Lola, Hanna, Nalini and Damien stood in awe as Edward spouted off on all the things he had been up to this past weekend. And it was honestly a lot.
He was pacing back and forth on the floor, between the table and bed in Damien's pool house and he looked wired, like he hadn't slept more than five hours in the past two days.
"So like I said. He's innocent. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the botched up doctored footage. There he was sitting on the bench, puffing out smoke like a chimney. It's crazy, isn't it?"
Lola leaned forward and stared at the video playing on his computer screen for what might be the twentieth time that hour. She couldn't believe her eyes when she first saw it either. Edward had done the unthinkable, the undoable. He was a genius who had just proven Julian's alibi, something his very own lawyer failed to do.
Or maybe he was paid off, who knows?
"So what do we do with it?" Damien asked, his face filled with equal mixtures of awe and admiration for Edward.
Edward simply smirked proudly while he pushed his thick framed glasses up his nose.
"Way ahead of you."
He opened a few tabs, one showing everyone he had sent the footage directly to the county sheriff's department. The other copies were posted on social media and emailed to various local news stations.
The one posted on twitter was already blowing up. It had already been retweeted about ten thousand times and the comments below the thread were exploding. Some people were questioning its authenticity while others were blaming the justice system for framing an innocent high school boy.
Before, people had jumped on the band wagon, calling Julian all kinds of names like "no hoper", "the town's menace", "bad boy turned murderer", etc. Sadly, Lola and her friends had bought into the stigma as well.
At one point she truly believed he had done it. Until he broke down in her room that fateful night.
Now everyone had turned into the ultimate sympathisers. They were now calling him things like "poor misunderstood boy", "sweet boy", "too handsome to have committed something so heinous" and the flattery was just going on and on.
Lola rolled her eyes at the most recent comment which had been typed by someone named Sweetcheeks, 'God he's so hot. I'd let him rail me through the night, every night. It's what he deserves, right?'
Two hundred people liked her stupid comment and there were countless other comments below echoing her sentiments. It made Lola's eyebrows knit together in a tight frown.
"Edward, you are a fucking genius, man!" Damien patted his back, looking like he wanted to hug him instead.
"I told you guys. This is all for Hanna. Thank her," Edward replied, his eyes fixed on Hanna's face which was slowly turning red like a tomato.
She turned away from everyone's scrutinizing gazes and cleared her throat. "So now that this is all out there. Does this mean Julian's name's cleared?"
"We can only hope that this will push them to reopen the case and thus, yeah Julian will be free to walk around. For now." Nalini concluded and everyone fell silent, letting this revelation slowly sink in.
"So what do we do now?" Lola voiced out after a few seconds. Her thoughts were still fixed on Julian, wondering where he was and if he was safe. She hated that he wasn't here to hear this news with the rest of them.
She imagined his eyes narrowing in disbelief first and then crinkling at the sides in happiness and appreciation. In the short amount of time they had spent together, Lola had memorised most of his expressions. It was weird how she was sitting here thinking about this more than the huge news Edward had dropped on their laps.
"I guess we just have to wait it out. Wait till the police or the news make a statement. Julian should still stay low till then. Where is he by the way?" Edward looked around the room, suddenly realising that Julian was missing.
He had been so engrossed in detailing his progress and everyone had been so excited, no one had filled him on this crucial event that had transpired over the weekend.
"About that.." Damien cleared his throat, looking as annoyed as Lola felt.
Why did Julian have to disappear like that? He could have been here, celebrating this piece of news with the rest of them.
"He ran away," Hanna concluded in a soft voice, making Edward whip his head towards her.
He had just only taken a seat but he jumped up and started pacing the room again.
"What? Why? What's wrong with that idiot? Stupid, dumb, jock. He just ditched us like this. What an asshole," Edward was mumbling incessantly, the anger in his voice palpable. "You know how many hours I spent on this and then he just goes and disappears."
"Dude, you're making me dizzy. Sit down man," Damien grumbled. He ran a hand through his chocolate brown hair and it was the first time Lola noticed how stressed he looked.
"I'm sure he's fine," She lied, trying to reassure Damien who looked more worried about his best friend than angry.
