Jane POV
The silence in my bedroom was thick enough to choke on. Jay had been gone for hours, citing "extra work" at the office, leaving me to the mercy of my own racing thoughts. The apartment felt too large, the shadows in the corners stretching like
fingers as the sun dipped below the horizon.
I was restless, pacing the small square of my rug, my mind stuck on the way Jay had avoided my eyes this morning.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand, a sharp vibration that made me jump. I snatched it up, desperate for any distraction.
Cin: "Hey, we're all at Eman's. Get your butt over here before Blaster eats all the calamari."
A small smile tugged at my lips. A crowded restaurant with loud friends was exactly what I needed to drown out the quiet. I grabbed my jacket, checked my reflection—ignoring the puffiness under my eyes—and headed out.
The walk to Eman's was short, but the cool night air did little to calm the static in my brain. When I pushed through the heavy glass doors of the restaurant, the scent of garlic and grilled meat hit me instantly, followed by the familiar, chaotic hum of voices.
I spotted the group at a long table in the back. They were huddled together, voices low and urgent, deep in a conversation that looked far too serious for a Friday night.
But as I stepped closer, the atmosphere shifted.
The moment my shoes clicked on the hardwood near their table, the talking stopped. Blaster, who had been mid-gesture, froze. Cin snapped her head toward me, a look of brief panic crossing her face before it smoothed into a forced smile. It was like a play where the actors forgot their lines the second the curtain rose.
"Jane! You're here!" Cin chirped, her voice a pitch too high. She patted the empty chair beside her. "Sit, sit."
"Hey guys," I said, sliding into the seat. The silence was heavy, awkward. "Am I interrupting a secret meeting?"
"No! No, of course not," Edrix said, leaning back in his chair. He looked me over with that piercing gaze of his, the kind that made you feel like he was reading your pulse. "Just the usual nonsense. Where's Jay, Jane? I thought you two were joined at the hip."
"She had some work to finish up," I replied, reaching for the menu to avoid his eyes. "You know how she is. Once she's in the zone, the world ends."
"Right. Work," Keifer murmured. He exchanged a look with Yuri that I couldn't decipher.
We ordered food—heaps of pasta, pizzas, and appetizers—and slowly, the tension began to bleed out of the air. Blaster started teasing Cin about a botched chemistry lab, and Yuri actually cracked a smile at one of David's dry jokes. For a while, I felt normal. Like I used to feel with my family
Then, everything stopped.
Blaster was halfway through a piece of garlic bread when his eyes went wide. He stared at a booth directly across the room from us, his jaw dropping. "Hey... guys? Isn't that Jay?"
My heart did a slow, painful roll in my chest. I turned in my seat, my eyes scanning the restaurant until they landed on a booth tucked into a dark corner.
It was her. There was no mistaking that posture—the straight spine, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear. Her back was to us, but I knew the curve of her shoulders better than I knew my own. She wasn't at work. She was here.
And she wasn't alone.
Sitting across from her was a man. He looked to be in his early twenties, maybe twenty-three. He was sharp—well-dressed in a way that suggested money but also a certain kind of coldness.
He was leaning forward, his elbows on the table, eyes locked on my sister with an intensity that made my skin crawl. They were in a deep, hushed conversation, oblivious to the fact that half of Section E was watching them from across the room.
The restaurant was loud, but a sudden lull in the music allowed a few sharp words to drift over to us.
"Then tell me, Jean," the man said. His voice was smooth, like oil on water.
Jean? My breath hitched. That name.
"What will happen when your sister knows the truth?" the man continued, his voice rising just enough for us to hear the threat woven into the words. "Will she be able to accept it? I know you didn't tell her anything. Did you, Jean?"
I felt like I had been plunged into ice water. The truth? What truth? My hands began to shake under the table, and I felt Cin's hand reach out to steady me, but I was numb.
Jay's response was a low, lethal hum. She didn't yell, but the way she leaned in, her body tensing like a coiled spring, was terrifying. I couldn't hear her exact words, but I saw her finger jab toward the table, a clear warning. Her face, seen in profile, was a mask of cold fury. She looked like a predator defending its kill.
She said something final, something that made the man's smug expression falter for a split second, and then she rose. She didn't look back. She didn't scan the room. She walked straight for the exit, her movements stiff and robotic.
