Molly glides forward, holding her head high, and stops less than a foot away from Aurora. I am proud. I am shocked. She is holding her ground.
“I told Darcy not to drive,” Molly says. “He didn’t even have his permit yet, and I knew he had been drinking. He always got loud, so loud, when he was drunk.” Tears pool in her eyes and nearly spill over. “God knows, I should’ve tried harder, but I wasn’t driving that night.”
“Liar!” Aurora spits the words. “You were charged.”
“Those charges were dropped.”
Aurora rolls her eyes. “Bitch, everyone in this room has charges that were dropped. It doesn’t mean we aren’t guilty.”
Molly looks like she’s going to be sick. Her voice cracks at the edges as she says, “Do you want to know what happened that night?” When Aurora doesn’t immediately reply, Molly continues. “He was driving so fast, and I had said something—some joke he thought was funny—and he turned just for a moment, a split-second to look at me. And that’s all it took.
“He was still smiling when we slid into the guardrail. He wasn’t wearing his seatbelt when we hit, and he got thrown. He went through the windshield.” Everyone cringes, except Aurora. Archie looks like he’s going to be sick. “Everything happened so fast, and all I could think was his dad was going to kill him, that they would probably kick him off the football team and move him far away to some boarding school in the middle of nowhere so that we would never see each other again, so when the police arrived, I told them I had been driving. The car was destroyed, and they seemed to believe me. I thought it would be all right because by some miracle, Darcy was still talking. The car was demolished, but we were alive.”
Finn staggers to his feet. He looks like a kettle about to boil over, tears streaming down his ruddy face.
“Fuck.” Everett kneels, holding his head between his hands like he can’t bear to hear anymore.
“He didn’t die instantly like some movie,” Molly continues as she starts to cry. “He was talking. He was still trying to crack jokes even when he was bleeding internally.”
“You lying bitch!” Finn roars, jerking forward, but Molly shoves him away. “He was my best friend, and you fucking killed him!”
“I shouldn’t have let him drive, but I wasn’t the one behind that wheel, Finn!”
“You went away,” Aurora snarls. She looks so livid, her pale skin reddening to matching her copper hair. “You ran away because you knew you were guilty. You were gone almost a year.”
“I didn’t go to juvie or jail or wherever you’re thinking,” Molly says. “I gave birth to my son—my son with Darcy. Atticus.”
Everyone goes silent.
Everyone stares at her.
Finn curls his upper lip and looks like he’s about to splatter his shoes. He looks both disgusted and in awe.
I feel like I’m going to be sick, and the world rolls around me. I probably have a concussion, but even if I didn’t, I think I’d feel nauseous just the same. It was her secret to tell, and she just told it for me.
Ian stares at her. Grief, sorrow, disgust, everything unfurls in his gaze. Aurora gapes at Molly.
Ian says his question so softly, for a moment I wonder if I imagined it. “Why didn’t you tell us, Mols?”
“It was just after his funeral when I found out,” her stare, more sorrowful than angry, scrolls from person-to-person around the room, “and none of you would even talk to me.” Her voice cracks like plaster under the weight of her words. “You already had your stupid Rules and your stupid game and I wasn’t going to drag Atticus into any of it.”
Finn storms down the steps and off-stage, but not before he throws up on one of the seats in the front row.
Aurora exchanges a glance with her friends. She’s outnumbered, and she knows it.
“This isn’t fucking over,” she snarls, and then she’s backing toward the exit. Her lips turn down into a moue as she leads their exit out of the auditorium.
Everett kneels on the floor, his head between his hands, his fingers combing through his auburn curls. Archie kneels at his side, his hand on Everett between his shoulders. Chase stares at Molly, his eyes wide.
“What the fuck,” Everett says, but it’s not a question. It’s a statement that repeats out of his mouth like a record player skipping.
“Molly,” I say, amazed that I am staring at her, “why did you tell?” My voice cracks as I shake my head. “You didn’t have to tell that for me.”
Molly gifts me with a small smile. “You needed my help, Harlow.” Her gaze flits to Everett, but it’s so fast, I think I might imagine it. “It’s time this ended once and for all.”
Ian stares at me and says, “I’m sorry, Molly. I’m sorry for everything.”
Everett, Archie, and Chase echo Ian’s words.
Molly nods, swallowing loudly. She’s crying, but her words are clear. “I’m not going to say it’s okay because what you all did to me is not okay, but right now, let’s just make sure Harlow is all right.”
Ian kneels in front of me and pulls me in close, his hands on either side of my face.
“I’m sorry.” He kisses my forehead. “I’m so sorry.” He kisses my nose. “Please forgive me.”
Tears slide down my cheeks, and his image wavers like a reflection on the rippling waters of a lake.
“I’m sorry too,” I say before I kiss him. He tastes like salt, and when our lips meet, fireworks erupt center of my chest. The sparks that rain down ignite every part of me.
Ian starts to help me to my feet, seems to think better of it, and pulls me into his arms before he stands.
Archie, Chase, Everett and Molly join us as he carries me out of the auditorium. For the first time in a long time, no matter what next semester brings, I know everything will be