"He didn't ditch us," Nalini countered, surprising Lola once again. This was the second time she was defending Julian. "There was someone watching Lola's house the night we dropped him off. I think he just did it to keep Lola safe. To keep us safe."
Edward fell silent and then he walked to his seat and slumped into it. He turned to Lola, eyes wide with disbelief? "There was someone watching you house?"
"I think so." Lola shrugged. "But don't worry guys. I don't think it was anything to be concerned about."
"No way. We're taking turns to stay with you when your parents aren't in. Starting now." Nalini sat up straight, looking determined. "If that mofo tries anything I'll kick them in the nuts with these strong legs of mine."
"Me too," Hanna agreed.
"We'll do stake out," Damien offered gesturing at Edward and himself.
"And raid your fridge if we get hungry. I expect some sweet potato fries and dipped corn," Edward added and everyone turned to him looking amused. "Come on, doing stake outs are boring. Haven't you seen the movies?"
Lola's heart swelled when she looked around the table. They were a group of students, united with the common goal to help Julian but now they were slowing becoming something more.
They were friends and their genuine concern for Lola made her feel like hugging everyone. If only Julian had been here.
If only.
Eva leaned back against the seat of the car, pressing herself as far as she could into the stiff material when someone passed by. The windows were tinted. There was no need to worry about someone spotting her but the worry was still there, buried into her side like a thorn she could never seem to get rid of.
"You need to chill," Tyler said from the driver's seat. He had shades over his eyes and Eva couldn't tell if he was studying her face like he usually did. It made her very uncomfortable.
"Do you really need those?" She snapped, gesturing at those dark glasses covering half his face.
Tyler laughed, his voice high and piercing. It grated her ears, sending shivers down her spine. She regretted it once again, the night that had intertwined both of their lives forever.
It was just supposed to be fun. Eva had been stressed with the upcoming midterms, stressed that she had stumbled upon documents indicating her father had been keeping track of his biological son's every move from the time he moved out of Wisconsin to the time he came back a few years later.
She wanted to escape, she wanted to disappear if only for a few hours.
Fiona had been the one to invite her to that dodgy party in the motel by the highway. There weren't many students from their school, only Tyler. It was perfect. No one knew her here. She didn't have to worry about keeping up her facade anymore.
Here she could let loose. Drink however much she wanted, smoke up until her fingers were numb.
She didn't expect to see him there. He had always paid special attention to her in school. He was the only person who really looked at Eva and she knew he could see how broken she really was. That she carried herself with all the confidence in the world but the truth was deep inside she had none of it.
That was why she pushed herself so hard. Every medal, every good grade was meant to fill that gaping hole in her chest. But somehow it was never enough.
He knew this. He knew the real Eva. She had been so drunk, so happy, so relaxed. It was the first in many nights and he knew. He was watching. A relationship with him was forbidden but Eva loved the way he looked at her.
She loved the way he spoke in her ear, the way his voice caressed her every worry, shooing each one away with an empty promise.
He never crossed the line with her and they never got physical but she remembered hugging him and voicing her every insecurity, telling him her worries about her exams, her father, her surprise stepbrother who had appeared out of nowhere, threatening to steal everything from her.
He nodded as he gazed down at her. His eyes dark and clouded. For a moment he looked just like Tyler and she hated that. Tyler had been obsessed with her since middle school but Tyler was generic. Just another student who had bought into the image of perfection she had created to fool everyone.
He was different.
The night should have ended there with her in his arms in their forbidden land, to be forgotten the next day. But he had other things in mind once they rejoined Tyler and Fiona, things that lead to the school building and the teacher's office and the exam papers.
And now Julian was missing but not dead. And Nalini and Damien had been so suspicious that night outside that Lola persons house.
Eva was scared. She was so scared she wanted to throw up.
"Did you tell him anything?" She whispered and Tyler stiffened slightly.
"No more murders, right? That's what you said."
Eva only nodded stiffly.
Tyler turned back to the steering wheel and drove away from the house when they saw Damien open his front door. "Then I think it's best that he doesn't know anything. Yet."