Previously
"Are you talking about Selena? Was it your fault that she died?" he asked, looking directly at Ashley whose expression had now changed. She held her head up high as she looked at him with a look of disgust.
"What's it to you if we're talking about her?"
"Answer the damn question," he said through gritted teeth. From where Nadia was, she saw his hands balling into fists as he walked closer to her. Ashley cleared her throat as he got closer to her.
"Are you the one that caused Selena to end her life? Are you the one that set her up to be sexually assaulted and then called a slut? Huh?!"
"Yeah I did it, so what?" Ashley said confidently. Mason lifted his fist and threw a punch, causing Chris and Nadia to look away as they both closed their eyes tightly. Ashley screamed, causing them to open their eyes and look back to find that he had punched the wall behind Ashley, just inches away from her head. She was visibly shaking now as she said,
"Are you f**king crazy?!"
"Tell me what happened," Mason said with a surprisingly calm tone.
"What if I don't tell you?" Ashley asked in reply, her voice getting cocky.
"I won't miss the next time I throw a punch."
Nadia placed her hands on the push rings of her wheelchair and pushed herself closer to them. But before she could reach them, the sound of heels hitting the floor caused everyone to turn around as the vice principal came into view.
"What's going on here?"
- - -
*unedited*
Thirty
Nadia, Mason, Chris and Ashley quietly followed the vice principal as she walked them towards the principal's office. Nadia couldn't shake off the nervousness that radiated through her, causing her to worry about what would happen.
A few moments later, they entered the principal's office. At the command of the principal, they each settled in a chosen spot in the room, everyone avoiding eye contact with the principal.
Silence filled the room for several moments until the vice principal began to recall what she had seen to the principal, the only sound heard being her voice.
After the vice principal had finished speaking, the principal looked at the group of students with an undecipherable expression. Nadia felt her heart beats accelerate as she continued to feel the gaze. To her relief, the principal finally spoke.
"Mason, why were you threatening to punch Ashley?"
All eyes turned to Mason and Nadia saw as one of his hands balled into a fist as he spoke.
"Because I had just found out that she may have been behind what happened to Selena, my cousin. I wasn't going to actually punch her, I just wanted her to explain what had happened."
The principal nodded before looking at Ashley who looked more nervous than ever.
"Ashley, please explain what happened," the principal asked with a non-threatening tone.
Silence filled the room once again, causing Nadia to wonder if Ashley would ever explain what had happened. And as she continued to remain silent, the principal spoke once again.
"If you're being wrongfully accused, the only way we can sort it out is for you to speak. Otherwise, we will all assume that you were the one who caused what happened. So if you don't want to be punished for something you didn't do--"
"Okay! I did it," Ashley suddenly said, cutting the principal off.
"I didn't mean for her to kill herself. I just thought that if I threatened her a little, she would back off. But when that didn't work, I thought maybe if I humiliated her then she would finally go away. I didn't mean for her to kill herself..." Ashley said the last words so quietly no one would have heard if her voice wasn't the only sound in the room. Nadia looked over at her to find tears running down her face as the principal asked her,
"What happened that day?"
The room was filled with silence as Ashley finished explaining what had happened the night that Selena had ended her life. The principal and vice principal looked at her, both with equally stunned expressions.
Nadia quietly cried at the thought of Ashley hating Selena to the point of causing something like that, even if her suicide had not been her intention. She was so caught up in her own emotions that she didn't look at Mason to find out how he was taking everything.
"Was that really necessary?" Chris was the first to speak and her question took Nadia by surprise.
Was she really not involved at all? Was it possible that what she said was true? That she really thought of Selena as a friend?
Chris stood up and walked over to Ashley, grabbing onto her shirt as she pulled her up.
"Was being popular so important to you that you had to do that to her?!" Chris yelled into her face.
Ashley didn't answer; all she could do was continue to cry.
The vice principal walked over to them and pulled Chris away from Ashley, asking her to sit down. And once she was seated, everyone looked back at the principal.
"Christine, Mason, and Nadia, you are dismissed," the principal said.
"What's going to happen to her?" Nadia found herself speaking for the first time, genuinely curious about how they would handle the situation.
"There is no reason for you to know. Now you are dismissed," the principal said in reply.
As Nadia pushed herself behind Chris and Mason, she heard hushed voices as the principal and vice principal exchanged words. And just as she was leaving the room, she heard the principal say to Ashley,
"As of this moment, you are suspended from school until a decision is made by the school board. Until then, you are no longer allowed on the premises of this school."
The door closed behind Nadia as she finally left the room, having heard what would happen to Ashley. And in that moment, as she realized what had just happened, she could decide whether she was happy about that punishment or not.
Was her suspension really enough for what she had done to Selena?
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice she had pushed herself into Chris until she heard her voice as she cried out.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Nadia immediately apologized. To her surprise, Chris just turned around with a solemn expression as she acknowledged her apology. And as she began to walk away, Nadia found herself holding onto her arm to stop her. Chris turned around.
"Can I ask you a question?" she asked before she could stop herself.
"What?"
"Did you really have nothing to do with what happened?" Nadia asked Chris as she looked at her, surveying her face for any sign that she was lying.
"No I didn't. I don't know what I have to do for you to believe me but it's true. I went to her that night after I saw her running out of the party while crying. I didn't even know what had happened until the next day when someone showed me the video."
She wasn't lying.
"Then why didn't you stay with her?"
"She wouldn't open the door for me so I thought I could use the excuse of getting her drink to get her to open the door. But when I came back..." she trailed off.
"When you came back?"
"It was... too late."
Her bottom lip started quivering when she finished speaking. And before Nadia could say anything, she began to cry, taking Nadia aback.
"I was so stupid. I should have noticed that something was up when Ashley kept trying to tell me to leave her behind whenever we went somewhere together. I should have known that she would try to do something like this. There were so many signs but I just ignore them; I was so stupid."
"You can't blame yourself for missing the signs," Nadia found herself saying as she thought of how the change in Selena's behavior, the way that she had acted so mean towards her, was a sign that she should have something to someone even if her relationship with Chris wasn't the actual issue.
"It's hard not to blame myself when there were so many things I could have done to stop that from happening."
And as she heard those words, she found herself remembering how she had blamed Jackson's death on herself. And with that thought came the realization that even if there was something they could have done to stop what had happened, ultimately, some things are out of someone's hands.
Nadia didn't know what to say as she continued to look at Chris as she started to wipe away her tears. And once she was finished, she flashed her a sad smile as she said,
"I guess we should get to class. I'll see you around."
Nadia simply nodded as she watched her retreating figure. And as she disappeared, that was when she realized she hadn't seen or spoken to Mason since leaving the principal's office.
What had happened to him?
* * *
A/N:
Thank you very much for reading this chapter! I know the wait between the last one and this one was very long but it's because I was experiencing writer's block as well as a hectic schedule. But now that I've gotten used to my new schedule, I'm hoping that I will be able to update frequently (as long as I don't have writer's block).
So anyways, what did you think about the chapter? What about Ashley's punishment? Do you think it's enough for what she did? Also what about what happened between Nadia and Chris? Do you think Chris is telling the truth? And what do you think happened to Mason??
Let me know your thoughts/comments/concerns about the story below.
And once again, thank you for your patience and for reading the chapter!
~candysweet101