Collateral Damage

Chapter One

Five months later, at the beginning of senior year, Bernadette McCloud came back to school.

I was on my way to second period. I just turned around the corner, and there she stood, getting some books out of her locker. For a second, I thought I was hallucinating. That locker had been deserted ever since her family pulled her out of school last spring—the day the whole mess started.

She spent the last couple of months hidden away from cops and local reporters. Nobody thought she would ever come back to school. Everyone assumed that she'd move to another town, just like Matt.

Yet here she was, getting ready for class like nothing happened.

My legs felt like they had been turned to stone. I couldn't breathe.

A few girls walked past her. One of them hesitated and turned back to her. "Hey, Bernadette," she called out in a soft voice.

Bernadette started, her tight golden braid swinging over her shoulder. "Hi," she muttered, before biting her lip and glancing behind her like she worried an attacker lurked nearby.

"Doing okay?" the girl asked, compassion dripping from her tone like syrup.

Bernadette forced a grimace and nodded. "Yeah."

"Hang in there." She gave her one last smile before joining her friends.

I stared after them. Those girls were the same ones that stared and whispered during those hellish weeks last spring. The same ones that might have trolled me on Twitter for not knowing what Matt was—what he allegedly was.

"Stand by your man, huh, Sawyer?" they jeered. "How does it feel to be a rapist's girlfriend?"

And even after the cops found out that Matt was innocent—when Bernadette admitted she lied—none of them bothered to apologize, let alone check to see if I was okay. If anything, I got even more crap for breaking up with him.

Now months later, Bernadette was still playing the victim, and people still were eating it up with their pitying looks and their array of baked goods and flowers. No, nobody cared that she and her parents ruined Matt's life just to cover up their dirty little secret.

My legs suddenly jerked to life. Before I knew it, I had crossed over to Bernadette's locker and smacked the books out of her hands.

"You lying, two-faced bitch."

She stared at me with those wide blue eyes. Something flickered in them—was it guilt? Anger? Whatever it was, she quickly turned it back to the skittish expression she wore for those girls. "Wendy..."

"Shut up," I snarled.

Quite a few boys and girls stopped dead in their tracks to watch us. I knew what they were thinking: Poor Bernadette's being attacked by Matt Ellis' psycho ex-girlfriend. But I didn't care.

I spent the whole summer in a numb haze, unable to do anything except dwell on all the things that happened...all the things I should have done

Only I wasn't numb now. At that moment, I hated Bernadette McCloud more than anything or anyone on the planet. Just the sight of her was enough to piss me off: her pale, pretty face, those big blue eyes, wearing the drab blouse and skirt like she was pretending she went to a Catholic school. The picture perfect blonde waif, cowering from the angry redhead.

"Matt never did anything to you!" I yelled at her. "I never did anything to you! And you lied! Why? Why? Why did you ruin our lives?!"