Page 28

CHAPTER 28

ARIELLA

C lick. Click. Click. Each photo from the party blurred into the next as I hunched in a dark corner of the library. Three days of searching, and still no sign of Kacie in any of them. Still no clue as to what really happened that night. The lights hummed overhead, a sound that had become the soundtrack to my obsession.

I pulled my feet into the chair, wrapping my arm around my legs. I hit the enter button over and over, flipping through all the pictures from the party the night Kacie died, but nothing stood out.

It had been three days since Zaiden publicly humiliated me, and I hadn't seen him since I ran out of the party with mascara streaked down my cheeks, more determined than ever to prove I had nothing to do with Kacie's death. I'd spent every day since I left that party flipping through pictures, looking for anything that might explain what actually happened, but so far, nothing.

A shadow fell across my screen. I flinched, expecting another whispered accusation from a passing student, but it was Journey's concerned face peering down at me. Mila hovered behind her, scanning the library like a lookout. "We've been looking everywhere for you," Journey whispered.

I shrank deeper into my seat, feeling the familiar tightness in my throat, the one that came whenever someone pitied me. "You shouldn't be here." The words came out rough, sandpaper-raw. "Being seen with me is?—"

"Social suicide?" Mila cut in. Her bag hit the table with a thud that made me flinch. Not from the noise but from the fierce loyalty behind it. "Yeah, we don't give a fuck, and I can't believe you think we would."

"If you need a few days to recover from whatever the fuck that was the other night," she shrugged, "fine but don't ghost us. We're still your friends."

"Plus, we know there had to be a good reason you did it." They both raised questioning eyebrows. "So if you want to talk about it?—"

"If I didn't do it, he was going to make the videos of all of us with Coach go viral."

"Oh," Journey's eyes went wide. "Not a good time for that, considering he's a town hero right now."

"Yeah," I muttered as my gaze dropped back to the computer, and I hit the enter button again.

"What are you doing?" Journey asked, pulling out a chair and sliding in before setting her laptop on the table in front of her.

"Flipping through those pictures Cody sent me," I shook my head, "but there's nothing. I haven't seen Kacie in any of them."

"Well," Mila smirked. "We've been calling and texting because we think we might have found something."

"What?" I dropped my feet to the ground as my spine stiffened.

"We figured what happened the other night had something to do with this whole revenge thing because of Kacie. So, we decided to go back through everyone's social media posts the night of the party. There were thousands of photos, by the way."

"Okay, but what did you find?"

"This." Journey's laptop screen cast a sickly blue glow across the table.

At first, my tired brain registered only the surface details: another party selfie, another grinning classmate smiling for the camera. Just one more dead end in an endless search.

Then I saw it.

In the shadowy background, half-hidden by a red Solo cup, Kacie's face was frozen. I knew exactly what she was looking at, even before my eyes tracked her sightline across the frame.

Me–

And Zaiden.

"Oh my God." The words escaped in a whisper as my hand flew to my mouth. "She saw us that night."

The truth crashed over me. She hadn't disappeared; she'd run. Run because her best friend had betrayed her, or that was what she thought she'd seen that night.

"So it was your fault?" Mila's brows twisted, her voice sharp with accusation.

"No." The word came out hard, certain. I slammed my laptop shut, the crack of plastic on plastic echoing through the library's quiet. "It was Zaiden's."

My hands shook as I reached across the table, but I forced them steady enough to screenshot the photo. One-click to email it to myself. Evidence.

"I didn't kiss him." The words tumbled out now, urgent and raw. "He kissed me. I told him no, I wasn't going to do it behind Kacie's back." My voice cracked. "But he kissed me anyway."

"Wait?" Journey frowned. "So you and Zaiden were dating?"

"No, but—" The memory of stolen glances and almost-touches burned in my throat. I swallowed hard. "We both liked each other, and we wanted to."

My fingers traced unconscious patterns on the table's surface, mapping out the maze of good intentions and bad choices that had led us here. "I told him I was going to talk to Kacie and do things right, but he said no."

The bitter laugh that escaped surprised even me. "He said he wanted to tell her himself. Another lie to add to the collection." My nails dug into the wooden table. "Instead, he kept pushing. Testing limits. Playing games."

"When I finally stood up to him, I told him I wasn't going to sneak around behind Kacie's back. I tried to walk away." The memory rolled through me like thunder. "But he grabbed me. Pulled me back. Kissed me, and I kissed him back."

"Woah," Journey said. "So he's been blaming you this whole time, and it's actually been his fault?" She shook her head slowly. "He's not going to take that news well."

"I don't care how he takes it," I snarled, pushing out of my chair. "I need to go find him and put an end to this nightmare."

"Actually," Mila said. "There's more." My brows pulled together, and she nodded to the chair, signaling I should sit back down for this. "The night of Kacie's accident, my brother was doing a ride-along with the officer who was first on the scene. I knew this, but it never dawned on me until this morning to ask him what happened that night. Well, I didn't want to know details about how she died, but—" She paused briefly, adjusting in her seat. "But I thought maybe he could tell us if she was drunk or not."

"And?"

"And he said—" Mila's voice wavered, and something in her tone made my skin prickle. "She was alive when they arrived."

The world tilted sideways. My chest tightened until each heartbeat felt like it might crack my ribs. Kacie, alive. Conscious. Speaking. Every word bringing us back to the moment I found out my best friend was gone.

"He said she told them she wasn't drinking."

"Well, that matches Cody's story," I managed, though my tongue felt numb and clumsy with the weight of the implications.

Mila's fingers fidgeted in front of her. "She told them her brakes quit working."

The words hit like ice water.

"Failed?" My mind raced back to the official story, the one everyone knew. "But the police report?—"

"Said she was drunk." Mila leaned forward, her chair creaking under the shift of weight.

A pause.

"Except," Mila's voice dropped so low I had to lean in to hear, "my brother swears she was sober when they found her."

The implications hit me one by one, each realization a fresh shock.

The official report twisted it into a lie.

My fingers dug into the edge of the table. "Someone," I said slowly, tasting each word, "wanted everyone to think this was just another drunk driving accident."

The truth of it settled over our little group. There was some reason that the officer wanted everyone to think Kacie was drinking and driving that night. But what?

My chair scraped against the floor as I stood. I finally had my answer. I knew what Kacie had seen that night that made her run, but now there were even more unanswered questions. "First," I pushed back out of my chair. "I'm going to deal with Zaiden, and then I'm going to find out what really went down that night."