(unedited)
Blurring and stirring,
The truth and the lies,
So I don't know what's real and what's not.
Always confusing the thoughts in my head,
So I can't trust myself anymore.
"Going Under" -Evanescence
By Wednesday, everyone knew what happened.
I wasn't sure how, but I guess gossip had a way of spreading around Blaire Academy and Hampton Hills.
"I feel bad for Skylar," Vanessa remarked as she waited for me to grab my things for English.
"I feel bad for Cameron and Daniel." I yanked my English binder out from under a pile of papers, then stood and shut my locker.
"You don't think he actually did it?" she asked as we headed to English.
I glanced at her. "Why would be?" I paused. Technically, I didn't know Daniel very well. "I mean, did they even know each other?"
She shrugged. "Maybe they had a secret affair and he was obsessed with her, so he kidnapped her then killed her when she left him," she said, with a dramatic air. Then she froze. "I forgot my essay in my locker!"
"We have a sub today, don't worry," I told her.
"But we still have to hand it in."
I glanced into the English room. Sure enough, the teacher filming in for Cameron Sullivan was collecting the essays that had been assigned two weeks ago.
Vanessa tugged on my arm. "Can you come get it with me?"
I glanced at the teacher. "Yeah, sure."
"You know," she said as she led me to her locker. "Skylar might be dating him, but he doesn't go easy on any of us."
I raised an eyebrow. "Is he supposed to?"
She shrugged. "If I dated a teacher, I'd ask for better marks." She stopped at her locker. "Maybe Physics, I'm failing."
"So you'd date your Physics teacher?" I asked, leaning against the wall next to her as she entered her combination. By now the halls were pretty empty since it was ten minutes after the bell rang. We were gonna be pretty late.
She shrugged again. "If it meant better marks." She opened her locker and stretched up, reaching for the top shelf with her right arm.
"Isn't he fifty years older th-" I cut myself off when Vanessa jerked.
She cried out in pain and yanked her arm out, but red was already running down her skin and pooling on the ground.
Oh my god.
There was a long gash from her wrist to her elbow, deep enough that she would probably need stitches. Scratch that. From the amount of blood, she would definitely need stitches.
"We need to get you to the hospital."
Vanessa whimpered, clutching her arm. "No, it's fine, it's just a little bit of blood..." And then, after glancing at the wound, she fainted.
Shit.
I barely managed to grab her before her head smacked against the floor. As I lowered her to the ground, I looked around, trying to figure out what I could do.
I have to stop the bleeding first.
There was a pale pink scarf in Vanessa's locker, so I pulled that down and wrapped it around her arm, making it a little tighter around the top. I didn't have first aid training, so I didn't know if this kind of wound required a tourniquet or something, but I didn't want to do it wrong. It would probably cause even more problems, like her needing a new arm, instead of a deep cut.
She needs to get to the hospital.
I could go to one of nearby classrooms and ask the teachers for help, but that would draw a lot of attention, and there wasn't much they could do that I couldn't.
911? Was it a big enough emergency? The bleeding had slowed down, so I don't think she's in danger of dying from blood loss.
I just needed to get her to the hospital to get it checked out.
I didn't have my car at school today... But one of the Elite might. I pulled out my phone, scrolling through the contacts. I only had some of them, despite knowing them for a couple weeks.
Skylar wasn't at school today...
Vanessa was the one on the ground bleeding...
Ashton had a car, but did I really want to call him? We hadn't talked much since what had happened in the Elite's lounge two days ago.
It would have to be Ashton, though, since Jacen was the only other person I had and I'd prefer Ashton over him. I tapped on the button to call Ashton and pressed the phone against my ear. With my free hand, I lightly pressed the scarf into Vanessa's arm, soaking up more blood.
The scarf was a dark brown-red by now. I felt a little bad, since it was probably designer and expensive, but stopping Vanessa from bleeding was more important.
