Death of the Perfect Girl Book 2

3- Three Destroyed

         Charlotte ran her fingers through her blonde dyed hair, watching her red roots become visible by the brush of her strands. Tears filled her eyes as she thought about what she'd done. Sadie was dead because of her. How was she supposed to walk the halls without showing guilt? She stood, walking over to her wardrobe. She couldn't change what she'd done. But she could reinvent herself at least.

She grabbed all of the clothes Sadie had made a mockery of and threw them on her bed. She could now, really and truly, do whatever she wanted. She stared at the clothes. Her lips curved downwards. What did she want? She lifted her head and looked at her mirror. Her face went blank.

***

Mason sat in his car with a cigarette between his fingers. He popped it into his mouth sucking his lungs full of death. Then blew the smoke through his lips. He watched his now skinny brother with pale skin and short hair walk out of the house. Charlie had changed. He had become a completely different person. He now dressed in color, wearing more bright colors and leaving his black clothes at the back of his closet. He got into the car and shut the door then looked at Mason. Mason stared at Charlie, his heart breaking the longer he did. He started the car and they both began to head to school.

***

Poppy got out of her sister's car, feeling stares the minute she became visible to the other students standing outside of the school. She shoved her hands on her pockets and lowered her head, walking up the steps. Everyone stared at her unsure of what to say or even think. The girl who was known for her paint covered overalls was now dressed in all black, walking the halls like death himself. Each person she walked by was struck with hopelessness. The one person they'd hoped would bounce back after Sadie's death had dug herself deeper into a hole of dispear. She walked through the front door, her boots heavy on the floor of the hallway. It silenced those around her, turning heads and shutting mouths. But with many eyes on her...Poppy still felt alone.

She turned her head to look at Sadie's locker. It was riddled with flowers and sticky notes of love and lies. No one really cared about Sadie. They were glad she'd died. They all thought she'd killed herself because it was inevitable. But Poppy knew the truth. She walked over to her locker and opened it, then stuffed her empty school bag inside.

With a drag of her feet, she started walking again. Her eyes danced around the hallway, scanning the faces looking at her. A girl smiled and waved but Poppy just stared at her. She turned away, then noticed the substitute teacher walking into his classroom with a box of his filming equipment. She briskly walked over to him just as he was about to walk to enter his classroom. "Mr..."

"Crowder," he said sternly, his once soft friendly voice now more aggressive.

"I'm Poppy-"

"I know who are."

Poppy squinted at him. She quickly caught on. He was a Sadie fan before she died. "Mr. Crowder, can we talk in your classroom?"

He sighed. "Sure."

Poppy opened the door for him and stepped aside so he could enter. Her eyes met Charlie's. They both shared stares of shock. It was as if they had switched places. Poppy was dressed in black baggy jeans and eyeliner, while Charlie wore bright blue jeans and a pink shirt.

"Poppy," Crowder called her. "I don't have all day-"

"Sorry." Poppy quickly stepped into the room, shutting the door. She walked over to Crowder rubbing her hands together. "I need to ask you a few questions about that night."

"What night?" Crowder shuffled through his things.

"You know what night."

Crowder suddenly looked up at her. His eyes darted downwards. "Poppy-"

"Sadie didn't kill herself," she blurted out.

Crowder held his breath and looked at her.

"She called me that night. She was freaking out of her mind. She said someone was trying to kill her. 'They' were trying to kill her."

Crowder leaned against his desk with arched brows. "Are you messing with me?"

"Why would I be messing with you?"

"Well, for starters, you messed up her life."

Poppy's face turned to stone. She titled her head and glared at him. "Big fan, huh?"

Crowder shook his head. "I have classes to get ready for-"

"You may have been some creepy fan boy, but what you don't know is that Sadie was a terrible person."

Crowder scoffed then began to dig through his box again.

"But she was changing. And we were friends."

Crowder ignored her.

"You don't believe me?" Poppy took out her phone. She walked over to him and held it infront of his face. "You can go through our texts if you want to."

He looked at the phone. He slowly held it, reading Sadie's last few words to Poppy.

"Sadie and I were getting closer," Poppy's eyes began to twitch with tears. "I was getting through to her. I was making amends. But someone...someone took her away before I could."

Crowder looked at her.

"I need to know who was in the school that night. I need to know who you gave the keys to."

Crowder sighed then looked down at the phone. "I gave them to Charlotte."

Poppy lifted her head. She nodded slowly. "Of course."

"She said Sadie had asked for them. So I thought she had given them to her, obviously." Crowder scanned Poppy's angry expression. "What are you going to do with that information? Take it to the police?"

Poppy lifted a brow. "The police ignored me when I said that someone murdered her-"

"Attention all student and faculty," the speaker's began to blare. "Please head to the Auditorium for this morning's assembly."

Crowder handed Poppy her phone. "We have to go-"

"I'm not going in there."

He looked at Poppy. Her face had turned pale.

"I can't." She frowned, the stone faced facade she had been putting on all morning melting in her tears of panic.

Crowder sighed. "Okay. We'll stay here...But we have to make a deal."

Poppy's brows fell. "What do you want?"

"Tell me what you know about that night."

Poppy stared at him. "Deal."