𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄, original story

seven, i shouldn't have dumped lily

The netball game and Saturday had passed by in a flash, and now I was waiting for Anna at the bus stop so we could go into town and buy our prom dresses. It was a bit late, considering most had prepared them in August of last year, but we hadn't thought about it back then.

And sure, prom wasn't until July but better safe than sorry.

I sat on the bench, waiting for Anna to walk by any second now. Instead, I saw a different familiar face walk past.

Matt.

"Hey," I called out to him, Matt turned around and took out one of his AirPods, deciding to head in my direction and sit next to me.

"Maddie, how are you coping?" his tone was flat, the same as it had been when I asked him why he had dumped Lily unexpectedly.

"I'm good. How are you?" I said enthusiastically, hoping to catch some emotion from him.

"Good, yeah. And you don't have to lie, I know you must be shaken up since Callum's death," I hadn't realised I had slipped up, but luckily his condescending voice had helped with that. Asshole.

"Yeah, I know. I'm struggling a little bit, but I'll be fine," I wiped at my eyes, pretending I was going to cry but didn't.

I then averted my gaze onto Matt, seeing the hurt in his eyes. "I shouldn't have dumped Lily,"

That was all he said, those five words that carried so many meanings and so much confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, hoping that Matt would elaborate.

"Lily was my world... I... I only dumped her cause Callum told me... he told me," he cut himself off, standing up and putting his hood up, "I can't do this." And then Matt jogged off into the distance, his white hoodie becoming grey from the splotches of rain pouring down from the sky.

"What was that about?"

"Calm it, Brentwood," Harry was stood up against the bus shelter holding a plastic bag that was most probably filled with shopping. "Matt was just being a twat. As per usual,"

He stifled a laughed, before saying, "That rhymed,"

"Lily and I thought about that one a lot after she was dumped by him," I explained to him, to which he walked around and sat by me.

"Why did he dump her?" I shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine,"

I actually had no idea why he did. Lily said that they had differing interests, but it made no sense, especially now the fact Matt basically said that Callum made him do it.

Everything came back to that scum bag, and I still had no idea why. Can't a girl just kill someone and not get sucked into the guys life?

Apparently not.

"That sucks. Did you find out anything from him, though?" Harry asked it as though I was going to divulge the entire conversation to him.

"Nope. Besides the fact Callum made him do something,"

"Seems to be a running theme," Harry mumbled, mainly to himself I'd presume, "Isn't it strange how Callum made all his mates do something?"

"Not all. Will didn't say anything about that," it was true, Will hadn't mentioned doing anything for Callum. Though he had done that without asking.

Will and Callum's friendship is what you'd call toxic and one-sided. Callum got what he wanted and Will got to be his friend. That was how it worked. I remember being at Callum's when Will was there, then I saw Callum push him around. Almost as though he thought it were cool and a good thing to do in front of his girlfriend.

It wasn't. It led to his death.

"Though, Will and Callum's friendship was one-sided anyways, so..."

Harry picked up where I left off, "...There was no need for him to hide anything. If he wanted it hid, it was already hidden,"

"Exactly! But then why tell me about the joyride and Rob not being Callum's friend anymore?"

"Because he wanted an escape from the guilt of hiding it?"

"Does that mean he's the killer, then?" Harry turned to me as I said it, and I felt my cheeks heat up. In that split second, I had forgotten I was the killer and that I was playing a dangerous game. "I... I mean that would make sense. He could've been asked to hide something and he just snapped and killed him,"

My words were careful, I didn't want to disclose anything about the methods because I had no idea what the police and Harry knew. I couldn't say too much otherwise I'd get caught.

The imagery of me being handcuffed, the blue and red flashing lights, the cell, the detectives questioning, the jury and the court room all flickered before my eyes. I couldn't end up in prison, I just couldn't do it.

People like me end up getting ruined by prison, they end up coming out worse than before.

"It's possible," Harry stood up and said, "I'll ask my Dad for the tape of Will's interview."

Anna came around the corner, nose stuck in a boom as she walked along the pavement, she wasn't walking in a straight line but even when focusing she still couldn't do that anyways.

"Anna," I said, to snap her out of her haze. And when she stared up, I turned the other way to see that Harry was gone. "Come sit."

I patted the hard plastic next to me, and that was enough of an invitation for her to come and sit, folding over the corner of her book as she began to rattle on about it. I wasn't really listening, but luckily I made the right reactions in the right places.