Everything You Never Knew : Secrets

Chapter 16

Rachel's iPhone rang. Did someone have the nerve to dig up her private number and try to call her as they were being forced away? Rachel might be able to resist looking out the window but if someone had the nerve to call her they would definitely get an earful of the most vulgar words Rachel could dig out of her brain to toss from her mouth. She turned reached for her phone and scanned the caller ID expecting the incoming call to be blocked or 'unknown' but instead it was Beatrice. Should she pick it up? It wasn't exactly a good time, but then again maybe talking to Beatrice until everyone was cleared out of her yard would help her keep her will-power in tact and prevent her from completely losing it. She pressed 'talk.'

“Bea, the media's being cleared away, the police are here too...” Silence on the other end for a few moments.

“Oh, maybe this isn't a good time..”

“No, its fine. Stay on the phone with me until they're gone. Ashley is DEAD and they're trying to get statements from me! Can you believe that?” Another few moments of silence.

“Rach, I'm sorry. This really isn't a good time-”

“Yes it is. What do you mean?” Why was Beatrice being so sketchy? Rachel bit down lightly on her lower lip and raised an eyebrow. Something wasn't right.

“Well,” Beatrice paused again. “You haven't been online at all, right?” Oh God, the Internet was probably one hundred times worse right now than even the official media. Rachel squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn't ready to think about that, wasn't ready to face it. She probably never would be.

“No, and honestly Bea, I don't want to know. I can't handle it.” Another few moments of silence.

“Yeah, I get that, honestly I do. But Rach, its Ami.” Rachel pressed her lips together and closed her eyes as her heart sank in her chest and knocked painfully against her ribcage.

Oh God, what the HELL did she do?

“She's tweeting and tumbling and more all about how she used to know Ashley, and she's calling her a head-case and saying she probably ran her car off the road intentionally-”

“Hold. The. Fuck. Up.” Ashley took in a deep, trembling breath. Her entire body shook with rage. Ami called Ashley a head-case? This was coming from the same person who spent part of their teen years in a mental institution, the same person who used Rachel for Ashley, the same person who used Ashley's social status to try and gain popularity among her tween twitter pals by betraying Ashley's trust, and so many more horrible things. And SHE had the nerve to call ASHLEY a head-case?

Bitches gonna die tonight.

“Bea, I really don't have time for this right now, but trust me, when I'm able to function again, she's going to wish she'd never been born.”

“I'm sorry. I only wanted to tell you in case – well, before you heard it somewhere else. Just in case you went online and saw something or someone else told you. I wanted to warn you.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Rachel knew she didn't sound grateful but how could she? She didn't need the burden of knowing that this complete

bitch

crazy-person was once again using Ashley to feed her desperate need for attention. Its too bad Rachel didn't allow herself to see Ami for what she was the first day they had met. It would have saved Rachel, and Ashley too, a lot of pain, frustration and even grief. But Rachel wasn't focused on being vigilant when she went off to NYU, she was focused on gaining a life of her own.

Denise was crying the day her only child was going to board a plane with a one-way ticket from California all the way to New York City. Part of Rachel felt horribly guilty for perusing her long-time dream of going to school at NYU. It was so far away and she was Denise's only immediate family. In the ten years since Rachel's father died Denise hardly dated at all and definitely never allowed herself to get into a serious relationship. Was Rachel doing the right thing by leaving her alone like this with no one to wake up to in the morning but Samson? She'd wrestled with this decision, but in the end, when she'd opened up her acceptance letter and jumped up and down screaming with happiness even though a slightly smug part of her knew she wouldn't get denied, Denise hugged her and whispered in her ear, “Your Father would be so proud of you.” Denise was right. Rachel knew it in her heart and she knew this was what she had to do. Still, this wasn't going to be an easy adjustment to make. Even though being a teenager was a process of gaining more independence than a person had as a child, this would the first time in her life Rachel would truly step out into the world as an adult, completely responsible for herself in every single way.