The Bad Boy's Sleepover

Chapter 2

That made her stop in her tracks. She was a softy at heart and seeing him crouched on the floor of her bathroom floor made her chest ache for some reason.

"I was framed, Lola. I swear. I didn't do it. I had no reason to. I don't even know one of them," He was sputtering between words and choking. Was he crying?

She bent down to get a closer look and sure enough, Julian Grey was crying. There were big, fat, crocodile tears sliding down his face and it didn't look like he was going to stop anytime soon. Never in all her years would she have anticipated the school's bad boy to be crying in her bathroom on a night like this.

But then again unexpected things have been happening in their small town in Wisconsin for the past few months. First the exam paper leak, then the murders and now this.

"If you didn't do it. Then who did?" Lola wanted to smack herself for entertaining this person but she found herself leaning against the wall, listening to him cry his heart out.

A brief memory flitted through her mind at that very moment - a young Julian standing outside his house across the street, staring at Lola and her family as the neighbourhood watched his mother pack their things into the car before leaving.

She remembered feeling guilty that night, wondering why she hadn't crossed the street to talk to him, to let him confide in her. Maybe Julian wouldn't have been so cold and distant when he came back two summers later.

Maybe they would have still been friends.

"I don't know, Lola. I seriously don't and it honestly sucks that everyone thinks I did it. You have no idea the hell I've been through. My mother, my girlfriend," He pauses for awhile and chokes back another sob. "They all think I'm a murderer. I've never been so alone, Lola. If I go to juvy they will kill me, they've already threatened me before."

Lola felt conflicted as she watched him leaning against the bathroom wall but she took the chance to dash out of the bathroom and grab her phone. Her fingers were raised, ready to dial 911 but she stopped. She turned around and was surprised to see Julian hadn't followed to stop her.

She peered into the bathroom to see him shivering with his eyes closed.

"Go ahead. Call the police," He murmured without opening his eyes.

"Why did you come here, Julian?"

"I don't know. The van crashed, I got lost in the woods, was wandering and living on stolen goods for a few days and somehow ended up here. The rain was terrible and I was freezing and I remembered where your family used to keep the spare key." His eyes were still shut, he had stopped crying and he now sounded strangely detached, almost like he'd accepted his fate.

"Where were you the night Fiona was murdered?" Lola took a step closer to the bathroom door, with her phone still in hand.

"I was in the park, smoking. Alone."

"And Jason?"

"Same thing."

How convenient, Lola thought grimly.

"It's like a weekly ritual. I have a smoke in the park every Wednesday night, usually around the same time, sometimes with Damien and Tyrone. Most of the time alone," Julian finally opened his eyes to look at her. "Anyone who knows me would know that I wouldn't have an alibi during that time."

"So you're trying to say you've been framed?" Lola couldn't believe she was entertaining him over this.

The trial was over, the jury had decided his verdict but why did she feel uneasy all of the sudden. Like he might be telling the truth.