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Owen: If you think of it, she did take the fall for us ;)
Dylan: Fuck, you’re a twisted bastard.
Mason: That bitch made it too easy.
Dylan: She’d been too busy crying to get a sentence out.
Owen: Wouldn’t matter if she did. Everyone already knew it was her.
Mason: She’s lucky the cops called it an accident. Could’ve been way worse for her.
Dylan: Right, they didn’t even look at us. Should we fucking thank her? haha.
The sound that came out of me was so ugly that Thorne leaned forward to look at my face.
“Gwen?”
I shook my head. If I tried to speak, I was going to be sick.
They’d laughed about me crying. They’d watched me fall apart beside my dead friend and congratulated each other afterward.
For weeks, I’d barely noticed what anyone was saying about me. All I could think about was April being dead. When I went back to school, friends I’d known my whole life wanted nothing to do with me.
I’d been certain the police would sort it out. They would explain that I’d been inside the house, and everyone would understand. I’d be allowed to miss April without having to defend myself every time I said her name. But Owen was right. It hadn’t mattered what the report said. They’d already decided I was responsible.
Every whisper reminded me that she wouldn’t have been out there if I hadn’t dragged her along. I was disgusted with myself for caring about rumors when my best friend had just died, but I couldn’t stand knowing they believed I’d hurt her.
I kept my head down until graduation, pretending I couldn’t hear them talking about me. Then I got as far away as I could. Even after I left, I kept going over what I should have done differently.
My grip tightened on Ronan’s arm until my fingers hurt.
“Gwen. Look at me,” Ronan said.
I turned enough to see him. His expression was steady, but the muscle in his jaw kept jumping. “It wasn’t your fault.”
The truth of what happened was undeniable. Even the people at the back of the lawn could read it.
The relief came so suddenly I couldn’t catch my breath. I bent forward, tears dripping off my chin.
Owen shifted on his knees. The chain between his cuffs rattled.
Fire licked up my neck as I looked at the three of them kneeling on the ground. Suddenly, the damage to their faces wasn’t nearly enough.
“You found this?” I asked.
Ronan nodded. “Sorry it took so long.”
How long? How long had they been searching for what had hurt me? How long had they been protecting me before tonight?
This time, I wouldn’t have to try to make myself heard over Dylan. “Take the blindfolds off.”
Thorne’s mouth curved with satisfaction. He stepped away from me to pull the cloth from their eyes.
They blinked as their eyes adjusted to the bright light from the screens.
Ronan wore a wicked smile, gesturing to the people gathered below the stage, and said, “They all know what you did.”
They looked to the crowd gathered, then to the screens.
