The Trouble with Love

❝ i can't believe a word you say ❞

(unedited)

Sorry really doesn't mean a thing,
When I can't believe a word you say.
I'm not your puppet on a string,
Left aside until you wanna play.
You were the one who let me down;
You were the one who fooled around.

"Don't Gimme That" -Aloha From Hell

Hard as I tried, Ashton wouldn't tell me anything else about Olivia.

"How was she killed?" I asked, as he pulled into the school parking lot.

He glanced at me as he cut the engine. "That's the tenth time you've asked that." He paused and glanced at the dashboard. "In three minutes."

"And I won't stop until you tell me," I told him.

"I don't know, okay? I told you that," he said.

I shot him a doubtful look. "And I'm supposed to believe you?"

"All I know is that it was some kind of drug." He hesitated again. "Methanonel."

"The same thing that was used on Skylar?" Someone has shot her with a near fatal dose of it when she had been in the hospital too.

He nodded. "It's clean, easy, quiet. Not that it'd matter though since she was in a coma."

"Isn't Methanonel hard to get, though?" It wasn't just a calming drug. If the dosage was high enough, it could make someone paralyzed, or even unconscious for some time. It was only used if it was 100% necessary. And it definitely wasn't accessible to just anyone.

He shrugged.

"How do you know? Did Kaden tell you?" Hospital records were confidential. Even someone with Ashton's connections would've had a hard time finding something like that out.

He hesitated, then shook his head. "It's just a guess." He glanced outside. "Come on, the bell's about to ring."

I stared at him. I highly doubted Ashton was the kind of person to care about getting to class on time. But I didn't say anything, just grabbed my bag and got out of the car.

Ashton was right. As soon as we walked into the school, the bell rang. Despite the fact that we only had a couple minutes to get to class and that his was probably on the other side of the school, Ashton followed me to my locker.

Vanessa was waiting for me there. I could spot her fiery hair from down the hall. Ashton noticed the same time as I did, and that was when he stopped. "I have to go," he said.

I raised an eyebrow. "What, are you scared of Vanessa now?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, but I'm not in the mood to be teased."

"For what?"

He shook his head, then turned and walked back down the way we had come. I stared at his retreating form until he had blended into the students rushing to class.

"Okay, bye to you too," I muttered, spinning back around to head to my locker.

"Was that Ashton?" Vanessa asked when I got there.

I spun the dial on my lock. "Yeah."

She shot me an amused look. "Is it just me, or was there a five o'clock shadow on his chin?"

I glanced at her. "It's just you," I lied, hoping she'd just drop it.

"Nuh-uh." She shook her head and wiggled her eyebrows. "I know what those look like. Did he spend the night?"

I opened my mouth to tell her it had been Kaden's idea, the shut it immediately when I realized I couldn't. As far as Vanessa knew, Kaden and Ashton didn't know each other, not personally, at least. No one knew about the case, and I wasn't going to ruin it. "We didn't do anything," I said lamely.