I take my usual seat beside Amelia as she looks at me as if expecting me to say something
"What?"
"You didn't hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Letisha" I waited for her to finished
"Letisha's dead" my eyes widen in shock
"No, sorry Letisha was murdered" I gasp loudly.
Damn, Letisha was an ass but death's too gruesome. I'm unfazed though, my mom died in front of people. People die everyday, she was young, too young but death doesn't know age.
School went on for the day as usual, we were visited by the police for some questioning. I heard her body was found in the morning. Everyone who was at the party were called in for questioning, that's like almost the entire school. More attention was placed on our class.
---
"I don't recall seeing her at the party, I was in and out of there in seconds. I was too furious to notice anyone" I say to the lady detective
"You were furious? With who" she asks
"Dani, Dani Jackson"
"You were physical and aggressive, Dani say. Okay you're free"
I take my leave to find Amelia. Amelia was not called upon, She wasn't at the party.
"How was it" I nod as she says
"Who do you think did it?" I ask Amelia
We walk down the hall to the cafeteria. I am famished. We both grab something to eat and find our usual spot.
"Look around" I do as she says as I turn my gaze back to her
"Anyone could have done it" she points at a boy at the far end of my left side
"I heard Letisha collects his feeding fee, everyday" she gestures to a girl not too far
"In fifth grade Letisha added glue to her Shampoo, she had to chop all her hair off, that one over there, was bullied by Letisha for having a crush on the boy she liked"
"And how do you know all these, you just got here" she shrugs
"I have good ears"
Someone takes a seat opposite mine, Grey. Of course his crew followed him, filling up the spaces at our table.
"You are here again"
"I like this table" he says as he focuses on his food. Dani is missing as if Amelia read my thoughts.
"Where's Dani" she asks no one in particular
Ken replies "She absent, someone embarrassed her yesterday and she couldn't handle the shame. I also feel that person should apologize to Dani"
I smile "oh my the person must have been truly furious, being stranded in the middle of nowhere must have been tough and tiring, walking miles before seeing civilization must have been hectic, it must have messed with her head, what do you think Amelia"
"Yeah, yeah sure" I looked at her,she was focused on her phone. Everyone's phone in the cafeteria kept beeping, people were gasping.
I scooted over to see what the fuss was about as Ken and Grey reach for their phones. It's News on the dead body found this morning, some of her body parts are missing. She's left with four toes on each of her feet and four fingers on each of her hand.
Grey angrily leaves the cafeteria stomping on his feets. I followed him out
"Grey," I call out
"I didn't know you were close with her, are you fine?"
"I haven't spoken a word to her for years, I have no business with Letisha. I have exchanged one or two words with her friend, Jen but not her" he corrects as he walks away but I continue to follow him. I do not know why.
Speaking of Jen I have not seen her today, we walked to the school's swimming pool.
He notices me behind me "is there something you'd like to say" I shake my head. "Okay"
He removes his shirt as my eyes widen, I turn around. He goes for a deep in the pool, I turn around as he pokes his head out of the water.
"Join me" he says
"Noooooo" I drag
"Your loss"
"Why do I feel you're upset"
"And since when did you care about my feelings" he says. You know what? that's true. As I turn to leave, the bell rings. Nice timing.
"Stay" I hear loud and clear but I ask
"What did you say?"
"Stay" I sit on the floor near the edge of the pool. We sit in silence for about a minute or two as we engage in a staring competition.
"Does John stay over regularly"
"That was his first time, what do you care about him staying the night"
"I do care"
"Why are you upset?" I drift from the topic.
"She died at my party, Karen. Is that not enough reason. My dad is being dragged online for it. He's pissed, pissed as hell"
"Oh yeah, the almighty mayor's son"
"Are you mocking me?"
"A girl died Grey, a freaking living, breathing human being and all you care about is yours and your dad's reputation" I stand to my feet.
" it's not like that, you don't get it"
"No, no, no I get it. I understand it clearly" I walk out on him. He does not bother to call back.
----
At home, I microwave the leftover pizza for myself and Amelia. We are working on a project for school but first, we gotta eat.
"Here you go" I hand over a plate with a slice of pizza.
"Thank you"
We turned on the television, and binge watched King the Land.
"So, tell me. What's between you and Grey"
"Grey?" I laughed hysterically
"Grey, gosh, you've got to be kidding me. Grey is" I stop to look at her as she licks her lips "Grey's no one"
Our eyes meets, like magnet we draw closer to each other inch by inch. She stares at my lips and I watch her, closer and closer, I can feel her breath and I know damn well she could hear my heart beat faster than normal.
"You're beautiful" Amelia says
The door bell rings and we drift apart. Oh you've got to be kidding me
It rings again "who is it? I am coming"
I look through the peephole. Why? Just my luck.
"Grey" he didn't allow me to finish, as he welcomed himself in
"Feel at home" I roll my eyes and lock the door.
"Hey Amelia" he greets "I gotta talk to you for a sec, alone" he says to me.
"Whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of Amelia" his look is stern.
"Fine, they think one of us did it"
"Did what, who are the 'us'"
"My father said their suspect list goes thus: Dani Jackson, Ken Drew, Grey Justice, Karen Anderson."
"What, why , why would they think so"
"Amelia was on the list but her alibi checks in;her parents but us? My alibi is you, I was with you all night, after your place I met up with Ken. Ken's alibi is me and Dani. Dani's alibi is Ken and me. Do you get?"
"I have no motive to even kill the bitch"
"Words Karen, let's respect the dead" Amelia says
"To hell with the dead, I have nothing to hide. I did nothing or did you?" I ask Grey
"My hands are clean, look I just came to inform you. I felt you needed to know"
"There's nothing to be afraid of. Please leave I'm tired I want to be alone"
If I hear one more word about the death of Letisha I'm going to lose it. Even at death she succeeded at being a burden to us all.
--- Years ago
"Hey, I like your shirt. Where did you get it from" a girl asks
"Uhm from my wardrobe?" Karen answers
"Letisha, come on. Let's go" a girl from a distance beckons at her
"I'm coming Jen, bye, see you around and welcome to Penny Wise High School" Letisha takes her leave.
When Karen had just joined the school after her mother's death. No one knew of her past, yet. Letisha had constantly asked Karen where she got her clothes from. They never engaged in any other discussion apart from that.
Letisha took interest in Karen, she envied her.
"Why does she smell good" Letisha once asked Jen
"Where did she get her boots"
"Why is she always wearing black"
"Her hair is shiny, what shampoo does she use"
These were the words that always seemed to be on the tip of Letisha's tongue. Letisha was curious and then joyous 'cause she found out Karen's secret. A charity case.
All she did was Google 'Karen Carolina Anderson'. It had brought out the accident that occurred months ago when Karen's mom died. Luckily for Letisha, there was a video of Karen jumping from the building.
Letisha out of envy and pure hatred posted the video on her timeline, tagging it as : The girl who killed her mother trying to save herself goes to my school. It gained Letisha a lot of followers.
Karen got to school the following day and students had distanced themselves from her. She was stigmatized and all alone. Karen was called names while being secretly feared by many.
"She killed her mother" " murderer"
"Did you hear about the new girl" was all was ringing in Karen's mind.
Karen had watched the video seconds after Letisha posted it. Karen stalked Letisha's social media page. Karen thought they could be friends, Letisha was the only one who spoke to her apart from the boy at the back who constantly stared at her like she was an art piece. Since then Karen hated Letisha. Karen's life never remained the same.
Amelia was right when she said everyone hated Letisha. Karen thought.