Masquerade of Lies (10 page)

“What’s up?”

Claire tried pulling me in the pool, but Mark wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me back. Josh stared at us for a moment. Then he brought his attention back to Claire.

“You’re drunk! Like usual!” he yelled.

“Duh! It’s a party!”

“Get out of there! You’re embarrassing yourself!”

“The only one who’s embarrassing themself is you!” 

Josh jumped in the pool fully clothed, took Claire by the arm, and led her out of the water. As she stumbled around the pool with Josh holding her up, goosebumps popped up all over her body. He sat her down at the edge of the pool and knelt down next to her. I saw Claire’s smock and shoes strewn under a lounge chair beside a folded towel, so I scooped them up and dashed over to her.

“Here you go,” I muttered.

“Thanks, new girl,” she said in a drunken manner as she yanked it from my hand. I forced a smile.

Josh wrapped the towel around her, and they sat down on the wet concrete. He helped Claire put on her dress and shoes, then they carefully stood up and shuffled towards the house. The music was still pounding strong. Katie came back clutching her phone; she was alone. The sound of splashing water echoed across the patio.

“Where’s Jessica?”

“I don’t know,” she said as she brushed some hair away from her face. “I looked everywhere and asked around, but nobody’s seen her. I sent her, like, a zillion texts, but nothing. She probably left with that guy.” She smirked and rolled her eyes.

“Jes-sica’s get-ting lu-cky,” Claire sing-songed, snorting as she laughed. She couldn’t stand up straight.

Josh was trying to hold her up, but he was struggling, so Mark decided to help him. “Let’s get out of here,” he bellowed.

As we headed inside the house, the smell of weed invaded my nose. We combed through the crowd and finally reached the front door, running into Angela on the way out. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were droopy. Her legs appeared wobbly.

“W-where are you guys g-going? Leaving already?” she stammered.

“Nice party, Angela!” yelled Katie. “If you see Jessica, please tell her we had to take Claire home.”

“Mmmhmm. Sure.” She leaned in the doorway. “Bye, guys!”

Empty beer bottles and plastic cups were scattered across the perfectly trimmed grass as we made our way to Claire’s car. Once it was in view, Josh unlocked it with the keyless entry remote.
Beep.
Mark helped Josh put Claire in the back seat. Then he turned to me.

“You still owe me a dance.”

“Rain check?” He smiled, then gently touched my face before he leaned in and kissed me on the lips.

“Sure.” Josh stood there staring.
Awkward.
Mark walked back to the house party as we all got into the car. Katie sat in the front, which was usually reserved for Jessica. I climbed in the back beside Claire. Josh then jumped in the driver’s seat, making a crumpling sound. The car growled to life, and he hit the gas.

When we got to Katie’s house, we dropped her off and watched her go inside. I then moved to the front with Josh while Claire remained passed out in the back. He started the car once more, and off we went.

“So, did you have a good time?” he asked.

“It was okay. Are Angela’s parties always like that?”

“Yeah, her parties can get pretty intense.”

Tell me about it.
“Does Claire always get this drunk?”

“Yeah, she likes her alcohol,” he said with a smirk.

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Yeah, sometimes, but I’ve learned to deal with it. I know she can be impossible sometimes, but she can be a nice person when she wants to be. When my parents split up, she was there for me, you know?”

“I understand,” I muttered.

Josh steered into Claire’s circular driveway and shifted the car into park, then cut the engine and pulled the keys out of the ignition. We both got out of the car, and he pulled the front seat forward. He lifted Claire out of the car, placed her arm around his shoulders, and walked her to the front door. I followed closely behind them.

“Look under the mat,” he instructed me. I knelt down and lifted up the mat to find a silver key.

“Okay. Now I need you to open the door.” 

I did. Once inside, we headed straight upstairs to Claire’s room. Josh put her on the bed and rolled her on her side.

“Claire? Is that you?” a woman’s voice called from down the hall.

The sound of slippers scraping against the hardwood floors grew closer. Suddenly, a young looking woman wearing a white terry cloth robe appeared in the doorway. She had shoulder length honey blonde hair and deep-set, striking blue eyes. Her skin was smooth.

“Young man. If you insist on bringing my daughter home at this godawful hour, can you at least keep it down?” 

“Sorry, Mrs. Miller,” Josh replied.

