Forever & Always

Chapter 26

"Are you ready?" Lacey asked me on Friday morning. "Tonight is going to be crazy!" 

She was really excited and I felt like I should be too. I guess I wasn't at the moment because I hadn't been to one of these parties and part of the excitement probably came from the anticipation. Plus, this one was going to have to be big since it would be the last one, it being senior year and all. 

I nodded. "Yeah, do you want to come over and get ready before?" I asked. 

She nodded and we reminded ourselves to tell Sara that that was the game plan. 

The evening's festivities were all anyone could talk about during the day. Walking through the halls, you could feel the buzz, waiting for something legendary. Despite having no idea of what I was in for, the excitement I was feeling from everyone else was kind of jacking me up too. 

As Lacey walked me to English that morning, it came to me that I hadn't heard from Annie in a while, which I found strange. I mentioned this to Lacey, but she waved me off. 

"I would tend to say that when you don't hear from Annie, it's like that moment in a horror movie where everything gets silent, right before the killer jumps out," she said in an oh so encouraging way. "She's just plotting something, but God knows everyone is on high alert that she's psychotic, so I wouldn't worry about."

I guess that would have to do for now. I couldn't let Annie's rich bitch tendencies get in the way of me enjoying my senior year. 

It wasn't until lunch that Liam was the one to bring up again that Annie had been uncomfortably quiet as of late. 

"She hasn't even been yelled at for being on her phone in class at all," Lacey pointed out. "Normally, in my chemistry class, we waste fifteen minutes of class time while Mr. Daniels has to fight with her to give him her phone since she'd been caught texting for the millionth time. But for a couple of weeks now, she's been paying attention, which is really strange since she never does that either. Well, unless it's when she's looking in a mirror." 

"You don't think..." Sara started to say, but stopped herself. 

"What?" I asked. 

Sara rolled her eyes. "Well, in sophomore year, this girl Emily Williams was getting on Annie's nerves. She was trying so hard to fit in with that Barbie squad and Annie was hell bent on making her life a living hell, by hazing her and stuff. Now, Emily was persistent, so nothing Annie gave her to do was too disheartening enough that this girl would give in. So, she got rid of her or at least that's how the rumor goes." 

"Holy shit, you're telling me she had her killed?" I gasped. 

The table erupted in laughter as I sat there so confused. 

"What?!" I asked.

"No, she didn't have her killed!" Lacey gasped through her laughter. "She may be slightly rich, but she doesn't have connections to the mafia, for God's sake!" 

"Well then what did she do to get rid of her?" I asked, wanting an answer. And I'm sorry, but when someone phrases it as "she got rid of her", don't you tend to believe that means knocking someone off? I can't be the only one.

When they had calmed down, Liam took the initiative and answered my question. 

"As the story goes, Emily and Annie were in class together when Emily was called out by the office," he explained. "She was told that an anonymous tip had been given to the administrative office that she had drugs in her possession on school property and they were going to have to search her locker. Anyone that knew Emily knew she would never use drugs in her life. She was desperate for Annie's attention, but not enough to do drugs. Sure enough, though, when they searched her locker, there was a plastic bag found with at least six joints on the top shelf. She told them that she had no idea where that came from, but they had no choice but to expel her."