Chapter Five: Moments
Wednesday, 13th of March
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It was mid-week in Summerland, British Columbia, and although it was early spring, threats of cold weather storms and snow loomed over the town... thick, pale clouds hung in the sky as parents wrapped their kids up in thick coats and hats and sent them off to school, and more flights to hotter places were booked for spring break...

It was a strangely quiet day in the small town... People seemed to whisper more than talk as the wind passed through, taking rumours with it and passing them along to the next person... everyone seemed to be on edge, although no one wanted to admit it out loud and scare the children.

The number of missing children was pushing twenty, and news was beginning to spread past the boarders of Summerland, and the province of British Columbia...

What was going on? Why were so many kids going missing? Why weren't the police doing anything...? Why had no one been caught?

It was currently the early afternoon, and the quiet building of excitement for spring break had already begun weaving its way into the halls of Summerland high... plans had been planned, dates had been set, and for a whole two weeks, the school halls would be empty, starting Friday... but for now, students would carry on as normal.

"Do you think there's going to be any practice today?" Fei asked as the bell for the last period rang, signalling the end of the school day. "Because it's two days till the football team have a game and no one has suggested or rehearsed anything." She continued as herself and Alice walked down the hallway towards Alice's locker.

"I haven't heard anything from the group chat. And also, wasn't Juniper on holiday or something?" Alice replied as they stopped at her locker and she opened it, seeing her gym duffel bag filled with her leggings and sports bra for practice she assumed would be today.

"I have no idea." Fei replied, already holding her gym bag.

"Well it's just what Magnus told me the other day." Alice murmured and shrugged as she pulled her bag from her locker and almost dropped a book. She caught it before it fell with a quick readjustment of the positioning of her arms and put it into her locker instead so she didn't have to carry it.

"That was a super quick response," Fei laughed as Alice laughed then smiled and closed her locker. Both the girls now making their way towards the locker rooms to change, just in case. It seemed a lot of girls had had the same thought when Alice and Fei walked into the locker room, seeing the majority of their cheerleading team gathered together, most of them talking with each other...

The conversation went a little quiet as Alice and Fei walked in, but they smiled politely at the rest of their team and put their bags down to start getting changed. "Why are they all looking at you like that," Fei whispered and Alice shrugged, deciding to step into the mind set of Magnus and ignore it skilfully.

"Hey Alice," One of the senior girls said who Alice had only spoken to a few times, her name failing to come to mind as Alice looked over the curly haired brunette girl.

"Hey..." Alice smiled, seeing the necklace around her neck and noticing it said Laura. "Laura." She added after a few seconds and smiled more.

"So the girls and I have a question," Laura said, her hands on her hips as she held the eye contact with Alice, who had only just taken off her tights.

"Okay," She nodded, placing her tights in her bag before standing up properly. Fei glanced between them all, her changing process now halted as she watched.

"Is it true you're dating Magnus Johnson?" Laura asked, and the locker room went a little quiet at the sound of his name. Alice had expected this to happen, for she had been getting side glances and looks ever since Monday. She licked her lips carefully and prepared herself for a negative response.

"We've been on one date," she replied, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Why?" Another girl asked from behind Laura and Alice furrowed her eyebrows.

"Because I asked him and he said yes," she replied, folding her arms as she glanced from girl to girl carefully.  Alice knew that she was leaving out the fact that they'd been sleeping together for a while before her asking him out but she decided not to share that information...

"Wait, you asked Magnus Johnson on a date and he said yes?" Laura asked and Alice nodded, holding steady eye contact. "Wow," Laura murmured, glancing back at her friends. "I didn't take Magnus as the dating type, what was it like?" She asked, her whole demeanour changing after she'd heard Alice had made the first move. The girls seemed to gather closer to Alice, wanting to hear what she had to say.

"It was nice," Alice smiled, "He was very sweet, a real gentlemen." She giggled, causing the other girls to coo and gather closer.

"Tell us more, did you guys have one of those goodnight kisses?" Another girl asked and Alice blushed and laughed it off, "Oh my god, they did!"

