Looks That Kill [on hold]

5. Meeting

ASHLEY HAMILTON walked into the Mitchell Mansion at exactly 6:45 p.m.

Aiden had said to be there at seven, but as his best friend, she knew that meant earlier for her. She climbed the wooden staircase and barged into his bedroom.

"What's up?" Ashley asked him as she plopped down on his bed next to him.

"Other than one of my friend's being dead and my girlfriend won't answer my calls, nothing." He said sarcastically as he flipped on his stomach.

"Do you even think this is a good idea? I can't believe Hunter and Sadie actually think this is," she said walking over to his window which had a view of the driveway.

"I don't know Ash, but you have to stop judging Sadie. The three of us have to stick together, we're the outsiders who are inside, remember?" He told her, referring to the fact that Scarlett, Georgia, Hunter, Rebekah, and Julien would often hang out without them three.

Back when Scarlett was still alive and they were all a "functional in a way" friend group, the relationships were so complicated. There were about a million mini-groups in their one friend group and there was nobody who hated and liked the same people as someone else in their group. Ashley might loathe Sadie but Aiden was best friends with Sadie too.

"That doesn't mean I can't hate Sadie. God, how are we even a friend group? I'm not close to Georgia, I dislike Rebekah and Julien, Sadie's psychotic, and Hunter and I are friends. You and Scarlett are— were my only true friends though," Ashley told him reflecting on their friend group's dynamic.

"The only reason we are all together is that of the one thing we all have in common, Scarlett," Aiden said, his eyes sad.

Scarlett's name brought tears to her eyes, she still couldn't process that she was gone. They said nothing for the next five minutes before their silence was interrupted by a doorbell.

Aiden walked over from his bed and stood behind her, both of them looking at the seven cars parked in his driveway including his and Ashley's. Ashley recognized Hunter's old green truck, Rebekah's pristine white Range Rover, Georgia's black Audi, Julien's black Porsche, and Sadie's baby blue beetle.

It was funny to see Hunter's Ford and her own car next to the rest of them. The two cars looked so out of place in the mansion's driveway next to luxury cars. Scarlett would have helped offset this, as her car was on the cheaper side and wasn't as well-off as Aiden, Rebekah, Georgia, Sadie, and Julien.

"Shit, they're here," Aiden told her as he stood up and walked over to his bedroom door. They walked downstairs and opened the wooden front door. Rebekah, Julien, Hunter, Georgia, and Sadie were all standing outside on his porch, an awkward silence flowed through the air.

"Come in," Aiden said widening the door before the five teenagers walked through the doorway.

They followed him to his living room where the seven of them sat on his mom's precious black leather couches.

"So... What are we going to do?" Hunter said staring at his dirty sneakers.

Hunter's words surprised Ashley, the last time she talked to him was that night, the night where everything came out. Neither did she think that he would be the first one to speak.

In a way, she resented Hunter. She also knew it was unfair of her but she always felt a pang of jealousy whenever he talked to her.

"The first thing they are going to ask us is where we all were that night," Sadie said crossing her legs.

"We can tell them the truth. We were all at Sadie's cabin in the woods and then we all left around eleven. If we lie, they'd probably find out," Julien said as if this solved all their problems.

"And after?" Sadie asked, "Scarlett was with us and that was the last time any of us had seen her before she died, right?"

Ashley gulped, she had seen Scarlett after. Unbeknownst to her, they all had.

"So where were we after leaving Sade's cabin?" Aiden asked. Ashley looked around the room to see everybody on the verge of tears.

"We're all innocent, right? So we just tell the detectives the truth." Rebekah said but it sounded more like a question.

"We go down to the police station, we tell them the truth but omit the fact that some of us were drinking that night," Rebekah said remembering the night where everything went wrong.

"Shouldn't we just tell them that? I don't think they'll care if a few seniors were drinking underage when compared to cooperating in their homicide investigation," Georgia said looking at Rebekah.

"So the detectives can tell us we killed her? If we say some of us were under the influence of alcohol, it gives even more evidence that one of us could have killed her in a drunk fight or something," Aiden said to his distant girlfriend.

The seven of them reflected in silence for a minute before Sadie spoke, "Okay if you want to say you drank that night, then be my guest. It's not like any of us were actually wasted or anything. You can decide what you want to do with the information about yourself, but if they ask if someone else drank, then you say 'I don't know.'"

Ashley nodded along with the rest of them at Sadie's proposition but before anybody else could say anything, Sadie continued, "If they ask us what we were doing, we can be honest, I guess. I don't remember the exact time but we all got to my cabin around 8 p.m., partied a little and hung out, and then left around 11 p.m."

"What are your alibis?" Julien asked looking around the room.

"Aiden drove me home, and I stayed there for the rest of the night," Ashley said without thinking.

Why did that lie come out of her lips so easily? Was the fact that she had sneaked out of her house to meet Scarlett in the woods after becoming a distant memory? 

"I drove home and dropped Georgia off at her place and then went to my house," Hunter said locking eyes with Georgia.

"And after he did I stayed home for the rest of the night, I even watched a movie," She said looking away, breaking the staring competition they seemed to be engaged in.

"I left my cabin a few minutes after everyone else had because I had to clean up and then I drove home where I spent the night," Sadie said crossing her left leg over her right one nervously.

"Well, I drove Ashley home and then went home right after. I didn't leave to buy food, I was too tired so I ordered takeout. You can even ask the Chipotle guy," Aiden answered.

"You know where I was, Julien. You dropped me off at my place and I didn't leave for the rest of the night either," Rebekah said looking at him.

"Are we done yet?" Ashley asked the group, eager to go home and cry in her bed for the rest of the day. This was probably the first time Ashley was thankful for teachers as they had given her a light course load and she had finished all her homework at the library during lunch today.

"I suppose," Sadie stood up and walked over to the entrance, "thanks for having us, Aiden."

And then she walked out of the house. The rest of them bid their goodbyes to Aiden and walked to the red stone driveway, where Ashley got into her white Toyota Camry. All six of them started their cars and drove out of the driveway.

Rebekah, Sadie, and Georgia's cars turning right to follow Julien to the wealthy mansions of Stonewalls while Ashley and Hunter turned left to take Pineview Road to get to their humble homes.

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thank you for reading! any suspicions yet on who did it?? please vote & comment.