Freaks

5- Walls

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After last summer, before she was shown the guns, Jackson would take Harper to the Eagle Lakes after school. They visited with the rednecks and the rich, including Alice of course. Everyone was there to fish by the shore or on their boats, not really to get fish but rather to have an excuse to drink.

Harper hated going, it was extremely boring, and it took too long for her to ever catch anything. It made sense for her, she didn't have a distraction, though she did try not to seem like a let-down by giving up, instead she stayed and sat and waited. It would be 6 pm before she caught anything.

But during these evenings it never occurred to her that Alice and Jackson had gotten close through those times. They became friends, secretive friends. She realizes now just how much Jackson would go talk to Alice more than to her. Although him never talking to her was nothing new, it was weird of him to talk to someone else. It's way more obvious now that she's looked back on it; they would always go somewhere away from the crowd as if she had a secret. And she did. Harper wasn't bothered by it, as long as he stayed with her so she fitted in, it wasn't a problem.

So Harper knows the whole thing with the guns was only ever communicated between them two and spoken about to her, no one else was involved. But she didn't want to play a role, she didn't even want to hear the whole thing. She had never had a single good feeling about Alice, she always felt something was off when she was around her. Something eerie.

...

Luka sits with his lips slightly apart, the cafe had become more compact since he entered.

Harper's brows tug together, "Alice?"

Malakai twists his neck to her, "You knew her, didn't you?"

"Yeah." She says calmly, "I was the one who made the rumor. It's true."

Luka's eyes peer at her, "Not a snitch, huh?"

"Doesn't matter. What does she have to do with Landon?"

"Alice's last name is March. March as in..." He lowers his voice, "Mr. March."

A drop of weight slams into both of their stomachs. Harper practically goes into a trance.

Malakai sits up straighter in disbelief, "Well- that's a common last name..right?"

Harper slowly shakes her head, her eyes lowered, thoughtful on the table, "She's the one who always had the drugs." She looks up at Luka, "She always had drugs. She always asked me if I wanted some, they were all...weird...kinds I've never seen before."

"Like the ones at the warehouse." He whispers.

They all stare around with tense thought, their brains heavy with information, all whisked up in more confusion. 

Luka glues his eyes back onto Harper suddenly, "How did you know they had guns?"

"They showed me them. Tried to get me to help them with some brilliant idea apparently."

Malakai nears himself in closer, "But- what does that mean? Why would she have guns?"

Luka continues staring at Harper, "More like who is she to that March guy anyways?"