Love Will Remember (A Justin Bieber Story)

Chapter 33

December 19

Justin is in James' office. 

"Why am I here?" Justin asks. 

"I wanted to talk to you about something," he says. James' walks back and forth. 

"What's wrong?" Justin asks.

 "You really messed this all up!" James shouts. Justin looks at him shocked, he has never heard James shout in the entire time he's known him. 

"What do you mean?" Justin asks. 

"You are a suspect now, Justin. They now think that you killed Selena." Justin's mouth nearly drops to the floor. 

"H-how?" he asks. 

"They are using your fight with Jinsu as evidence that you are capable of killing someone." "They want to do a DNA test on you, I will convince them to do one on Jinsu too," he says.

Caitlin walks down the halls of the school. She hasn't spoken to Justin since the kiss. She takes her seat in her last hour and spots Justin as he walks into the room. He takes a seat in the back corner of the classroom. The teacher has the local news station on. It's civics class. She watches the news lady and try to hear what she's saying. 

"Another girl in the Detroit area has gone missing. She went missing on December 15th, Debby Ryan is a junior at Detroit high school. There are no further leads on this case." Justin shoots her a look. She gets up and walks over to his desk.

"Selena went missing on November 15th, remember every month on the 15th, he strikes his next victim," she says. 

"They think I killed her," he suddenly says.

 "What?" 

"I am now a suspect in Selena's murder, they want me to do a DNA test tomorrow," he says.

 "Oh my god. How could they even think that?"

 "They think that my fight with Jinsu was some sort of evidence that I am capable of killing someone, James is going to convince them to do a DNA test on Jinsu too," he explains.

 "Do you want me to come with you?" she asks. 

"Yeah and I'm sorry about the other night, maybe one day we'll kiss again, just not now. It's just too soon," he says.

Demi sits up in front with Ashley and Vanessa. The core group has totally fallen apart since Selena. They barely speak now. Ashley and Vanessa still are best friends. Demi feels left out, Caitlin has Justin, and Ashley has Vanessa. 

"You okay?" Ashley asks Demi. She notices a tattoo on Ashley's wrist. She can't tell what it says. 

"Yeah, what's your tattoo say?" she asks. 

"It's just a symbol of my dad," she says. 

"It's cool," she says. She examines the tattoo closely. It is a circle with three lines through it. In each section there are little symbols with initials in them that are too small for her to make out.

Josh arrives home from school that day. Something feels different when he enters the house. It's quiet, too quiet.

 "Mom!" he shouts. No answer. He walks over to the counter and sees a note with keys. He picks it up. He takes the note outside and sits on the front steps. He opens up the note and reads it;

Dear children,

You've all been such great kids and have always helped me. It's been really difficult for me with losing Selena, I'm sure it's hard on you too. I can no longer be your mom anymore. I just can't. I need time. I don't know how to deal with this and I think it's best if we go our separate ways. One day, I may come back. Until then, take care of each other.

-mom

Tears have made their way down Josh's cheeks. He sees there are credit cards and money in the back of the envelop. 

"You okay?" a voice says. Josh looks up to see Olivia. 

"Mom's gone," he says. 

"What?" 

"Mom, left us," he repeats. She takes a seat next to him. She sighs. 

"You don't have to act like you care," he says to her. 

"What do you mean?" she asks. 

"It's obvious that you don't care about Monica and I anymore. You don't have to pretend. You spend more time with your boyfriend than you do at home." Olivia looks at him hurt and shocked at the same time. She wants so badly to hug him and tell him that she does care. But she can't. She can't feel anymore. She won't let herself. She stands up. 

"You're right, I don't care."