It was about 1:30 in the morning by the time we finally stopped arguing with each other. We were all tired. We all knew that we needed the time to figure out what went wrong. The only reason we never figured it out before was because we all split up right after Lucy died. But that was always the plan. When Lucy was gone, we had to act like she was the glue to our friendship and we lost touch with each other because of that.
"I hate this. I hate that I feel like I don't know you two anymore. I hate that I don't know anyone outside of Pennview. I hate that we even advertised this stupid plan." I finally stated to them. I just felt tired. So very tired.
"Yeah. Me too." Ashley looks at the ground. We all just kind of sat and looked at each other in silence.
"It was hard for me too. I always felt singled out as a pastor's daughter to begin with. Then, having a friend like Lucy, someone who made me feel like I was seen and loved, it's no wonder I fell in so deep into her charms." Nicole seemed like she was ashamed of herself. "Lucy was my best friend, but also my worst enemy. And I hate that she made me feel like that."
"I know what you mean. That one time we were all at the mall and Lucy said we should all get a matching piercing!" We all started laughing. "Oh my gosh. My mom was about to wring my neck over that. Then I said Lucy made me, and she says 'Samantha Charlotte, if Lucy told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?' and I just said yeah I would." The thought made me sad. "Why did we let her treat us like that?"
"The way my dad reacted was priceless. He just looks at us and is like 'so, matching nose piercings. How original. Nicole, I will expect you to take that out.' I put up such a fight because it cost us like forty bucks!" We all laughed. "Ashley's the only one who kept hers!"
"Hey! I'll have you know that I have the perfect nose ring nose." We all laughed even harder. "I still have that very first stud. I don't wear it anymore, but I kept it." It was a baby blue gem on a stud nose ring that we all got on the right side. "Lucy's favorite color was that baby blue. So, I guess I decided to keep it because it reminded me of that day. Say what you want about Lucy, but you both know we had a lot of fun with her too."
She was right about that. It was starting to get later in the night. It was now three in the morning, and we are just reliving old Lucy memories. Neither of us want to bring up the real reason for this meeting. But that's okay because we don't really have to discuss it. It's in the past and nothing we talk about is going to change that. No matter how many times we go over that night, nothing is going to change the fact that our best friend is dead. She's not coming back, so we just all need to tread lightly with this new detective.
"So, maybe if we all put our minds together, maybe we can figure out where exactly Lucy went and who really killed her. You know, before we get blamed for the entire thing?" I wasn't sure if it would actually work, but we needed to figure this out so that we don't reveal too much without us even knowing it.
"I'll agree, but..." Nicole paused. "I'm just not sure how we're going to figure that out in the next three hours." Nicole points up at the clock sitting above her dad's desk. "The only thing I can recall is when we all met up with her before we took her out to the shore that night."
"Yeah same here. I didn't hear anything from her after she left us in the middle of the night without a trace." I said with a hint of disdain in my voice. "What about you Ashley?" I look over at Ashley who looks like she's about ready to break down, sobbing. "Ash?"
"What?" She tried to make it look and sound like she didn't know what we were talking about.
"Ashley, did you hear from Lucy?" Nicole asked with a mad, maybe hurt, tone.
"I-um..." Ashley looked like she was choking. "Yes, okay? Yeah, I heard from her two days after that!" She looked like a ghost. She just went pale.
"Okay? And?" I asked. Hoping she would explain a lot further.
"She called me that Tuesday morning and told me that she needed more time before she was ready to come home. I asked her what she was doing and she said something weird." Nicole and I looked at her, pleading for her to continue. "She said..." She paused, trying to remember exactly how Lucy said it, "She said she was trying to find out who she came from."
"Who she came from? That doesn't make any sense Ash, are you sure that's what she said?" Nicole asked.
"Yeah. That's exactly how she put it. But think about it, she was at that party with Karma after she got into a huge fight with her mom. But she never told me what the fight was about. She just said her mom isn't who she thought she was. But-" Ashley stopped for a minute, "wait a minute." Ashley looked excited about something. "The Junior trip!" She blurted out like she finally cracked the unknowable code of Lucy Marshall. Nicole and I just looked at her like she was insane.
"What about the junior trip?" Nicole asked.
"Remember? We were about to go to Italy for a few months to study abroad, but Lucy's dad told her 'it just wasn't in the cards.'" Ashley quoted Brian, Lucy's dad with her "male" voice. That always made me chuckle.
"Okay, yeah I do remember that. I think she tried to go to her mom's that summer to get her to say she can go. But why wouldn't they let her go?" I asked.
"I don't know, but we're not going to figure it out tonight. We have thirty minutes to get you back to your room before the night shift changes and we all get caught." Nicole was always one for being a stickler on time. She would never be late for anything in her life.