“Because I can’t be associated with any of that. I have too many things lined up after graduation. If my name gets tossed in there, the whole thing will blow up.”
I thought about how the officer reacted when I gave them my whereabouts.
“I get your concern, but the police already know you were there,” I informed him. “The sooner you can talk to them, the better. They were asking me about my whereabouts, and you are the only person I was with for the last hour of the party. They said they were going to verify that with you.”
“Brooklyn…” He shook his head slowly. “As soon as my name gets in it, the tabloids will twist it and make it look like it was my party.”
“I don’t think it’ll be like that. If you tell them the truth, it’ll be clear that you and I weren’t involved with any of the other stuff going on. We weren’t drinking. We weren’t doing drugs. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
He stared at me. Remorse saddened his features. “If I have to give a statement, of course I’ll let them know where we were.”
My mouth opened slightly. IF he has to give a statement? IF? Really?
I leaned closer to him. “Dakota and some other cheerleaders are telling people that I’m responsible for the fire and whatever else happened at the house that night. I didn’t do anything, but they are already spreading that around.”
“Yeah, I told the guys you were downstairs with me so you couldn’t have taken any of their stuff or started any of the fires,” he assured me. “I came back down to the basement to prove to them you were with me, but you were gone.” He paused for a moment. “Where did you go?”
I made a face. “When I heard one of your boys say something about shoving dicks in our mouths, I didn’t feel safe anymore,” I snapped in frustration. Squeezing my eyes shut, I let out a shaky breath. “Aiden, you are literally the only person who can prove I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“My parents worked too hard for me to be splashed on the front page of some tabloid over some bullshit I didn’t have anything to do with. But let me talk to my lawyer. He may be able to figure something out.” He touched my arm. “It’s going to be okay.”
I looked at him. His beautiful face completely oblivious to what was going on. He was so focused on the blowback on him and his family that he wasn’t recognizing how serious this situation was getting for me.
“That’s easy for you to say,” I objected softly, tears stinging my throat. “I didn’t have a lawyer on retainer to speak for me, so I told the police the truth. They already know I was there. They know my phone was in Carter’s possession. They know I ran home because the cheerleaders left me. So that’s a chunk of time I was alone. If for most of the time I was there, I was with you and you don’t want to be involved with it, where does that leave me? Because the cheerleaders are saying that I somehow planned to burn stuff, steal stuff, and sink a boat. That means it’s my word against theirs.”
He stared at me and I could see the struggle in his eyes. “Brooklyn, I—”
“Time’s up!” Professor White exclaimed, clapping his hands.
Aiden and I just stared at one another in silence.
“Here’s what I want you to do,” our professor continued. “Exchange character sketches with your partner. Your homework is to do a full analysis of your partner’s character. It must be thorough to receive credit.”
“Here’s mine,” Aiden offered, sliding his folder my way.
Wordlessly, I handed him my folder with my work inside. As I packed up all of my belongings and put them in my messenger bag, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around what was happening. I was so convinced that Aiden would have my back that I never thought for a moment that he wouldn’t.
“…and now you can get out of here. I’ll see you on Wednesday!” Professor White concluded, waving goodbye as everyone scrambled to their feet, anxious to begin their weekend.
Even though we were never speaking loud enough to be overheard, Aiden lowered his voice even more and leaned closer than he had at the start of our conversation. “I’ll call him when I leave here and let you know what he says.”
“And if he advises you to say nothing?” I asked, fearing I already knew the answer.
He didn’t immediately respond, but the silence that slapped me in the face spoke volumes.
“Wow,” I breathed, standing to break the connection of his intense gaze. “Okay, then.”
“Brooklyn, can we—”
“I have a meeting,” I told him before I walked off.
He didn’t follow me or try to stop me. I didn’t want him to, but I noticed when he didn’t.
I made a beeline for my car so I could get to the coach’s office before she left for the day. I raced across campus. The entire time I thought about how all I was asking Aiden to do was tell the truth.
And he basically told me no.
I aggressively parked my car and ran into the athletics building. Coach Ainsley Hill wasn’t just a cheerleading coach, she taught yoga and a couple of other fitness classes. Fortunately for me, her posted office hours allowed me to easily locate her.
Even though her office door was open, I still knocked before walking in. When she looked up from the document she was reading, her expression changed slightly. It was clear that she was not happy to see me.
“Brooklyn Cage…”
“Hi, Coach Ainsley,” I greeted her, taking her acknowledgement as a signal to enter. I closed the door behind
