Greenwood Bay

5 | The Long Hangover

Dakota strained to hear. Wasn't that..?

"Oh, please, Matthew! Give me a break! The truth is embarrassing enough for me,"

"For you?" Matthew's voice thundered. "How the fuck is this about you? If that gets out, the whole school is gonna think I was screwing the best friend while Samantha... while Samantha..."

"Better a best-friend fucker than a murderer," she retorted

The voices were coming from behind Dakota on her right, and she slowly craned her neck. Behind the bush, she could just make out two figures down the side of the gymnasium. Between the leaves, she spied a periwinkle dress fluttering in the wind.

"Why are you here? I thought you weren't coming. Thanks to you I had to ask Mike, how lame is that," It was Michelle.

"I heard there was some sort of commotion-"

Michelle cut him off "- the doofus has been avoiding me all night and we lost Best Couple,"

"That's what you're concerned about?!"

"Well, if you had come like I'd asked, we would've crushed the competition. And then we wouldn't have to hide... this." Michelle retorted.

"This?" He echoed, incredulous., "What exactly is 'this', Michelle? Tell me,"

"Don't play dumb. Well... it's no secret. I mean, people can tell there's a spark. Remember Emily at Lover's Lake?"

Matthew erupted in a furious whisper. "Are you actually fucked in the head? Samantha's is fucking dead, don't you get that? Your best friend was murdered and you're talking about us and getting voted Best Couple?!"

Through the rustling leaves, Dakota caught Michelle's defiant stance.

"Oh, please. Like you actually cared about her," Michelle scoffed.

Matthew looked genuinely stunned. "Don't say that... Of course I cared about her, she was my girlfr-"

"Your girlfriend that was screwing some other guy she met online, and you took her back. You let her walk over you. Is that why you did it?"

"Did what?" He snapped, testing her.

"I thought I told you not to play dumb," she shot back.

"I never killed her."

"That's hilarious!"

"I'm serious." Matthew insisted, his tone firm. "You were with me when it happened,"

Michelle rolled her eyes. "You know she only dated you to get back at me?"

"I don't care about that! I made that very clear at dogging dunes."

"But that was different! Back then, you thought she... you know, did it herself, and you were totally blaming yourself. But she didn't, aren't you relieved?"
Matthew exploded, grabbing Michelle by the shoulders and pinning her against the wall.

"RELIEVED?! RELIEVED THAT SHE WAS MURDERED?! WHAT THE FUCK!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, MICHELLE!!"

The shouting drew a crowd, the stragglers from the dance flocking over to see what all the commotion was. Even Dakota rose to her feet, scared of what was happening. With the audience's arrival, Michelle put on her show and burst into tears.

"Help me! Oh, please, Jeremiah! Get him off!" She wailed

Matt whirled around, fury etched on his face, blood trickling from his mouth. But as he glanced at the gathering crowd, his expression shifted, draining of all emotion. Dakota caught one final glimpse of his sad face before he took off sprinting down the path into the woods