With each ring, I got a little more nervous. I knew Ashton was in class, and that we weren't supposed to have phones, but I didn't think he was he kind to follow the rules. Finally he picked up on the fifth ring.
"Elena?"
"I need help."
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Vanessa. I need you to bring her to the hospital."
There was a pause. "I'll be there soon."
"We're at her locker," I told him before hanging up. Vanessa looked okay, so I stood up, eyeing Vanessa's locker suspiciously. What the hell was in there that could've made such a big and deep cut?
She was reaching up...
I stood on my tiptoes, looking into the top shelf. A shimmer caught my eye, light glinting off metal. At the side, wedged behind her Physics textbook was a razor, dripping with blood.
What the hell?
For some reason, I don't think Vanessa put that here. If she did, she would remember, right? It wasn't like you could forget about an extremely sharp, blood drawing object in your locker.
I slid my sweater sleeve over my hand, then slowly eased out the blade, careful not to cut myself. After getting it out, I grabbed a couple tissues from a pack at the bottom of Vanessa's locker and folded them around the razor blade. Maybe Ashton and Kaden could use it as evidence or something. I shoved the bundle in my pocket and pulled out my phone to check the time.
It had been ten minutes since I called Ashton. What was taking him so long? We were at the end of the school, where the theatre was so it was a little more secluded, true, but it still shouldn't have taken more than ten minutes. Even if he was starting from across the school.
I glanced down the empty hall, then at the closed classroom doors. Maybe it was a better idea to get a teacher instead of waiting for Ashton. Vanessa was still unconscious, but the bleeding had lessened a lot. She still needed to go to the hospital, though, I was almost positive the cut would need stitches.
"What the hell happened?"
I jumped and turned to see Ashton standing behind me, staring at Vanessa's still form.
"This." I pulled the tissues from my pocket and handed it to him. He pulled back two layers to reveal the razor blade which still had a little bit of blood on it. The rest was soaking through the tissues.
He pocketed the evidence, then turned to Vanessa. "How bad is it?" he asked, crouching down and fingering the scarf.
"Bad enough for stitches," I told him. "Do you have your car here?"
He nodded, and gently lifted Vanessa, holding her bridal style so that her injured arm could rest on her stomach. He nodded to the theatre. "Tell someone the hallway needs to be cleaned then meet me outside." He didn't give me time to agree, just starting walking away.
I ducked into the theatre, and told the teacher what had happened. I felt a little bad for interrupting in the middle of some girl's monologue, but it'd be worse if they walked out and found a pool of blood on the ground. Surprisingly, the teacher didn't ask too many questions, so I was able to make it to the parking lot by the time Ashton pulled up by the door.
"What you so long?" I asked as I scrambled into the passenger seat and buckled the seatbelt around me.
"I was in Art," he said. Okay, that made a little more sense. Art, Shop, and Home Economics were in a building across the parking lot from the school because of home much extra materials they needed. It also made sense why he had came in through the side door instead of the main hallway.
"Do you think this is related to what happened to Skylar?" I asked quietly.
He stiffened, but his expression stayed blank. "Was there a note?"
Damnit. "I didn't check," I admitted.
He was silent for a long moment. "I don't know. None of it fits together." He pulled into the hospital parking lot. "We'll talk about it later, okay?"
"Okay." I watched as he lifted Vanessa up from the back and brought her inside; helping in the minimal ways I could by holding the doors and talking to the receptionist. Once they found out who she was, they put her on a hospital bed and whisked her away.
I had been right, she needed stitches.
They also wanted to do a check on her head, even though I told them she'd only fainted because of the blood.
Ashton dug out his cell phone and tossed it to me. "Call Nate and tell him what happened."
"Where are you going?" I asked, barely managing to catch the very breakable, very expensive device.
He nodded to the front counter. "Paperwork."
As he turned away, I unlocked his phone, surprised that he didn't have a passcode. I opened up his contacts and tapped on the button to call Nathan, then held the phone to my ear.
It rang several times before going to voicemail.
