Chapter 7

I stopped the alarm on my phone before rolling over to the left side of my bed. I groaned as I got off the bed, still a bit tired. I walked over to my closet, pulling out some running clothes and shoes then went into my ensuite bathroom to change my clothes.

I went downstairs to see my dad making coffee, and Scott sitting at his feet, walking into the kitchen, I got Scott's leash from the kitchen closet and took some water out of the fridge.

"Morning Dad, working early today?" I asked as I ate an apple.

"Yeah, the lab called me in," he said before facing me, "morning run today?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm taking Scott with me since I didn't get to walk him yesterday," I told him throwing away my apple core and hooking Scott's leash to his collar.

"Be careful," He told me while I walked to the front door.

"Come on Scottie, let's go outside," I told Scott.

He's one of my pets that I got when I moved here, mom and dad thought that getting a dog would help Teague and I cope with the move and other changes and it did. Taking care of Scott, took my mind off of a lot of things. I love him so much, he's a Siberian Husky with black and white fur and icy blue eyes.

We got two cats also since Teague was afraid of Scott when we first got him, so we got an Ocicat which Teague named Midnight and we recently got a Norwegian Forest Cat which I named Shadow. Midnight was grey with black spots while Shadow was black and white with some patches of orange.

Speaking of cats, Midnight rushed past me when I opened the door, I walked out calling for her but she didn't come.

"Stay here Scott," I told him walking back inside.

I knocked on my father's office door before opening it, "Dad, Midnight ran outside as I opened the door and she's not answering my calls, you know how much she loves to explore, can you tell mom to look for her if you can't please," I told him before leaving the house with Scott for our walk.

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"Kris! Where have you been we need to leave now!" Stacey yelled as she rushed me to the door.

"What, I just got back and I need to prepare for school," I said stepping around her and towards the stairs.

"No, you have to come with me, Susan called in sick, so she can't cheer today and Summer is still on break since she broke her arm before school started, I have no one else but you, please Kris," she told me breathing a bit hard close to panicking.

I pulled her towards me only to realize that she had my school bag, gym bag and her bags in her hand as well as my car keys and phone.

"Okay, Stace, breathe, let me just tell my mom that she has to drop Raiden and Cindy to school, and then we can leave, breathe okay, everything is going to be fine," I told her, she nodded and kept breathing.

"I told your mom already, and she said okay, so can we leave please," She told me when she calmed down, I agreed, taking the keys and my bags from her hands.

"Alright let's go," I told her and we left for school.

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"Awesome practice guys, hit the showers, the first period is gonna start and we already missed homeroom, we'll go over the steps during the sixth period, you're excused from your class during that time, so get changed and get to the gym, alright that's it everyone," She said as she dismissed us.

I rubbed my shoulders as I walked towards the locker rooms, my muscles and arms are aching all over. I think I need an ice bath or some Alieve.

"Hey, Kris thanks again for filling in," Stacey told me as she caught up with me.

I smiled at her, "No problem Stacey, your my best friend and you needed some help, I'll always be here for you but maybe next give me a week's notice, my muscles are killing me," I told her causing her to laugh.

"It wouldn't hurt so much if you just join the team," She told me.

"Ha ha ha Stacey but no," I told her.

"Why not?" She asked me, her tone suggested that she was serious.

I stopped and faced her, " I've had a lot of bad experiences being on a team, I got fasley accused and kicked out of my old school's dance team apparently the whole team hated me and wanted me gone because I had certain boundaries, I'm not saying that it would happen here, is just that it took some time to get over and I don't think that I'm ready to be a part of a team just yet," I told her honestly, her eyes softened at my words and she pulled me into a hug.

"Well it's their loss, you are an awesome friend and temporary teammate but I understand," she told me before walking off to the showers.

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"Stacey!" I shouted as I realized what I was wearing.

"Yes, Kris?" She asked, her voice sounding smug as she knew what I was yelling her name for.

"Why did you pack this for me?" I questioned her motioning to my outfit.

"Oh did I pack that? I really can't remember, I was rushing out of the house, so I picked out whatever I saw first," she told me, her voice soft and innocent but I knew better.

