Please Understand

Chapter 8: Please Understand

Coach Holtry made me run until my stomach felt like it would fall out of my ass, and my throat was raw from the heavy breathing. He told me it was my punishment for missing practice yesterday, but I'm sure it has something to do with the interrogation and my mental breakdown. This is why I never showed my weaknesses to anyone, but Amelia. Probably because she is my weakness. All I could think about was the diary even as my legs turned to lead, but my mind wandered back to my stupid thoughts of Amelia. Was I really resorting to hallucinations because I missed her so much?

After everything that had happened today, I wasn't prepared for what was to come next. As I headed towards the locker room, I looked out to the gravel parking lot to see Dakota sitting in his crappy green Toyota. I gritted my teeth, and headed towards the shower. Was I ready to deal with this? Was I ready to hear the truth about my Amelia? I went to find him after school, but he had vanished. Part of me was glad he was gone, so I didn't have to worry about people seeing us talk.

With wet hair, and a heavy heart, I trudged over to his car and hiked my backpack up onto my shoulder. Every piece of my body cried in agony and begged me to sit down. Quickly, I glanced around the field to see if anyone was watching us, and then I climbed in.

"Nervous?" he asked with a slight snicker as he started up his car, and backed up.

I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back. "Well, isn't it kind of weird that two guys who got in a fight over the investigation would go to the police together, and then hangout after? Looks like we are getting our stories straight," I explained as I smirked at him. "So spit it out. What's the real story, and what are we going to tell the police?"

He slammed on the brakes, so I flew forward, catching myself with my hands on the dash. "Shut the hell up," he laughed as he sped up again. "If you go to the police with anything I'm about to tell you, then I'm going to have to kill you."

I stared at him with wide eyes as I entertained the thought of him being the one to kill Amelia Jackson. Too vividly, I imagined him hacking at her with his axe and burying her in his backhward.

"Dude, sorry. I'm not actually going to kill you, but it's in everyone's best interest that you keep this to yourself," he rephrased with a snort.

"Stop playing games, Dakota, and just tell me why you were with Amelia the night she went missing," I hissed as I fastened my seat belt. Suddenly, I sounded like one of the detective, except I was actually going to solve this case. Obviously, he's not going to take things easy on me.

He laughed as he sped passed the high school and towards the edge of town. "Alright, but everything stays in this car. I told part of the truth to the detective today. I was with Amelia at the diner, and she did get into trouble, but I know she wasn't stealing money. Anyways, that's not the point. After we closed, I saw her and Tristan talking out by his car. She looked like she was freaking out, throwing her arms around-"

"Sounds like Amelia," I interrupted, but when I glanced at him I realized I needed to keep my mouth shut.

He nodded his head as he headed towards the state line of Oregon. "Anyways, she was demanding for Trist to pay her, so I went over there to see what the problem was. Apparently, she's been selling weed to Tristan, and a few other guys, but she was trying to sell the rest of her stock for a hundred dollars. He was interested, but didn't have the cash for it. She was freaking out because she needed it right then, but she wouldn't say why. So I agreed to let him borrow fifty dollars until next paycheck. After the whole thing was over, I offered to drive her home, but she didn't really say anything. She kept tapping on her legs, and then she freaked out when we drove by your house and she saw you were having a party," he explained as he turned the car around to head back into town. "I don't know why she cared so much, but she was practically fuming. She kept saying, 'Of course! Of course, he would have a party!' I think she was pretty upset that you didn't invite her."