Chapter 19: Jadore Café
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."