It seemed like Claire’s mother couldn’t be bothered with her. She looked at me, then Josh again before disappearing down the dark hallway. I bit my lip.

Claire began to mumble something, and she was slurring her words. Josh and I looked at each other, then he leaned towards her.

“Ssh…sleep if off, babe,” he whispered.

Claire touched Josh’s face. “Please don’t be mad at me…please don’t be mad at me.” She kept saying that over and over.

Josh grinned and gently moved her hand away from his face. “Why would I be mad at you?”

“Because I kissed Chad McCowen, and I liked it.”

I widened my eyes as my mouth dropped. Claire kissed Chad McCowen! That was why she blushed when she saw him. That was probably what Katie and Jessica were hiding!

Josh slowly shook his head from side to side and squeezed his eyebrows together, his lips making a straight line. He then stormed out of the room, ran down the stairs, and bolted outside. I was right behind him.

“Josh, wait!” I yelled after him once we were outside.

He stopped and turned around. “Did you know about her and Chad?”

“Of course not! I mean, I had a feeling she was hiding something, but I didn’t know what. I swear!” 

I wasn’t sure if I felt bad for Josh or was glad about the possibility he might break up with Claire.

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home,” he said.

An awkward silence filled in the car. Josh didn’t make any eye contact with me while he drove, and he gripped the steering wheel tight.

“Make a left at the next street,” I said, pointing. “I’m sorry Claire did this to you, Josh, and I’m sorry you had to find out this way.” 

He didn’t respond, nor did he take his eyes off the road. When we reached my house, he sat quietly for a moment.

I clutched the door handle, then said, “Well, goodnight.”

As I was getting out of the car, he grabbed my wrist and said, “Wait.” The lines on his forehead disappeared, and his posture became soft and inviting. “This isn’t your fault. I was angry, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay,” I muttered.

He slowly let go of my wrist, and I got out of the car and closed the door. He waited until I got inside the house before driving off. Once inside, I tiptoed to the living room and found my mom and Hank still sleeping on the couch.
Score
. I looked at the time on the microwave: 2:30AM.

As I crept towards the stairs with Claire’s Gucci heels in my hand, I suddenly saw an image traced in the blinds...somebody was lurking outside my house.

CHAPTER NINE—WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

I didn’t sleep very well last night. I went to bed gripping my covers in fear, and I woke up that morning feeling anxious about somebody sneaking around outside of my house in the middle of the night.

As I pushed the covers off me and slid out of bed, the sweet smell of waffles and maple syrup comforted me. I sprinted towards the kitchen, where I found my mom and Hank making breakfast together, the way my mom and dad used to.

“Good morning, honey!”

“Good morning, Mom. Hank.” 

My mother walked over to me and rubbed my back. “I’m sorry you had to miss the party, Hanna, but it was for your own good.”

“That’s okay, Mom.” 

“Are you okay? You look a little pale.”

“Yeah, I’m fine…just a little tired,” I said. “So what did you guys do last night?”

“Not much. Slept like a baby.” 

I turned away and smiled, then popped a waffle in my mouth and ran to my room. My phone started buzzing; it was a hysterical text from Claire. She needed to talk to me, so she was picking me up in an hour to go for coffee.

I was putting on my lip gloss when I heard Claire honking her horn outside. I grabbed my purse and ran towards the front door.

“Bye, Mom!” I yelled as I stormed outside, closing the door behind me.

When I got into Claire’s car, she handed me a Starbucks vanilla latte and reversed out of my driveway. She was wearing her Gucci sunglasses, and she appeared to be hungover. She accelerated and began ranting on about her and Josh.

I’ll take the vanilla latte, but hold the drama, please.

“Thanks for coming out with me. I couldn’t get a hold of Jessica, and Katie was busy doing something for her mom.”

“No problem. Thanks for the coffee,” I joked.

“Josh broke up with me because he found out I kissed Chad.”

“Wait, you haven’t heard from Jessica yet?”

“Focus, Hanna! We’re talking about me now!”

“Right. Sorry. Chad. That guy from last night?”

“Yes!”

She shot me a look and wiped the grime away from her face with her hand. The roof of her car was down, and the wind whirled around her streaked hair.

“You kissed him?” I had to act surprised. If Claire found out I already knew and didn’t warn her, she’d decimate me.

“It was just a kiss! It didn’t mean anything. I love Josh!” she shrieked. 