Should I re-call him? What if he's in the middle of something? I glanced at Ashton, who was leaning against the counter, quickly filling out sheets of paper. I think this is more important, even if he's in class.
I hit the redial.
This time it rang three times, before getting sent to voicemail.
Redial, again.
He picked up on the second ring. "Ash, I'm in the middle of class," he hissed. Then he let out a low string of curses. "There's pottery clay everywhere now, thanks."
"Nathan?"
"Elena? Why do you have Ashton's phone?" he asked.
"Vanessa's in the hospital. Someone left a knife in her locker," I told him.
He swore, and I could faintly hear the sound of a chair scraping back and things being knocked over. "I'll be there in ten."
A faint slightly familiar voice from Nathan's end made me freeze. It was a teacher's voice, one I had heard a lot my first year at Blaire Academy when I had been taking art. "Wait, Nathan, are you in art?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't Ashton tell you when I called him?" I had a feeling I already knew the answer, but I wanted confirmation. I had a feeling Ashton hasn't told Nathan because he hadn't actually been there with Nathan.
"What do you mean?" Nathan asked. "Ash isn't in this class with me."
He lied.
"Oh. Sorry. I thought he was." After exchanging goodbyes with Nathan and hanging up, I made my way over to Ashton. "I know you lied."
He looked up. "What?"
I set his phone down next to the papers he was filling out. "Nathan was doing pottery."
He froze. Then opened his mouth. Probably to spit out another lie.
"Don't," I cut in before he could say anything. "If you're gonna lie, at least make it better. I would've believed you if you said you had been in the bathroom or making out with some girl in the janitor's closet."
What I didn't get was why he had lied about something so small. And why his lie had been so weak. Ashton didn't strike me as the kind of person who couldn't lie. I knew he could, I knew that he and his friends were probably great at it. He must've been distracted or something, because it didn't look like he had wanted to get caught from his expression now.
"Maybe I was in the janitor's closet making out with someone and I just didn't want to tell you," he said.
I frowned. "You're lying again."
He raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you'd believe me."
"You didn't sound the least bit out of breath on the phone," I pointed out.
"Maybe she wasn't doing a good job," he replied.
I narrowed my eyes. "You're still lying."
"Does it matter?" he asked.
"You tell me," I said. "Something was distracting you 'cause it's not like it would've been hard to make a believable lie."
He sighed. "I was at the funeral home. Happy?"
The funeral home?
"Why?" I asked.
"Checking something."
I raised an eyebrow. "Vague much?"
"I don't have to tell you everything, Elena," he said.
Ouch.
I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, Nathan walked in, with Keira and Jacen closely behind. "What happened?" he asked once he reached us.
"Vanessa cut herself and fainted at the sight of blood," Ashton explained. He didn't mention the razor blade. Because he wanted to keep his brother in the dark, or because Keira and Jacen were listening as well?
"Cut herself?" Jacen repeated. "On what?"
I shrugged. "Probably part of her locker or something," I replied, ignoring Ashton's 'let-me-do-the-talking' look, but playing along anywya.
Nathan's brow furrowed. "And it was bad enough that she needed stitches?"
I nodded. "It went in pretty deep, I think."
"Hey, Nate, do you know if Vanessa's allergic to anything?" Ashton asking, changing the subject.
I walked away as the conversation moved to Vanessa's paperwork, and sat down in one of the hospital chairs, rubbing my temples. Why had Ashton gone to a funeral home, of all places, and why had he lied about it?
I didn't notice that Jacen followed me until he sat down beside me. I turned to look at him. "What do you want?"
"I just want to talk to you," he replied.
I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were giving up because giving me Olivia's file didn't work."
"I never said that." He paused. "You look like you could use a break."
Yeah, a break from people lying to me.
He stood. "Come to the cafeteria with me."
I sighed. "Jacen..."
"I'll tell you anything you want to know," he said.
