I whisper to her.

“I don’t know,” she answers, keeping her voice low. “I mean, I haven’t told anybody besides you. What if they’ve gotten messages too but they haven’t told anybody?”

“So should we tell them?”

She nods. “But not at lunch. The guys will be there. We can talk to them tonight at the party.”

“Okay.”

The two of us walk toward the table. Everybody is already sitting there, and we take our usual seats.

“Madi, Madi, Madi.” Landry shakes his head at me. “Here I thought you and I had something good going on, and now you’re with Jace.”

“Oh my God. Jace,” Emma says. “All I can say is it’s about time. You two have had a crush on each other
forever
.”

“I’m happy for you, Mads,” Frannie says. “But if Jace takes away from best friend time, I will hurt him.”

“He won’t,” I tell them. “He’s still sitting with Trey and I’m still sitting here. Nothing is going to change.”

“Except your virgin status,” Hayden says, laughing.

“You’re a virgin?” Mason asks, looking at me with his mouth hanging open.

I nod. “I thought everybody knew that. I’ve never had a boyfriend before Jace, and I didn’t want my first time to be some random hook up at a party. Plus, I was kind of waiting for Jace.”

“I think that is really sweet,” Luke says, surprising everybody.

Luke is the
party
guy. His parents are gone all the time, so every weekend he throws a party at his house. He’s never had a girlfriend, and we don’t really expect him to ever have one. Not that he’s not attractive, he is, but he’s definitely not the
commitment
type of guy. He lives for random hook-ups.

“Right. Like
you
waited for true love…” Hayden rolls her eyes at him.

“No, I didn’t,” he says. “I hooked up with some college girl in the bed of somebody’s pickup truck. I didn’t even know her name, and I still don’t. I was a freshman at the time, and all I remember is she was pissed because it was over in less than a minute.”

Mason laughs so hard that he spews his drink. Then we all start laughing.

“My stamina has improved since then,” Luke says.

“I’d sure hope so,” Robbie says, still laughing.

“It has,” Emma confirms. “Luke is amazing in bed.”

“I so knew you two were hooking up!” Hayden says too loudly. Everybody in the cafeteria turns to look at us, which only makes the rest of us laugh harder.

“Way to be discreet, Hayden,” Mason says, shaking his head.

“So, what are the plans for tonight?” Cassidy asks the girls. She gives me a look.

“I think we should all get ready together,” Hayden says.

“I can’t,” I tell them. “I promised Lexie that she could get ready with me.”

“Aw, come on Mads,” Frannie says, pouting. “Ditch her.”

I sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell her something came up, but she should still come to the party. And you should all be nice to her. She’s really not that bad.”

“Wait, whose house are we doing this at? We usually get ready at Daisy’s house,” Hayden says, then lowers her head.

“My house,” I say, knowing I’m the only one who really could. Cassidy and Frannie’s house is too small. Emma’s mom is an alcoholic, so there’s no way we’d go there. And Hayden lives with her grandma and five cats, but Frannie is allergic to cats. So, the only other option is my house.

“I still can’t believe Daisy is
really
missing,” Hayden says.

“I’m still not sold,” Frannie says. “I think she might have been desperate enough to set this whole thing up herself. You know how she is. She got mad because I told Madi she looked pretty on Monday. I’m not going to put this past her.”

Cassidy looks at me, and I’m pretty sure we are both thinking the same thing.

Frannie isn’t getting the texts. If she was, I doubt she would be saying that.

Unless she
is
getting the texts and she still thinks they’re from Daisy.

Oh my God, what if they
are
from her? What if she’s playing us? I seriously wouldn’t put it past her. And if she is, I’m never talking to her again.

Either way, Frannie, Hayden, and Emma need to know. What if they are going through the same thing but they’re too scared to tell anybody? I am their friend, and I want to be here for them. So I will tell them this afternoon.

Drama Club

Stop saying please.

I get to drama a little early so I can talk to Lexie. I am racking my brain for excuses for why I’m ditching her, but all of them sound lame. So, I just decide to go with the truth… or semi-truth.

“Lex, I need to cancel this afternoon,” I tell her, sitting beside her.

She frowns. “Oh.”

“It’s just… the whole thing with Daisy. My friends are all coming over to get ready. It’s a support thing. We are all taking it pretty hard,” I say.

“I understand,” she says, but she doesn’t look me in the eyes as she says it.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I still want you to come to Luke’s party tonight. Just show up around eight,” I tell her.

“I don’t know… I am not good at the whole party thing, and you excel at it,” she says. “I can’t expect you to
just
talk to me all night. I’d rather save myself the humiliation and stay at home.”

“No. Don’t. Please, will you come? I told my friends you’d be there, and they promised to talk to you.” I pout at her, giving her my best pretend sad face. “Please. Please. Please. Please.”

“Fine. I’ll come,” she says. “Just stop saying please.”

I clap. “Yes! Thank you, Lexie!”

And now I can hang with my friends today guilt-free.

“I wish I were more like you. I’m so socially awkward,” she says.

“No you’re not,” I tell her.

“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “So, I saw that you and Jace are Facebook-official.”

I can’t help but smile at her words. “He asked me to be his girlfriend last night.”

“That’s so sweet. I always knew you two had a crush on each other,” she says.

“I think my crush on him was obvious to everybody
except
him,” I tell her. “I’m so happy, Lexie. I’ve wanted this for so long and I never thought it would happen. I always tried to prepare myself for the day he would get a girlfriend. I’m so relieved he feels the same.”

“So what brought all this on?” she asks. “Who told who first?”

My stomach tightens when I think about the text, but I push the thought away. “Me. I wrote him a song. When he read it, he had
no idea
it was actually about him. He kept trying to guess who, so finally I just told him. Then I kissed him and ran away.”

