Andie made a gagging noise. “I can’t believe you tried it.” She frowned. “No, wait, scratch that. It’s you. Of course you tried it.”
“I also tried a deep-fried Mars bar. I’m ashamed to admit I tried it a couple of times.”
“That’s revolting,” Mom huffed. “You told me you were eating well.”
“At least I’m eating.”
That garnered a grunt.
“I hope you aren’t drinking too much with you being legal over there?” Dad asked, pulling gently on my ponytail.
I craned my neck to grin up at him. “Would I overimbibe just because of a legality?”
“Yes.”
Laughing, I turned back around, my expression mischievous as I shared a look with Andie. “I’ve hardly touched a drop, Dad.”
“Don’t lie to your father, Charlotte, it’s beneath you,” Mom teased.
“Then don’t ask questions you’re not going to like the answer to.”
“She’s got you there, folks,” Rick murmured, smiling into his mug.
Mom used Rick’s input to turn the conversation to grandbabies (Mom could somehow manage to turn any conversation to grandbabies) and my phone buzzed, distracting me.
A text from Jake.
Supergirl is on the television. Made me think of you. Hope you’re having a nice time at home.
There was something placating in his text. Usually he teased me or cracked a joke, starting a battle of wits. I wondered if he was still stinging from Dad’s cut, and then I wondered why I felt bad about that. Feeling too hot all of a sudden, I got up and wandered into the kitchen. Leaning against the cool countertops I stared at my phone, trying to decide whether to answer him.
“Was that Jake?”
I jerked my head over my shoulder in surprise, unaware that Andie had followed me. “Yeah.”
My big sister’s lips pinched together. “You look miserable. I mean, you’re putting on a good front but we all see it.”
Honestly, I was sick of everyone telling me what it was I was feeling. I was sick of everyone reminding me of what Jake had done and how I’d reacted. It was hard enough attempting to wade through my own emotions without having to bear the weight of my family’s feelings regarding Jake too. “Maybe I’d be okay if everyone would stop going on about my relationship with Jake like it was this epic thing.”
“It was. It is.” Andie took a determined step forward. “You know it was. That’s why you’re hurting so much. Please don’t rewrite history in order to accommodate him in your life again. Look, it’s obvious Jake cares about you still or he wouldn’t be so adamant about remaining in your life. But he has to know how selfish it is of him to put you through this. So ask yourself if that’s a friend worth keeping.”
What she said was scarily similar to what Lowe had said and I immediately felt a headache coming on. “I’m going for a walk.” I strode toward the kitchen door, shoving my feet in my boots. “Will you let Mom and Dad know? I’ve got my cell.”
Andie nodded. “Yeah, sweetie. Take all the time you need.”
I left the house, taking in deep breaths of crisp air. My feet really did the thinking and before I knew it, I was standing in the empty parking lot of the high school.
All around me was silence but in my head, I could hear the hum of chatter, the shouts, the laughter. In front of me was just a parking space but in my head was a crowd standing around a figure curled up on the ground …
It was Wednesday, the day before Brett’s funeral.
Still no word from Jake.
Although Lukas had returned to school, Jake was still not in attendance. I’d gotten a sympathetic nod from Lukas at the main entrance yesterday morning but he’d disappeared when I’d approached to ask after Jake.
I felt like a leper and the only one brave enough to be around me was Alex.
Today, however, there was a tension among all the students. The pall that had cloaked the school on Monday was back as Brett’s funeral approached, and honestly I just couldn’t be around it. All it did was give me flashbacks to pleading eyes and bloody hands.
Not exactly feeling like an exemplary student these days, I’d decided to head out of school grounds for lunch and drop by my mom’s store. I needed a friendly face. So Mom it was.
As soon as I stepped out the front entrance to the school, I heard the commotion. My eyes darted across the parking lot, following the sounds. I saw a small crowd had gathered around something. I was going to ignore it, but then I saw Damien’s hardened face appear in the center as he stared down at something or someone on the ground. When I saw that Jackson was with him, instinct told me what was going on.
Fury fuelled me as I dropped my backpack and tore down the stairs and across the lot, shoving people hard out of my way, my eyes dipping to the ground to see Lukas in a fetal position on the ground, bleeding.
“You asshole!” I screamed, shoving Damien back with all my might.
It sent him stumbling into Jackson. I stepped around Lukas, putting myself in front of him.
“Get out of the way, Charley,” Damien hissed. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“You want him, you go through me.” I beat a hand against my chest.
He narrowed his eyes.
“Come on, Damien!” I cried disdainfully. “You can beat up a freshman, two juniors against one freshman kid, but you won’t lift a hand against a girl? That’s a fucked-up set of principles.”
“I won’t warn you again. Move, Charley.”
“You want Lukas? You’re going to have to hit me to get to him.”
“Charley, don’t,” Lukas grunted, and I felt movement behind me as he tried to sit up.
“Move out of the way, Charlotte,” Damien took a step toward me, “or I will make you move.”
“Dude,” Jackson didn’t seem so sure, putting a hand out to stop him.
Damien shook him off. “She’s on their side. Brett’s dead, her boyfriend saw to that, and this kid is smart-mouthing us about it and she’s trying to protect them both. She’s a traitor to this town. She deserves what she gets.” He moved toward Lukas as Lukas stood but I pushed Jake’s brother behind me, jutting my chin out in determination.
“I mean it, Damien,” I warned him. “You’ll have to fight me first before I let you touch Luke. And I fight dirty.”
“Bring it.”
I braced myself, ready to take a beating so Lukas wouldn’t have to.
In the end I didn’t have to either because suddenly Alex was there, fury on his face as he shoved Damien away from me. “Are you crazy!” he shouted, pushing him harder.
Damien stumbled, shock and betrayal in his eyes. “They killed Brett, man.”
“Fuck you, Damien. I was there. So were you. Brett fell on his own knife. It’s not Jake’s fault and it’s definitely not Lukas’s and,” he dropped his head, getting in Damien’s face, “it’s definitely not Charley’s. She tried to save his life, remember? I swear to God, if I ever see you come at her again, I will kill you.”
The two friends started to argue in quiet voices so I turned to Lukas, cradling his left side. His nose was bleeding and his right eye was swollen shut.
The anger caught in my throat again and I glanced up across the parking lot to the security cameras. Those bastards were going down. Without saying a word, I grabbed Lukas’s bag and held his arm, gently asking him to follow me. He did, his head bowed in humiliation.
“You have nothing to feel embarrassed about, Luke. They’re bigger and older than you and it was two against one. They’re the pathetic ones.”
“Where are we going?” he sucked in his breath as he tripped on the curb. I winced in sympathy.
“To see Sheriff Muir.”
“Uh, why?” he stopped.