#1 Suspect

Chapter 2 - Halle Berry

Chapter 2

Going class to class, I was swarmed with wild emotions. My head piling up with question after question regarding Cameron. After he was taken away, teachers started shoving us to class bringing us all back to reality. At first it was quiet, which I was appreciative of because it gave me time to think. But now, three hours later sitting in English class, I was silently thanking God when I started noticing people getting back to their old annoying selves. Doing what they do best whenever something big happens; gossip. Some of them were asking the same questions that I was asking myself.

"What kind of evidence do you think they have against him?"

"Do you think it's enough to convict him for Gemma's murder?"

But soon I focused on a conversation two girls were having in front of me. We finished early in class so Mr. Stoke gave us the rest of the time to work on tonight's homework but as much as I tried, I couldn't concentrate and my attention kept going back to them and their faint whispering. One of them, a blonde, I soon noticed was Cassidy, leaned toward  a student on her left. I didn't even have have to look at the other girl, whose auburn hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, to know it was Amber.

The two were always together, talking nonstop. They always managed to sit together in every class and I always seemed to get stuck sitting behind them in the classes we did share. When Cassidy started to say something she immediately stopped, her mouth mid open like she thought better of it. When I saw her turning around to make sure no one was looking, I immediately looked down at my blank paper on my desk, staring at it like it was the most interesting thing in the world. I bit my  my bottom lip as I always did when I was thinking hard or in this case portraying to. To make it even more believable I scribbled something on the sheet, tapping the pencil on my chin after. I was pretty sure Halle Berry would be impressed.

"You know he had been spending a lot of time with her those last few months before she died. It wouldn't surprise me if he had something to do with it. She probably tried to break it off and he didn't take it too well."

Amber looked skeptical and looked back at the teacher who was too busy searching in his desk drawers to even care what  was going on in his classroom. Seeming that it was safe, she responded, "But wasn't she with Daniel? Gemma was just hanging out with Cameron because she was tutoring him or something."

Cassidy smirked, "Or something. I overheard them talking one day outside of school and what I heard..." She shook her head as if not wanting to say more. Amber's eyes got wide beckoning her to give all the dirty details.

This is what Cassidy wants, I thought. Attention. And Amber is moving just like a puppet on her string. Cassidy was lying. Cameron and Gemma never saw each other outside of school. They never had that close of a relationship. But as much as I tried not to, a little part of me was just like Amber, screaming Cassidy to keep talking.

"All I have to say is, they weren't talking about how to find x in an equation. It was far from it."

As the bell rung, people started getting up and six conversations were going all at once that it was too hard to hear anything else they were saying. I sighed, disappointed that I couldn't hear more. What was I saying? Why should I even care what was coming out of her mouth? Did I actually think it was true? Of course not. I pushed all of it out of my head as I scolded myself for even questioning that. If there had been something more going on between Cameron and her, Gemma would have told me.

Walking to lunch, I started thinking about Gemma's relationship with Cameron. Honestly I didn't think anything of it. Gemma always went to these counseling sessions after school that were for students that got in a lot of trouble. It was part of their punishment but Gemma saw it as an extracurricular activity when she found out anyone could come. I recalled one day when I asked her why she would even want to be around those types of people. She smiled at me and said,

"You don't see them the way I do. They're actually nice people if you get to know them." I shook my head, still not understanding as she continued to speak. "They just need someone to show they care; a friend."

I squinted my eyes at her as I folded my arms. "And that is where you come in?" Gemma smiled and laughed.

"Is Avery Smith jealous?"

I scoffed and said, "Please, why would I be jealous?"

Gemma nudged me as she suppressed a smile. "Don't worry. I am not going away that easily. I'll always have time for you."

I smiled at the memory. At the time, I just thought she was going through a phase where she believed she could change people for the better. So I didn't question her when she latched on to Cameron right when he came back from his 3rd suspension that year. I guess she thought he needed a friend. He started going to the meetings soon after. It was just little things she would do, like saying good morning to him everyday and asking him how he was. At one point of time, she even sat with him at lunch for weeks on end. But it was when I noticed Danny becoming jealous and uncomfortable with the two that I brought it up with Gemma one night.

Before I started going more deep into the past I stopped myself, realizing that I almost passed the cafateria. As I walked inside I went straight to the table right by the window, far off the corner like always. When Lindsay saw me she smiled, "Hey Ave- ooh you look terrible!"

I smiled a humorless smile as I sat across from her. "Thanks." I laid my hand on my forehead and said, "My head is killing me, I've been stressing out all day."

Lindsay took a bite of her granola bar, "About the thing with Cameron? Yeah, I know crazy right?" I nodded, too many thoughts racing through my head to reply. She handed me an apple and I smiled remembering Daniel. Eating was the farthest thing from my mind but I still accepted it. Though rolling it around in my hand was the only thing I attended to do.

A sharp pang went through my head as I remembered Cassidy's conversation with Amber again. Gemma hanging out with Cameron might have looked bad but it wasn't like that. Daniel being jealous at the time meant that he thought otherwise though. But that could have just been his own insecurities. Gemma loved him and the only reason she was even around Cameron was because she thought she could fix him. Therefore her relationship with Cameron was never a real one in the first place which means they never would have met up outside of school.

I smiled as I calculated all the data up. The conclusion of it reassured me that everything I thought was right actually was. But for some reason I needed a second opinion. I focused my eyes back on Lindsay and asked, "Lindsay, why do you think Gemma was spending so much time with Cameron?"

She looked shocked when I asked something like that out of the blue. As I tightened my grip on the apple, I realized I was worried of what she might reply. That her answer might not agree with my conclusion. A part of me wanted her to say something innocent as tutoring like Amber or anything other than what Cassidy thought. But what she said, it was what I least expected. It was so honest, so heartbreakingly honest and I hated it.

Her face looked sorry and full of sympathy when she said, "I don't know."

I never thought Gemma's murderer would be someone she knew. I always thought it was some random person but now I was second guessing myself. What if Cameron really did kill Gemma? And if he did, then that meant he must have had a real reason too. That their relationship went way beyond a simple friendship. To evoke that much emotion to kill, they had to have been closer. I shook my head thinking the impossible. That I didn't know Gemma as well as I thought I did.