Chapter 9: Jadore Café : Part 1 :
Lana's POV
"Our old place," she said. I didn't even need her to explain. She meant Jadore Café—the same one we used to haunt after school like we owned it. I was standing outside it now, arms crossed, rolling my eyes at the nostalgia.
Scarlett. Back? That had to be the joke of the century. No way that girl, of all people, would dare show her face again. Not after everything. Scarlett, the fatty with no backbone, no friends, no life? She was probably still hiding under some rock, afraid of her own shadow.
I laughed out loud at the thought, just as Jason walked up.
"What's so funny?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Also, are you okay? Your message was super vague—'Lana, come to Jadore at 4 p.m., it's a pet problem'? What kind of emergency is that? You don't even have a pet."
I smirked. "I had one. It escaped... years ago."
Jason blinked, confused. "Lana, the hell are you talking about?"
He gave me a look, then laughed. "Lana, the only pet you ever had was a goldfish."
I burst out laughing. "Yeah—Goldie. This one's similar, but dumber. I mean Scarlett."
Jason's face shifted. His smile dropped. Something in him froze.
"Scarlett , the high school scarlett ?" he said, his voice lower now. "Why are you bringing her up?"
"She showed up at Sharon and Liam's house yesterday."
Jason looked pale. Straight-up terrified. Which was weird. Why was he scared? Scarlett was the one who should be terrified—if Sharon was right, and scarlett really was back.
Unless Sharon was imagining things. But no—Sharon's gut feelings? and bringing scarlett out from nowhere something must be happening ...
As I was thinking about all this, I saw Sharon and Liam walking up. Finally.
But something was off. Sharon looked... different. Hard. Like she hadn't slept, like something had cracked inside her. And Liam? He looked like he wasn't even in his own body. Eyes blank. Checked out.
Sharon didn't say hi. She just said, "Let's go in. We need to handle this. It's urgent."
She looked at all of us. "Our team is back
Part 2 : She Could Be Anyone
Sharon's POV
All of us were at the café table—our usual spot by the window. Next to me was Liam. Across the table sat Lana and Jason. The late afternoon light poured through the glass, warming the wood, but it felt like winter in my chest.
My coffee sat untouched in front of me, still hot. I watched the steam swirl up like smoke from something burning down. My fingers traced slow circles around the rim of the cup. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to start.
Lana broke the silence, sipping her iced tea like we weren't here to talk about ghosts.
"So, Sharon. Look," she said, dragging out the words, "even if your story sounds totally chaotic—I believe you. But... Scarlett? Seriously?" She snorted. "It's been, what, years? I haven't heard her name in forever. Her or your dumb ex-bestie. What was her name again? Jana?"
My breath caught. I froze.
"You mean Julia?" I said, my voice sharper than I intended. "Why are you bringing her up? This is about Scarlett. Not Julia."
Jason raised a hand like a referee. "Sharon. I just don't think it's her. Scarlett knows she can't handle us. She wouldn't come back."
He said it calmly. Too calmly. Like he knew something he wasn't saying.
Liam leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Babe, the only things we've got are a weird handwriting match, your gut feeling, and some creepy signs. That's not solid proof." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "But if it is her... if she's really back, that means she wants revenge. That means she wants to destroy us."
My throat tightened. I forced myself to speak.
"It's her. I just need to find her."
Lana laughed. Actually laughed. "Well, well... finding ugly, fat Scarlett won't be too hard. If she were anywhere near us, someone would've noticed."
Jason looked at her, stone-faced.
But Liam, He just asked, "But... what if she changed?"
The question hung in the air like a guillotine...
"What if she changed?" he repeated. "What if she doesn't look like the old Scarlett that we used to know anymore? What if she's someone else now?"
My blood ran cold. literally what if ?
I hadn't thought of that...
What if she changed her name, her face, her body? What if she was already here, watching us, waiting to attack ?
She could've dyed her hair. Lost the weight. Built a whole new life around a new identity. Scarlett was smart. Smarter than we gave her credit for. And we were the ones who made her vanish. We wrote her off, humiliated her, left her in the dirt.
Now, maybe she wasn't crawling back. Maybe she was walking—head up, eyes forward, unrecognizable.
She could be anyone.
I stared down at the swirling cream in my coffee, heart pounding. My voice came out flat:
"She could be sitting at a table next to us. We wouldn't even know about her ..."
Lana rolled her eyes. "Okay, chill. This isn't a thriller movie."
Jason stayed quiet. Too quiet.
I leaned back. "We need to be sure. If she's back, I'll find her. And when I do... I'll end this. it will be scarett end for good ."
No one said anything for a moment. The air at the table thickened. The kind of silence that only shows up when everyone's pretending not to be scared.
liam finally looked at me. His voice was low, unreadable.
"Just be careful, Sharon. You don't know what she's capable of anymore if she really changed ."
Neither did I.
But I was about to find out.
To be continued...