White Lies (Book 1)

Chapter 24

That piqued my interest. "What happened?" I asked.

One of the cheerleaders answered for her. Her brown eyes widened, momentarily forgetting that her friend was in tears. "Noah was trying to get Jen to try coke, and—"

"Wait, so that wasn't just a rumor?" I asked, curiosity spiking to unsafe levels.

She shook her bleached head excitedly. "No, not at all. It happened. It was a wonder the cops didn't bust. Jen left Robbie alone for a while to go hash out some old beef with Noah, and when he came to find her, she was covered in the stuff. It was even in her hair!"

"Oh my God," I breathed, a hundred light bulbs going off at once. My mind reeled. I knew it. Something had happened at that party... something which involved Jen and Robbie, and now Noah. The altercation between the quarreling couple, the source of their conflict.

An important missing piece of the puzzle.

Angelica, Peter, and the rest of their small circle were still undergoing their independent investigation, trying to find anything that could even be remotely linked to Angelica's son. I kept in touch with them only as often as was necessary, discussing my news interview and formulating the next plan of action. Peter warned us to keep an eye on Noah – meanwhile, he would do the rest of the digging on his end.

As for the here and now, I had to know about that party.

Something wasn't quite making sense – a piece of the mystery was staring me right in the face, yet I couldn't quite make much sense of it yet. The more I tried to reach towards it, the more it faded away. This was getting frustrating. I had to find out what happened to Jenny at Noah's place that night.

But how?

Perhaps Nathan might know.

I found Nathan at his usual lunchtime spot, loafing outside amidst the fountain steps and basking in the sunshine. I snuck up behind him and grabbed hold of his arm. He seemed surprised that I had gone out of my way to look for him – usually it was always the other way around.

I took the spot beside him and closed the distance between us, moving close enough to prevent my mouth from being lip-read. Speaking in a low tone. "I need you." This was my sorry attempt at discretion – and it gathered some startled looks from passersby.

"Words I've been dying to hear," he beamed, holding onto the edges of my denim jacket and bringing me closer still.

I chose to be the better person and ignored him. "No, I'm serious. Do you know anything about Noah's party, on the night Jen and Rob went missing?"

His lazy, distracted look vanished. His eyes turned wary. "I might."

"Nate!" I groaned. "Now isn't the time to be cryptic. I need a straight answer."

"No, no," he shook his head ruefully, "You've already asked me for an honest answer – which I've still yet to give you, by the way." He then studied me very carefully for a few seconds, before deciding to give in. I couldn't understand his reluctance.

He took hold of my hand, taking one final bite out of his finished apple before discarding the core in a nearby trash can. It was still hot news that Nathan and me were 'dating'. And as we made our way through the school's labyrinth and into the main building, I suspected that the staring wouldn't be relenting any time soon. "Let's go. We need to speak to somebody."

"Who?" I asked.

"Somebody."

I'd never been to the storage room in the building directly opposite the gym entrance. The school had enough money to set up its own hobby gaming room – for the express use of those who had earned gaming privileges through good school behavior. The school recognized gaming as a valid way for students to spend their spare time – just as the parents of their rich students recognized that financially funding the school was a valid way to spend their money. The AV club regularly used it as some form of virtual reality playground, littered with a variety of after-school video and board game paraphernalia that I couldn't quite wrap my head around. To them, this was their prized, sacred ground.