"What a wicked game you played to make me feel this way."
Jo Jameson doesn't need help. At least that's what she tells everyone.
Following the disappearance of her best friend, she's made a lot of changes - be it from the hair dye or the...
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"So before I save someone else, I've got to save myself."
"I hurt someone, Ali!" She wailed painfully as Alison locked the door behind them.
Jo leaned over the sink, her heart pounding like that of a fast drum line. She was panicking as the liquor churned her emotions faster than she could handle.
"Breathe," Alison commanded, turning on the faucet and running a washcloth under its stream. "It's going to be okay!"
"I pushed a girl down the stairs and now she's going to the hospital!" She gasped, the terror of it all settling in. Alison pulled Jo's long hair from her face the best she could before pressing the cold cloth against her clammy skin. She was in the early stages of a panic attack, they both knew it. If Alison couldn't calm her down, someone would eventually hear her and their haven from the authorities would be discovered. "What if she hit her head hard enough to go into a coma?"
"You didn't do it," Ali told her in a serious tone. "CeCe did it."
Jo paused, looking to Alison with a confused expression. Alison saw what happened. When the party-goers began to form a crowd, Alison grabbed Jo by the arm, dragging her away from the scene as CeCe shot them both a filthy look.
"Repeat after me," Alison commanded, still dabbing the washcloth. She wiped the runny makeup from under her eyes as she stared at Jo's reflection. "CeCe pushed her. CeCe Drake did it."
Looking back at Alison in the mirror, Jo spoke steadily. "CeCe pushed her."
"That's right. She did." Ali cooed, running her fingers through Jo's hair. She took a few steps back as Jo stumbled her way to the edge of the bathtub. Ali tossed the cloth in the sink, putting her hands on her hips like her mother used to. "Finish cleaning yourself up. You're a hot mess when you get drunk, and right now, it's all about appearance."
Alison checked her lip gloss in the mirror before making her way to the door and opening it. "I'm going to find the girls. Don't leave this bathroom until you have your story straight."
Alison paused, looking back at Jo with one last piece of advice. "If you ever want to convince anybody, convince yourself first."
2010
She had good posture. The posture of someone innocent, but still unnerved by her position. It was a good façade, one her father could applaud her on. She'd been questioned too many times not to learn a thing or two.
Jo brought her coffee to her lips, sipping slowly as she enjoyed the way it warmed her throat. Her mother sat beside her, concerned for her daughter. For once, it wasn't irritability that filled her mother's face as Jo was tangled in a mess that wasn't her own doing.
