Alexis could see how Odetta would be so distressed when staying in Penny's room. The smell was faint in the halls and other parts of the house but stayed strong in her bedroom. It was intoxicating in a bad way.

She went over to Penny's bed, seeing the tarp covering her whole body like Odetta said. Her corpse smelt of vinegar and—baking soda? Alexis didn't know what to do in Penny's room other than look away from her carcass

It was so odd being in the room of your friend's corpse. She went back to the teacup, seeing the bitter-looking ashes of tea leaves. She picked it up, sniffing it. She couldn't tell if it was the sickly sweet scent of honeysuckle or a foul odour.

She felt faint and placed it back on the desk. Alexis' heart beat faster and she felt faint. Does sniffing it also count as getting poisoned? She decided not to test her luck, moving away. There was a chair, which looked stable enough.

Alexis climbed on, wanting to get an overview of the room, trying not to wobble. She squinted, seeing a glint on the floor. But there wasn't anything there unless it was a secret compartment.

Her blood ran cold. She hopped off the chair, crouching down. She crawled towards the tiled floor, seeing a slight difference in the pattern upon further inspection. Alexis stuffed her fingers until it, prying it open.

The tile was hinged, so it swung out. Does Penny just not trust us enough? Alexis had to admit that it was a bit too much flair, even for Penelope Goode. There rested a pink diary with a lock, which probably caused the glint.

A lock, that seems a little childish, Alexis thought. But then again, her privacy wouldn't be invaded. It kind of looked like the Burn Book from Mean Girls, a movie that Penny adored on a Friday night when they should have been studying for a geography test. Penny already watched the movie before, but she loved it.

"The idea of a Burn Book is so cool!" she'd say.

"Don't you mean fetch?" Tellie teased, spilling over a bowl of popcorn. "Oh crap—"

"We should make a Burn Book too," Penny said, nodding.

"Riiight, like writing unpleasant info about students at our school is so cool," Alexis replied, rolling her eyes. She was trying to take geography notes, but got caught up in the movie and snacking as well.

"You are a joy-kill," Penny huffed, crossing her arms.

Alexis remembered that night well, it was back in 7th grade where things were more simple. Less fights between them all, less sour words being exchanged. Alexis guessed that Penny really did make a Burn Book because there was an image of red lips stained on the cover.

"How fetch..." Alexis mumbled, hearing soft thuds of footsteps. She quickly closed the hinged tile, tucking Penny's diary inside her oversized sweater. She was so hot and sweaty in it, but now Alexis was glad she wore it.

"Alexis?" Tellie's voice came from the hall, opening the door shyly. She stopped dead when she remembered that Penny's dead body was still laying on her bed. Tellie looked away, staring at the floor. "You shouldn't be here."

"Sorry, I was just—"

"It's already hard e-enough with her death," Tellie said, her voice hoarse. "I can't even...tsk. Look, Alexis, st-stay out of it. It's bad enough, but you can't just be Nancy Drew. We all are happy."

We all are happy.

Alexis was blasting Tate McRae music in her headphones, closing her door. She untucked the diary from her sweater, throwing it on her bed. She changed into a tank top, jumping onto her bed.

It felt weird to invade Penny's privacy, wrong even, but she was dead. Plus, Alexis could literally be treading on thin ice among her peers. She managed to smash off the lock with the edge of her nightlight.

She flipped through the first few pages, seeing that they dated back a few years. She was also stunned to see that Penny's handwriting style stayed consistent while hers changed with every pencil.

Dear diary (or Burn Book from Mean Girls),

I hate Mr. Bradford or whatever his snobby name is. It was my birthday a few days ago, well, the private and exclusive one. Father didn't allow any of my friends to attend.

He's an old and grubby man, plus, he looks like he uses way too much hair gel. He strutted up to Father and Mother, smiling and saying happy birthday to me. He kept looking at my frilly blue dress like a creep. "Oh my, Penelope, how you have grown so tall!"

That was an obvious lie, I'm as short as a stump. But I replied with, "Oh hello, Mr. Bradford! How are you?"

