I looked around at the others, most of whom bore accusing stares into my skull.
Apart from Tefia, that is, who was laughing uncontrollably.
"Best fight I've seen in ages, and I do really ship you two!"
I didn't bother asking her what that meant, I just got straight out of the car and rushed over to Ash.
"Ash, do you need to talk?" I said gently, placing my hand on her shoulder.
"Don't touch me." she shrugged my hand off and walked a couple of feet away from me.
There was nothing I knew better about Ash than her temper, which always seemed to fly off the handle at the least useful of times. I sat down, leaning against the wall, waiting for her to come back - I could tell that se needed to talk.
After about a minute, she came and sat down next to me with a bump, her arms still folded.
"It's just..." she started, then dissolved into tears.
"Ash, what's up?" I said, awkwardly putting my arm around her.
"Paul's up." she said bitterly, then sobbed again, putting her head between her knees. "I feel like such an idiot, crying like this." her muffled voice came up through her jeans.
"It's fine..." I said, not knowing what else to say.
"No, it's not, and it's for a stupid reason."
I sat in silence for a moment, then realised I should be asking what's up.
"What's the reason?" I said, feeling rude asking at the same time as feeling nice.
"It's just... when we were coming to Penn State... we were being chased... and Tasha gave me a gun... and I got scared... and... and I fired it... it hit the engine... big explosion... and... Paul..." she dissolved into sobs again and I hugged her.
I felt a sudden burst of anger. Ash was one of the nicest people I'd ever met, and it just wasn't fair that she was going through this.
"If I had gone to trial and had been an adult, I would have been in prison for murder, so why am I walking free?"
"It was self defence, it wasn't your fault." I assured her.
"I pulled the trigger." she said hollowly, looking up at me again. Her eyes looked sunken, and I realised for the first time how dark her eyes looked, like she hadn't been getting much sleep.
"And you were forced to." I said softly, thinking back to what she had said about Paul, but not wanting to ask.
She tilted her head slightly, and as if she read my mind, "I started dating Paul because he was the one there for me when that happened. That's it, he didn't ask me, we didn't get to know each other beforehand, we just decided." We locked gazes, tears rushing down her face. "I'd just killed two people, and I was rewarded with a boyfriend."
"Ash, it wasn't your fault that they died, get that out if your head." I said.
"Actually, it was my fault they died. I pulled the trigger, causing a bullet to go out and-"
"You know what I meant," I said. "You had no other choice. Think about it this way - if you hadn't shot them, then they could've caught you and everyone in that car, and maybe killed you all. So instead of causing more deaths, of innocent people who you really love, you caused the deaths of two evil people trying to catch those innocent people. Just think as well, after they were done with you, they would have gone out and done the same to god knows how many others."
