Forget Me Not

Ch 22. The Calm Before The Storm

"How do I know you won't lie?"

"You have to trust me."

"How can I?"

"Rachel, do you have any other option?"

I sighed. Amelia was right. I had no other option than to believe whatever she was about to say. I had come to this party with the intention of getting Vanessa to talk but instead I had hit the bullseye here. Amelia herself was ready to talk. Why? I don't know.

Now that I was presented with this opportunity, there was not a single question coming to my mind. I scrambled through my brain for something, anything. But all the questions that kept coming up sounded too accusatory.

"Why did you start talking to Hannah in the first place?" I asked. There had to be some ulterior motive, right? I said in my head.

"It was Vanessa's idea. She wanted to hook Sal with someone. She told me she had heard you three talk about Hannah's crush in the school's washroom. She thought it would be fun. And cute." Amelia shrugged. "I know you already know all this as you've read my diary. So why not ask what you really want to ask."

She was right, there was no point in stalling or simply going around in circles. "You wrote in your diary that you were really pissed off at Hannah for you know...kissing Aaron. You wanted to hurt her. If I take that diary to the police, you will very much become the suspect."

To my surprise, Amelia smirked, "Then take it." Her eyes looked like flames. Though she was smirking, her eyes told a whole different story. They were angry and sad and hurt, all at the same time. "Ever since she's gone, all I hear are whispers. Whispers of people blaming me, thinking that I have done something to her. You think I don't notice? People have always talked trash about me behind my back but this time, this time I see accusations in their eyes, accusations for something I haven't done at all. My own dad thinks that it's my fault!"

Tears welled up in her eyes and she suddenly took hold of my hand. Her grip was firm and tight, and my heart skipped a beat. "Yes, I wanted to hurt her because I was angry and feeling hurt myself. Aaron has been with me ever since the sixth grade and then...then she just waltzed in and tried to take him away. Just because I am good at hiding them doesn't mean I don't have any feelings at all." Her voice lowered at the last line and she let go of my hand.

I was at a loss for words. I had never seen Amelia like this before. So vulnerable. She blinked her eyes rapidly and dabbed a tissue below her eyes to prevent the tears from rolling down.

"So you never hurt her?" I finally found my voice.

"No. I was just going to insult her in front of everyone, maybe play a practical joke on her or something like that. Something good enough to scare her so that she would steer clear from me and my friends." Amelia sighed, "But I never got around it. She was gone, to who knows where. And the next thing I know, I am at the station, being asked all these questions which made it look as if they already suspected me."

I looked down at my hands feeling a bit uncomfortable as I was doing the same thing what the police had done. "I found this chat on Hannah's Facebook profile. Between her and Aaron."

Amelia sat straight at the mention of Aaron's name. "What was it about?"

"He was threatening her, saying no one should know what happened. Between them."

Amelia sat silently, staring at the floor. She opened her mouth to say something but thought the better of it.

"Do you think Aaron might have done something?" I dared to ask.