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I balled my fist so tight my nails pierced my palms, coating the tips a deeper red than Kylie’s nail polish.
“You should’ve seen her face,” Kylie went on. “She looked like she was going to stab her right then, but she was smart enough to wait until we left. Well, not smart. Couldn’t come up with a story for why she was holding a bloody dagger in the middle of a horror scene, except thatmonsterskidnapped her mother.”
“She obviously went Lizzie B on the cheap hag and hid her pieces in the fertilizer. I overheard her that day, you know.” Justin was grinning pretty big for someone recounting a tragedy.“She was threatening to attack the Victoria kids if they paint-ballooned her. Said something about destroying them.”
They all gasped like this was shocking, damning information.
“Please move.”
“Admit it.” Dina shoved me. “Irida was the coolest, sweetest person ever, and you lost it and did something terrible to her. It was so bad, your mind snapped just like your crazy daddy. We all heard the story of the gladiator wannabe battling bicycles in the park.”
My teeth gritted. “Get out of the way.”
“Oooh, look out,” Justin cried, throwing his hands up. “She’s getting mad. Careful, everyone, or she’ll chop us up into pieces too.”
“Is that why you’re ganging up on me seven on one?” I asked. “Because you’re afraid of me? Well, you got nothing to worry about. I’m just here to go to class, finish my credits, and graduate. I’ll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine. You won’t even know I’m here.”
I tried again to get past. Dina shoved me back again. Harder that time.
“Why won’t you admit what you’ve done? We know. The cops know. All of America knows the truth,” Dina said. “You think you got away with it? You spouted all that crazy crap about three-headed dogs and only got two years in the loony bin. Now you’re free and clear.”
“Think again,” Kylie hissed. “If the law won’t make you pay, we will. Every day here will be hell for you. No body, no crime, my ass. No way is a murderer sitting next to me in English like nothing happened. We’ll beat you out of here and into the back-alley dumpster you belong in.”
I swallowed hard. Tears prickled behind my eyes, and it was all the strength in me not to let them fall. “Why are you doingthis?” I rasped. “We used to be best friends. What happened to you?”
Her eyes flashed. “What happened to me? Any one of us would’ve traded our moms for yours in a heartbeat, and you got rid of her because you didn’t like your birthday present. You’re the evil bitch, Aella. Not me.”
“It wasn’t about the birthday present!” I screamed, blowing all seven of them back. One guy put his fists up like I was going to attack. “I loved the present. It was from my dad. And I love my mom no matter what she gives me for my birthday. I wouldn’t have cared if she gave me a steaming bag of dog shit!”
“Liar,” Dina screamed back. “I saw the look on your face when you opened the box. You hated that dagger, so you plunged it in her chest.”
“Exactly,” Kylie chimed in. “I thought you were going to smack her right then. I’ve never seen you so angry.”
The others bobbed their heads along—humming and uh-huhing. Brainless fools weren’t even there.
“I’m not doing this with you guys anymore,” I replied. “I said all I had to say two years ago, and you didn’t believe me. Instead, you twisted everything, spreading lies and gossip that ruined my life—as if it wasn’t enough of a shithole disaster.
“Is that how you two became so popular? I saw all your news interviews in the weeks after my mom was taken. Apartment destroyed, blood everywhere, Irida Vanda vanished, and the only witness was clutching a dagger and crying about monsters.
“Everyone wanted to know all about the sixteen-year-old suspected murderer and how she went bad, and you two were only too happy to spout all the lying garbage the reporters asked of you. I’m sure they paid well.” I flicked to Kylie’s eighteen-hundred-dollar shoes.
“You milked all that attention right to the top of the social ladder. Meanwhile, my mom is still out there—in trouble andwaiting for me to save her. But because ofyou,the whole world thinks she’s dead! Because ofyou,everyone believes I lost it over a birthday present and went nuts! Because ofyou,I’ve been locked in a psychiatric hospital for two years when I should’ve been searching for my mother! Because ofyou,I’ve lost everything,” I screeched, blowing her eyes wide. “So no, Kylie, the evil bitch is still you!”
Pain exploded in my left cheek. My head wrenched around, spinning me off my heels and into two of their lackeys. They threw me back and I caught Dina’s next punch on the nose.
“Don’t talk to my friend like that, schizo cunt! You don’t scare us anymore.”
Blood poured from my nose, running along my lips and down my chin. It wasn’t the first time I’d taken a hit. I’d gotten my fair share of bruises from my roommate at Sunny Breeze Psychiatric. Trixie kept mistaking me for her stepmother, and she really,reallyhated the woman.
All the same, her punches never packed the same power. Looked like Dina picked up weight lifting within the last two years.
I clapped my hands over my face, screaming into my palm. My nose was broken. No question.
“Good hit, Di.”
“She deserved it. Going psycho on Kylie because she told the truth.”
Shove.