Alice grinned coyly, moving her hair away from her neck subconsciously and flicking it over her shoulder, accidentally revealing a love bite she'd gained from a previous night. The coos got louder, all of them seeing it instantly, the large deep purple mark just under her jaw. Alice looked around the group of girls as they excitedly asked her questions, she tried to brush them off tactfully, but couldn't fight the big smile from the attention especially since she could see Olive and Candice hanging in the back.

"Oh my god, you guys. He would be totally embarrassed if I told you guys any of that," Alice blushed, bringing Fei closer to her in the group so subconsciously people knew they were close friends.

"Magnus, embarrassed? Oh my god!" A girl chirped excitedly,

"Is he really as intimidating as he seems?" Another asked and Alice giggled, and shook her head. "No?"

"He's tough but he's not like... that intimidating," Alice laughed, basking in the attention even more since Candice had begun whispering angrily to Olive. She remembered what she wanted to do, and what she'd spoken to Magnus about, and it seemed like the universe was just handing her the opportunity to do just that.

"I find that hard to believe," Another girl laughed.

"I mean I get it, but he's actually a big softie," Alice smiled, "Well at least with me he is," She added and the gathering of cheerleaders chirped and cooed loudly and excitedly.

"Is he big?" Another girl asked and Alice laughed, feeling herself going genuinely warm in the cheeks as the coos and gasps got louder.

"Oh my god, what's all that fucking noise?!" A voice Alice recognised instantly shouted as they turned the corner, walking into the aisle that the rest of the girls were in. The cooing died down slightly as Juniper and Lucy stood looking at the group with their hands on their hips. "Guys? Hello? We've been waiting out there for you for ten minutes." Juniper snapped and the girls turned away to get changed faster. "I know you know there's no routine set for Friday but we've got to practice anyway you rats!" She spat angrily,

Juniper was about to turn away, when she caught a glimpse of some light blonde hair and looked back sharply, her gaze finding the profile of Alice's face just as Fei Hanson moved out the way... her world seem to zoom in and zoom out at the same time, her eyes going wide as she stared at Alice for a few seconds. "What the fuck are you doing here?" She asked loudly without thinking, causing the other girls in the locker room to glance over in confusion.

"Um, I'm... on the squad?" Alice replied cluelessly on purpose as she tied her hair up into a very high pony tail then raised her eyebrows too.

"Right." Juniper whispered, feeling her heart thudding heavily in her chest. She felt hot suddenly, like she'd started to sweat and turned away, wondering if Alice knew what had happened. She walked away quickly to go cool off, feeling like she was about to spiral as all the questions and worries began to unload into her mind at once. "Practise is cancelled!" She called, her voice cracking as she walked out of the locker rooms and yanked open the door to leave.

"June?" Lucy called, hurrying after her. "Juniper!" She called again and managed to catch up, grasping her arm in the empty hallways. "What's going on?" She asked, looking into her eyes as she saw the chaos going on behind her irises.

"I think I did something stupid," Juniper whispered, "Like really bad, and really stupid," she whispered quickly and quietly again.

"Tell me," Lucy replied quietly too, taking Juniper's hand and walking her into a nearby disabled bathroom and locking the door behind her. "What happened?"

"I can't say it out loud." Juniper whispered, taking her phone out of her bra and opening the notes. She typed what she'd done quickly, the whole thing taking her a few minutes to type out before she turned the phone towards Lucy...

Lucy read in silence for a few moments before her expression faltered. "Fuck." Lucy cursed, feeling her heart sinking. "Why the fuck would you do that?!" Lucy yelped in a quiet voice, "This whole time? Oh my god, Juniper!" She cried, grasping Juniper's shoulders and shaking her.

"I don't know!" Juniper rushed, "I wanted more money, I wanted- I wanted to get rid of him! I hate him having power over me because of one mistake!"

