Masked Insanity (Harry Styles)

Chapter 13: Wait, what?

Silence. That was all that followed Brittanee’s announcement. Silence. Brittanee watched me anxiously, awaiting some kind of blow-up, but I didn’t have the energy.

“Let me get this straight,” I said calmly, leaning my elbow on the smooth countertop, “Sophie told you guys to slap me? Why didn’t the bitch just come over and do it herself? She does have the keys to our room.”

“That’s the thing, she couldn’t. She was afraid if she did something to hurt you, you would go running over to tell Tori. She’s already on her hit list. Something happened in the past to make those two loathe each other, and she knew if Tori heard of this, she would kick her out of the sorority,” Brittanee answered.

I nodded slowly, some of the missing puzzle pieces clicking into place. “But, why did you guys even agree to do it in the first place? Forgive me if I jumped to conclusions, but I thought that after these past couple of days, we were friends.”

Brittanee shook her head severely, her deep, brown eyes frantic. She grabbed one of my hands off the table, clutching it tightly with her small ones. “We didn’t want to! In fact, we refused to do it, but Sophie blackmailed us. She said if we didn’t do it, she’d tell the dean lies about us, starting up rumours about us cheating and get us expelled.”

“Why would the dean believe her?” I scoffed.

“Because, he just so happens to be her stepfather,” she replied sadly, her eyes downcast. My eyes enlarged at this new revelation.

Brittanee drew in a shaky breath. “My parents spent their entire lives’ savings to get me into this school. Crystal’s situation is similar to mine. We don’t belong with all these rich kids; their parents can buy them out of everything. If we get expelled, that’s it for us!” Her lips were quivering, and the tears were welling in her eyes. I sighed and gently squeezed her hands.

“Don’t worry,” I spoke softly, trying to soothe her, “no one will ever know about this conversation. It’s already forgotten.” I gave her a small, reassuring smile. Relief washed over me when her shaking subsided, and she gave me a slightly blurry-eyed smile.

“Thank you, Hazel,” she whispered, her voice slightly hoarse, “just know that Crystal and I are so sorry. You don’t deserve this kind of treatment; you’re such a truthful and sweet person.” A wave of guilt washed over me, and I slightly avoided her gaze. Her trust in me was completely blind, as I wasn’t the sincere person she thought I was. “I honestly don’t know what Sophie has against you. The first night, I thought she was just treating you like she treats everyone else, but this is a whole new level of hatred.”

“You and me both,” I muttered, shaking my head in annoyance, “seriously, what have I ever done to her? It’s killing me, and I really wanna find out.”

Suddenly, a worried look crossed Brittanee’s face. Her eyebrows pulled together in concern. “Hazel, whatever you do, don’t get too deep into this. Sophie already has a special disliking towards you, and it would not be very wise to anger her even more. She comes from an incredibly powerful family, and I wouldn’t underestimate her capacity for sabotage.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked curiously, keeping my voice low. Brittanee darted her eyes around the diner and scooted her seat closer towards me.

“When the two students were killed last year, everyone thought the murderer was… Harry Styles.” It was as if the air around me had suddenly disappeared. My breath caught in my throat, and I visibly gulped at this new piece of information.

Brittanee nodded at my reaction. “I know, it makes sense doesn’t it? That the antisocial, closed-off, quiet one would be the killer? In fact, the amount of people who believed it was him were so overwhelming that the cops arrested him. They had no evidence, just people’s assumptions, so he was soon released, but people are still skeptical. But Crystal and I have another theory.”