L E G A C Y / / Percabeth's kids fic

.: chapter 23 :.

Mason Cooper

This was a lot more serious than I thought. So serious I had to call a meeting. Lincoln, Amelia, Lizzie, and Finn. I only invited Finn because after talking to him more we both agreed that Andrew was not right for Charlie and we had to end the hold he seemed to have over the school.

"Mason why are we here?" Lizzie looked nervous almost, she was very fidgety.

"Because I think this is the only time we can really talk." I crossed my arms and sat down on my desk chair.

"Is this about..." Amelia started.

"It is. And I have proof this time."

"I think you need to let this go man." Lincoln stood up, ready to leave.

"Andrew was the one who blew up the twins birthday party." I blurted out.

No one said anything.

"That's a very serious accusation." Finn mumbled.

"Yeah, how can you say that?" Amelia squirmed uncomfortably on my bed. "The police don't even know what happened."

"I was there." I argued. "Everyone else ran away, but Charlie and her friends stayed, I followed them and they were calling for Andrew. They thought he did it."

"Were you there the entire time?"Finn asked.

"Well, no, but I saw and heard enough."

"How can you be sure then?" Lincoln cocked an eyebrow.

"They thought it was him themselves." I spread my arms out. "I heard them say it. They couldn't find him and they thought he had done it."

"I don't think that's what happened."  Lizzie mumbled.

"Oh yeah, and why do you think that?" I argued.

"Because I was there too." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, not making eye contact with anyone.

"What? No you weren't I would've seen you."

"I was though. I was so scared I couldn't move, I just hid under one of the tables. I saw you there. Charlie saw you and told you to go and you ran away."

"I-" That is what happened. Was Lizzie really there? Did she see what I did?

"What did you see?" Lincoln asked. "Is Mason telling the truth."

She shrugged and looked up to meet Lincoln's eyes. "I don't know what I saw. There was a lot of fire, sand was everywhere, and there was smoke... so much smoke." She looked close to tears. Now I knew something was up. Lizzie had seen something and she wasn't talling us.

Lincoln sat next to her on my gaming couch. He put an arm around her. "It's okay." He said soothingly.

"It's not!" She yelled, frustrated.

"Lizzie, it's okay. You can tell us what you saw." I tried to sound gentle.

"I- you won't believe me." she stood up and threw her hands down.

"Was it Andrew?" I asked.

She looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "It- no I- argh! I can't! I need to go." She grabbed her purse off the couch and left the room.

"I'll go after her." Lincoln stood up.

"No, stay." I urged. "I still need to talk to you guys."

Lincoln looked back at the door longingly, but reluctantly sat back down.

"Guys, he's a criminal." I started.

Finn's mouth gaped. "Really?"

I nodded. I turned my chair around and grabbed my computer from the table. I pulled up the article I wrote and passed the laptop to Finn. He read silently for a couple of minutes then handed the laptop back to me.

"How can Charlie be with him? I mean she's not perfect, but why would she be dating him?"

"Either she doesn't know, or he has her against her will." I spit out my theories. "If she does know, she probably doesn't even like him. I bet he either has something over her, or he's hurting her."

"But what about Ethan?" Lincoln asked. "They're best friends."

I shrugged. "It makes the most sense that they don't know."

"Mason... this is all really hard to believe. I mean Andrew is a really cool guy and Charlie seems totally head over heels for him." Amelia's opinion wavered.

"Look at the evidence Amelia!" I yelled. "Did all those newspapers just lie about those stories then?"

"I don't know?" She threw her hands up. "Maybe they misunderstood what happened. Journalists tend to twist things."

"There are too many articles online to ignore this. What he and his mom did actually happened, and they're both living with her at her house. Something is seriously wrong here and we need to figure it out."

"What are we supposed to do?" Lincoln asked. "I feel like I'm betraying Ethan by trying to get rid of one of his best friends."

"You don't need to feel guilty about trying to send away a criminal, Lincoln." I scolded. "When Ethan knows the truth about him, he'll thank you."

Lincoln shook his head. "I need to go think this over." He got up and left the room.

"What about you guys?" I turned to the other two.

"I'm with you." Finn said. I knew he only agreed because of his love for Charlie, but once we get rid of Andrew, Charlie will be mine, not his.

Amelia shut her eyes tight, like she was thinking. "Fine. I'll help you."

A smile cracked over my lips. "Perfect."

"What are we going to do?" Finn asked.

"The article will be published in the school paper on Monday. By then everyone at school will have time to read it before they get back. On Tuesday, I'll corner Charlie and show her the article, but I won't tell her I wrote it. If Andrew isn't expelled because of it, soccer tryouts are on the day that they get back. He said he was going to be there so we're going to make it hell for him."

"And what then?" Amelia asked.

"Andrew and his mom will be forced to move and the Jackson's will be free of them."

Amelia grimaced. "That sounds like a stretch. How do you know they'll leave? And what if the Jackson's already know?" A realization set over her face. "What if they know and they're okay with it?"

I shook my head. "I thought the same thing at first, but no, I don't think they could be. Well at least not Charlie and her siblings. I don't know about her parents."

"Why's that?" Finn asked. "I met Mr. Jackson once, he was a really cool dude."

I paused. Should I share my suspicions? I guess I have to now, after the comment I made.

"Charlie told me once that all of her siblings are named after people her parents used to know, you know to honor them, 'cause the people were their close friends or something."

"Wait so like, the people are dead that they're named after?" Amelia asked to clarify.

I nodded. "I would assume so. Anyways, when I asked Mrs. Jackson what she wanted to name her baby, she said she liked Jason for a boy."

"Jason, like..." Finn started to realize.

I nodded. "Like Andrew's dad. He went missing and was presumed dead."

"So you think Charlie's parents know what happened to him?"

I nodded. "Either that or they helped Andrew's mom to kill him or something. Because they definitely knew him. It makes sense."

"Damn," Finn mumbled, "there's a lot going on here."

"I know right." I sighed. "I thought I knew their family, but I guess you never really know what happens behind closed doors."

"So do we confront Charlie about this?" Amelia asked.

I smiled. It was time to put my real plan into action."I have a better idea..."

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I just got back from vacation so there will be more updates soon.

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