"Why does that even matter?" Rebecca asked as the two girls walked out of the courthouse and into the parking lot. "It's not like you're going to go have sleepovers with them."

"My dad hasn't cared about any part of my life until he thought I was stealing money from Hank. He hasn't come down to visit me at school once, and now here he is, staying in a hotel less than a mile away while I stand trial for the murder of his apparent best friend. And he certainly isn't here to support me," Kennedy shook her head, walking briskly towards her car and thanking God that she had been allowed to park far from everyone else, where no reporters would be able to find her car and rip through it, "you said that the website involved all four of them. Lydia, my dad, Hank and ADA Karl. I want to know why this was the first time in my life my father has shown any interest in me."

"That's kind of sad—"

"My entire family life is kind of sad, Rebecca." Kennedy snapped, unlocking her car. "I'll meet you at the Smoothie King that we went to after our volleyball game last summer." She checked her watch, which blinked 5:57 PM, "Be there at 6:30 with your laptop. Tomorrow they start questioning witnesses, and I want to be as prepared as possible for anything the ADA might pull."

She got into her car and closed the door before Rebecca could argue with her, turning it on and driving away from the courthouse.

Her mind raced and her heart went even faster, causing her to wonder if it was even safe for her to be driving. Then again, she had hit a man with her car, was put on trial for it, and they still hadn't revoked her license or given her any disciplinary measures in that department. If she got in an accident at this point, it was kind of on law enforcement's conscience, not hers.

Kennedy had always been good at getting out of bad situations. She had always had a knack for manipulating everything and everyone to get her way. She had never gotten anything but straight A's her entire life due to the fact that she wasn't against sleeping with a professor or two to help them forget about a failed midterm. She had passed her driver's test on the first try despite hitting a STOP sign because the proctor had told her that he had a daughter her age, and she started crying when he said she wouldn't pass. She 'accidentally' called him 'Dad' when she was crying, and he seemed to be a bit more forgiving.

Kennedy had been the center of every social circle, the center of attention at every party, the one who got her friends out of speeding tickets and into clubs when they had been underage. Her mastery of manipulation had somewhat made up for what her home life had always lacked: it provided her with the feeling of people genuinely caring about her.

A very real part of her was fully aware that she didn't have real friends and that she had been emotionally abusive to every guy she had ever dated. She knew she came across as someone who only cared about herself. And she was pretty sure that getting to the bottom of whatever perverse four-way was going on between Lydia, Kristopher, Hank and Jaxson would give her a semblance of the reasoning behind her twisted childhood.

Plus, it felt nice to have Rebecca speaking to her again. Not that she was planning to admit that to the other girl.

She got to the Smoothie King that she had instructed Rebecca to meet her at and sat in her car, staring at the front door of the shop. There was a high chance that Rebecca was going to be questioned the following day; the prosecution's witnesses were set to start testifying right away and Kennedy knew that Hotchky wasn't going to go easy on the cross. They had to make sure their stories lined up before either one of the girls testified—Kennedy's freedom depended on it.

Kennedy sat in her car until 6:26 PM, when Rebecca pulled up right next to her and Kennedy was jolted out of her thoughts by the slamming of a car door. She looked to her left to see Rebecca walking into the store, laptop in tow, and followed suit.

The girls ordered smoothies and then sat down at a table towards the back corner of the shop, connecting Rebecca's laptop to the free wifi.

"Alright. Show me this website."

Rebecca pulled up the site and Kennedy scrolled through it for a moment to see what they were working with. Typos all over the place, no working links, and the bizarre claim at the top of the page that Hank or Lydia had ever gotten anywhere near getting a JD. Or passing the bar.

"Do you think anything on here is going to show a connection between Hank and ADA Karl? Like something that could get him thrown off my case?" Kennedy asked.

Rebecca shrugged.

"I'm not sure, honestly. Like, yes, it says their names at the top, but there are no pictures or phone numbers or any real identifying information that could solidly say it was the two of them on this site. They could make the case that it was a completely different Hank Wilcox, since your Hank wasn't an attorney."

"I guess that's true," Kennedy muttered, turning back to the computer. It was one of the most bizarre things she had seen in her life—why was this random website—linking together her abusive ex, her father, her stepmother, and the district attorney trying to get her thrown in jail—even online in the first place?

"I want someone tracking this site." Kennedy said after staring at the homepage for a few more minutes, "We need someone to be on this, but I don't know who would be willing to help us. Or who would be good enough to do so without Lydia noticing."

