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Chapter 14

As she walked into her room, Patrice met her with her arms crossed against her chest. "Don't even start, Patrice. We have to get ready for the funeral. My parents are going to be here in an hour."

"You are inconsiderate. You know that?" And she stormed out of the room.

As she started to get ready she started crying. Why were things so easy with Mike? There she felt at peace, she didn't have to think. Now she had to deal with Patrice being mad at her, a lecture from her parents and going to a funeral where everyone saw her as the culprit.

She chose a short black dress, with long sleeves and her hair loose. As she looked at herself in the mirror, Patrice walked in. She was ready. Patrice grabbed her purse and looked at Alice. "I'll be waiting downstairs." And walked out once again.

Alice finished fixing her hair and makeup as her phone rang. "Hello?"

"We are here, are you ready?" Her mother asked.

"Yes, I'll be right down."

In the car everyone was quiet. Carl cleared his throat. "Alice, we are worried about you, honey."

"Not you too, dad. I'm fine." Alice said, looking out the window.

"You are not fine, Alice. You just went through a great loss. His mother blamed you in front of a bunch of people. You are entitled to not be okay . But you can shut people out!" Julia said. "You can't just go and disappear to a friend's house, whom we haven't met and not tell anybody about it."

"I haven't met him either, Mrs. Fletcher ." Patrice said as Alice shot her a look.

"So it is a guy! Sweetie, what's going on? Male friends now? Is he from school?"

"Friends? They've been dating for over a month." Patrice continued. "And she met him at work."

"Thank you, Patrice, for throwing me under the bus."

"You're dating, honey? An older man? Why did you think you should hide that from us? We've always been open about everything." Carl said disappointed.

"We should've never let you stay in the dorms after you broke up with Landon. We should've brought you back home." Julia said, shaking her head.

"Mom, dad. I'm twenty one. I'm not a little girl. I can date whom I want. And if I didn't tell you, it's because it is still new. We are still getting to know each other."

"You know each other well enough to stay over at his place." Julia said.

"Last night was the first time, mom. And nothing happened, not that I have to tell you. Thank God." She said as they got to the funeral home, she jumped out of the car.

"Alice!" Patrice called after her but she kept walking.

Inside, everyone kept staring at her and whispering. When she walked inside she saw the coffin, it was a closed coffin. She saw Laura and Donald in the front. He was on a wheelchair and looked weak. She walked towards them as people opened a path for her. When she got to them she kneeled at their feet. "I am so sorry." She started crying. Laura sniffed and looked the other way, but Donald touched her cheek and gave her a weak smile.

"Thank you, Alice and thank you for coming. I know this must be hard for you too." He said as she got up and nodded.

She walked to the back where she saw Jeremy and a few of Landon's friends. "Hi, guys." She timidly said as she approached them.

Jeremy gave her a side hug. "How are you holding up? I heard Mrs. Rogers caused a scene last night when you went to see them."

"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it." She said looking at the coffin.

"It had to be a closed coffin because he was decomposed for so long." Travis said, one of Landon's friends from high school. "I can't believe it took them so long to find his body. Apparently the room had been paid for a whole month. Like he didn't want to be found."

"Did they say how he did it?" Another guy asked, she couldn't remember his name.

"He cut his wrists." Travis said.

The conversation was too much. "Excuse me." Alice said as she walked away from them. She saw her mother and father sitting down and went and sat next to them. Patrice came and sat next to her.

"So, where's the boyfriend? Shouldn't he be here holding your hand?"

"Patrice, please." Alice whispered. "He said it wasn't prudent to bring my new boyfriend to my ex-boyfriend's funeral, specially with people talking. I don't know what your problem with him is. You don't even know him."

"That's the thing, Alice. I don't know him! Why is that?"

"He says that we are still getting to know each other. I haven't met any of his friends either. It's only been a month, Patrice."

"But you're already spending the night." Patrice nodged her shoulder.

"And nothing happened. He was a complete gentleman. We slept together fully clothed. He's really nice and good to me."

"Okay, I'll drop it for now. But I better meet him before graduation."

People kept filling the room. The couple in front of them looked at her and moved seats, behind her she could hear them whispering. "That's her. She drove him to kill himself. Poor boy, he had such a bright future ahead of him and she ruined it."

"I heard she has another guy. She never cared for Landon's feelings. I'm surprised she didn't bring him here to exhibit him."

"I'm sorry, I can't take this. I need some fresh air." Alice said and walked outside.