Chapter Text
"Who do you think you are?!" Biana yelled in my ear.
"I'm sorry!" I called back, "I totally forgot to get back to you. So many things have happened, I kind of forgot that I had people to text."
"It's like I'm texting a celebrity, like, 'oh my gosh! I know you won't see this, but I love you!'" Her voice goes too high-pitched for my comfort. I pull the phone away from my ear.
"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" I beg. We've been on this call for thirty minutes. It's getting kind of repetitive, and I have stuff to do, places to be. Well, more like, dinners to eat.
"How about the amount of times I considered calling the cops? Or worse, telling your dad what's actually going on? Do you know how many times I had to cover for you, not knowing if you were okay? I'm going to make sure this never happens again." She no longer sounds angry, more like determined. Uh-oh.
"That's ominous. What are you up to?" I ask, but I get no answer. I hear the doorbell.
Ding! Dong!
I leave it up to the Dizznee's to open the door.
"Oh, nothing," she says eventually, but there is definitely something going on.
Ding! Dong!
"Why don't you open the door?" She says. How does she know the doorbell was ringing? I don't want to open. She wouldn't have.
"You didn't..." I jump off my bed, and go downstairs. I open the door, and to my horror, there she is.
"Oh, but I did." She grins, and wraps me up in a bear hug. I can barely make out a grimace. I'm processing the fact that my friend came down to help me even though she knows nothing about what I'm doing. I start feeling a little guilty, remembering that I swore I'd call her after my crash, and then I didn't. A pressing headache threatens to worsen my day.
I plaster a fake smile. "Sooooo glad you could make it."
"Oh, please," she says, "I know that you hate that I'm here, it's all over your face, but it was either coming here or actually calling the police."
I suddenly feel the surge of happiness, and every trace of sarcasm is gone. "So glad you could make it!"
She laughs and shakes her head.
"Marella? Is there someone at the door?" I hear Mrs. Dizznee call from the kitchen.
"Just an intruder with shiny hair." I call back.
"What?!" She enters the room, wiping her hands on her skirt. Her eyes navigate to Biana standing at the door, and a confused look spreads across her face. "Hello, is there something I can help you with?"
"Don't worry Mrs. Dizznee, my name is Biana, I'm Marella's friend." She smiles and I get the urge to push her out and pretend nothing happened.
"Oh! Hello!" Juline looks pleased, and a little surprised. She raises her eyebrows at me. "You didn't tell me you had friends coming over! I might've had something ready."
"I'm sorry," My left eye starts twitching as I look at Biana. "I must've completely forgotten."
"Well, that's alright, Biana is welcome here any time, we have enough room. I'd offer you water but the kids are picky and we only have grape soda." She chuckles. "Anyway, make yourself at home, I'll be right back."
"Thank you so much." Biana responds, entering the house with not one, but three suitcases like she's retiring to her Bahamas home.
When Juline is out of earshot, I say in one big run-on sentence, "why would you show up here without telling me?"
"You forced me!"
"To bring your entire house?!" I point at her three elephant sized purple, sparkly bags. "This isn't a vacation, Biana."
"Of course I know that!" She looks at me like I said the dumbest, most obvious thing. "That's why I packed only the essentials."
"The essentials?!" I look again. Yep, still big, and still too sparkly to be environmentally-friendly. "Where are you even gonna stay anyway? Did you even think this through?"
"She can stay here." I hear from behind me. Dimpley's practically drooling at the sight of my teal-eyed friend.
"Come again?" I say.
They're just staring at each other.
Barf.
"Hello?" I wave my hand in front of him. "Your actual house guest is trying to get your attention."
He snaps out of it and looks at me, the enchanted look fading into an annoyed one. "Aren't you gonna introduce us? I can't invite a stranger to stay over at my house."
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. "Biana, this is farmer boy Dimpley."
"Will you stop calling me that? It sounds like I'm one of the dwarfs in Snow White." he says, then turns to Biana. I could swear the birds start singing and some Disney violins are heard when he says, "my name is Dex, actually."
"Oh I know." She responds.
"You know?" He says gleefully like a child who got told he's Santa's favorite kid.
"Yeah! I helped Marella find where you lived and stuff. That's how I knew you were here." She gives him that charming smile that makes all guys fall to her feet.
"And you came to help with the search?" He asks.
"Uninvited I might add." She chuckles. I mock her laugh.
"You're always invited." Dex says a little to eagerly, then clears his throat, "I mean that there's room for everyone."
"Are you serious?" I am ignored.
