A Girl Like Gracie (12 page)

“
Hey, Vanessa,” I say. “Any news
yet?”

“
Not yet,” she answers.

“
Are you of any relation to the
victim?” the police office asks me.

“
No,” I answer. “He’s just my
friend.”

“
Is it a romantic relationship?” he
asks.

Why is the cop asking me this?

“
No, sir,” I answer, my face turning
red.

“
She didn’t have anything to do with
it,” Vanessa tells the cop.

“
To do with what?” I ask, turning
towards her. “What happened?”

“
Somebody cut the brake lines on
Noah’s car,” she says.

I put a hand on my chest, trying to ease the
ache. “Somebody did this to him on purpose?”

She nods, tears filling her eyes.

“
Where were you this afternoon at four
P.M?” the officer asks me.

“
I was at home,” I answer.

“
We can attest to that,” Alfie says,
as him and Jace step forward. “Gracie doesn’t have her license yet,
so she gets a ride with me to school. I gave her a ride home after
school and she’s been in her room.”

“
Okay,” the cop says, then turns to
Vanessa. “We’ll be investigating and will be in contact with you
soon.”

“
Thank you,” she says.

The cop walks away.

Vanessa turns to me. “I’m so glad you’re
here. Caleb is out of town on business and Dad is away on his
honeymoon. I’m the only one here.”

“
I’m so worried,” I tell
her.

“
Me too. Alfie, Jace, I’m glad you two
are here as well.” She takes a deep breath. “Let’s go sit down and
wait for news from the doctor.”

We follow Vanessa to a waiting room nearby
and wait anxiously for some news. As I’m sitting there, I think
about the two notes I got that are currently in my room. Does that
person have something to do with it?

I stand up abruptly.

“
I’m going to get some coffee for
everybody,” I say. “Alfie, come with me.”

“
Um… sure,” he says, standing up to
follow me. Jace stays with Vanessa. I hate leaving her alone right
now, but if this person does have something to do with it, I need
to tell the police as soon as I can. What if Noah is still in
danger.

“
Alfie,” I say, coming to a stop just
outside of the waiting room. “Do you think that I have something to
do with this?”

“
What do you mean?” he
asks.

“
Those notes…”

His mouth opens as he makes the
connection. “You think Noah could be the
he
that the person was talking
about?”

I nod.

“
Maybe,” he says. “But you don’t know
for sure. Right now, we need to be smart about this. Let’s just
wait and see how Noah comes out of surgery, then we will talk about
it, okay?”

I nod.

“
Let’s go grab coffee,” he
says.

Alfie is right. We shouldn’t jump without
thinking about it first, but I still can’t help but wonder if
somehow this is partly my fault. Maybe I should have taken that
warning more seriously. But it’s too late to do anything about it
now.

MEANWHILE…

X’s cellphone goes off and they are startled
by it. They weren’t planning on falling asleep, but the phone call
took longer than expected to come through. Hopefully it is the good
news they were waiting for.

“
Hello,” X answers.

“
The person you were asking about,
Noah Pennington, he has come out of surgery and it was successful.
The boy is going to be fine,” the peppy voice says on the other end
of the line. That was not the news they wanted to hear, but they
can’t let the person know that. Police are already suspicious. Not
that they will ever find out it was me who cut the boy’s break
line. I covered my tracks well. But the last thing I need is an
investigation going on. It would delay plans

“
Thank you.”

X hangs up the phone by pushing hard
on the screen and then throws their phone across the room. It hits
the wall with a loud
thunk
.

Noah Pennington wasn’t supposed to
be
fine
.

“
It doesn’t matter. He’s not my main
target anyway,” X says out loud, looking at a picture that is
pinned on the cork board by their desk. It’s of a young Korean
girl. Her long, dark hair is put into a bun on the top of her head
and she’s smiling. X hates seeing the smile on her face. “Gracie
James, you will pay.”

The end.

Look for
Imperfectly Gracie
(Book
2) coming soon!

Letter from Scarlett

Hey! Thank you so much for reading the
first book in my newest series,
Bayside
Academy
. Sorry about that cliffhanger ;). Don’t worry,
I have a lot more planned in this world and look forward to
spending time with these characters. I hope you enjoy it as well!
Episode two, Imperfectly Gracie, is
coming
soon.

If you did enjoy this book, it would mean a
lot to me if you left a review wherever you picked this up.

For more information on this series,
be sure to check out my blog
https://scarletthaven.wordpress.com
!

—
Scarlett Haven

More books by Scarlett

New Hope Academy Series:

Luck
(Episode 1)

Fate
(Episode 2)

Fame
(Episode 3)

Wish
(Episode 4)

Bayside Academy Series:

A Girl Like Gracie
(Episode 1)

Imperfectly Gracie
(Episode 2—coming soon)

Find me online.

Blog:
https://scarletthaven.wordpress.com

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Scarlett_Haven

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorScarlettHaven/

Acknowledgments.

God, for the talent that you have given me.
Thank you. I hope to always use my talents to honor you.

My wonderful husband, for always listening
to me talk about my book plots. Also, thank you for carrying around
my heavy music equipment all the time <3. Also, thanks for not
getting annoyed with my fake British and French accents. And for
letting me speak to you in Korean all the time. You knew I was
weird before we got married ;)

Tess, for always pushing me to keep writing,
even when I don’t feel like it. I wrote this book partly BECAUSE OF
YOU. So you better finish your book, or else I will have to come to
Georgia and make you!

Mom and Dad, for always loving me and
supporting me, despite how many times I mess up.

Also, thank you to Sis. Dorris from my
church. You’re an awesome lady. Thank you for being my friend.
Also, thank you for encouraging me to keep writing. Your support
means a lot!

Last, to all my readers—thank you! I
hope you like
Bayside Academy
as much as you liked
New Hope
Academy
. This is by far the most fun I’ve had while
writing a book. Hopefully you have fun reading it as
well!

Love you all!

—
Scarlett