Chapter 356 - The Source

Chapter 356: Chapter 356 - The Source

Angela’s seat was empty, and Roxie noticed it before anything else when she and Karen walked into the Chemistry Class. People started looking at them almost immediately, but nobody said anything, which somehow made it worse.

Days ago, everyone had still been celebrating their Nationals win. They had spent months working for it, hours training until their bodies hurt, and for a little while it had felt like the whole school finally saw what they had accomplished.

Now all of that was gone beneath Angela’s topless photo.

Roxie wanted to kill Bianca for it.

Two days ago, Roxie couldn’t walk ten feet without hearing somebody whisper Angela’s name or catching a phone turning toward them.

Now the hallways simply went quiet whenever she and Karen passed.

Principal Gonzalez had apparently made good on every threat she gave yesterday because teachers stood near classroom doors, phones disappeared whenever one of them walked by, and a boy near the lockers opened his mouth when Roxie passed before spotting a teacher ten feet away and immediately looking down.

The silence should have been better, but Roxie hated it anyway. Everyone still knew. Everyone still remembered the picture. They were simply smart enough to keep their mouths shut now.

Karen walked beside her wearing sunglasses again, and Roxie had already looked at her several times before Karen finally sighed. "Stop."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You keep staring at me."

"Because you’re wearing sunglasses inside school again."

Karen pressed two fingers against her temple. "My head still hurts."

Roxie slowed. "Still?"

"I slept like shit."

Roxie remembered the bottle at Angela’s house and how much Karen had drunk. Did she drink again?

Roxie let it go because her phone vibrated inside her pocket, and she pulled it out immediately when she saw Angela’s name.

I’m okay. Mom said I should stay home today.

Karen leaned toward the screen. "She answered?"

"Yeah."

"What did she say?"

Roxie turned the phone toward her. Karen read it and sighed before Roxie shoved it back into her pocket. "I hate when she says that."

Karen looked at her. "What?"

"I’m okay."

Karen’s mouth tightened slightly because Angela had been saying it for days. At first Roxie believed her because Angela smiled when she said it. Then she believed her because Angela had always been the one who bounced back quickly.

Now every time Angela said those two words, Roxie felt like there was something underneath them she couldn’t see.

Now, she knew why every time she said that, it made Karen and Angela more anxious for her.

"She’s with her parents," Karen said. "And Caleb."

Roxie nodded. Caleb had gone back to the Hart house after everything yesterday, and when Mr. and Mrs. Hart took Angela to the police station, he went with them despite Mrs. Reeves trying to drag him home.

Roxie had expected something to happen after that.

An arrest or police showing up at Bianca’s house. Anything that actually looked like a consequence. Instead, the police took Angela’s statement, Caleb’s statement, copies of the school’s findings and information from both phones before telling the Harts they needed time to verify everything.

Roxie hated that word almost as much as she hated investigation. "They better do something today."

Karen looked at her. "They probably won’t."

Roxie stopped walking. "Her fucking picture was on Bianca’s phone."

"It’s shitty. I know."

"What the hell else do they need?"

Karen pushed her sunglasses higher. "Something that proves Bianca was the one using it. That’s what the police told them."

"That’s bullshit."

"Probably."

"And Bianca gets to sit at home."

"She’s suspended."

"For a week."

Karen gave her a tired look. "I didn’t say it was enough."

Roxie started walking again before the anger made her say something loud enough to earn another trip to Principal Gonzalez’s office. A fucking week.

Angela couldn’t even sit inside a cafeteria without wondering which person staring at her had already seen her naked, while Bianca got to spend a week at home.

By lunch, Roxie was in an even worse mood. Angela’s usual chair at their table sat empty between her and Karen.

Roxie had looked at it several times without meaning to because she could almost hear Angela complaining about the cafeteria food or stealing fries from Karen’s tray before Karen smacked her hand away. Instead, Roxie pushed her food around with a fork while Karen slowly drank water like it was medicine.

"You look miserable," Roxie said.

"I am miserable."

"You want coffee?"

"I want everybody in here to stop chewing."

Roxie snorted. "You should stop first then. You’ve been chewing that shit all morning."

Karen lowered her sunglasses enough to glare at her while working another piece of gum between her teeth. "This is what keeps me going."

Roxie was about to tell her she was going to finish the entire pack before lunch ended when Karen’s expression changed. Roxie followed her gaze and saw Lily standing a few feet away, and whatever tiny bit of amusement she had left disappeared.