“How did he find out?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. He just said he knew and it doesn’t matter how he found out.”

“Oh.” I looked away and took a sip of my latte.

“When I find the person responsible for this, they’ll wish they were dead.” She wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips. “Guys don’t break up with me; I break up with them.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s Saturday. I’m sure there’ll be newer gossip by Monday,” I tried to console her.

“I have
the
biggest headache right now. I don’t even remember how I got home last night.”

She rested her elbow on the car door and leaned her head against her hand. She continued to drive with the other hand, occasionally glancing at her mirrors.

“Oh…well, Josh and I drove you home,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed at me suspiciously. “Oh,” she said as she pushed her foot on the gas. “What did you two do after you dropped me off?”

“Nothing! He drove me home; that’s it.”

“And he didn’t say anything to you about Chad or breaking up with me?”

“No, nothing.” 

My heart throbbed in my chest. Inside I was shaking, but I couldn’t let her see me sweat.

“Okay,” she said as she took a swig of her coffee.

***

When we got to school Monday morning, everybody was whispering and staring at Claire; boy, news travels fast in this school.

As Chad passed us in the hall, Claire grabbed his arm and muttered, “We need to talk!” 

After Claire stormed off, I spied Stephanie on her laptop in the quad. I walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey, Stephanie.”

“Hi, Hanna. Hey, I heard Claire and Josh broke up because she kissed Chad. Bummer,” she said, grinning.

I sat down next to her. “Yeah, you look really shook up,” I said facetiously.

“Hey, are you going to Brooke’s funeral? It’s this weekend.”

“I’d like to, but wouldn’t it be weird if I did? People think I had something to do with her murder.”

“Who cares what people think?” Stephanie said. “You know you didn’t do it, and I believe you didn’t do it. You and Brooke were friends, so you should go and pay your respects.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“So, how was the party Friday night?” 

“It was pretty wild. How come you weren’t there?”

“I don’t go to those parties. It’s not really my thing.”

“Oh. Well, you’re lucky you didn’t go.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Some guy tried to rape me in the bathroom.” Stephanie’s mouth fell open. “It’s okay, though. Mark got there in time and saved me from that jerk.” 

She looked relieved. “So you’re okay?”

“Yeah. I mean, I was a little rattled, but I’m all right now.”

“Who was this guy, anyway?”

“All I know is his name is Zack. He said he was a senior.”

“Ohmigod! Does he go to our school?”

“I don’t know. I hope not,” I said, raising my eyebrows.

“Anyway, enough about A-hole,” Stephanie said with a giggle. “I was thinking maybe we can hang out tonight.” 

I was about to answer her when I saw Jessica charging through the hall. Her hair was a little unkempt, and she looked flustered.

“Uh, sure. We can hang at my house if you want.” I glanced at her, then back at the hall, but Jessica was gone.

“Cool.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you at my locker after school,” I said.

I took off to try to catch up with Jessica. As I sprinted down the hall, I accidentally nudged a petite girl wearing glasses into a set of lockers. I went as far as the mathematics wing, but she was nowhere to be seen. The first bell rang, so students scurried to their classes. The rattling of latches and lockers slamming shut murmured throughout the hall.

During English, I kept staring at Brooke’s empty desk. Who would want to kill her? I then remembered that Brooke wanted to tell me something in private. What if somebody knew what she was going to tell me and wanted to shut her up? My mind started racing. I had to find out who killed Brooke, and why. 

Suddenly, the principal’s voice blared through the school’s PA system to announce the candidates for homecoming queen, and to my surprise, I was one of them! “Congrats Hanna!” shouted Kathleen Ward, who sat in the desk next to me.

“Thanks!” Josh turned around and gave me a thumbs up. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. I wasn’t expecting to be nominated. I hoped Claire wasn’t mad at me.

I was working on the worksheet Mr. Harding had assigned to the class when the principal’s voice boomed from the speakers again, demanding Josh to come to the office.

“Uh oh…I guess I’m in trouble,” joked Josh.

The class laughed as he stood up, gathered his books, and left.

During lunch, I went to the computer lab. I found an unoccupied computer and logged in with my student number and password. I then logged on to Twitter and clicked on Brooke’s page. I looked through her tweets and found one that was posted on September 22nd. It said:
What a jerk!

. Who was she talking about? A possible boyfriend?

