The rest of the week was pretty uneventful for Nico. She only had two things that happened to her: the reaction to her cast from two best friends and her boss and problems with her project partner. Since her and Zane's 'conversation,' Zane's friends made it known to almost everyone in school that Nico was a stalker. Because of that, it resulted in her being outcasted and bullied in school. Even though it sounded cruel in Nate's eyes, Nico didn't let it get to her. Especially when Zane's friends started to mess with her by destroying her homework or writing something on her locker like stalker or freak. After a couple of days, it finally stopped when the same people writing on her locker suddenly started to avoid her, barely making eye contact with the girl. Nico thought either Nate said something about it or a teacher caught them, but she didn't read into it and continued her business.

Finally, Friday arrived, bringing Nico's mood up because Mr. Davis also gave her Friday off. He thought she deserved more than one day off and decided that Nico should have the whole weekend off because she needed it, and Nico didn't argue. Nico sat in her last-period class, lightly tapping her finger against her desk, wondering what she would do now that she had an open schedule. But Nico was pulled out of her thoughts stopped when the final bell rang. Nico slowly got up, placed her notebook into her bag, and followed the crowd rushing out the door. Nico walked to her locker expecting Nate to be there, but he wasn't, and it hit her that he wasn't in class this morning either. Nico pushed it to the back of her mind realizing that maybe he cut again on some wild adventure and grabbed someone to go with him. Nico turned the dial on her locker and opened it to grab her helmet before tucking it under her arm and shutting it close. She almost jumped out of her skin when her partner Zane was standing there staring at her. Nico looked at Zane and started to get annoyed, rolling her eyes at his lack of response.

"Do you need something?" Nico asked.

"I, um, well," Zane started, and Nico rolled her eyes again.

"Look, I have places to go, and I am not going to stand here wasting my day off on you," Nico said, walking away, not giving Zane a chance to speak. Instead, Zane turned and watched Nico heading toward the front of the building. Zane sighed and leaned against her locker, lightly banging his head on her locker. 

"Yo Zane," Zane heard, and he turned his head, looking at the group of football players looking at him.

"Yeah, you need something?" Zane asked, turning to them.

"Well, are you heading to practice?" A tall boy with buzzed-cut hair said.

"Yeah, I will meet you guys there. Go ahead," Zane said, and the group exchanged looks before heading off. Zane watched the group walk away, and he rolled his eyes and felt his phone buzz in his back pocket. He pulled out his phone and answered, closing his eyes.

"Yeah," Zane said.

"So I take it that it didn't go well," a man's voice said.

"No, she didn't even give me a chance to talk," Zane said. 

"She didn't give you a chance, or you froze up?" The voice said.

"Shut up," Zane said, pushing himself off Nico's locker.

 "Zane, you have to talk to her and apologize," The man on the phone said.

"How am I going to do that if she won't give me the time of day," Zane said.

"Well, do what you do best and annoy her to listen to you," The guy said, slightly chuckling.

"Haha, very funny," Zane said.

"But in all seriousness Zane you have to apologize because what you did wasn't right," The guy said.

"You think I don't know that? I still feel horrible for what I did," Zane said.

"Well, you can't stall any longer," The guy said.

"I know I am going to figure it out," Zane said. 

"Okay," The guy said.

"Yeah, well, imma let you go 'cause I just got to the locker room, and I can't miss practice even though I want to," Zane said. 

"Well, have fun getting brain damage," The guy said, causing Zane to roll his eyes. 

"Goodbye, dumbass," Zane said, hanging up the phone. Zane shoved the phone in his pocket, pushing the locker room doors open with only one thought going through his head: how will he talk to Nico? 

 Nico reached home in record time, hopping off her bike, sliding her helmet off, and strolling up to her door. She threw her front door open, pulling out her phone to see if she got any messages from her friends, but she didn't see anything. Shrugging her shoulder, Nico stuffed the phone back into her pocket and proceeded to her room. Nico walked down the hall stopping in front of a slightly open room, and she pushed the door open and saw an empty room and a made-up bed. Nico huffed because her dad was supposed to be in this room sleeping, but he was nowhere to be seen. Nico pulled out her phone and shot her dad a quick text about where he was, and he shot back with a short message saying that he was at work for the night and there was food in the fridge. Nico rolled her eyes, slid the phone back into her pocket, and walked toward her bedroom door a few feet down the hall. Nico walked into her room, kicking the door close, placing her helmet on her desk, and tossing her bag to her bed. Nico headed toward her closet, grabbed a pair of black shorts with white trim on the edge and a dark red crop top with a couple of black knee-high socks, and headed toward the shower.

