I dragged my eyes from him to Kim who looked like a deer in headlights. She glanced between the two of us and then took a step back. “Are you two…a thing?”
Neither one of us answered and her jaw dropped. She pointed between the two of us in astonishment. “I mean… I thought the rumors were bullshit, but I stand corrected!”
“Kim,” I hissed, narrowing my eyes at her.
She pointed at Jay. “James, didn’t you and Carter used to date?”
He flinched slightly. “A long, long time ago.”
“Kim, can we get back to the point?” I snapped.
“I uh…” Staring at me, she motioned to Jay discreetly with her eyes. “I’ll go to the police station after class about… what I saw.”
I looked over at Jay and I couldn’t read his expression. He held my gaze for a moment before giving me a tight smile and exiting the room.
I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.
As soon as the bathroom door shut, Kim grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to her. “I’m so sorry! I had no idea there was anything between you two or I wouldn’t have said the thing about Aiden. I thought you and James were just friends! When Sonya was going on and on about James at practice this summer, I remember Carter making a point to say that you two were just friends.” Her eyes became the size of saucers. “Wait, did Carter not know?”
“There wasn’t anything to know until very recently,” I answered in a hushed tone that matched hers. “Can we get back to what’s important? They are trying to make it seem like I’m responsible for what happened to Carter—”
“I always thought you two would be cute together,” she interrupted.
I held up my hand. “Focus, Kim! Have you talked to Olive? Did she say that she’d go to the police?”
“I haven’t had a conversation with her, but I talked to her briefly on my way over here. She said she was going to call me back”—she checked her phone—“but I’m going to call her and see if she wants to go to the station with me, so she doesn’t have to go alone.” She lowered her voice. “Have you talked to Aiden?”
“Actually, after I met with you on Saturday, I saw him.”
“What happened? Did he talk to his lawyer?”
I told her everything that happened. She shook her head as I detailed what he said.
“That’s messed up. He could’ve handled that whole situation better,” she sighed. “He should’ve told the police what happened from the beginning because him holding out just made everyone, especially the paparazzi more, interested. How is he trying to act like he wasn’t at the party when there are pictures of him there before you two disappeared?”
“I don’t know. But now that he’s being publicly implicated by people trying to sell papers, he’s talking about trying to go to the police.”
“Trevor texted him last night and told him about the write up about it on that website Star Gazer. It said they knew he was involved because his parents were trying to bury the story.”
I made a face. Even though I was mad at him, that was exactly what he was afraid of. “Wow.”
She nodded. “Yeah, and Trevor said he hasn’t seen Aiden since the party, and he hadn’t talked to him since he declined help from his dad. He said that Aiden’s been acting funny since last weekend.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “So at least Aiden Black isn’t part of it. I think it would be worse to find out that you made out with a guy who was conspiring against you with his friends.”
I looked at her blankly. “It’s bad enough the only person I had to alibi me refused to do it if it would get him in trouble. Aiden Black doesn’t get a pass from me because he didn’t jump in on the lie against me.”
“Well, besides that…”
“Besides that, a monster set me up for vandalism and now possible homicide because of something her boyfriend did with you. Someone I considered a best friend a year and a half ago died helping a bitch set me up for a prank. There are actual lawyers with power and influence looking to pin this on me so neither the PROs nor the school is liable. And the person I need to go to the police station to verify this was a fucked-up prank hasn’t called you back, yet.” I took a deep breath. “Kim, this is worst case scenario. This is my life.”
I was going to throw up.
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I’m sorry.”
“And if Trevor saw that on Star Gazer, it’s only a matter of time before it’s everywhere. So, any hopes of Aiden doing what he should’ve done from the beginning just looks like a convenient excuse.”
She frowned. “I didn’t think of it like that. But after what he told you at Gino’s, yeah.” She let out a long, noisy breath. “But I’m going to verify that I saw you. And if I go now, I can go do that before class.” She glanced over my shoulder. “Are you two going to be okay? I’m sorry I brought up Aiden in front of him.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine. But call me once you finish at the station. And let me know if you talk to Olive.”
She nodded. “I will. Everything is going to be okay.”
I tried to smile, but I wasn’t sure if it translated to my face.
We said our goodbyes and I closed the door behind her.
Turning around, I took a deep breath and paced outside of the bathroom. I didn’t know if I should wait until he was done or if I should jump in
