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messages, irl______________________________________

chlorine 💕hey girlik you dont normally want to see them but i need to tell you smthme, chris, and nick are on our way over

betty 🐻what?no no nobad time girl not rn

chlorine 💕its actually important we're just coming over to talkalready otw

betty 🐻chloeu cant rnactually

chlorine 💕why?u okay?

betty 🐻yes im okay its just not a good timei can explain later

chlorine 💕we're 5 mins from ur houseits just me chris and nickthats it i promise

betty 🐻girl you need to give me more timehold onnn

chlorine 💕see ur being weird and now im worriedwe are def coming now

betty 🐻ur gonna be pissed 😭

chlorine 💕why???read at 10:47am

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"matt, get up." kaia gently shakes him, shutting her phone off in a panic.

"just let me sleep." he moans, rolling over and wrapping his arms around kaia's lap, her sitting upright.

"matt, actually. chloe just texted me that her, nick, and chris are coming over right now. they'll be here any second." she attempts to shake him awake.

"what?!" he sits up, reaching over kaia and grabbing his phone off the charger.

"i have like a billion messages. everyone thinks i'm missing." he slaps a hand to his forehead.

"they're gonna see your car out front." she points out the window.

"do you want them to know already? or should this be a surprise?" he asks.

"why not surprise them." she shrugs.

"okay, i'll go move my car down the road and run back." he agrees.

he stands up off the bed, throws a shirt on, then turns around in a rush to press a quick kiss to kaia's lips.

"be quick, they're almost here." she shouts as he rushes downstairs.

matt runs outside to his car, as quickly as possible moves it way down her street, and parks it where everyone else won't see it.

he locks the car and runs back to the house, shutting the front door as quickly as he can.

kaia is standing downstairs in shorts and a big tshirt, her hair still messy from waking up.

her and matt peek out the window to see chloe's car pulling into the driveway, her, chris, and nick piling out of the car soon after.

"go up to my room!" she whisper shouts, shooing him upstairs so she can answer the door.

chloe knocks on the door and kaia answers it immediately.

"hi! why are you here again?" she asks, out of breath.

"what the hell? why are you so awake and happy?" chloe questions as everyone walks inside, shutting the door after.

"what are you talking about? i'm in a normal mood." she scratches the back of her neck.

"why are you acting weird?" chloe laughs, following kaia into the living room as everyone sits around the couch.

"i'm not acting weird. anyway, what was so important that you had to wake me up?" kaia smiles, looking at her friends.

"you look very awake to me. did something happen that you aren't telling me? you're so happy right now, yesterday you weren't sounding so great on the phone." chloe asks, very confused.

matt is hiding around the corner at the top of the stairs, listening to the conversation. he frowns, knowing chloe most likely meant kaia was crying.

"nothing, just not sulking right now." she forces a smile.

"kaia, matt is missing." nick speaks.

she remembers she needs to be surprised, so she furrows her eyebrows and looks back at nick.

"missing? what do you mean?" she questions, trying not to smile.

"he left last night and never came home, everyone has been looking for him, he won't answer our texts and nobody can find him. my mom is gonna call the police if he doesn't show up later." nick looks at her.

"why? why would he just leave and not tell you guys?" kaia puts a hand on her chest.

"we don't know. we're assuming he snapped and left because of the whole thing with you, we were just wondering if he tried to text you at all last night or if you've heard from him." chris adds.

"no, i have no idea where he is. he never texted me." she shakes her head.

"i don't want this to get out of control, but if he's missing, he might only answer you. we're really worried about him." chloe looks at kaia.

"you want me to text him?" she looks around the room.

"if you would. so we might not have to involve police." chris nods.

"what's that on your neck? kaia, are you okay?" chloe asks.

she quickly covers the "bruise" with her hand and stands up off the couch.

"i'm gonna go grab my phone, be right back!" she announces, running upstairs.

"why is she being so weird? also, you guys saw that spot on her neck, right?" chloe looks at nick and chris.

"a little, yeah. you don't think she hooked up with someone, right? maybe that's why she's so happy and energetic." nick asks.

"there's actually no way that she would. plus, who would she hook up with? matt would be crushed, i hope she didn't." chloe laughs.

kaia runs up the stairs and sees matt at the top listening around the corner. she covers his mouth and leads him into her room, closing the door.

"she saw that?" matt points at kaia's neck, examining the mark with his hands.

"yeah, apparently. they're gonna think something is up." kaia nods, her face still pointed at the ceiling as matt looks at the several spots on her neck.

"chloe's gonna catch on, she's definitely already suspicious of me." kaia whispers.

"you okay, kaia? you're just grabbing your phone!" chloe shouts from downstairs.

"they're totally gonna see me." he looks at kaia.

"well, i don't know, you explain, then!" she says to him quietly.

"you look pretty when you're like this." he smiles at her, causing her to blush.

"matt, not the time." kaia laughs.

he pulls her in for a kiss and just as their lips connect, they hear three sets of footsteps begin to walk up the stairs and towards her room.

kaia tries to pull away from the kiss so she can figure out where to hide matt, but he holds her still and kisses her again.

she smiles and manages to back away, playfully slapping his chest.

"kaia?" chloe says from the other side of the door.

"yeah?" she answers in a hurry, running over to her bed and grabbing her phone, matt pacing and trying to figure out where to go.

chloe opens the door, nick and chris standing behind her.

everyone freezes as they all make eye contact with matt, bewildered and confused.

"matt?!" chris exclaims.

kaia covers her face and doesn't know what to say.

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