"Oi."

I halted at the familiar hoarse voice of my side-kick slash best friend slash partner in crime. Then I slowly turned to face the boy who had helped to carry the pieces of my broken life together and put those pieces back with cheap glue. I could never be any more grateful.

In these seven months, he seemed to have gained a few pounds thankfully.
His dirty blonde hair was gelled back making him look like a pop star from the 1980s . He appeared to have worked on his health too because I was pretty sure that the faint outline of veins on his arm was not a product of magic.

"Ashton Devine," I acknowledged his presence.

"You got rid of your hair," he spoke.

I had, indeed cut my dirty blonde mane short for it made me remind of my Bella. My hair ended an inch below my shoulders which I had tied into a tiny ponytail with a rubber band.

I grunted in disgust, "This is how you welcome your best friend, asshat."

He skipped to my locker and squeezed me in a bear hug. Ashton held onto for what seemed like an hour before he let go. He grinned and I recognized the way his cheeks dimpled and the mischievous twinkle in his eyes that refuse to die. I missed this idiot. Before I could open my mouth, Ash beat me to it.

"I know you missed me but I didn't miss you at all. Anyways, a lot of beep went down since you left last year and now I'm going to fill you in. Before I begin, I must let you know that Aryan will be sharing two of your classes with you- advanced calculus and chemistry. So, you need to be at your best behavior around him if you want him to ask you to prom at the end of the year."

At the name of Aryan, I felt weird. I had almost forgotten that I nursed a massive crush on him since sophomore year but never quite had the courage to hold a proper conversation with him. He was so intimidating. With his unruly and untamed black hair, sun-kissed skin that always looked inviting as if waiting for me to caress it and his scrutinizing light brown eyes that beheld golden specks, I could conclude that I was in love.

"Oi!" Ashton prods me with his elbow. "Done day dreaming about him?"

Heat rushed to my cheeks and I'm pretty sure I was blushing an unhealthy scarlet at the thought of meeting Aryan Dwivedi again after several months. Ashton shoots me a knowing smile as he links our arms together and continues walking towards homeroom. He fishes out his phone from his pocket and taps on the screen repeatedly before turning to me. "You remember that Westside Academy Confessions page on Facebook that remained inactive for quite some time?"

I frown, "yes. What about it?"

A vindictive sneer spreads across his face. "Seems like something sparked off people confessing their mistakes again and a quite a few are directed towards you, Victoria. Here take a look." He advances his phone and I see a thread dedicated to Victoria Harris: We are sorry.

The post read: On the unfortunate event of Isabella Marshall 's demise and Victoria Harris's suspension from this academy - who is suspected to be guilty of miss Marshall's untimely death, a thread has been dedicated to Miss Harris by her fellow classmates lest she should happen to come across this page anytime in the future.

Evie Prescott: we are sorry Victoria. You were a great friend and I still don't believe that you killed Isabella.

Rosalyn Behrendroff: I was the girl who dropped pig shit on your head in seventh grade. Tbh you were a bit of a bitch back then but now I feel sorry. If you return, give me a call and I'll take you out for lunch at burger king;)

William McKenzie: lmao I knew you'd get in trouble. You were so quite throughout middle school. No way can an idle mind ward off evil. Anyways I liked Bella. So fuck you over the internet.

Kimi Lee Park: I have no opinion whatsoever. I stand on neutral ground. Without taking any side, I'd like to let you know Victoria that Isabella had it coming for her.

Highly suspicious. I might have to have a personal chat with this Taiwanese cheerleader. I turned to Ashton. "Half of them look like they have been written by immature nine year olds. Others as too juvenile for me to read."

Ash smirks and leads me into the crowded classroom and towards a row of empty seats right at the back. Most of the students had already settled down. A group of girls who sported the badge of the Math club were immersed in a heated arguement. Few scattered students, mind you, these were the rare ones were trying their best to focus on open textbooks and notebooks in front of them.

Then there were people like me,  hovering around a guy who was the epitome of nerd. They seemed to be copying this guy's homework. Completing last minute assignments.

It felt nice to be back. The familiarity of every corridor and room made content flood my chest.

"You didn't know even get to the best part, Cookie," he plops into a chair and scrolls through the comments until he finds the one that he was looking for. "This was commented about a week ago. A day before your arrival."