After her shower, she wiped the steam off the mirror with her towel and combed the wet tangles out of her curly brown hair. Once all the knots were out, Nico started feeling hungry, and she walked out of the bathroom and headed toward the kitchen. As she walked in, she noticed a note sitting on the table from her dad. Nico picked it up, reading what he texted her but in terrible writing. Nico sighed, tossing the letter in the garbage and then opening the refrigerator, seeing the dinner her dad made wrapped in plastic wrap. Nico pulled it out, unwrapped it, tossed the plastic wrap in the trash, opened the microwave, slid the food inside, slamming the microwave door close. After a few high beeps, the microwave lit up, and her food started to spin and leaned against the chair and watched the food turning in place, lost in thought. Nico's mind wandered to her nuisance of a partner that made her week a living hell. She wondered why he appeared in front of her after he said that he didn't want o see her at all, and if she did, then they would be hell to pay. Nico really could care less, but it did bother her that he showed up in front of her, not only that she had to stand there and what him fumble words in front of her wasting her time. A loud beep pulled Nico out of her thoughts, and she pushed herself off the chair, opened the microwave, and pulled the food out, slamming it close before placing her dinner on the table. Nico leaned to her left, pulling the draw below the counter, reaching inside, pulling a fork out, and lightly tossing it on the table. Nico pushes the drawer close, turns to the table, pulls the chair out, and sits in front of her food. Nico started to play with her food for a while, lost in thought, thinking about how the house was never this quiet, which gave Nico an unsettling feeling. Nico shook her head, pushing the bad thoughts in the back of her mind, and started to dig in her food. Once she was done with her food, she walked to her sink and washed the dishes letting her mind wander. Her mind wandered to school to her partner again, and then it hit Nico that her project was still not finished. Nico finished her last dishes, decided to be a responsible student, and worked on her assignment because her partner would not help. Nico rolled her eyes at the thought of her partner's childish action and gave her hand a slight shake before turning towards the kitchen doorway, walking out of it, and heading towards her bedroom.

Nico walked into her bedroom and looked out toward the window, seeing that it was pitch-black outside. Nico shifted her attention to the mess on the floor when she felt her foot brush against something hard and realized that the bag had missed her bed, landing on the floor, making a huge mess. Nico looked at all the contents in her bag laid out all over the floor, and Nico huffed, bending over and lifting her bag off the floor when suddenly she heard a light thud. Nico looked to where the thud came from and noticed a strange book lying on the ground. She placed her bag on her bed and sat on her heels, picking the book up, and examining it, and it clicked that it was the book Nico found at work. Nico places the book on her nightstand with a different goal. Then, grabbing her bag again, Nico shoved all the other contents inside the bag before pushing it off to the side. Nico reached, grabbed the book off the nightstand, and settled on the floor with her back pressed against the bed. She shifts on the floor, sitting more comfortably, pressing her back against her bed. Nico tugged at the leather strap tied against the book, and she started to unravel the book, her excitement radiating off of her. As she finally unravels the string, she opens the book looking at old worn pages and flipping through the pages. Nico flipped to the last page and looked at the old stain page, looking at the written paragraph. The page almost took the whole page, and the initials signed it T.K.J. Nico tilted her head, and she started to read the note. 

'If you found this book and are reading this, then I was unsuccessful in stopping them, and I am gone. Inside, this book has all the secrets of Stonebridge and how to stop them. If they are still around, show this to the one in charge. I was blinded by what they told me, and I had a chance to stop them, but I failed. Please stop them. You have more enemies than allies. The thing you mistake as a monster is the one who saves you, so be cautious because the secrets this town hides will make the boogeyman seem like a bunny. Be careful.'

-T.K.J.

Nico felt a chill run down her back when she realized this was no old regular journal. A million thoughts were running through her mind, but the one thing that stood out was what secrets this town has and how Nico could help. Nico decided to read the book and would find out if this book was legit. So Nico flipped to the front page and began reading the page's first paragraph. Halfway into the page, she started to feel like someone was watching her. That feeling was confirmed when she saw a shadow outside of her window.