She was gone before I could even find my voice.
The man stayed at the table for a moment, a slow, dark smile spreading across his face as he watched her leave. Then, he tossed a few bills on the table and followed her out, disappearing into the night.
"Jane..." Yuri's voice was soft, full of a pity I didn't want.
I couldn't look at her. My mind was a kaleidoscope of images—Jay lying about work, Jay being called "Jean," Jay threatening a stranger to keep a secret from me.
What will happen when your sister knows the truth?
The words looped in my brain. Was our life a lie? Was my sister—the person I trusted most in the world—nothing more than a stranger wearing a familiar face? I thought about the way she protected me, the way she stood between me and Keifer, the way she fought for David. Was that all a distraction? A way to keep me from looking too closely at the shadows she walked in?
I didn't realize I was standing up until my chair scraped loudly against the floor.
"I... I have to go," I whispered.
"Jane, wait—" Yuri started, but I was already moving
I walked out of Eman's, but I didn't go home. I couldn't. I just walked, the neon signs of the city blurring into streaks of light. My sister was a stranger, and the "truth" was a ghost chasing us both.
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Keifer's POV
I watched the door of the restaurant long after Jane had vanished through it. The table was silent now, the remnants of the food looking grey and unappetizing under the dim lights.
"Well," Rory muttered, his usual humor completely drained. "That was... intense."
"That wasn't just intense," I said, my voice sounding like gravel. I looked at the empty booth where the man had been sitting. "That was a warning."
I had seen a lot of things in Section E. I had seen fights, betrayals, and power plays. I knew what it looked like when someone was backed into a corner. But Jay? Jay wasn't just backed into a corner. She was guarding something so explosive she was willing to burn down her own life to keep it hidden.
I remembered the look on her face when she was talking to that man. It wasn't the look of a girl at a business meeting. It was the look of someone who knew exactly where the bodies were buried.
And then there was the secret of name Jean.
I've made it my business to know everything about everyone in this school. I knew the girls' records, their grades, their history. But as I sat there, the weight of my crown feeling heavier than usual, I realized I knew nothing about Jay. She was a ghost who had walked into our world and started making her own rules.
"She's hiding something big," Yuri said, voicing my thoughts. He was staring at his hands, his knuckles white. "Something that scares her."
"It doesn't just scare her," I corrected. "It terrifies her. And it involves Jane."
I thought back to the fight in the gym. The way Jay had looked at me—not with fear, but with a strange kind of recognition. Like she had seen my brand of violence before and found it wanting. She wasn't just a girl who knew how to throw a punch; she was someone who had survived things we couldn't even imagine.
My instincts were screaming at me. Every time I looked at Jay, I felt like I was looking at a puzzle with half the pieces missing. That man at the table—he was a piece. The name secret—another piece.
I felt a surge of something I couldn't quite name. It wasn't just curiosity. It was a need to know. If Jay was a threat to the stability of Section E, I needed to know. But more than that... I wanted to know what kind of secret was worth that look in her eyes.
I stood up, grabbing my jacket.
"Where are you going?" Cin asked, her eyes wide.
"I'm going to do some research," I said, my voice cold. "Jay thinks she's the only one who can play this game. She's about to find out that the Watson doesn't like being kept in the dark."
I walked out of Eman's, the cool air hitting my face. The "truth" the man had mentioned was out there somewhere, hidden in the cracks of Jay's carefully constructed life. I intended to find it. Not for Jane. Not for the section.
But because for the first time in my life, I had found an opponent who was actually worth the fight.
Jay was hiding something, and I was going to be the one to tear it out of her.
I walked toward the dorms, my mind already mapping out the files I needed to "borrow" from the administration office. The game had changed. It wasn't about elections or crowns anymore. It was about a girl named Jean and a truth that was about to shatter everything.
I could still hear that man's voice in my head. Will she be able to accept it?
I smiled to myself, a dark, dangerous thing. I didn't care if Jane could accept it. I just wanted to see what Jay would do when the walls finally came tumbling down.
(Check comment for outfit)
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A/n
To all my fellow Ashdres family, as an author and a devoted supporter myself, I am reaching out to ask you to stand strong with me as we face this recent dip in our numbers 📉.
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