I snatch the phone from him and gasp, "Are you kidding me?"

Russel Langdon: the accused is not the murderer. The innocent is guilty. Everything is not what it seems.

"Who is this Russel Langdon guy?"

Ashton continued tapping a furious staccato on his desk. "Dunno. I looked up the account. No pictures. No friends. No posts. No profile details. Just the name. Just a name."  He spit out the last word with such intense hatred that caused me to frown.

I tried pacifying him. "Hey, hey. Don't get so worked up. It will be looked into. I'm sure that such a mysterious comment will have aroused suspicion." He still appeared furious. I glanced at the door. The teacher was a no-show. That's good. Facing my best friend, I took his hand in mine. "My best friend dearest, why don't we talk about stuff that silly teenagers are supposed to talk about? Any girl you've been seeing lately? Any new student who joined last year and is in excessive need of a girlfriend?" The last part wasn't for real, I was just kidding.

Ashton snorts. "I neither have the time nor energy to date anyone at the moment. It's senior year. I mean to work very hard and get the best grades I can muster. Then, at least I'll be able to get into a good college. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about my future," he looks at me, with pain prominent in his murky grey eyes that have clouded over the years with anxiety and sadness as he finally learned to get accustomed to his dysfunctional family. "My dad's not going to pay my fees after I graduate from school. He may be rolling in money but he'd rather die before squeezing in dollar bills to feed me. Victoria, after you left it was very difficult for me to...get used to you not being there by my side as I walked down the hallways...not being the one to sneak notes during agonizing history classes."

Ashton laughs and continues, seemingly warped in his little world. "I miss the three of us, Victoria. You, me and Aryan. The way, we used to hang out all the time. The inseparable trio. You know, even Aryan drifted apart. His sister visited frequently and kept bugging him to move out of the apartment that we shared in Palm avenue. He eventually had to get a job at a pesky coffee shop in the shadier part of the town. I was worried. I kept asking him in to move in with me and I promised him that rent won't be a problem. He didn't budge and threw the exact words at my face, " it's my life, Ash. Its up to me if I want to be your flatmate or if I want to move out and cut all ties with you. I should be allowed to make a decision. And, this time it's irrevocable." "

All happy thoughts took a back seat. "He actually said that? I find it hard to believe honestly. He's not the one to be brazen, especially not to his best buddy. You're possibly the only person whom he trusts blindly, maybe more than himself."

The door burst open and all chatter came to a halt. A scrawny assistant teacher with gelled back blonde hair and a scar on his right cheek glanced around the room while holding out a piece of paper. A few snickers erupted from a group of trouble makers.

He cleared his throat. "Students, your history teacher Mr Mendel couldn't make it today to class because he's called in sick. But that doesn't mean that he'll let you waste your time. You have to write a five page essay on any one of the topics that I'll be putting up on the board. Since he expects you to hand it over by the end of this week, he has paired each one of you with a partner. Remember," he glared at some of the students who looked mildly irritated," this is your first assignment of this session and you won't be graded leniently. Mr Mendel would rather have twenty one well written essays than forty two half hearted assignments. Here are the pairs ," Mr Assistantteacher rattled off names and at the end I ended up being partnered with a William McKenzie and Ashton was paired with Charlie Hartford, whom I'd like to call a 'Jughead Jones' lookalike.

William McKenzie. Why does it sound familiar?

Shit. Facebook confessions post.

I clutched at Ashton who was engrossed in conversation with Charlie. Grabbing him by his sleeve and muttering an apology to his partner, I dragged him out of the classroom. The bell had rung minutes ago and students were making a beeline for the door,hurrying to their next class in fear of receiving a detention.

He frowned at my hyperventilation. "What was that Cookie? You can't just interrupt a conversation. Charlie must have felt disrespected. You were unsurprisingly rude."

I waved a hand signalling that all other matters could wait. "Do you realize that I am being paired with someone who hates my guts? I'm in some real fix out here, Devine and you better help me fix it."

My toxic best friend squinted through the hallways, his eyes glancing back and forth on each face and then moving onto the next. Relief washed his pallor as he cupped his palm around his mouth and gave a shout. "Yo, McKenzie can you stop by for a moment?"

He was so not doing this. What should I anticipate? The end of a baseball bat? A bottle of concentrated sulphuric acid?

