"Mad...at me?" I was confused.

My best friend snorted and narrowed her eyebrows. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"What else? To see you. We are friends, remember?"

"Friends? Jee, you are a liar."

Liar? I was not a liar! I had never been one! And why would I lie to Dejah? She is a good person!

"What has gotten into you? We are most certainly friends. Best friends! I thought that you were taking a liking to me."

"I was. I actually thought that you were different from the others. You welcomed me into your life. You treated me with such kindness, and this is how you repay me?"

I was totally lost now. "Are you...joking around or something?"

Her face instantly turned red, and she clenched her hands into tight fists. I realized now that she was not messing with me.

"Are you kidding me?!" she exclaimed angrily. She seemed to be on the verge of exploding. Like a volcano. "You know what? Your dumb question does not surprise me. It should not."

I held up my hands to my chest, telling her to relax and showing her that I would never want to hurt her. "I-I am sorry. I have no idea why you are mad at me."

"Sorry? You? After what you did? Huh?"

"Why are you angry at our big sister, Dejah?" Elena and Elaine demanded.

"What are you talking about, Dejah?" I questioned her. "What did I do?"

My friend played with her fingers tilted her head to the side. "I am really...mad at you."

At this point, I was panicking. What the heck did I do wrong?!

"Why? Why?!" I could feel myself tearing up. "Whatever I did that supposedly harmed you, I am sorry! Really!"

"Hmm. I do not think that you are sorry at all." She disappeared into her house and soon reappeared with a newspaper in her hands. She handed it to me and pointed to a section. "This is why I am upset, and it is by you."

I glanced at the section and read the article without hesitation. This is what it said:

"DANOS FAMILY - EVIL PEOPLE!
Dejah Danos and her family are nothing but racist people who should be put to death. They are an embarrassment to mankind and should not exist.
*This article was written by Eleanor Pier.*"

My first and last names were written in cursive.

"B-but..." I sputtered. "I-I would never say horrible things like that! I swear, Dejah! I swear!"

"But you wrote the article," Dejah defended her suspicion. "That is your name. There are no other Eleanor Piers whom I know. It is no coincidence."

"There has to be some mistake!" Elaine piped in.

"Our sister is not capable of that!" Elena defended me. "She has a pure heart!"

She glared at my little sisters. "Not all good people are good. I learned that from my religion." She looked back at me. "We are through being friends. I never want to see you or hear from you ever again!" She slammed the door.

I was so stunned. I could not move or speak. All of my muscles tensed.

What just happened?

"Eleanor, what did you do?" Elena asked.

"I...I do not know," I said. I crumpled up the newspaper into a ball and frowned. "But I know for sure that I did not write that article." I threw it at the yard that was on the other side of the graveyard in anger. "Somebody set me up."

"But who?" Elaine wondered.

"That is what we have to find out."

"Miss, is this yours?" I heard someone say.

We all looked around and spotted an old woman standing in the yard where I had thrown the newspaper. She picked up the newspaper ball and stared at us.

"You know that leaving trash on nature's grounds is illegal," she called to us.

"We know!" I called back. "Sorry. I was planning to pick it up and throw it away." I then squinted at her.

Why did she look so familiar?

That is when it hit me.

"Edna?"