Page 152 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

I tilted my head. “Want to tell them why?”

He scoffed. “Because you’re a violent fucking lunatic. That’s why.”

A few people exchanged uncertain looks.

I didn’t raise my voice. “Or was it because you pushed a twelve-year-old girl into the boys’ locker room, felt her up, and laughed about it with your friends afterward.”

No one laughed this time.

Chad barked out a laugh. “That is complete bullshit.”

I stared at him. “Back then, Daddy bought you a one-month suspension and made the whole thing disappear.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You haven’t changed.” I lifted my phone. “Chad Bowman, born September 5th, 2002. Charged with sexual assault in the third degree. Arraignment date set for February 12th. Currently out on bail pending trial.”

Chad’s face paled. “That’s not—”

I kept reading. “Victim was a minor at the time of the alleged offense—”

“Stop.” His voice sounded a lot less confident now.

I lowered the phone and looked around at the people still holding theirs up.

“You can look it up yourselves if you don’t believe me. It’s public record.”

More phones lit up around the room as people started searching. The shift in the air was immediate. Whispers started. A few people near the front stepped back from Chad without even realizing they were doing it.

Jackson stepped half in front of me, voice low and flat. “You’ve said enough. Get the fuck out of this house. If you don’t, you’re going to regret it.”

Chad opened his mouth, but Jackson’s stare pinned him in place. The whole room was watching him now.

He glanced desperately at Naomi and got nothing back. Then he threw one last venomous look in my direction before shoving through the crowd and fleeing out the door.

No one moved to stop him.

I felt nothing for Chad. He'd always been the same kind of predator, just a smaller, uglier version of the men I actually wanted dead. Watching him run was almost boring.

Naomi was next. I turned my gaze to her.

“The girl I allegedly beat half to death at my last school? Never happened. You made that up. You have nothing.”

Naomi forced a short laugh. “Right. And we should all just believe you because you say so?”

“You brought a registered sex offender up here to back your story,” I said. “That already tells people everything they need to know about your word.”

Her face tightened. For a second, she looked like she might keep arguing. Then she switched angles. “You still cost us State.”

I opened my mouth, but Cassidy beat me to it.

“Jesus Christ, Naomi.” She pointed at her own heavily wrapped ankle. “My ankle is the size of a fucking softball because you tripped me. You’re the reason I didn’t finish, and you’re the reason we lost points. You cost us State.”

Naomi folded her arms, defensive. “You can’t prove anything.”

“Neither can you,” Cassidy shot back, voice sharp. “You dragged some creep from another state just to humiliate Harper, and you got caught lying about a mystery girl she supposedly put in the hospital. That’s all anyone’s going to remember.”

A murmur of agreement rippled through the crowd. Several people shifted, looking at Naomi differently.