While I stood debating with myself someone had sidled up to me like a cat. I jumped when he spoke. "Out with it, Devine. I actually have a class to get to. " Did he not notice me? Was he in dire need of glasses. I wasn't invisible for God's sake.

"Since when did you worry about classes? Anyway fun stuff aside. I think you know that you have to work with my friend here in a history project." He motioned to me and I presented a small smile. For some reason, this was so awkward.

"Yeah, I heard I've got ears. But in no way am I staying in the same room as a murderer, let alone work with her."
William chewed on his words slowly while staring at me, with little to no remorse. I wasn't a murderer!

"You've got to complete this project with her, William and it's only a matter of a few days." Ashton tried coaxing him with a firm hand on the shoulder. "You can try working this out over text messages so as to avoid meeting with each other. Do it over the phone. Try finishing it as soon as possible. Nothing is impossible in the twenty first century, William."

My partner still appeared skeptical of the entire idea with his mouth pressed in a thin line. I realized that he was more obstinate than I gave him credit to be.

Again, my best friend came to the rescue. "You're wasting precious time, William. If you refuse I'll head straight to the principal and just slightly hint at the fact that you're willingly sabotaging your and another student's grade despite me convincing you to be sensible. Its senior year, William. You wouldn't want a bad comment on your recommendation letters, would you?
Think about it and let Victoria know."
He shot him a warning glare and walked away before promising to meet me at lunch.

William stood with a face devoid of expression. He turned to me with a malicious grin that made me recoil in fear. "Victoria Harris. So we finally meet again. You must have taken a quick look at that page haven't you? I meant what I wrote you know. You're a psychopath who has returned back to town, intent on destroying its peace and harmony by sinking your venomous claws into everyone's lives-"

I lifted a hand and cut him off. "You sure have a flair for the dramatics, don't you? Now when I come to think of it, you mentioned that you liked Bella but she didn't even mention you once to me. She didn't even possibly know who you were. Then why bother now?"

The familiar white hot flame of fury reared its head as I stepped forward. "She's gone. Accept the fact William. Isabella Valeria Marshall is gone. Dead. Maybe it's time for you to stop spreading the meaningless hatred that you've been nursing against me. Do me a favor and channel your disdain for me into something productive. Something like completing this measly assignment together. What do you say?"

"Sounds like a plan, Victoria. But you don't even need to worry about me."
The pale lanky boy started walking backwards. "There are plenty of dangerous sharks waiting for you in the deep waters that you should be swimming away from. Can I give you some free advice?"

I frowned. "What are you implying?"

He shrugged. "If I were you, I'd be watching my back every moment. You've got some bad blood with many of the students who you're not even aware of. So, beware." He shoots a mock salute and strolls to god knows where, whistling as if this conversation never happened.

I might have to pretend this never happened too.

..............

The house was dark when I trotted in. Pitch black bathed the rooms. I fumble for the switch which was some where on the left side of the wall.

"Karl? You there?" I whispered into the air. Somehow a shiver ran down my spine. It felt like the deadly calm before the storm.

"Karlos? Stop playing tricks with me!"

I turned on my phone and switched on the flashlight. In its feeble white beam I could make out the outlines of the furniture of the living room. Fingers crossed, I slowly slid to the corridor. A faint light flickered in Karl's room. He was home? Then why wasn't he responding? Is he asleep?

My stomach clenched as dread wrapped its icy fingers around my consciousness. Something was amiss. I hesitated for a moment before stepping towards his room.

What I beheld was inexplicable.

Shadows loomed inside the dark themed room while a lone candle burned at a deserted corner- the only source of light within the suffocating space. What was most fascinating was message taped on the window.

CHECK YOUR PHONE

Almost immediately, my phone vibrated signalling the arrival of a text. With bated breathe and shaky hands I tapped on the screen.

Tell that pesky brother of yours to stop poking his nose in matters which don't concern him. Or We'll make you and your loved ones bleed.

MD

My phone clattered to the floor when the doorbell rang out.

A/N: I apologize for the late update. Lots of changes took place. And remember, this whole writing is impromptu. I have nothing written down beforehand. So yeah. A fun fact about me: I love anything chocolate and I've never had a crush on anyone before. I know, a fun fact. Lol. Anyway signing off,

-a.b.