"Well, that's great because I was thinking of charming my way into this mission." She bats her big teal eyes. What am I witnessing right now?
"Not gonna lie, I would've liked to see you try." Dex smiles, and enough is enough.
"Alright stop it, this is crazy." I tell them both. "Biana, you have to go home."
"Sophie was my friend too, you know? I'm not only here for you, I also wanna help. If you just gave me a shot I promise I can be useful."
I narrow my eyes at her. This can be dangerous, but she has been insisting of being a part of this since I said my crazy conspiracy theory at lunch time in the school cafeteria. She has been supportive and by my side this whole time, but it's still dangerous.
"Please, I promise I won't get in the way." She gives me puppy eyes and darn it, they're so pretty. I consider this. I don't like whatever is going on with her and Dimpley, but honestly, if she could be helpful then maybe it's not such a terrible idea to let her stay.
"C'mon, Marella, she just wants to help out." Dex intervenes, and suddenly I feel the urge to just say no because of that. But I can't. I know how valuable Biana can be to this team.
"Fine."
"Thank you, thank you. I'm gonna be useful. In fact, you wouldn't be here without me, so I'll go as far out as to say I'm essential." I can see her back straighten a little bit with pride.
"Don't push it." I say. "If this starts getting too dangerous I'll personally fly a plane to take you right back to San Diego. Got it?"
"Yes, I promise I won't get burned." She grins.
"Here you go." Juline comes back into the room and hands Biana a can of bubbling grape soda. "It's time for supper, there's enough for everyone, come join us."
We start moving towards the dinner table, and Juline gestures for Biana to leave her suitcases at the door.
***
"There's no way." Biana said before blowing again on her inflatable bed that looked more like a toy for floating in the pool.
"Oh yes way." I say. "It was crazy, barely anything was discernible except for this metal door on the floor."
She stops to get air then looks at me with a puzzled look. "So do you think maybe we're wrong about Sophie being alive?"
"I thought about it, but I was actually more leaning towards the theory that that door leads to a basement, or some sort of underground tunnel that helped her escape or at least not die in the explosion." I pull my hair into a high bun.
"Yeah, that could be a possibility." She nods. "Do you think we could check it out again?"
"I don't think so. Dex and I barely got a chance to look at it when we started getting chased by this random dude who might or might not have had a weapon. But I do want to go back."
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in." I yell, and I see Juline with a warm smile spread across her face.
"Hey girls, how are you doing?" She asks. "I came to ask if you had a place to stay, Biana, but it looks like you found it."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, but Dex told me it was okay. I can find somewhere else though." She starts getting tomato red.
"No, no! It's totally, fine, but since we don't have more rooms, I don't want you both to be uncomfortable sleeping in the same room." She bites her lip and her eyes drift off.
"Don't worry, we're fin-"
"Oh, I know! I have a friend who has a hotel nearby, maybe you can stay there." She interrupts. "I'll give him a call to see if he has any rooms available, it's real nice, you're gonna like it. Fits right in with your whole aesthetic, it has a coffee shop downstairs." She grabs her phone from her pocket and goes into the hallway to make the call.
"Do you think she meant that she wanted us to be comfortable or she just wanted me out?" Biana laughs.
"I'd guess a little bit of both." I laugh.
"Hey, and about that other thing," she lowers her voice almost to a whisper, "if we're careful maybe we can check out the safe house tomorrow."
"Deal." I respond. "First thing in the morning, we're out."
Juline comes back with a smile and says, "good news! He says he can offer you a room to stay in! I'll tell Dex to take out the car so that he can take you."
"Wow, thank you so much. I really appreciate it." Biana smiles back.
"No problem, it's my pleasure to help." She looks into the hallway to make sure no one is eavesdropping, then says, "to be honest, I love that my Dexy is making friends. It's been rough since Sophie has been gone. So yeah, anything for my baby's new friends." She winks and we laugh. Then she says good night and leaves.
"Welp," I sigh and point at the inflatable bed. "Seems like we got this thing ready for nothing."
"Maybe it will come in handy." Biana starts packing up her things again. Thankfully, she hadn't taken out much. I help her pack her things, and grab the bed and put it in the closet. It fits. Kind of. I might have to put a little pressure on the closet's door.
Dex's head pops in the door. He looks at Biana. "Ready to go?"
Biana finished putting the last of her makeup on her bag and replies, "yep!"
"Okay, let's go." You can her the keys in his hand.
I wave good-bye to Biana and she mouths first thing while making a call sign with her head. I smile and nod.