"I could hire a PI." Rebecca suggested, and Kennedy glanced over at her like she was a bit insane, "What? You can't hire a PI. It would look suspicious and cause issues with your trial. If I hired them, or got Celeste or Spencer to hire them, then they could do the same thing without being connected to your name."

Kennedy looked at Rebecca without speaking for a few moments. She wanted to trust her, she truly did. But a giant part of her was screaming that Rebecca wanted revenge on Kennedy for dragging her into this mess in the first place. She couldn't have forgiven Kennedy that quickly, right? It made more sense for her to be trying to get Kennedy thrown into jail than trying to help her.

"You're impossible," Rebecca shook her head before Kennedy said a word, "I'm trying to help you. I don't know why, but I am."

"I just don't want—"

"I'm not going to turn on you," Rebecca interrupted, "I'm still angry with you for what you did to me, with the Drew Parley account and the accomplice to murder shit. But you were stalked. You were in danger and didn't know what to do, and I'm sure there are things Hank did that you haven't even brought up. You made stupid decisions, but you don't deserve to go to jail for this. You deserved to have people help you before you felt like this was your only option."

Kennedy was quiet. She had never met anyone like Rebecca before—someone who was willing to forgive her for the terrible things she had done to them. Kennedy had lost friend after friend throughout her life, for stupid little things that she had done to make them feel less than. She had never mistreated anyone quite to the extent that she had mistreated Rebecca, and yet the girl was still willing to help her.

"You really think I don't deserve to go down for this?"

Rebecca nodded.

"You deserve an expensive-ass therapy bill and to have your license suspended, but that's about it." Rebecca replied, "You don't deserve to go to jail for becoming desperate to get rid of your stalker."

Kennedy sighed.

"Okay, then." She nodded, "Let's call Celeste."

><><

"Sure."

Rebecca's eyes widened a bit as she stared at Celeste, who was casually sipping on Rebecca's Slim-N-Trim Veggie smoothie.

"'Sure'?" She repeated, "Just like that?"

Celeste nodded, taking another sip of the smoothie.

"I think I'll order this one." She said quietly, standing up to go wait in line.

Kennedy looked at Rebecca in confusion.

"That seemed way too easy."

"You need to fix your trust issues," Rebecca replied quickly, "But yeah. That was quick."

She watched as Celeste walked up to the counter to order her smoothie. Her best friend had evidently not been doing anything when Rebecca called asking her to come over to Smoothie King, and she had made it over less than fifteen minutes later.

"I thought she hated me." Kennedy mumbled.

"She does. She just doesn't hate me."

"Fair enough."

Celeste returned seven minutes later with her smoothie in hand, sitting down in between the other two girls.

"You'll be paying for the investigator, right?" She directed her question at Kennedy.

"Yeah, I will." Kennedy nodded, "I'll pay you in cash for whatever you pay them. I don't want anyone to track Venmo payments or anything like that."

"Sounds good." Celeste nodded. "And what exactly am I hiring this PI to do?"

"We need access to what's going on with this website." Rebecca replied, "Something's up with it, and I can't figure out what its point is, or how to use it."

"Why do you need a private investigator for that?"

"We can't do it ourselves. Kennedy's stepmother can see when people access the site, so we need someone who can do so under the radar."

"What if the PI doesn't know anything about technology?"

"We'll find one that does." Rebecca laughed, "I think that part is the least of our concerns."

"Can I tell Spencer about it?"

"The less people who know, the better."

"So...is that a 'no'?"

"It's an 'I'd rather you not.'"

"I see." Celeste nodded, "No private investigator pillow talk."

Rebecca crinkled up her nose.

"Ew."

The three girls spent another half hour instructing Celeste on exactly what to tell the private investigator, and then used Celeste's computer to find one. Kennedy double-checked that there were no connections to Leo Lutz or Jaxson Karl on the potential PI's social media, and they were set.

"Keep us updated." Kennedy instructed Celeste, "But I gotta go. Prosecution starts questioning their witnesses tomorrow, and I don't think I'll be able to handle what happens on no sleep."

"Will you even be able to sleep?" Rebecca asked.

Kennedy thought for a moment.

"Probably not. But I'll try."

'But I'll try' seemed to be the mantra for the two girls as of late. Not a particularly inspiring one, if Rebecca were honest with herself.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long time without an update.

My one announcement for right now is that if you visit linktr.ee/katherinepowell, you can fill out a form to get FREE (yes, 100% free) Dear Sydney stickers! I'm trying out some merch and want feedback on them, so...yeah! Fill out the form if you want some free stuff.

-Katherine