He then just blabs about stock markets and it's SO boring. Then Mr. Bradford mentions my education, which sparked my interest. I told him that went to a common public school instead of a preppy private one. "Oh dear, I quite frankly question your university applications with such a basic school."

"I'm good, thanks," I'd reply, but then Mother elbowed me out of shame.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter, hm? Your father and mother are rich enough to buy a whole university, isn't that right, Penelope? Daddy's little girl, ah, always Daddy's little girl? Speaking of girls, I met a lovely woman named Joyce..."

From then on, I hated Mr. Bradford. It's always Daddy's little girl, those words are dead to me. It pisses me off, and I just want to tear off his greasy hair. The worst thing is—my parents didn't even help me. They just stood there, nodding and talking, as Mr. Bradford blabbed about his new girlfriend, Joyce Workers.

I hope this Joyce woman leaves him for good.

Alexis closed the diary briefly, pondering. Penny never spoke of Mr. Bradford in her entire life. She supposed that Penny didn't want to dig up bad memories, she couldn't blame her. Another song was playing—you broke me first by Tate McRae. Iconic.

Dear diary,

I met a girl named Odetta, a nice girl. She didn't tell me how fancy my clothes were or asked how much money Father and Mother made. She came up to me, saying, "I think you reek."

"Excuse me?"

"You need to cut the B. O., new girl.," Odetta'd say, handing me a stick of deodorant that smelt of cumbers and roses. "This is mine, but I think we can share. Sure, we might get an infection, but I'll ask for your dad to pay for it. You're the Goodes, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a pool?"

"Uhm, no?"

"That stinks, having so much cash, and still no pool!" she complained back as I rubbed the deodorant against my pits. It felt weird to apply deodorant in the middle of the girls' washroom, though, no one seemed to care.

"My father is thinking of adding a pool, probably when I'm a freshman in highschool," I told Odetta. "I'm thinking of joining the swim team, I want to keep swimming, it's fun. But mainly to survive."

"Sounds cool," she replied, shrugging. "You better invite me when the pool is built."

From then on, I knew I liked Odetta Johnston.

So that's how the two met, over slight clatter, plus Odetta's awesome social skills. Alexis never knew that Penny wanted to join the swim team in freshman year, there were some mentions of it, but no details.

Alexis remembered that there was something that happened in freshman year on the swim team, but never listened to all the gossip or drama until she met Penny. She's watched Gossip Girl ever since.

Alexis flipped through the next few pages, absorbing all of the information. It was wrong, yes, she knew. Would this even help Alexis find out what actually happened to Penelope? She wasn't sure, but she had to know if someone in the group hated her.

She stumbled onto her meeting with Tellie Hollows.

Dear diary,

I heard of all the rumours about Porta Hollows, and I'm kind of weirded out. I heard the girls gossiping behind the bleacher for track, our school really likes track apparently. "I heard that Porta did the seedy and lipstick-on-the-collar kind of stuff," a girl whispered.

"At least Porta got her pay," another laughed. But then the girls spotted Porta's daughter, Tellie. She stared at them, looking like a menace. The girls squealed, scurrying off.

"Aren't you with them?" she asked, approaching me.

"I'm above these losers," I shrugged, flipping over my hair. "I'm Penelope Goode, you know, the stereotypical mean and spoiled rich girl. It's so peevish, and annoying, you know?"

"Yeah," she agreed, showing off her baggy clothes. "I'm Tellie Hollows, stereotypical tomboy and lonely kid with a wrenched mother. So I know what you mean, kind of."

"I saw you on the track team," I said. "You were pretty fast."

"It's all about pacing," Tellie explained to me, grinning. "You're so awesome."

Alexis smiled a bit before it turned into a frown. Penny knew Odetta and Tellie for such a long time, it made her feel more like an outsider than a friend. She flipped through more pages, until she stumbled across a single sentence on an entry written in all caps and seemingly in a rush.

DEAR DIARY,

I KILLED SOMEONE.