White Lies (Book 1)

Chapter 24

 Chapter 24

School was weird the next day.

There had never been an instance in time when I would walk down these halls, and sit in these classroom chairs, that I hadn't been stared at. After my interview with Amber became a nationwide spectacle, everybody seemed to have started seeing me with a different set of eyes.

That wasn't to say that nobody had their suspicions. During English, while Ms. O'Connor had openly commended me for my outstanding bravery, for answering the call to honesty, Noah Lincoln had watched from the back of the room with his dark smile. Yet the entire student body was beginning the process of treating me less like a stray cat, and more like an individual.

And to top it all off, the strangest show of remorse came from Zoe Darren herself.

She seemed hesitant when approaching me in the bustle of the post-lunch corridor shuffle, and seemed a little embarrassed with herself. "Look, Griffin. For all it's worth, I'm glad you owned up to what happened that night. I'm sorry for all the shit we've done to you. None of us had any idea what you were going through." The words sounded painful coming from her lip-gloss coated mouth. I said nothing, electing to simply gawk in disbelief.

She just nodded, taking my silence as some sort of answer. "And I forgive you for breaking my face," she answered with a small laugh. Wow. The nose in question looked very much healed, albeit much slimmer and perkier than I remembered it being. Thank you, Dr. Surgery. "I kind of deserved it. I know that if I'd just witnessed my best friend murder someone, and you were giving me hell for it, I would've done a lot worse."

My mouth started to work again. I'd been so caught up in my own little world - lying to the media, trying to fix the fragile relationship between my mother and I - that I'd completely forgotten about Zoe. "It–it's fine. I understand," I stuttered.

I looked behind her to find almost the entire cheer team forming a female protective barrier. You almost never saw a cheer member by herself – she always seemed to have a herd of friends with her.

This time, they didn't seem scornful or unkind towards me. They seemed almost... forlorn.

What was happening to the world?

Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. The line of cheerleaders went as if to walk away, dissipating into the crowd. "Thanks, Griffin. I feel awful." Her expression turned into one of misery, similar to the faces of the people I'd watched at the memorial. It tugged at my heart. "I never imagined that Robbie would drive her to do that. I thought he loved her to death." Her eyes swam in unshed tears.

Feeling awkward, I simply patted her arm. "I know. I hadn't expected it either. You can't imagine how I felt that night," I lied, matching her tone.

She looked up at me, her hazel eyes shining with understanding. "It's still so raw for me. Thank God you were there, or else we never would have found out what happened..."

"I know," I agreed, while inwardly trying to unclog the guilt in my throat. It surprised me that Zoe was taking Jen's side, despite Jennifer being the one who 'shot' Robbie. Her remaining friends started rubbing her back, and began making cooing noises.

It was kind of comical, the way you couldn't really tell them all apart. Like a high school Kardashian motley crew.

Zoe sniffled into a satin handkerchief. "God, if there's anyone I could've ever suspected of hurting her, it would have been Noah," she confessed, her pretty face scrunching up with dislike. "Not that I'd ever tell the cops – I'm not a rat. You should've seen what happened at his party that night."