Along came Avery

4 4 . s m o k i n g d ' c k s

I'm settled on her bed not too far from her mini desk she happens to be seated by. She turns in her chair and looks at me blankly, all whilst I keep myself from showing any expression that may give myself away.

Any hurt or betrayal. If games is what she wants to play and emotions are what she's targeting, then I'll gladly be player 2.

"Since when are you smoking his d'ck?" That's the first thing she masters herself to say.

"What?"

"Look. I'm concerned for you. I know this is all crazy and happening fast but... thinking back on how you feared him, I know that he isn't somebody you'd just mess around with or he could quite literally end you. Remember? When he threatened me at in this dorm? He once said he would kill me, didn't he? And now you're suddenly lovers with the enemy? Remember what he did to you? Stalked you, tortured you mentally? You weren't safe. You killed his girlfriend and he was out to get kill you, to scare you and torment you. How is it that you're suddenly in the same bed as him?"

I don't even know if I'm finding this ironic.

"Firstly, Amber." I sigh and rub my hand against her sheet. "I'm not sleeping with him, he was just messing with you. He came to visit to tell me something that's... whatever. You interrupted and... yah, he started acting out."

"Kind of seemed like you were comfortable with him between your legs, though?"

What is it to you? "Okay but are you to speak? Are we forgetting yourself with Nate or?" I can't even help but narrow my eyes at her. "Since we're here. Maybe now is the best time to address this. No, I didn't kill her."

Her eyes widen at my statement. "W-what?"

"I didn't. Michaela killed herself. I'm not responsible for her death."

"But you told me you were. You said it yourself, that you injected her with drugs." She moves in her seat uncomfortably.

"False story all along. Turns out I tried to save her, but she was already dead. I didn't kill he—"

"You don't have the evidence, though."

"No, I don't. But her mother has the medical report that an antidote was injected in her, exactly where I injected her, but it didn't pump properly since her heart was already pumping little to nothing. I tried to save her. She killed herself."

Amber scoffs and folds her arms. "You don't have to cover up the story. You already told me. Zee, don't protect him. If he's the one forcing you do say this—"

"Amber, are you hearing yourself? It's like now you're forcing me to accept I did, when you weren't even there. Avery is healing. That was his girlfriend for a while. Of course he was out to get me because I supposedly ruined it for them— for us all, since we were best friends, the three of us and a few more people. But when he learnt the truth, he apologized to me. He's aware that it wasn't my fault." I sigh and stretch my legs. "It's over, Amber."

As if not understanding anything that I'm saying, Amber insists on the matter by saying; "N-no it's not, Zinhle. Everyone knows what you did. What you admittedly did. Everyone knows. Word of mouth spreads fast when it comes to bad news, so if you start going to tell everyone that you played hero, who will believe you?"

"Okay, but that's the thing." I shift my gaze to her from my thighs, dropping my legs back to the ground. "I thought it mattered, and maybe it still does, but as long as Michaela's mother knows the truth, and the police and doctors and examiners who examined Michaela know the truth, I'm fine. Myself and Avery are fine. It doesn't matter what everyone thinks. It especially doesn't matter what our group thinks. If they were my real friends, they wouldn't gossip about me, spewing nonsense, as Qailah said. You said you never told them but you're really proving yourself wrong."