Murder in Winter

Ivy's Diary

"Ivy's Diary," I breathed, as everyone leant in closer to see. "Why'd she want me to have it?"
"I don't know," Summer shrugged.
"I didn't even know she had a diary," Danny admitted. "Maybe she just wants it to be kept safe, you know. Maybe she wrote things down that she doesn't want anyone to know. Is there a note saying to burn it?"
I shook the book by its spine, but nothing fell out. "Nope."
"Maybe we should..." May gulped, her voice trailing off. "Read it?"
I looked round at the others, their faces determined and...afraid. Afraid that we were going to stumble upon something we'd want to forget but couldn't. Afraid that this wasn't what Ivy wanted. Afraid this was wrong.
I sighed, and started flicking through pages. "This is last years diary!" I exclaimed, noticing the dates. I turned to the back page. "The last entry was the fifteenth of August last year."
"Read it!" Hartness ordered, firmly. "Maybe she explained why you should have it."
My eyes skim-read the final entry, Ivy's curvy handwriting sprawled across the lines. It seemed like a normal diary entry, describing what she did that day, which wasn't much. Then I saw my name. I looked closer, reading the following lines word for word.
"Christmas, if anything happens, go back to an interesting event in this book. What's that mean?"
"Don't know," April shrugged.
"What happened last year that was interesting. Presumably you both knew about it, so it was probably a school day," Hartness thought aloud, a frown of concentration spread across her face.
Something from last year? That just her and I know about? I desperately tried to think back to last year, unsuccessfully. I continued reading the note aloud. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner but I'd hate for you to know me like...that." What the heck does she mean? We've been friends since year seven, what could've made her worry that I'd see her any differently if I found something out?After a few minutes of silence, I turned back to the start of the book and began reading through it, still wondering what this 'event' could possibly be.
"No ideas?" Alex asked, me shrugging in reply.
"I don't remember anything interesting really happening with just Ivy and I knowing of it," I said, my eyes not being diverted from the line I was reading.
"Well, maybe it wasn't just you and her," Danny began, slowly. "What if you-or we-were all there, but she just chose to give it to you for some reason?" I know it wasn't meant as a rhetorical question, but I felt like it really didn't need an answer: it must be right. It made perfect sense-and the reason Ivy gave it to me? That was obvious: there was words in there that she would not have liked to become known. I'd already read some things like that. She really was a budding author, and the fan fictions and other snippets of stories-mostly murders-proved it. Not to mention that she'd hate Danny finding the things that she'd written about him in there before they stared dating.
"Okay, so what happened last year?" I asked to no one in particular, when my phone's ringtone sang out. I fished my phone out of my bag: Lia had texted me. Hey, when will you get here?
I looked out of the window; we were quite close to the school. 5 mins. I quickly replied before returning my phone to it's original place.
I was about to go back to reading when I suddenly remembered something. "Hold up!" I put my hand on my chin as my eyes began tracing the back of the chair in front of me, lost in thought.
"What?" Alex asked, reaching out for my shoulder. "What is it?"
"We're idiots!" I exclaimed, bursting with laughter.
"Excuse me?" Hartness enquired, pretending to be more offended than she really was, raising an eyebrow.
"Two things happened last year, that would be in here. I realised it just now, when Lia texted me. Summer, who did I compare to Lia on Monday?"
"Brooklyn," she breathed. "Of course. How didn't we think of the two murders that we were part of last year?" Everyone either face-palmed or kicked themselves because-of course. It really was obvious. It had to be them.
Rolling my eyes, I turned back to the most recent murder before Ivy's: Brooklyn's. Rapidly, I skim read the entry, without finding anything of significance. Sighing, I went further back to D of E...and Heather's and Vanessa's murders. My eyes zoomed over the extract, full of hope. Suddenly, I read something that made me stop in my tracks, and Alex sensed it, since he questioned what I'd found.
I know Crystal's secret. The words replayed themselves in my head. She knew. She knew all along.
I shook my head in disbelief. No way. No way.
"What? What is it?" May asked.
I took a deep breath and started reading...
"In year three, I was popular. Crystal and I were friends. Really good friends. Lia was also a friend. But not for as long. Crystal's crush ended up liking Lia, and when news came out that they were dating, Crystal began ignoring her. And I chose to stick with her. We were horrible to her. I know that now. Soon, Lia moved schools after slitting her wrists once in the bathroom. I knew it was wrong. I don't know why I did it. Once she left, I became a goth and began blending in. Crystal also left soon. I haven't been able to forget it. That must be her secret Heather threatened to spill: that the nice-girl was actually a bully that caused an innocent girl to turn suicidal. How she found out, I don't know. I'm just lucky she didn't use it against me..."
But what people don't realise is...so is murder.