She laughs. “Aw, that’s so sweet, Madi. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

The bell rings as Mr. Matthews walks into the classroom. Today he’s wearing a purple pair of skinny jeans and Vans. Everybody is so used to seeing him dress like this that nobody reacts.

He claps his hands. “Play practice starts on Tuesday after school. Every Tuesday and Thursday from three to four. Learn your lines, people. The better you are, the less we have to practice. I don’t want it to be like last year when we had to practice
every night
for a whole month before the play started.”

Neither. Do. I. That sucked pretty bad. I was the only person who knew my lines, and it was ridiculous.

Mr. Matthews starts handing out the play script. He also tells everybody who will be playing what role. I already knew I got Cinderella, but I smile when he tells me again. Everybody claps.

After the scripts are handed out, Mr. Matthews tells us more about the play… As if we don’t all know the story of Cinderella.

I look at Lexie. She and I are going to have a lot of fun doing this play.

I only wish Jace were playing the prince — then this would
really
be perfect. But he’s not an actor. Instead, my prince is a guy who is 5’7” and probably weighs less than I do. Seriously, he’s so skinny. And I won’t be able to wear heels on stage or else I will be taller than him.

I guess Cinderella’s glass slippers will have to be flats this year.

Carter, Cinderella’s prince, sees me watching him. He smiles at me and I smile back to be polite.

He’s played in a few school plays, but he’s never had a leading role before. This year he’s a senior so it makes sense. He’s not a
great
actor, but he’s definitely the best in our drama department. I just hope he’s dedicated and will learn his lines.

5pm

“Homework”.

Jace is hanging out in my room and we are doing our “homework”.

Okay, we’re not doing homework. We are talking. Whatever, Trey doesn’t need to know I finished my homework for the weekend already. We are both lying on my bed facing each other.

“My mom is ecstatic that we’re together,” Jace tells me. “She’s been telling me to ask you out forever now.”

“I’m glad you finally listened.”

“I still wish I wouldn’t have waited so long. Think of all those wasted years…”

“I wouldn’t say they were wasted. We spent thirteen years building a friendship,” I say. “What we did was
perfect
timing.”

“You’re right.”

“So, is Trey mad that I’m taking away from his time with you?” I ask.

“He’ll get over it,” Jace says.

“You can hang out with him later. My friends are coming over in a couple hours to get ready for the party tonight,” I tell him. “We used to always get ready at Daisy’s house. Cassidy is having a hard time dealing with her disappearance. Especially since the cops ruled it a kidnapping.”

“Have they told you what happened?” he asks.

“Some. I know that the cops found her phone in the woods behind her house and apparently she had been getting threatening text messages from a blocked number. They think it’s definitely connected.”

He sits up. “Wait… are you getting texts?”

I take a deep breath and prepare to lie to him. I’m a good actress, I can do this.

“Don’t do that,” he says. “I can tell that you’re going to lie and I don’t want to hear it. I want to hear the truth.”

“If I tell you, you have to promise
not
to tell. I told Cass that I would give her until Saturday, then I’m telling the police.”

“Wait, Cass sent the texts?”

“No, no, no.” I sigh. “Okay, the night Dee disappeared she went to Cassidy and showed her the texts. She had been getting them for a little while, I think. So then Daisy disappeared and Cassidy was going to tell the cops, but then she got these texts threatening her. They said if she told the cops that they would kill Daisy and do the same thing to Cass. This… person… is going to send us clues tonight on how to find Daisy. So, we are going to find her.”

“Madi, you can’t do that. What if this is a trap?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s worth it to get Daisy back. I know she’s a complete bitch, but she doesn’t deserve this. Nobody does.”

“You need to tell the police,” Jace says, a bit more urgent. “God, Mads. I just got you. I can’t lose you now.”

“You aren’t going to lose me. I’m going to be fine. And tomorrow, Cass and I are going to tell the cops what happened. I promise.”

Jace runs his fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe you’re keeping this from the cops, but I trust your judgment. Tomorrow, you
will
go to the police or I will.”

“Okay.”

“Also, you’re not going anywhere without me tonight,” he says. “If you’re getting kidnapped, I’m going to be with you.”

“I’m not getting kidnapped,” I tell him. “You’ll be there to protect me from all the bad guys.”

“I’ll always protect you.”

I lean over to give him a kiss as my bedroom door bursts open.

“Where are your books?” Trey asks. “I thought you were studying.”

Ugh.

I fall backward onto my bed. “I hate you, Trey!”

“No you don’t. You love me.”

“I just want to kiss my boyfriend one time without you interrupting.”

“You can kiss,” he says. “But you have to leave the door open. I want to make sure there is nothing else going on in here.”

“If there was anything else going on, it wouldn’t be any of your business,” I tell Trey. “Seriously, you lost your virginity when you were fifteen. I’m seventeen. I’d say I’m a few years overdue. Besides, Jace is my boyfriend now. It’s not like I’m doing it with some random guy at a party.”

“Come on, Mads. It’s a big deal, and I don’t want you to have sex with Jace right now.”

“I don’t plan on it. If you knew me, you’d know that. I’m not a whore.”

“I didn’t say you were,” he says. “I just want you to make sure you’re really ready.”

“Oh my God, Trey. I am so not having this conversation with you right now. Get out of my room! And shut the door!”

“Fine,” he says, but then looks at Jace. “If you try to pressure her into anything she’s not ready for, I will hurt you.”

“Dude, you’ve known me since I was four. When have I
ever
been that guy?” Jace asks him.

“You haven’t.”

“Exactly. I respect Mads. And I will tell you exactly what I told her. She is worth waiting for, no matter how long that wait is.”

“Okay,” Trey says, nodding his head like he finally gets it. “Good.”