Forest Lake

Chapter 8

Emma POV

Mason and I weren’t the most interesting topic in school anymore. Nobody cared if I was his sister, his cousin, or his ex-girlfriend.

Everybody talked about the missing girl.

It’s been four days since she went missing, and there were no leads. The police talked to the kids that were at the party with her, but nobody knew anything. Her friends couldn't remember the last time they saw her. They didn’t know if she left the party alone or if she went with someone else.

It was like she vanished into thin air.

Hazel sighed, and I turned my head to the right to look at her.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered.

“Haven’t you been listening?” she asked quietly, leaning toward me. “We have to do a group project.”

I turned my head back to look at Mr. Wilson. He was sitting at his desk with a piece of paper in front of him. I focused on what he was saying.

“I divided you into groups of five.” he said. “I don’t care if you like the people in your group or not. You can’t change groups.”

A couple of kids groaned. I hoped that at least Hazel and I would be in the same group.

“The topic is World War I.” Mr. Wilson continued. “Each group will have to talk about one of the effects that World War I had on our society. You will be given detailed instructions, so save all of your questions for after you’ve read through them.”

Mr. Wilson stood up, picking up the paper in front of him.

“Okay.” he said as he cleared his throat. “Group number one will be Rogers, Miller, Jones, Perez, and Walker. Your assignment is to talk about the social effects of World War I. Group number two will be Lewis, Brown, Johnson, Anderson, and Clark. Your assignment is to talk about the political effects of World War I. Group number three will be Wright, King, Richardson Mason, Harris, and Richardson Emma. Your assignment is to talk about the economic effects of World War I. And finally, group four…”

I stopped listening.

Shit.

I couldn’t look away from Mr. Wilson, but I tuned him out completely. I saw his lips moving, but I had no idea what he was talking about.

I will have to work with Mason. I could already picture his cold gaze on me. It made me shiver. It made my bones ache.

My heart was thumping in my chest, and I couldn’t look away from Mr. Wilson. He was done talking, and he walked over to his desk to pick up a stack of papers. He started handing them out.

“Em?” I heard Hazel’s quiet voice next to me.

I turned my head to look at her. She had a worried expression.

“Will you be okay?” she asked me quietly.

I simply nodded. I couldn’t formulate words right now.

Mr. Wilson walked past me and placed a paper on my desk. It was a paper with instructions about the project. I ignored it completely. I wouldn’t be able to understand anything right now anyway.

The bell rang and everyone stared leaving the classroom.

Someone cleared their throat, and when I looked up, I saw Chris and Jax standing next to my desk. I looked behind them and saw Mason still sitting at his desk, glaring at me. Hazel stood up and came to stand next to me. She smiled at the guys.

“Hey, girls.” Chris said, giving me a warm smile. “Should we get together later and talk about this project?”

“Sure.” Hazel answered. “Should we meet at the library around 6 pm?”