When 17-year old Scarlett Adair is found dead, having been brutally attacked with an axe, at a house party, the local police find themselves in over their heads. Now, nearly a year has passed and no new leads have been discovered and they have no su...
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Song of the chapter... loml by Taylor Swift
12 MONTHS AFTER THE MURDER...
Vivian, a girl many considered "boring" or "plain" had been harbouring a secret, one that could destroy her entire life if it got out. It all started with Scarlett Addair's murder. Truthfully, it didn't have much to do with her. Just her death. Boring, plain, Vivian Preston was actually the most observant person in all of Harborough. She knew long before anyone else did that Everly and Scarlett were lovers, but being a close friend of Everly's, she never once thought to tell anyone.
However, keeping their secret was eating her alive. Not because she thought Everly was a murderer, but because she couldn't imagine the girl she had loved for ages loving anyone else. She didn't want to admit it, but after Scarlett's death it became far too much for her to deny anymore: Vivian Preston was in love with Everly Garguilo.
She didn't quite know when she had first started falling for Everly, or when she even realised that she wasn't straight. It was almost as if those thoughts had slowly creeped out from behind a dusty corner in her mind, so slow that by the time they fully revealed themselves she was already comfortable enough with their existence. Vivian felt lucky. She knew how hard realisations like that had been on other people. No one she personally knew, but she'd read stories and seen things on TV. However, she knew that like Everly, she couldn't risk coming out. She didn't even know how to explain how she felt. No label felt right for her, and she didn't even want one, so she simply settled on "not straight."
Vivian had talked to Everly earlier in the day, but still she felt like there was more to say. After class had ended, she decided to go find her so they could talk. It probably wouldn't do much good, but she was willing to vouch for her. After all, they were together around the same time the murder had been committed and Everly was completely free of any blood stains or strange marks. Maybe the local cops would finally take their roles seriously and listen to her. There was no way Everly could've killed Scarlett. Not only was it highly unlikely that she was capable of something so horrific, but she couldn't have. She physically couldn't have. She was upstairs when the murder occurred.
"Do you know where Everly ran off to?" She asked a boy she didn't look at long enough to recognize. He shook his head and she took off before he could verbally answer. A burning desire for the truth had weaselled its way into Vivian's mind. Her heart was set on proving Everly's innocence.
Whether that intense determination came from the fact that she wanted to do the right thing for both Scarlett and Everly or from her feelings for Everly was not quite known to her, but it didn't matter much. Either way, she'd be helping the both of them.
Vivian's footsteps echoed through the brightly lit hallways. An idea had dawned on her, causing her to come to a sudden stop. Without a second thought, she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans and sent a quick text to Everly.
