Blame for Blame ✔

What's better than a bunch of Paper?

The sun streaked her auburn hair as Avril stepped out of the brand-new black Acura her Dad had bought her on her 16th birthday. She hadn't slept the whole night. Every time she closed her eye, her sight wandered to Ashton. She saw him being strangled and then tied down by the leg of the bed in the cabins of Carnival Glory, their Cruise ship. She pictured a guy dressed in black spray gasoline around the cabin and then the corridors. And finally it was all ashes. But it was still out of question. Obviously no one killed him. It had to be a suicide.

But then it struck her that there was no practical reason for Ash to commit suicide. He wasn't a miserable loner who was bullied by his mates. Instead, he had lived an amazing life. He had tons of friends and a family that loved him. Just the thought of Ashton leaving them rushed hot tears down Avril's cheeks.

She was distracted from her thoughts by a noise. She suddenly found a ton of reporters swarm around her, shoving mics towards her. They loaded her with loads of questions "Ms. Kahn, what do you say about Nick's opinion about your brother's murder?", "Do you know what happened to Ashton Kahn that night? Is your family keeping anything from the FBI?"

Avril was outraged. What was the point of answering such stupid questions? And how dare they blame her family for it? Didn't they understand how hard it was for her? After all, he was her brother. She sneaked through the herd harshly uttering "No Comment" to every other reporter. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her.

Finally, she panted in the corridor of Clifton High. She gazed at the school corridor. At least everything was normal here. Three sophomore girls were checking out the school board. Selena Erlynne and Zeya Horan, school's Uber-fabulous, fashion-obsessed girls, giggled at Kelsey Moor's baby pink boots. A bunch of boys fixed a broken bat.

She went down the hall into her AP English Class. She had been into literature since her mother started off with folktales when she was 7. Once when Avril was 9, she had actually written a fifteen page story on fairies and pixies. When she thought of that now, it seemed a really silly thing to be interested in. But Avril had been obsessed with fairies coming to her to put sand and dreams in her eyes before she drifted to sleep. And whenever any of her milk teeth broke, she would place a chair with flowers beside her bed so the fairy could sit and rest there. After all, the fairy had a tough day, right? But as she grew older, things began to change.

Someone cleared his throat. Andrew Pennythistle, their new teacher, now stood near the huge white board with a red marker in hand. He had wavy brown hair that curled behind his ears and wore extra-thick glasses. He was neatly dressed in a gray shirt under his Clifton High staff coat. "So Good Morn class," he began, "I'm Andrew Pennythistle but I'll appreciate if you stick with Andy. I'm really pleased to teach you students and I hope you all are going to cope. Otherwise, I have my own ways." He glared at three boys snickering near the window. "Anyways," he continued, "today we are starting off with Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. It's a fascinating story. You're going to love it. And again, if you don't, don't forget I have my ways."

With this, he began distributing copies around the class. As Avril got her copy, she carefully looked at the cover. That was her favorite part of reading. First she would ponder over the cover for some time and make a hypothesis of the story. And at the end she would compare. Like this, she always proved the saying Never judge a book by its cover to be true or false.

Mr. Pennythistle then glanced around the class. His eyes fixed on Avril, "You, you'll read Lady Windermere's lines." Then he directed a boy named Ether Ziegler to read Parker's lines and Callum Morris, one of the boys by the window, to be Lord Darlington. He made a snobby face but read anyways.

Ether began, "Is your ladyship at home this afternoon?" Avril answered, "Yes-who has called?"

"Lord Darlington...m-my lady." The class laughed hard on this. So silly of them. What are they even doing here learning literature? Avril helplessly glanced at Aria, the only girl other than Avril herself who was interested. Aria gave her an encouraging smile.

She continued, "Show him up-and I am at home to anyone who calls. Ether read his lines and then Callum began in a mocking accent, "How do you do, Lady Windermere?"

One of Callum's friends raised his hand. Mr.Pennythistle motioned him to question. "Sir, why do they call one another Lady and Lord? I guess 'Hey girl' or 'How's life man' suits better." The teacher miserably went to his seat and asked him to stand up. He directed him to leave the class immediately.

What a mess.

The bell rang and everyone filed out of the room. It was good to be out in fresh air. Once again, Avril headed for the auditorium. It was the final practice of Hamlet and she had to ace it. As she reached the door, she found Noel Dilaurentis – or Noel D, as everyone called him, leaning against the door. He was playing Hamlet.

If Ashton was alive, he would be doing it.

With a sigh, she crossed him and entered into the auditorium. As usual, it smelled strongly of daises that decorated the stage. Their drama teacher, Eleanor Campbell stood on the stage, fiddling with her yellow Honda keychain. Today she wore a crisp off-white linen dress and shiny Tory Burch flats. When she noticed Avril, she smiled and waved. Avril had been participating in drama since the last five years. And by now, she and Ms. Campbell had grown quite close. Avril paddled towards the stage and greeted her.

"So are you ready for tomorrow? It's going to be your Big Day." She smiled broader, encouragingly. "Of course." Avril replied. How could she not be happy? And even Dad was coming. What could be better than this?

She noticed something pasted under her blue sneakers. It was a poster. She lifted it. It read, "Dr. Nicholas has another theory on the go. It is reported that the day of the fire; everyone was supposed to be in their respected cabins as instructed. The surveillance has been checked and five girls had been found missing from their rooms the very night Ashton Kahn was murdered. Those girls are, namely, Madeline Vincent, Avril Kahn, Ariana McKenzie, Adele Grande and Tori Hastings."

Oh God. Did the cops think they would murder Ashton? Didn't they see he was her brother? Too much of a guess, huh.

"Avril, everything okay?" Ms. Campbell placed a hand on her shoulder. Avril nodded.

Ms. Campbell pursed her lips and then addressed the class to start the play.

What the Hell? She needed to do something. She wanted to kill Ashton's murderer.

And by now, she knew for sure her brother didn't die himself.