I glanced at Ashton, Nathan and Keira who were still standing at the counter talking, then back at Jacen. "Fine," I agreed. I stood up and followed him to the cafeteria. I still didn't really trust him, but I had to get answers somehow.
"Do you want anything? It's on me," he said. I shook my head. We took a seat at the table in the corner farthest from the few people eating here. "Ask away."
"How do I know you're telling the truth and not just making yourself look good?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I've never lied to you, Elena."
"No, you've dragged me into a closet and rape kissed me, got me into this whole thing by picking me for Ashton and told me about my parents in the meanest way possible." I said. And you've told me enough cryptic things to make my head spin round. But I wouldn't admit that weakness to him.
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not hearing any lies in there. You're gonna have to trust one of us, Elena," he added when I didn't respond.
"I do trust one of you." Sort of. Maybe not.
He called my bluff, easily. "Who?"
"Ashton," I lied.
He's snorted. "He knows about as much as you do."
I stared at him. "Are you saying you know more?"
"More than he does, yeah." What was he trying to tell me? It almost felt like he was hinting that he knew who was behind all this, but that was stupid. If he's trying to give them away, he should just tell me. If he's trying to keep them safe, he shouldn't be hinting at all because that gave me clues. Unless, they're false clues to throw me off.
"Okay, tell me about Olivia." I'd take everything he said with a grain of salt. If he was lying, then at least I knew there was something he was trying to cover things up.
"You're gonna have to be a little more specific," he said.
"You said she was Ashton's old girl," I reminded him. "Tell me what you meant by that." I knew already, from Jenna, but I wanted to hear it from Jacen too, to see if he would lie to me about it.
"She was like you."
"Part of the game?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Has it just been me and Olivia, or was there someone else too?"
He shook his head. "Just you and her."
It seemed like he was telling the truth so far. Nothing he had said clashed with anything I had found out.
"Why?"
"It's a game."
"Why do you guys play it?" Why ask someone to make someone fall in love with them? For some odd reason, I didn't think it was a nice, I-want-him-to-be-happy gesture. There had to be some other reason.
"I don't know."
I stared at him.
"I don't know," he repeated. "I promise."
He sounded sincere enough, so I moved on. He could've been lying, but I probably wouldn't be able to get anything out of him on that anyway. "So she had to do the same thing as me..." I paused. "Did she do it?"
He shrugged. "You'll have to ask Ashton that."
As if on cue, a shadow fell over the table. "Ask me what?" Ashton asked.
I glance up at him. "Did you love Olivia Tunclet?"
He gave Jacen a suspicious glance, then turned back to me. "Why?"
"Did you love her?" I repeated.
His jaw clenched. "No."
"But you slept with her. Three times." That's what Jenna had told me. "Which meant she lost."
"Elena, don't-" Ashton started.
I cut him off. "Shut up."
Things were finally starting to fall into place, and I felt like an idiot for not realizing it earlier.
If Olivia had played the same game the Elite wanted me to play... She was supposed to make Ashton fall in love with her. In three months, or before they slept together three times. She hasn't succeeded, which meant she had lost.
"Elena, you-"
"Shut up, Ashton."
Jenna had told me Olivia disappeared two day after sleeping with Ashton. And she had been right; it was way too much of coincidence. I had played with the idea while talking to Jenna, but I hadn't seriously considered it. The Elite might have been twisted, but I didn't think they were this messed up.
I really should've known better.
Olivia had disappeared. And now she was dead. There were still some missing pieces, like what had happened in the months she had been gone, but I knew most of it now.
"If I can't make you fall in love with me in less than two months," I said, glancing up at Ashton. "One of you will kill me."
I held my breath, waiting for a confirmation or a denial, even though I was already sure of the answer.
Then, after a long moment, he nodded.
-- ♡ --
Teaser: I stared at him. "If you're trying to discourage me from finding things out, it's not going to work," I told him. "Why do you guys play the game? How'd it start?"
QotC: Jacen or Ashton?