JULIE’S? POV
I shot up into a sitting position once my eyes opened. I immediately regretted sitting up so abruptly because the room spun at great speeds. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my fingers into my temples. It took some time for me to recall the last thing I could remember which was the argument with Heather.
I sighed. I was again torn between what was the right thing to do and what I was forced to do.
I noticed an Advil on my nightstand. I immediately chased it down with water, grateful to whoever put it there for me because my headache had just started to set in.
The atmosphere at the breakfast table was tense. I had woken up late and everyone had already had their breakfast. Ethan had left for work and I regretted not being able to catch him before he left.
I didn’t remember much from last night after my argument with Heather. I just hoped I hadn’t done anything stupid but if looking at my parents and even Olivia who were sitting at the table even when they didn’t need to were anything to go by, I did do something big and stupid.
I quickly swallowed down my breakfast even when I had no appetite and scrambled out of there to put away my dishes where I quickly whipped out my phone which was vibrating like crazy all this time.
I ignored the thousands of notifications and? googled Juliet Jenson.
THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS HAS FINALLY BEEN FOUND AND SHE HASN’T GOT ANY BETTER
JULIET JENSON MAKES A WILD AND DRAMATIC DRUNK COMEBACK. WHERE HAD SHE BEEN ALL THESE YEARS?
IS JULIET JENSON DATING ETHAN EVANS?
THE SCANDALOUS QUEEN IS BACK. SOME PEOPLE NEVER CHANGE
CLOSE FRIENDS REVEAL JULIET JENSON WAS FOUND MONTHS AGO AND DIDN’T WANT TO FACE THE WORLD AFTER ALL HER SHAMELESS ANTICS
“No.” I screeched quietly. All the articles were about my outburst outside the party. My pictures were all over. I was crying and my makeup was a mess.
Apparently I had stormed out of the party to encounter the paparazzi who recognized me and in a drunken fit I had yelled that I was Juliet Jenson and then proceeded to admit all the things that the real one had done. It was all very dramatic and I was very embarrassed. I didn’t want to face anyone after this. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole, never to see the light of the day ever again.
I took excessively long to do my dishes and then escaped to my room stealthily because I smelt a confrontation waiting with my parents.
This was it. This was the end. I was going to get caught and thrown out. There was no way Juliet wasn’t going to come across the articles. I didn’t even get to tell Ethan the truth. I was going to tell him after the party but then I got drunk because of what Heather told me to do and now everything was going to go down. I wondered how long I had until Juliet showed up. I needed to get out of here before that happened.
Before I could take a drastic decision there was a knock on the door. I approached slowly, fearing it were the parents.
“Julie,” Olivia whispered. I almost broke the door with how forcefully I wrenched it open.
“Olivia, I fucked up.”
“No shit. Heather’s going to come over to talk.”
“It’s over, isn’t it? We’re going to get caught. We’ll have to return back to our old lives.” It almost pained me to think about going back.
She shrugged. “It’s for the best anyway. I was kind of waiting for this day. I’m sick of being here. I’m sorry you didn’t get to tell Ethan. But there’s still time. You might be able to tell him.”
I shook my head. “You weren’t there at the party last night. I can’t do that anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Heather told me I can’t tell him.”
“Why would she say that? She wanted you to tell him more than anyone.”
“I don’t know. She told me that she needed to search for Juliet. She said that Juliet lied to her about her whereabouts and that she might be somewhere worse. She thinks she’s not safe there and she wants to search for her where her private detective suspected she was. And so she didn’t want me to tell Ethan because she wanted me to pretend for a few more days until Juliet was found. I couldn’t wait for more days! I’d die from all the guilt so I accidentally got drunk and fucked things over.”
She put a hand on shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. I’m sure Heather has a plan. Let’s just wait for her.”
Heather came right before lunch. All that time I had refused to go out, forcing the parents to go about their work.
“Man, it looks like the paparazzi has made a home outside. They won’t budge. I’m surprised I didn’t run anyone over.” Heather’s greeting did nothing to soothe my nerves.
I rushed towards her. “Heather, want are we going to do?”
“Julie, it’s already done. There’s nothing we can do to rectify the situation unless you want to go out and apologize about your… unceremonious reveal.”
I fervently shook my head. “No. I don’t want to go in front of them ever.”
“Then there’s really nothing we can do but wait until the situation calms down. Don’t look up articles. They are saying all mean things about my friend that I don’t want you to look at.”
I sat down on the bed, hugging my legs to my chest. “This is scary. How did Juliet handle all of this from such a young age?”
“Mostly she just didn’t care what the world thought of her. It used to bother her a lot when she was young but gradually she became indifferent to gossip and rumors about her.” Heather had a wistful look on her face.
“Where is she?”
“I was planning on going today to look for her but this happened and so had to stay back to make sure you were okay.”
“Thank you. And I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. Maybe telling you that you shouldn’t tell Ethan at the party wasn’t the right place or time. I understand you were angry and were frustrated at the situation. I just didn’t want any more problems until I sorted out Juliet’s whereabouts first.”
“Is she really in some sort of danger?”
“I’m not entirely sure. She gave me the name of a small town she was staying in and although she ordered me not to engage a detective to look after her, I still did because I was worried about her. This detective had been trying to search her for an year now and I just thought that he was a lousy one or that she was really good at hiding because he couldn’t find her so I hired two more and even they couldn’t find her. When all the three failed I realized she was lying to me. She wasn’t staying in that town which meant she didn’t want me to know where she lived and the only reason I could come up with for her lies is that she’s somewhere she shouldn’t be.” She concluded.
“Maybe she’s just worried you’ll tell her parents.” I reasoned.
“I doubt it. She trusted me enough to call and I haven’t said a single word about us keeping in touch to her parents so she must know that she can trust me with anything. Anyway one of the detectives came up with something. It’s from a town on the completely opposite side of the town she told me she was in. He found a girl who looks just like her and suspects she might be Juliet. She goes by the name of Julia Sanders. She’s a high school student about the same age as you two. She was adopted. That’s what he gathered but I suspect it might be a cover up done by Juliet. I really doubt that there’s another girl who looks like her.”