This is the fifth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV before continuing.
Addie couldn’t have arranged a better way to ruin my victory party if she had tried.
Even I didn’t feel like partying anymore, which is ironic when you consider that my victory over her was as complete as it could be.
We all headed outside to get away from the noise of the club. Too desperate to get more information, we didn’t bother trying to find another venue. We just stood in a circle on the sidewalk outside the club.
“What happened?” I said.
Sophie looked at me with an expression that was hard to read. It wasn’t exactly sympathy, but she definitely looked like she had something she didn’t want to tell me.
“What is it?”
“She took a bunch of pills. Everyone is saying it’s because of you.”
“What!”
I hadn’t meant to scream the word, but when I saw Sophie flinch, I took a breath and tried again. “How could they think I had anything to do with this?”
“They said you bullied her into it. Everyone is sharing screenshots of your social media posts from the last week.”
“My posts? What about your posts?”
“They’re sharing those, too,” Madison said without looking up from her phone. “They’re saying you created those posts and had us post them to our accounts. Some people are even saying you hacked our accounts.”
“That’s insane!” I could hear my voice rising in both pitch and volume, but Madison just shrugged.
I took another deep breath and let it out slowly as I considered my options. “It’s social media. It’ll die down in a few days, and then we can all go back to our lives.”
Sophie looked doubtful. “This is serious, Jessica. Someone died.”
“Someone ODed on some pills. That shit happens every day. It’s not my fault. Once the hysteria dies down, people will realize that.” They still looked doubtful, but they knew I was right, so we left it at that and said our goodbyes, each of us trudging home in a significantly more somber mood than the one we had started out.
As soon as I got home, I realized this wasn’t going to die down.
My parents were sitting at the dining room table, my dad with his arms folded over his chest, while my mom had her hands folded in front of her.
“Where have you been?” Dad said as I walked in.
“Out with some friends.”
“The school called,” Mom said.
Why do parents always do that? They never say why the school called or what they talked about. They just say, “the school called” and expect you to know how to react.
Since I didn’t know how to react, I said, “OK…”
“It’s really not OK,” said Dad, his voice so soft it made the words hit harder.
I gave up and asked outright. “What did they call about?”
“One of your classmates committed suicide.”
“Yeah, it’s all over social media.”
“The school has some … concerns,” said Mom.
“Like what?”
“Like you might have had something to do with it,” said Dad.
“Dan,” Mom said on a sigh.
“What?”
“We talked about this.”
Dad literally threw up his hands and left the room.
Mom sighed again. “The school said your recent social media activity was … aggressive.”
“She started it.”
“That’s really not going to help your case.”
“What case?”
“You’re suspended.”
“What?”
“They’re launching an investigation. Until they’ve reached a conclusion, you’re to stay off school grounds. I’ll go in in the morning to collect your things and get your assignments from your teachers.” “This is so not fair!” I stomped my foot, whirled around, and headed to my room, where I slammed the door shut.
To be continued…