Life Of A Bitch

15

In private? Holy. Shit.

Bennett reluctantly gives him the permission and Brandon motions me to follow him, which I do, until we're out of the room.

"How sure are you that Anita is the one who drugged Aiden?" Brandon asks, taking out his phone.

How the hell does he know that?

"Cent percent." I reply confidently.

He looks at me and snaps, "You better be. I don't want to be embarrassed in front of everyone at the police station."

Wait what? "We're actually going to the police station?"

"Obviously."

"I thought... that was a threat."

Brandon smirks. This boy smirks too? He looks so-

Focus, Jen.

Still smirking, Brandon mouths, "I can guarantee you that Anita is overhearing this."

"From this distance?" I whisper almost inaudibly, not believing.

Brandon nods. "There are many things you don't know about her yet." He whispers and enters the room, leaving me dumbfounded. What is he, the FBI?

I enter the room too, feeling several pairs of eyes boring holes into my back. I stand where I was standing earlier and hear Brandon speak.

"-don't worry, they won't charge us anything." Brandon says, as Bennett shakes his head, too tired to argue. "Julian's mom would be more than happy to help us, wouldn't she, Julian?"

"Of course." Julian chirps.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of arguing, Bennett agrees, sighing. Brandon turns to our group and smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry, but you all have to accompany us to the police station, to match your fingerprint with the one on the jar. It would take just about twenty minutes, tops."

I see the guys refusing, muttering about being so tired after such a long day. The girls whine about wanting to go home and rest. Come on, you guys. Don't you wanna know who's the real culprit of your gang leader, Aiden?

"Okay fine then. The guys won't have to go. It'll be just the girls." Julian offers.

"We don't want to go and you can't force us." Anita says.

"I wouldn't mind going there," Stephanie says suddenly, after such a long silence. "I still think.. that Jennifer isn't guilty."

I look at her and smile gratefully. It feels blessed to have one supporter, amidst so many haters. She doesn't return my smile and looks away.

"Look," Brandon says. "Guilty or not, if Jennifer's fingerprint matches, she would be even going to jail for a short while. Don't you think she deserves it?"

Wow.

Lana nods, glaring fiercely at me. The guys start to nod too.

"Wait," Anita interrupts. "Going to jail? That's too much, isn't it?"

"No it isn't," Isaac barks. "You maybe her best friend, An, but she deserves this."

"But that's too much!" Anita exclaims. "She should be given a much lesser punishment, like getting rusticated.

"No, Anita," Nathan shakes his head. "Aiden is like our brother. And to think that someone will escape almost killing him is nonsense."

Brandon look at me and mouths, See what's happening?

I nod and look at Anita. Brandon is a fucking genius.

"Why are you so defensive of a culprit?" Stephanie asks, exasperated.

"She's my friend," Anita says, her voice trembling. "I care for her."

"Oh goddammit." Evan mutters. "Such emotional crap."

"We're going to the police station now." Isaac says and looks at Brandon. "She's too emotional. Just ignore her."

Brandon nods and digs into his pockets. "Then shall we go?"

"No!" Anita says, whimpering. "I don't want to go to jail!"

Finally.

Anita flops on the floor and starts crying. She curls herself into a tight ball and sobs. "I don't wanna go to jail! I was just jealous of Jennifer's popularity and her 'Queen' title. I thought, a little infamy will set her back, or like, get her rusticated or something, so that I could be in the spotlight. I didn't know that it would nearly kill Aiden. I'm so sorry, I didn't want this to go so far."

Everyone in the room is stunned into silence. And they should be. Anita didn't just try to harm the gang leader, she backstabbed his girl too. Which is the worst thing one could ever do, being a member of the gang.

Anita then tells the entire story of me being set up in a perfect fool-proof plan- from the beginning to the end. Isaac storms out of the room, fuming. Evan and Nathan follow.

Wearily, Bennett says, "Place a call to the Guptas', Henderson. I feel like I'm in some TV drama."

I close my eyes and smile in relief. I'm glad it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. All because of Brandon. I turn to thank him, but I find empty air. Brandon's gone.