I kept reading through her tweets, and one on September 25th hit me in the face because that was the day she died and it was posted about two hours before we planned to meet. It said:
Looking forward to the Art Exhibit and Competition at Colonel Park this weekend!
I have a chance to win a scholarship!
I didn’t know she was an artist. I guess there was a lot I didn’t know about her.

Another tweet posted the day Brooke died made my blood run cold. It said:
I’ve made my decision and I’m sticking to it!
What was she talking about? I decided to log on to Facebook and look at her Facebook page. As I scanned through her friends, one guy caught my attention because he’d posted on Brooke’s wall several times; he’d made several nice comments about her, and he’d tagged her in a lot of pictures. His name was Scott Harrison, and he went to Mohawk Centennial High School. I needed to find this guy and talk to him.

I logged off the computer and scurried out of the lab. I needed a ride to Mohawk Centennial High School, but I didn’t want to ask Claire, so I decided to ask Stephanie. I sprinted through the hallway, almost knocking over a teacher carrying a handful of supplies. By the time I reached the cafeteria, I was out of breath. I stood in the doorway and was scanning the room when I spotted Claire. She was sitting at a round table with Katie and a bunch of people I didn’t know. She had mascara running down her cheeks, and her long eyelashes were wet from her tears. I watched as all her friends bowed to her, like she was their queen on a throne.

A girl in a pink button down sweater carrying a tray of food walked by with a group of girls, and I overheard her talking about Josh. “Maybe Josh was cheating on Claire with Brooke!” she blurted.

A male voice from behind me said, “I bet he was bangin’ her.” 

The thought of that sent a shiver up my spine.

I didn’t see Stephanie, so I turned around and bumped into Mark. “Hey, you.”

“Heyyy.”

“Congratulations on being nominated for homecoming queen.”

I tossed some hair over my shoulder. “Thanks.”

”You’ll definitely get my vote.” He leaned in the doorway. “Speaking of homecoming, would you like to go with me?” He smelled like sweet cologne. I thought about it for a second. Mark is cute and available, so why not?

“Sure.”

“Great,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

“Well, I gotta go, but we’ll talk later.”

“Cool.”

I ran towards the writing center. As I darted past the music wing, I almost knocked over a guy carrying a guitar.

“Hey, watch it!” he shouted.

I whizzed past a big poster that said KEEP CALM AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK when suddenly I thudded into somebody and their bag hit the floor. It was Jessica. I almost didn’t recognize her. She was wearing black track pants and a black
Hello Kitty
T-shirt. Her hair was scraggly, and she wasn’t wearing any make-up. Her face was pale, and dark circles were under her eyes. 

“Where’s the fire?” she said sarcastically as she knelt down and started throwing things back in her purse. She caught me staring at her. “What are you looking at?”

“Jessica? What happened to you? Where have you been?”

“What’s it to you?” she snapped.

I went down on the floor and helped her pick up her stuff as people walked all around us. All of a sudden, an orange medication bottle caught my eye. I picked it up and noticed it was prescribed to her mother. She abruptly grabbed it out of my hand.

“What are those for?” I asked.

“Mind your own business!” she hissed.

I watched as she stormed off, clasping her bag to her chest. I turned around to go to the writing center when I spotted Stephanie coming out of the girls’ bathroom. I darted towards her.

“Stephanie!”

“Hey! What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you could give me a ride somewhere.”

“Okay, you really need to get a car,” she said with a wry smile.

“I know, right? Try telling that to my mother.”

“So where do you need to go?”

“Mohawk Centennial High School.”

“What for?” 

I gently took her arm and pulled her aside. “I’m looking for somebody. His name is Scott Harrison, and he goes to that school,” I whispered.

“Why are you looking for him?”

“Whoever killed Brooke is still walking amongst us. Who knows, he could even go to this school,” I said as I cast a wary glance around me.

“How do you know it was a guy?”

“What?”

“You said
he
, but it could be a
she
.”

“Whatever. So, can I get a ride or not?”

She bit her bottom lip. “Fine.”

“Cool, thanks. Let’s go.”

“Wait, now? What about class?”

“I think this is more important right now. Come on.” 

I took her hand and pulled her along. The second bell chimed as we dashed out the student parking doors. She led me to a silver Honda Civic four door. She opened her car door, got in, then unlocked my side. Her car smelt like strawberries; she had one of those car fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror.

“Strawberries. Nice touch,” I said.