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Lucy stressed, shoving Juniper's phone back her and turning away with her hands pressed to her temples...  outside the door Alice stepped into the hallway, glancing from side to side to see where Juniper had gone... she was curious as to why she'd run off like that, and imagined in her head she could simply walk up to her and ask what she'd done wrong, like anyone else would probably do if that reaction had come from her appearance. She could easily pretend that she didn't know, for she still couldn't remember that whole night, and only knew what Magnus told her.

She walked down the hallway, dressed in her gym clothes anyway since her and Fei had agreed to go on a run round the tracks in a few minutes... but she'd lied saying she needed to go fill up her water bottle from her favourite fountain in the hall.

"Juniper?" She asked softly, listening carefully for any signs of anyone... and as if on cue, just as she was about to ask again, she heard voices coming from a disabled bathroom to her right... 

... "I thought that with enough cash I could disappear or something or pay someone to delete the video if they hack Magnus's computer or-or Noah's, wherever the fuck it is, or I thought I could frame him and make him disappear instead, I don't know!" Juniper rushed, feeling her heart thudding faster and faster as her eyes stung with the treat of stressed tears.

Alice crept forwards, recognising Juniper's voice and stepped forwards even more, pressing her ear to the door...

"Did you not think that if he was dumb enough to get caught for this kind of shit he would've already been caught?!" Lucy said loudly and Alice raised her eyebrows on the other side of the door.

"I wasn't thinking!"

"Yes you were! You were thinking you were smarter than him! You cannot outsmart the fucking devil, June! He invented this kind of behaviour!" Lucy hissed in a quiet, sharp voice as if she was desperately trying to control the volume of it. " I wouldn't be surprised if he already knows, and if he thinks I had something to do with this, we're both fucked!"

"I'm sorry!" Juniper hissed, her voice heavy with emotion. "I shouldn't have involved Alice, I should have- have-"

"You should have done fucking nothing!" Lucy snapped, "It was so obvious Jasper had feelings for her, of course it was going to go wrong!" She continued. "All you did was fuck off Magnus and now? And now? I wouldn't be fucking surprised if neither of us make it to the end of the week."

Alice lent back from the door, knowing the conversation was coming to a close and hurried away, jogging, very quietly but very quickly back to the locker rooms with a smirk on her face. She glanced back towards the bathroom door and saw it starting to open, and smirked even more before slipping away back inside the locker rooms. She couldn't wait to tell Magnus what she'd heard.

"Lucy, Wait!" Juniper sobbed as the bathroom door opened seconds after Alice had slipped back through the door to the locker room and that door had successfully already closed.

"Don't talk to me! Don't look at me, don't contact me!" Lucy hissed, "I am not going down with you, not like this! You fucked up, you deal with it!" She snapped, storming off even as Juniper called after her...

Back in the locker rooms, Fei was just tying her hair up into a neat bun as Alice rounded the corner. "What are you so smiley about?" She asked, and laughed softly.

"Nothing!" Alice giggled, "Let's go," she smirked, tightening her pony tail before both the girls decided to head out to the athletics field. Outside, the air was cold and crisp, as if the weather and stepped back into December as the reported cold weather storms approached... the sports field was covered with athletes in training and other students just wanting to keeping fit, and almost instantly Alice spotted Magnus across the field giving some kind of talk to what she assumed to be his team mates, since they were all dressed in the same way.

The two began jogging immediately to keep themselves warm, moving round the outer rim of the track field so that they didn't get in the way of some of the athletic students using equipment.

"So what're your plans for spring break?" Fei asked as they jogged side by side at a gentle pace.

"Umm... I think I'm going to my grandparents in Quebec?" Alice replied,

"And you don't want to?" Fei asked, noticing her tone.

"I do, but I haven't seen them since... I was like ten? And I get cards every year for my birthday but apart from that it's like... a very distant relationship." Alice explained, "So it was a little weird to suddenly get a letter from them wanting me to come and stay."

"Did something happen back then do you think?" Fei asked and Alice shrugged,

"Honestly, I don't know. But it will be nice to see them anyway. What're you doing for the two weeks?" Alice asked, glancing over to where Magnus was since they were approaching them now.

"Not much, really." Fei replied, "Usually I'd hang out with my brother and we'd do activities and go camping and stuff but he's at college back in America,"

"Oh," Alice replied, "Can you go and visit him?"

