"Arbel" Rosie called out in an impatient voice.
Rosie was still trying to figure out if the face, the face she thought Sophia was making was real or just her imagination.
but Arbel ignored her
"Sophia-" Arbel said
"- It's important, I know Corey is dead, but don't hide information from me. I know it's related to leo disappearance, I feel it. So please tell me, what's the story with Corey?"
Sophia made a face and Rosie was sure that Sophia would fold and say nothing at all.
But instead she surprised her, and the young and delicate girl looked her directly in the eyes
Sophia sighed "I know you're not supposed to say unkind things to someone who's died, but I just don't like Corey. I know Leo gets along with everyone but Corey was always so... self-interested"
"Self-interested?" Rosie repeated
Sophia struggled to find the words "Like he liked hanging out with him, but only on his own terms. Embarrassed him to be friends with someone a year younger than him i guess"
"But Leo didn't care?" Arbel guessed
Sophia nodded "But that's not even the only reason I don't like him"
Rosie and Arbel exchanged glances and motioned for her to continue talking
The words came out of Sophia more easily now, as if the tap had been turned on when they started talking about Corey .
She sure really didn't like him
"Corey's just weird, like one of those people who if someone told you they collected dead butterflies you'd think it made sense.
The kind of people that even if they haven't done anything to you, you know you can't trust them. Does that make sense?"
No it wasn't, but Rosie's not going to say that.
"That bad?" Rosie Asked her instead
Sophia nodded and continued:
"And is it true that they say you can know people by their friends? Corey's friends are much worse, they're weirder, even violent"
Sophia nodded to herself
"One of Cory's friends once slapped Leo"
Rosie's eyes widened
"Wait what? Why? Who did you hear that from?" Arbel asked
"I saw it myself-" Sophia insisted
"-when I was walking with Leo to the mall. Then she came and grabbed Leo and she started talking nonsense. At first I didn't care because Leo knows a lot of people, but she sounded completely crazy"
Arbel leaned forward, eyes sparkling like stars "Crazy how?"
Now it was easier for Sophia to speak, apparently, because she didn't take the time to form the words
"At first she wasn't sure it was Leo at all, then she started acting like Leo was there on purpose, like he was following her-" Sophia shook her head
"- then she started accusing him of things and talking nonsense, when Leo tried to calm her down she just slapped him in the face and ran away"
Rosie raised her hand "Wait, I'm confused, how does this have to do with Cory?"
And how does that relate to how much you hate him? She thought.
Sophia made a vague gesture in the air with her hand "Because she kept talking about him! She blamed him and Cory and God knows who else"
Sophia shook her head "It was so weird that after that I asked a few of Leo's friends and mine friends, and no one, not even one, knew who she was or recognized her picture. No one except Corey. He said he didn't know her, but I know, I'm sure he lied."
Sophia laughed, But it was a cold laugh
"- after that he just walked away with a red face, like he knew something"
There was a lot going on here but Rosie focused on just one. The same question that came to her mind the second she saw how Sophia reacted to Corey's name.
"You really don't like Corey huh?"
Sophia's gaze tightened. "I've been on the soccer team for a year, and he's the only one that I never understood. I never talked to him and he never tried to talk to me.
I just don't like him, I don't trust him, he's just not right for me."
Rosie furrowed her brow. "You remember he died, right?" Rosie asked. "It's kind of weird to hate someone dead so much."
But Sophia just let out a breath. "Just because someone died doesn't mean they're a better or nicer person. I didn't like Corey when he was alive, and the fact that he died didn't make me like him any more."
Rosie was impressed. just a little, but still. Sophia seemed so gentle, but her mentality was as tough as iron.
She began to understand why she and Leo were friends. Like ben, like sophia, Leo seemed to attract a certain type of person.
"Wait-" Arbel interrupted her train of thought "-You said you showed people a picture of her? Do you still have the picture? It's a slim chance but I might recognize her"
Sophia looked skeptical but she took her phone out of her back pocket "I have a whole video-" she corrected
"-I was sure she was going to attack Leo so I recorded it in case it... um... got to the police?"
Rosie nodded to herself, that sounded right.
Sophia tapped the screen on her phone then put it back in her pocket
"I sent you the video-" she told Arbel
"- but I don't think it's really going to help anything"
Arbel nodded and checked that she had indeed received the video. Then she signaled to Rosie that everything was fine and Rosie sighed
"Is there anything else you want to ask Sofia?" she asked Arbel.
Arbel thought about it for a bit then shook her head.
"Anything else you want to tell us?" She checked with Sofia.
Sofia also shook her head, "If I remember anything, I'll send Arbel a message," she added.
Rosie didn't know when Sofia had received Arbel's phone, but right now it was helping them so she didn't really care.
The girls parted ways with Sofia. Rosie stood aside in embarrassment while Sofia and Arbel hugged.
"If you need anything, hear anything, tell me-" Then Sofia blushed a little, returning to her shy behavior from earlier
"-as if only if you want to, of course."
Only when Rosie and Arbel got on the bus back home Rosie spoke.
"You know there's something strange going on between Sophia and Cory, right? Such hatred? It doesn't come easily."
Arbel sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I just don't get it, if Cory was really that bad, why did Leo hang out with him?"
Rosie shrugged. She thought about telling her that Leo wasn't always the best judge of character, that sometimes he didn't know or was wrong, that maybe he just didn't care.
But she didn't want to hurt Arbel.
And besides, she'd known Leo for almost as long as she'd known his sister. And she certainly cared about him a lot, she wanted to believe that the boy, the caring, loving boy in her mind was real.
That even with all the lies and weird things they were discovering, that Leo at his core was still always going to be a good person.
So she sighed and instead motioned for Arbel to get her phone out. "Want to see the video?" she asked Arbel.
Arbel nodded and pulled her phone out.
Rosie leaned her head against the bus window while Arbel pressed play.