Never have I ever

Chapter Two

I woke up in Nick's bed but couldn't see him. So, I got dressed and went downstairs to look for him. After not finding him there either, I looked in the basement where the others were sleeping. Firstly, I tried to look around without waking them, but after not finding him once again I thought it would be worth a try to see if any of them could help me. At first, I woke up Mack, then Luke, Lily, Mia, Louis and at last Cindy, but no matter what we tried, she wouldn't wake up. After a minute Louis panicked and put two fingers on her neck, but he couldn't find a pulse. Hoping that he just looked for it in the wrong place I tried to feel it too, but o the wrist. No matter where I looked for her pulse, I couldn't find it. Mia and Luke actually had to pull us away from her, just to have the slightest chance at calming us down. Lily called an ambulance and the police. While waiting for them I remembered why I woke all of them up in the first place. "Nick", I screamed which startled the others. "What about him?", Luke wondered. "He's the reason I woke you up, I can't find him anywhere.", now I started to panic again "What if he was taken by the person who did this to Cindy?" "Calm down, we don't even know what happened to her, she could have just had a heart failure or something like that.", Mia claimed. But I thought of what Nick said the previous day. "Nick put all of you something in your drinks and what if whatever he put in there killed her? What if he killed her by accident, but he wouldn't do something like that. He knows how to handle drugs, he couldn't have done it. Nick, where the hell are you? I need you to tell me everything's going to be alright!" The others just stood by whilst I talked to myself and lost my nerves. After I was done Mack sat me down, looked into my eyes more intense than I was comfortable with and asked: "Why did Nick put something in our drinks?" "So, we could have some time alone", I whispered, just realising what Nick had done and I don't mean that he could have accidentally killed Cindy, but just drugging our friends. "Ah, so you're a couple now, a couple of FAGS", he spit in my face. I thought we were friends, but apparently Mack is just a homophobic prick. Even though I didn't want to, the tears just rolled down my face." Oh, and now the princess is crying. Do you want your prince in shining armour to come and rescue you?" While he growled that he slowly came closer, his fist right next to my face. Luke came to help me, which Mack commented with a "Watch yourself or someone will think your one of them." Mia who still tried to calm down her brother apparently had enough, so she sent him upstairs. Which turned out to be a bad idea, because we heard Nick coming in as soon as Mack was upstairs.

I ran upstairs as fast as I could and jumped between them right when Mack tried to hit Nick. Because he couldn't stop in time, he hit me right in the eye. "Why would you do that?", Mack screamed at me," I wanted to hit the asshole that killed Cindy." Nick was just about to sit down next to me, because I fell when I got hit, but he was right back on his feet when he heard what Mack claimed. "What? Cindy is dead?", he freaked out. Mack now turned completely red out of anger. "As if you didn't know, you poisoned her you murderer!" That's when Nick got furious. I grabbed his leg, so he couldn't get close to Mack. "Please, he won't believe you. No matter what you do or say.", I begged. I could see how Nick got calmer by the minute. I stood up and fell into his arms. He pulled me as close as possible and kissed me on the head.

Suddenly we heard a load pounding on the door." It's the police, open the door please!" Lily went to let them in and showed some of them the way downstairs. Two others came up to us. "Hello, because this seems to be a homicide investigation, we would need to take your personal information."

"My name is Nick Herondale, I'm 17 and I live here", Nick started. After the policeman wrote that down, I stuttered:" I'm Daniel Way, 16 y...years old and...d I li...ive at 221b Brixton Road." While they asked Mack and Lily for their personal information, I heard the flashing sound of cameras and a little later a pair of medics, who I didn't see coming, carried Cindy's body upstairs and outside in a body bag.

But I didn't realise any of it. I saw everything as if I was just standing by, as if, I wasn't a part of this giant mess. Even as Mack started accusing Nick of Cindy's murder again, I didn't realise it. I still didn't when the police took Nick in custody, or when he told me it's all a mistake and he didn't do anything. I couldn't tell the police they had the wrong guy or promise Nick that I'd come see him as soon as I could. I only realised what had happened when Luke sat me down and calmed me. Even I didn't know how upset I was.

Mack cheered about Nick getting what he thought he deserved, while also insulting me for coming out of the closet for a murderer. Even though I still didn't think Nick would be capable of something like that, I slowly got scared that he could be charged with murder and sentenced to life in prison. Now I really freaked out.

I grabbed Luke by the shoulders and begged him to help me prove that Nick was innocent. He just looked me in the eyes and promised me with his deep, calming and trustworthy voice, that if Nick was innocent, we were going to prove it. His shining blue eyes calmed me down enough to start thinking logically again and his promising words gave me the hope I needed to fight for my love.

The sound of upcoming cars made me look to the main entrance where the parents of the siblings, Mack and Luke where coming from. My completely hysterical mother came running behind them.

"What happened, why is the police here? Dan, honey, please talk to me", my mother overwhelmed me even before she had time to come inside the house. It took me a minute to really hear what she had said. "Ehm... Cindy died last night, and Mack thinks that Nick killed her and now the police has him in custody", I summarised the las hours.

All of our parents were just standing there with shock written all over their faces. Mack's father wanted to know why his son thought Nick was a murderer. "Because he is! He drugged all of us to have some alone time girlfriend!", Mack screamed. "And where is this girlfriend of his now?", Mack's mother wanted to make some sense of what her son said. "She's right here", Mack said in a mocking voice, while also pointing at me.

The sibling's parents who were busy calming their son, finally thought of saying something. But I definitely didn't think they would agree with Mack and blame me and Nick, which they did. Thankfully Mia came to my help and told them that it wasn't my fault, that I couldn't have known what would happen. She also mentioned that we didn't even know if Nick did something wrong.

I was grateful to her, I really was, but I couldn't listen to them any longer. I ran outside and hid behind some bushes in the garden, from where you could look down to a small river with a wooden bridge, which was totally unnecessary, because you could easily jump over it.

I flinched because someone suddenly sat down next to me. Without looking I could tell that it was Luke. I heard a quiet "Hey" from my left side. "Hi", I said back. After that there was an awkward silence between us, until Luke started laughing. I didn't know why he was laughing, but it wasn't long until I was giggling too.

You know it's really disrespectful to laugh after what happened last night", I breathed, still laughing "Yeah, but it just had to get out", he agreed. "Why does something like that has to happen right now? Just when we finished school and are finally really able to start living", I complained.

Suddenly I heard my mom scream my name hysterically again. Luke and I looked at each other half annoyed half amused. And before we could start laughing again, I stood up and revealed my whereabouts to my mother. She just asked me to get in the car with her, which I gladly did. The whole 15-minute car ride she was silent, which normally doesn't mean anything good. And I was proofed to be right.