CHAPTER 4

There was an awkward silence and virtually all of them had questions like how Damian and Gabriella knew each other, Gabriella wanted to ask how Damian and Keith were brothers, Damian wanted to ask why Gabriella was there. Finally, he broke the silence.

"Seriously, are you stalking me?" He asked, and Gabriella rolled off. She was pissed off the last time he said that, but couldn't give him a reply because she was rushing.

"What make you think I'm stalking you?" She asked. "I might have embarrassed myself the last time, but I have other things to do that are worthy of my time and stalking 'you' especially isn't on the list," She said and continued eating.

Before Damian could say anything, he got a phone call.

"No phones during dinner," His Dad said.

"It's work," He said coldly and stood up to leave.

'How rude,' Gabriella thought. Shortly after, he came back to the dining hall to grab his jacket, attempting to leave.

"Where are you going?" His father asked,

"Work," He replied and walked away. Joey rubbed her temples and sighed. The atmosphere was really awkward and Gabriella thought it was the right thing to leave.

"I think I should go too, my Nana wants me home on time," She said, cleaning her mouth with a napkin.

"Oh, alright dear, let Keith drive you then." His parents said.

"No it's fine, let him enjoy his dinner,"

"We insist. Besides, it's a bit too late for you to go home alone," Joey said, and Gabriella gave in.

"I'm sorry about my brother and all, things didn't go as expected," Keith said.

"It's fine. I absolutely had no idea he was your brother," 

"By the way, how did you guys meet?"

"It's actually a long story, kind of embarrassing. I'd rather not talk about it," She said with a sigh.

"Alright then,"

Keith had almost arrived when he got a call. He was hesitant to answer it at first, but he later did.

"What is it?" He asked coldly, but his cold expression turned into that of shock, as if he had heard some bad news.

"Okay, where are you now? I'm on my way," He said and at that moment, they arrived at Gabriella's house.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Sasha was involved in an accident," He said. "I'm sorry, I have to go," He said

"It's fine," Gabby said and stepped out of the car.

"Goodnight Gabby,"

"Yeah, bye…"

Sasha didn't make it…

Everyone heard the new at school the following day, including Gabriella's friends.

"First Nicole, now Sasha? Something isn't right," Gabriella said while talking to the others.

"Look, Gabby, we all get that Nicole was murdered, but Sasha's death was a coincidence. Maybe she had gotten drunk before driving. You can't just assume she was also killed." Cleopatra said.

"I'm with Cleo on this one," Avery said.

"Well, I'm with Gabby. Mean look at it, they are both Renee's best friends and Sasha's accident happened exactly two weeks after Nicole was killed. There has to be a connection." Iris said, "She does have a point," Avery said to Cleo, who was still stuck to what she said at the beginning.

Gabriella went off to the Field to find Renee because she heard she was in school.

Eventually she found her by the bleachers, but she wasn't alone, she was with Keith. He hugged her as she cried in his arms.

She had no idea why, but all of a sudden, she felt like she shouldn't be where she was. It was a bit too early to start questioning Renee, she thought as she left the premises.

"I had no idea even bitches cry,". Cleopatra said nonchalantly in the dining hall. Keith didn't sit with them as usual, he sat with Renee and some other people. Even his friends who usually sat with him at Gabriella's table were pissed.

"Cleo?" Iris said, raising an eyebrow.

Avery rolled her eyes while Gabriella was lost in thought.

Keith's friends, Zac and Anthony, sat with them, looking at the girls like they had gone mental.

"Gabby, what's up with you?" Zac asked and she shook her head.

"Nothing,"

"Is that what may have made you like this?" Anthony asked, pointing at Keith and Renee.

"Jeez Tony, that doesn't bother me,"

"Yeah, yeah girls are always in denial," He said and then shrugged. It could have bothered him for obvious reasons and the fact that Renee was Keith's ex, but she didn't.  She had other things to think about, like Sasha and Nicole.

Everything seemed to be happening too fast, she couldn't keep up. She wanted to be part of the investigation, even though she knew there was no way in hell Damian would let her.

She glanced towards Keith and saw that he was staring at her. As soon as their eyes met, he looked away.

She was hurt, no doubt, but she couldn't say why. Was it because Keith was hugging Renee by the bleachers? Or because of last night, she couldn't tell.

'Maybe he still has feelings for her,' She concluded.

"Still wondering how Renee can come to school after loosing two friends in a month," Anthony said.

"Yeah, I mean, look at Nancy. After Nicole a death, she hasn't shown up,"

"It's like she's coming, so she could seek people's sympathy,"

"Seriously Cleo?" Iris said, raising an eyebrow.

"What? I'm only saying the truth,"

"A suck up b*tch, would forever be a suck up b*tch even though she's going through shit," Zac said.

"Amen brother," Gabriella rolled her eyes, although they weren't wrong.

Just before Gabriella had got home from school, she decided to stop by at Nancy's house although none of her friends knew.

She had never been there because she had no reason to be.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. After a while, a middle-aged woman opened the door, and she guessed that was Nancy's mom.

"Hello, how may I help you?" She asked in a delicate voice.

"Hi, I'm here to see Nancy. I'm Gabriella from her school," She said. The woman scanned her for a while, giving her a skeptical look before asking her to come in.

"Nancy is upstairs, the room by your left,"

"Alright thanks," She walked up the stairs like she was asked to, the room by her left.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. There was no answer at first, but after knocking the second time, she heard her voice.

"It's opened Ma," She walked in, right into Nancy's gaze who was surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you, and also to talk,"

"About?"

"About Nicole,"