"I asked but I haven't heard back... he's at M.I.T so you can imagine the work load right now, so I get it," Fei replied as they jogged.

"What's he studying?" Alice asked,

"Astrophysics or Astro... something, I don't know. Something to do with space," Fei laughed, "My parents had no idea what he was talking about when he told them but they were really excited anyway,"

"That's so cute," Alice giggled as they jogged closer to the large group of football players that were just beginning to stretch for a practice game.

"So, listen also," Fei began, "You know how I've only been here like... three-ish months," she continued and Alice hummed, wondering why it felt like longer. "My parents are away for the weekend and didn't think to invite me since I'm seventeen and all, and I should be able to stay in the house on my own-" She ranted quickly and Alice smirked. "- but it turns out I'm terrified of being alone in that place since this town still feels really new to me... so I was wondering... if you would like to have a sleepover?" Fei asked hopefully, pausing between words randomly to catch her breath.

"Sure," Alice smiled, "We can veg out and watch movies to celebrate the beginning of spring break," she laughed softly, glancing towards Magnus again just as he noticed her too. He'd seen the flash of ice blonde hair bouncing in the wind in the corner of his eye and looked over properly, now seeing her a few metres away from him jogging with Fei.

He extended his arm out to his left, evidently signalling for her to stop as he finished up ordering his team mates to continue stretching to warm up... they all seemed to glance towards Alice one after the other, knowing that their captain was suddenly distracted by the presence of a pretty blonde junior. They seemed to glance at each other too, finding it all very interesting and very out of character so see him behave like this so openly. Charlie and Trey smirked at each other too, but carried on stretching and scolding others who weren't doing the same.

Magnus, who was dressed in sports gear, with loose fitting sweatpants and a gym shirt that exposed his arms, made sure his orders were heard before turning his attention towards Alice as she slowed her jog down to a gentle walk, her gaze looking over him as he mumbled for Trey to take over. He walked over to her whilst reaching up to push some of his hair out of his face, subconsciously wanting to look neater. "Jogging?" he asked as Alice smiled warmly. Her make up was done nicely, using natural tones with soft pink cheeks and long thick lashes that he liked on her.

"There's no cheer practise so we thought we'd run instead," Alice explained and Magnus nodded, watching her move some strands of hair from her face before tightening her high pony tail. He glanced over her body next, his eyes lingering on her thighs in her tight sports leggings for a few moments before he looked back up to her eyes. "Practicing?" Alice asked, motioning to his team mates as she caught a few looking over. She'd seen him look her over and liked it, the soft smile playing strongly on her lips as she basked in the attention.

"Yeah," He murmured, glancing at her lips before looking towards Fei who waved at him a little shyly. He nodded once in acknowledgement, still noticing how he thought the shy act was a little put on, and looked back towards Alice, "Are you coming to the game this Friday?" He asked, licking his lips now as Alice placed her hands on her hips, trying to ignore the cold that was beginning to creep up her limbs, and the cool breeze wasn't helping.

"Yeah, of course." She smiled, "I wouldn't miss it," She she added, making the edge of Magnus's lips tilt upwards a little.

"Good," He murmured, glancing at her lips again and suddenly growing distracted as the urge to kiss her rose. "Do you have any plans for this weekend?" He asked, folding his arms so that his biceps bulged. Alice glanced at them and felt her cheeks feather with a blush, although she knew she was already pink from the cold so it was hidden tactfully. Fei stared shamelessly for a few seconds before catching herself.

"Well Fei invited me for a sleep over this weekend, actually," Alice informed him, glancing at Fei briefly who smiled and cleared her throat. "Why?" She asked, looking back towards Magnus who suddenly looked a little annoyed, but the expression was subtle as he looked at Fei too. He'd made plans in his head for them, which were now probably not going to happen since Alice had been offered plans already. His suddenly subtle scowl made Fei uncomfortable.

"You can come too," Fei blurted suddenly, surprising Alice although this is what Magnus was hoping