"Really, so while you were rushing you coincidentally matched this outfit with the right shoes, makeup and phone case?" I asked her folding my arms.

"Yes, I'm that good," she told me while fixing my hair and unfolding my arms.

"Now stop complaining, you look hot, so I believe thanks are in order," she told me while smirking.

I rolled my eyes at her before stuffing my gym bag into my gym locker, picking up my school bag and phone, "Fine, thank you very much, Stacey, for this wonderful outfit," I told her before storming out of the locker room.

"Despite the sarcasm, I'm gonna take it," she yelled at me before the door closed behind me.

I shook my head and chuckled at her response, I looked down at my clothes. There wasn't really anything wrong with it, it was a grey crop top, a black leather pleated skater skirt, black fishnet stockings, black stiletto boots with minimal makeup and a gold heart chain around my neck.

Looking at the time on my phone, I made my way to my first class, hoping that no one paid attention to my clothes.

Oh, boy was I so wrong.

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"Hey honey, how was school?" My dad greeted me when I walked into the kitchen, I hugged him then got a water from the fridge.

"It was alright, the pep rally was good," I told him before sipping my water.

"Where's Stacey and the others?" he asked.

"Oh, they went with Steve and Josh to some pizza lime at the dinner, I would have gone but I'm really tired," I told my dad.

"Okay sweetie, I'll call you when dinner is ready," he told me before walking back to the living room. where Teague was doing his homework.

I nodded then grabbed my bag and walked upstairs to my room, pulling out some comfy clothes from my closet, I grabbed a towel and took a shower.

Drying my hair with a cotton t-shirt, I braid it then climb unto my bed, I knocked out when my head touched my pillow.

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"Kris, sweetheart get up dinner is ready," I heard my mom say as she shook me.

I rubbed my eyes as I yawned.

"Okay don't swallow me,  girl," mom chuckled causing me to snap my mouth shut.

"Sorry," I told her as I got off the bed.

"It's okay, five minutes till dinner is on the table," she told me before walking out of my room.

I stretched, yawned some more before I washed my face, brushed my teeth and changed my sweats bottoms to a jeans shorts, so I was wearing my favourite crop sweater that said "Cute but Psycho" and a blue jean shorts and went downstairs.

"Look Sleeping Beauty has decided to grace us with her presence everyone," Raiden joked as I took a seat next to my brother.

"Thank you for having me," I told him before taking my brother's hand and Cindy's.

We said grace and dug in, dad made his speciality Mac'n'Cheese with fried chicken.

We were talking about school, work (mom and dad) when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," I told them and walked towards the door, looking through the peephole, I saw the delivery guy and opened the door.

"Hi, how can I help you?" I asked him.

"Are you Kristina Johnson?" He asked and I nodded.

"Sign here please," I did, "here you go," I took the box from him.

"Have a good night," I told him before closing the door.

"Who was it, Kris?" Mom asked, I walked into the kitchen and set the box on the counter.

"It was the delivery guy," I told her while searching for the envelope knife.

"Delivering at this hour?" My dad question as he walked into the kitchen.

I got the knife and cut through the tape, opening the box.

"Kris? What's wrong?" Dad asked me coming closer to me and picking up the knife.

Apparently, I dropped it, while stepping away from the box, I look down at my hands, they were shaking, I sunk to the ground, my dad asking me questions but I just stared at the box. My mom walked in, a blood-curdling scream ripped its way from her lips as she looked into the box. My father went towards her as Raiden came to me.

"What's in the box?" He questioned, it was directed at anyone but I answered.

"Not what but who," I told him, my voice low and shaky.

He asked again, "Okay, who is in the box?"

No one answered, they were in shock, mom shaking in dad's arms, tearing streaming down her face, dad's face stiff as he continued to stare inside the box, Teague trying to get a look but Cindy is blocking him, holding him back. Tearing my eyes away from the box, I looked into Raiden's brown ones and answered him again.

"Midnight," I whispered to him.

"Midnight is in the box."

Author's Note

What do you think of the plot, writing style, characters? Point out grammatical errors or places where I need to show instead of telling, please and thanks. Anything that seems that needs to fix please let me know, I'm open to feedback and criticism.