Lily usually carried herself differently when Bianca was around. Chin high, quick mouth, always ready to throw something back whenever Roxie or one of her friends said anything. Today she stood there alone with dark circles beneath her eyes, one hand gripping the strap of her bag while her foot tapped against the floor.

"Whatever she wants, I don’t care," Roxie muttered.

"She’s coming here."

"Wonderful."

Lily stopped beside their table. Karen slowly removed her sunglasses while Lily looked between them and asked, "Can I sit?"

"No," Roxie answered immediately.

Karen looked at her.

"What?"

Lily swallowed. "I just need to tell you something."

Roxie stared at her. "About Bianca?"

The hesitation on Lily’s face was enough for Karen to push the empty chair opposite them out with her foot. "Sit."

Lily lowered herself into it carefully and glanced around the cafeteria before putting both hands in her lap. Roxie noticed she kept rubbing one thumb over the other while her leg tapped underneath the table.

People were staring again, but nobody said anything. Ava and several of the other cheerleaders sitting farther down the same long table had gone suspiciously quiet, and Roxie could practically feel everyone waiting for her and Lily to start screaming at each other.

Lily noticed too. "People are staring."

Roxie gave a humorless laugh. "Welcome to our week."

Lily looked down while Karen folded her arms. "You said you needed to tell us something."

Several seconds passed before Lily finally spoke. "It’s about Angela."

Roxie’s whole body tightened. "What about her?"

"I didn’t help Bianca."

That was the first thing she came here to say?

Roxie glared at her hard enough that Lily shifted in her chair.

For one ugly second, Roxie wanted to reach across the table and pull her hair too because she sounded like she had walked over just to save herself before the blame reached her.

Roxie forced herself to stay seated because if Lily was this desperate to prove she was innocent, maybe she knew something useful.

"I didn’t know Bianca had Angela’s picture," Lily continued. "I didn’t know she was messaging her either. I swear."

Karen stayed calmer. "Then why are you here?"

Lily looked down at her hands. "Because I knew about something else."

Roxie stopped moving.

"The pictures of your mom."

Her fingers tightened around the fork before she carefully put it down. The cafeteria suddenly felt farther away while Karen looked at her, then back at Lily.

"What do you know?" Karen asked.

Lily lowered her voice. "Bianca had a contact."

Roxie stared at her. "Who?"

"A gardener."

For a second Roxie thought she had heard wrong. "A gardener?"

Lily nodded quickly. "I don’t know how Bianca found him or exactly what happened. All I knew was this gardener knew you and Zac somehow, and Bianca said he could get things about your mom."

Roxie leaned back and stared at her. A gardener who apparently knew her and Zac and somehow had Claire’s pictures sounded ridiculous. It sounded exactly like the kind of story Lily might invent after realizing everyone was starting to wonder how involved Bianca’s best friend had actually been.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Lily’s expression hardened. "Why would I lie?"

"To make yourself innocent."

Karen slammed her palm against the table hard enough to make Ava and the other cheerleaders jump. "That’s exactly what you’re doing. For all we know, you helped her with everything and now you’re scared because Bianca got caught."

Lily stared at her. "I didn’t do shit."

"Then why are you suddenly here?"

"Because everybody already thinks I did!" Lily’s voice rose enough to turn several more heads. She looked around the cafeteria and seemed to realize how many people were watching before turning back toward them. "Everyone’s avoiding me. People keep staring at me like I helped her. I didn’t fucking do anything."

Roxie smirked. "That’s what you get. Now you know part of how we feel."

"I didn’t do anything!"

Lily shoved her chair back and stood so quickly it scraped loudly against the floor. Tears had filled her eyes now, but she looked more furious than hurt. "Fine. If you don’t want to know, then fuck you both."

She turned away just as Roxie caught sight of Zac walking toward their table from across the cafeteria. Lily saw him too and froze for a second before stepping around the chair and starting to walk away.

Roxie watched her go while the gardener, Claire’s pictures and Lily’s strange story kept circling in her head. Maybe Lily was lying. Maybe she was trying to save herself. But if she wasn’t, Roxie was about to let the first real lead they had on what happened in the gym walk away because she was pissed.

"Wait."

Lily stopped and looked back.

Roxie stood carefully, ignoring the protest from her ankle. "What’s the gardener’s name?"

Lily’s eyes moved past her toward Zac, who was still approaching the table. Then she looked back at Roxie.

"Steve."