The Lies We Breathe

Chapter 4 - Monday, July 31: Today they Messed with the Wrong Girl

I was relieved to not find my father's car in front of the house. There was no way I could have hidden my anger from him.

I entered our small two-story house. Not much has changed inside since my mother died. It was still the same furniture and the same paintings that hang on the walls the day she was last time here. Somehow, my dad and I, both found comfort in it. It was as if she was still with us.

I grabbed something to eat from the fridge and stomped my way up the stairs.

My father's room was the one to the left. My room was the one on the right, just above the kitchen, facing the front yard.

Now, my room changed quite a bit since I was ten. Gone were the toys and doll houses. There was a queen-sized bed, a large closet, and a desk by the window with my laptop and school books on it. There was also a vanity table that once belonged to my mother. It wasn't much, but I liked it simple.

I entered my room and turned the key to lock the door, just in case. I grabbed my laptop and pull out the shoebox that I kept in my closet. It had all the evidence there that I had collected over the summer. Anything that had anything to do with Jackie's accident - newspaper snippets, photographs.

My plan was to infiltrate the fortress, keep an eye on everyone who was there that fateful day and watch and listen. I had to know what is being said about the accident within the walls of the school. I wasn't a fool to kid myself that I'd become one of them and be invited to all the cool parties and get into their confidence circle. Especially not now that everyone knows whose daughter I am.

And with what just had happened with Blake, Liam, and the others, that was the last nail in that coffin. My best bet was to be there, lurk in the shadows, and wait. Someone, somehow, one day is bound to make a mistake. But maybe even that I could forget now. It was too much to expect that these guys would just let this one slip. No, they were out to spill blood. And this time it would be mine.

I picked up a picture with Blake Shields. One of the "damn Shields" as my father called them. I'd seen Blake often enough in the papers to know that he was someone I'd not want to have my paths cross. Where he was there was always trouble. And now I got myself into big fat trouble with him. Damn, how could I have been so foolish? I should have left the scarred rabbit and let them do whatever they want with him. Not that he thanked me.

I pulled other pictures out of the box and spread them out before me. That fateful night, on June 4th, when Jackie was hit by a car, they were all there at the ball.

I spread out the list with names before me. These were the people that were interrogated after the incident. There were a few names of people from the school stuff, but most of them were kids who attended the school. All of them were from the wealthiest families in town. I read their testimonials, which they all shared in the presence of their lawyers. Perfect questions, perfect responses. Not even one slipped answer. They all had witnesses. When you have money, there was nothing you could not buy. This might have been enough for the police to remove any charges, but not for me.

I could not blame my father for giving up. He had nothing on anyone. The newspapers moved on a long time ago to something more interesting, and Jackie's case landed with the other unresolved.

I took a picture with Liam on it and studied it for a moment. Beside him was his on / off girlfriend Jessica Leigh. I knew more things about him than I cared to admit even to Jackie. There were several pictures of him in the pile - sometimes smiling at Jessica and sometimes arguing with her about something.

Jessica Leigh was a bit of a celebrity in Ocean Shore. For years now, any fashion magazine you open, there'd be a picture of her. News around her have quieted down over the summer though. She is said to be spending time out of the country. I thought I'd see her today at school. A girl like that was bound to make an entrance. But there was no sight of her.

I pulled out a few snippets from the magazines, with Jessica and Liam on it. If Jackie was here, she'd joke about my childhood crush on Liam. I sometimes wondered if he saw me, would he remember me? I know that we are from two very different worlds. Now. But back then we were kids and he was like us. From our part of town. But then his mother remarried well and he became part of that glimmering world. Where he went, I could never go...

Until now.

And today he had been there at the library. Why did he have to be one of Blake's friends? What am I to do now? I'm not naive to believe that Liam would ever look at me. Not if he had Jessica. I was ok with him not remembering who I was. But I didn't want him to hate me either. Or be my enemy. With what had happened today, I knew, everything would be so much more complicated than expected. Watching Blake getting hit in the face by that book, was worth it. And hitting his friends felt like something they deserved for a long time.

Jake, my first and so far only boyfriend would be so proud of me. It was a week or so before Jackie's accident when Blake and his friends had a run into Jake and his friends. Needless to say, things didn't go well. In the news, the West side kids were reported as violent criminals, but Jack told me a different version of the story. Blake and his friends were out for a fight and they didn't care where they would find it. There was an illegal car race and as it often happens, a dispute arose. Jake says the Highridge guys threw the first punch. Many got injured and Jake and his friends spend a night in the cell. But not the Highridge, obviously. Ever since then, Jack had a grudge against anyone even remotely associated with Highridge.

When Jake heard about me switching over, he didn't take it well at all. He made it sound like it was a betrayal. So be it! Not that I needed his approval anyway. We dated for a few months when I was 16. I waited to feel the spark, to finally fall in love with him, but it never really happened. So I broke up with him and until today he still claims to be in love with me. I see him hanging out with a lot of other girls though, so I assume his heart was not as broken as he made it sound. We are friends now, and to me, this is what we will ever be.

I put all the pictures together, stuffed them in the box, and hid them in the closet. Then no amount of staring at those pictures and analyzing every one of them was gonna get me closer to the truth.

A part of me wanted to forget it all and return to my old school. It was not yet too late. But I was not a quitter. And maybe, I needed to go up the Olympus mountain and shake things up among the gods? Show them that we mortals down here matter, that our lives matter. And that, they cannot just get away with everything.

Today, they messed with the wrong girl.