Murder Mystery | Herophine story

Chapter Twenty Two

Josephine

Monday, October 22nd 8:45 am

Police cars line the front of Oakwood Academy again. And Samuel's stumbling through the hall like he hasn't slept in days. It doesn't occur to me the two might be related until he pulls me aside before the first bell. "Can we talk?"

I peer at him more closely, unease gnawing at my stomach. I've never seen Sam's eyes look bloodshot before. "Yeah, sure." I think he means here in the hallway, but to my surprise he leads me out the back staircase next to the door. Which means I'll be late for homeroom, I guess, but my attendance record has taken a hit since I started hanging out with Hero. "What's up?"

Samuel runs a hand through his hair until it sticks straight up, which is not a thing I ever imagined Sam's hair could do until now. "I think the police hate me because of  . . . well me. I want to tell somebody before this all blows up." 

"Okay." I put a hand on his forearm, and tense in surprise when I feel it shaking. "Sam, what's wrong?"

"So they thing is . . ." He pauses, swallowing hard.

He looks like he's about to confess something. For a second Dylan flashes through my mind: his collapse in detention and his red, gasping face as he struggled to breathe. I can't help but flinch. Then I meet Sam's eyes- filmy with tears, but as kind as ever- and I know that can't be it. "The thing is what, Sam? It's alright. You can tell me." 

Sam stares at me, taking in the whole picture- messy hair that's spiking oddly because I didn't take the time to blow-dry it, so-so skin from all the stress, faded flannel shirt- before he replies, "I'm gay."

"Oh." I feel like I already knew this but here we are. The whole not-into-Jess thing suddenly makes sense. It seems like I should say more than that, so I add, "Cool." Inadequate response, I guess, but sincere. Because Sam's pretty great anyway so this doesn't make a difference. 

"Dylan found out I was seeing someone. A guy. He was gonna post about it on Dylan's News with everyone else's entries. It got switched out and replaced with a fake entry about me using steroids. I didn't switch it," he adds hastily. "But they think I did. So they're looking into me hard-core now, which means the whole school will know pretty soon. I guess I just . . . wanted to tell someone myself." 

"Sam, no one will care-" I start but he shakes his head.

"They will. You know they will," he says. I drop my eyes, because I can't deny it. "I've been hiding my head under a rock this whole investigation," he continues, his voice hoarse. "I mean there's no real proof of anything. But I keep thinking about what your sister said about Dylan the other day- how weird stuff was going on around him. You think there's anything to that?" 

"I do," I say. "I think the four of us should get together and compare notes. I think Hero would." Sam nods distractedly, and it occurs to me that since he's still in Matt's bubble most of the time, he's not fully up to sleep on everything that's been going on.

Sam pales suddenly, "Did you hear about Hero's mom, by the way? How she's, um, not dead at all?"

"Oh yeah, I was there."

Sam pales further, "It seems crazy, what happened?"

I kind of don't want to discuss this with Sam without Hero here, but I figure that everyone already knows and I want to be completely open with everyone. "Kind of long story, but-yeah. Turns out she was a drug addict living in some kind of commune, but she's back now. And sober. Oh, and I also got called into the station because of a creepy post Dylan wrote about me sophomore year. I told him to drop dead in the comments, so . . . you know. That kind of looks bad now."