1. The Art of Not Looking Suspicious
"Great. A dead body in our hideout. This is why we can't have nice things."
The room smelled... off. It's not bad exactly, just wrong. Alex barely had time to process it before Maddie flopped onto the couch, kicking her feet up like she owned the place. Violet was already pulling out a notebook, ever the overachiever, while Olivia lingered near the door, flipping absently through her sketchbook. It was routine, normal—until it wasn't. Alex's eyes flickered to the corner, where a single shoe stuck out from behind the coffee table—a shoe attached to a very, very still leg. For a second, no one moved. Then Maddie choked on her drink, Violet's pen slipped from her fingers, and Olivia took one slow, trembling step back. "Oh. Shit."
Lying laid out behind the coffee table was Rose Thornewood her perfect hair a tangled mess dried blood on her scalp her pristine designer top stained with blood The bruise on her neck was dark and ugly, a deep violet ring marring her otherwise flawless skin her makeup smudged, and her eyes open wide, glassy, empty and terrified as if someone caught her by surprise. But one thing was clear, as we knew she didn't go down without a fight.
Maddie was the first to break the silence. "Well, that's unfortunate," she said, her voice wavering, though her smirk never quite faded. Violet shot her a glance as she took out her phone, clutching her textbook like it was a lifeline. "We need to call someone—"
"And tell them what, exactly?" I asked, my voice sharper than intended. "That we just found our sworn enemy dead in our hideout?"
"She's dead?" Olivia's voice shook, and her hands trembled.
Alex stepped closer. Usually not one to panic, even she felt her stomach twist into knots at the sight of her rival—the girl who had tormented her for the last four years, the one who knew everyone's secrets and lies—now dead and unmoving.
Olivia remained frozen, her fingers clutching the straps of her bag like it was a lifeline. "We should... we should go. We shouldn't be here," she whispered, her voice barely audible. The poor girl looked like she might faint; her skin had turned pale and green like she wanted to vomit.
And what Violet snapped, "Let someone else find her and assume we did it!"
"They're going to assume we did it anyway," I muttered as I knelt beside the body. "Don't touch anything," I instructed, taking in everything—from the way she was laid out to the bruises on her neck and the chipped nails, along with the blood on her temple.
"Sorry to ruin our murder party, but don't you think the person who did this might still be around here?" The thought sent a shiver down my spine because, for the first time after stepping into this room, I realized something: the weight of the moment settled over us like a suffocating fog, thick with something unspoken and dark. I stared at the body, my mind already racing ahead, piecing together details, searching for a pattern, an explanation—something to ground me amid the chaos of what was happening. But no explanation didn't lead back to one unavoidable fact: We were in deep, deep trouble.
Maddie let out a slow whistle, rocking back on her heels. "So, uh… what's the protocol for when you find your worst enemy dead in your secret hideout? Asking for a friend."
Violet shot her a glare before pacing in tight, controlled steps. "We shouldn't have come here. This—this is bad. This is really bad."
"We know that," I replied, standing up. "But panicking isn't going to help us right now, is it?"
Olivia was still frozen near the doorway, her face pale, her lips slightly parted as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how. I couldn't blame her. This wasn't something you prepared for.
"She looks… weird," Maddie muttered, crouching again but keeping a careful distance. "Not just 'oh no, she's dead' weird, but 'something is seriously off' weird."
She wasn't wrong. The body was positioned too perfectly, her limbs not twisted as if she had fallen naturally. The bruising on her neck was evident now, deep and dark—a brutal contrast to her usually pristine appearance. There was something smeared near her temple—blood, maybe, but there wasn't enough of it. Not for a struggle. Not for a fight.
"And then there's the missing phone," I said suddenly.
Maddie blinked and looked at me. "And?"
"And she never went anywhere without it." My voice was steady, but inside, I was terrified. "She would rather die than leave without it."
A heavy silence followed.
"Well," Maddie exhaled, standing and brushing nonexistent dust off her clothes. "That's unsettling."
"That's a problem," Violet corrected. "Because if her phone isn't here, someone took it. And that means someone else was here."
The room felt colder now, the air heavier.
Olivia finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "What if they still are?"
The thought sent a shiver down my spine because, as much as I didn't want to admit it… Olivia might be right.
A chill settled over the group, the kind that had nothing to do with the temperature. I could feel it in the way my friends shifted, in the way their breathing slowed as if making too much noise might summon something lurking just out of sight.
Maddie rocked back on her heels, tilting her head as she studied the body like it was an especially difficult chemistry problem. "You know, I've imagined her dead before—don't look at me like that, we all have—but this isn't how I pictured it."
"Maddie—" Violet's voice was sharp, but she didn't finish the sentence. She just pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling slowly.
"What? I'm coping."
"Cope quieter," I muttered, stepping closer to the body.
1 didn't want to get too close—something about the stillness of it, about the too-perfect placement of limbs, about the way the bruises on her neck looked deliberate, it made my skin crawl—but I had to see.
i looked over rose's still body, cataloging details, filing them away. Dark bruises, fingers pressing deep into pale skin. A slight smear of lipstick at the corner of her mouth, like she'd wiped it off in a hurry. A single scuff mark on one pristine heel.
Something was wrong. More than the obvious, more than the body in their secret hideout. Something didn't fit.
"She didn't die here," I said suddenly surprised at my realization.
The others snapped their attention to me.
"What?" Violet frowned. "How do you—"
"There's no blood, no sign of a struggle." I crouched, careful not to touch anything. "If she was strangled here, she would've fought. Knocked something over. Left something behind."
"Unless she knew her killer," Maddie pointed out.
The words settled over them like a weight.
They all knew what it meant.
"She knew a lot of things," Violet said, voice quieter now. "She knew a lot of our things."*
A beat of silence.
Then Olivia whispered, "Someone put her here on purpose."*
The realization sent ice down my spine.
Because if the body had been placed here…
Then someone wanted them to find it.
Maddie let out a low whistle, shoving her hands into the pockets of her blazer. "Well," she said, rocking back on her heels. "This is going to be a nightmare to explain."
"Explain?" Violet hissed, whipping around to glare at her. "We are standing over a dead body in our secret spot. We're going to be framed for this!"
"Hey, hey, let's not jump to—"Maddie cut herself off when Violet shot her a death glare. "Fine, maybe let's lightly jog to conclusions."
"We need to leave," Olivia said suddenly, voice small but firm. "We shouldn't be here when someone finds her."
I didn't know I couldn't move.
My gaze was still locked onto the body, my mind turning over the pieces like a puzzle I should be able to solve—but nothing was clicking.
There was something off.
The missing phone. The carefully arranged position. The bruises on her neck—deep, precise. Almost as if someone had taken their time.
A slow, sinking feeling curled in her stomach.
"We can't just leave," I said, finally tearing her eyes away from the corpse. "If someone wanted us to find her, they wanted us to run. And if we run—"
"We look guilty," Violet finished, expression grim.
"Exactly."
Maddie sighed. "So, what's the plan?"
I hesitated.
The logical thing would be to call for help. Report it. But the authorities already had plenty of reasons to suspect us, and showing up at the crime scene first? That was another nail in the coffin.
"We find out who did this before they can pin it on us," I finally said.
Maddie grinned. "Oh, now this is getting fun."
"You have a terrible definition of fun," Violet muttered. shaking her head
Olivia swallowed hard but nodded. "We'll figure this out. Together."
A sharp bang echoed down the hall—like a door slamming shut.
They all froze.
Someone was coming