That Night √

56» That Threat

Grace's POV
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"I'm sorry." Alice spoke up, finally breaking the tense silence. The same silence that had fell around us the moment I spotted her in the school hallway, and still surrounding us as we both sat here in one of the cafés downtown, a bit faraway from our school.

It seemed too awkward to talk to her about Fraser within the school walls, when everyone were sending her warm condolences, especially since this was her first time coming to school after what happened to Fraser. That's why I agreed almost immediately when she texted me to meet her in the school's parking lot after school.

And now we were here in this small, cozy café.

"Why are you apologizing, Alice?" I asked, exhaling a small sigh.

The waitress came by and placed both of our coffees on the small table between us. Alice wrapped her hands around her cup, looking away from me.

"I just feel bad for not talking to you for days." She murmured. "Even if this all must've been hard for you too."

I leaned back against my chair, noticing how different she looked from the Alice I was used to being around. There wasn't the usual bright look in her eyes. She hadn't even bothered to wear anything brightly colorful today.

"Don't feel bad." I shook my head at her. "Look, I understand. And I'm not mad at you for distancing yourself."

She looked up from her cup, her wide brown eyes trained on me now. "Grace," She stopped, furrowing her brows as if searching for the right words. "It wasn't an accident."

I swallowed thickly and rubbed my clammy palms on my jeans. Even if I had repeated this conversation a hundred times in my head, it still felt nerve-racking.

"It wasn't." My voice dropped to a whisper.

Her expression remained the same as before. "I know, it can't be. I saw him. It didn't look like an accident."

I merely nodded at that, not sure what she wanted me to say. Was I even supposed to tell her the truth?

"I just don't know...who could've done that to him. Fraser was nice to everyone." She added, her voice sounding a bit strained. "He cared about me. Fraser was...you don't understand but he cared about me more than my whole family does sometimes. I just..."

I bit the inside of my cheek, forcing myself to not let her words get to my head, forcing myself to not think about Jack.

"Nobody can understand how this even happened. My parents are devastated, my Aunt and Uncle are devastated." She sounded almost broken and I didn't know what to do. "I can't believe that he's...gone."

I saw her eyes growing a bit red and she swiftly wiped them with the edge of her sweater sleeves. "I'm sorry. It's stupid–"

"I know who killed him, Alice." The words left my mouth in a rush and I instantly wished that I could take them back.

Alice blinked and looked at me in surprise. "What?"

"I know–"

"You told the police that you didn't know anything related to whatever happened with Fraser." She cut me off, sounding confused and a bit angry too.