Framed

Thirteen.

A half hour after Taylor calls the police, someone finally takes the time to open the supply closet where Taylor and Camila had been hiding. Camila almost cries with relief at the sight of a police uniform - and the duo is allowed to live for another day.

The two are escorted off the campus, to an area a bit outside, where they sit under a shade canopy and are asked by police what happened. Luckily for Camila, Taylor let the authorities know that they were both in that closet, and for once in this case, she's being treated as a witness rather as a perpetrator. It feels freeing, to not be on the other side for once. 

Both girls are given candy bars to munch on while all but two officers travel inside the school to keep searching for evidence, but the wrappers are left unopened, placed on the table and overlooked. Camila and Taylor just sit in silence, waiting for the time to pass.

The two officers sitting by them are silent, browsing on their phones or fiddling with their watch or badge or something. As a matter of fact, Camila likes it that way. She's had enough questions for the time being. 

Eventually, an batch of students flow out of the school gates toward the two police under the canopy. Camila recognizes most of the faces. Zayn, Mani,Selena, Louis, Liam, Ellie. Some other students walk towards them as well. Gigi, Karlie, some more friends of Taylor, who runs over to the closer members of her group with tears in her eyes.  

Zayn's pace is rapid once he sees Camila, making a beeline for her and saying in a whisper, "Have you seen them?"

"Who?" she whispers back. 

"Lauren, Harry, and Lucy." Zayn responds, voice low as his hands fidget, trying not to stick themselves into the pockets of his jeans. "LaF took Lauren to go see J.P., but Harry and Lucy have been M.I.A. this whole lunch period."

"You can't be serious." Camila nearly groans at the wrench in their serenity, and basically tosses her candy bar at the jock who asked for it, glaring indignantly.

"They're looking for her now. They'll find her." Zayn says, opening the Twix that Taylor had left behind. 

"Good. For now, though, it would be nice if we talked. Alone."

-

The police were investigating a death on campus, so for obvious reasons, there weren't many places to have any semblance of privacy. 

Camila and Zayn settled for the curb on the sidewalk by the school, etched with old initials of lovebirds, so many of which probably didn't make it as a couple - at least, not for long. Maybe they had forgotten of the letters which they had written in the concrete so long ago, or maybe they went to the nearby tree, and made their revisions there, filling in different letters under the same heart. 

"Taylor told me she knew Alicia before she broke up with Lauren." Camila said, voice rustling within her throat. 

The incredulous look on Zayn's face was enough to raise up a red flag for Camila - not towards Zayn, but towards Taylor. 

"Of all the things I expected her to do after she left, I never expected her to start speaking to Taylor Swift of all people."

"What do you mean? She says they were good friends."

Zayn's mouth tweaked in an apprehensive expression. "Not really - Alicia actually had a good liking for alcohol and pranks, and the only thing she really liked more than those two things was when the two were combined. Sometime in sophomore year, she actually egged Taylor's new car. In front of Taylor's face. So a friendship blossoming between them sometime after that is actually really surprising to me. What did she say about their friendship?"

"Nothing, really. But she said Alicia made all these accusations about Lauren from when they were in a relationship..." Camila mentions, lowering her voice to a murmur as she told Zayn about the allegations towards Lauren.

"The temper is something I can't and won't deny. Lauren has a temper, it's like saying that the sky is blue or that Ally is religious. However, not once did I see Lauren lash out directly against Alicia. She got upset about a lot of other things, yes - but Alicia was one of the few things that she reigned in her anger for."

"And the paranoia?"

"Lauren didn't trust many people - she still can't trust that many. But as far as I know, Alicia was never so-called 'out of the loop'." Zayn explained, making the quotation mark gesture with his hands. "She typically knew what was going on with Lauren, often before we did."

"But what reason would Alicia have to lie to Taylor?" Camila asked, bewildered. 

"More like, what reason does Taylor have to lie to you?" Zayn cracked his knuckles as he replied.

Moments passed in silence, until Zayn spoke, tone harsh with exasperation. "Seems like all our lives are being filled up with silence. But something so hollow is never enough to make you feel whole."

Camila nodded in acknowledgement, still wondering. "Why would she have to lie to me?"

"That's up to you. You know her better than I do." Zayn turned his head around to hear a ruckus of voices, police officers exiting the school, voices conversing openly with one another.

Amidst the interweaving of voices, Camila and Zayn were able to catch enough to get the gist of it, "Dallas, dead - yes, sophomore - three students, two teachers - missing - not all of school scanned yet - unknown if presumed suspects."

Cameron Dallas was the boy killed. According to witnesses, like Mani and Gigi, he had just started screaming, something about his throat being burned, then collapsed. Just as Austin had. The killer had reverted back to their comfort zone, an indirect death. It's a lot easier to get away with things when you don't have to run from the scene, but just sit and watch the fruits of your labor.

So much for trying to get him to talk, Camila contemplated.

Lauren, LaF, Lucy, and Harry were all missing so far - Zayn rushed to one of the officers to give a tip about them hiding in the computer lab through the murder. With luck, they'd be found in a place where they were supposed to be. 

More word started coming in through the officers. "Second victim, female - unidentified, found on stairs - walking down from gym, wearing shorts, tee shirt - deceased by the same method, apparently -"

Who the hell was doing this?

-

A/N: Okay so Cameron is dead, he was mentioned earlier on in one of the chapters. The question is, who's dead now? 

Who do you suspect is behind this, and why? Let me know of your theories cause I really like hearing them, and they sorta help me shape how to write each chapter and how to steer the plot in a direction you all like - hopefully. 

Stay safe and stay lit ;) Love you all, Sel <3