Masquerade of Lies (5 page)

CHAPTER FIVE—A DEVIL IN DISGUISE

The next morning after I got dressed, I sauntered down the stairs and was on my way to the kitchen when the sound of the television in the living room stopped me in my tracks. Brooke’s death was all over the news. A Latino woman wearing a grey skirt suit and holding a microphone was covering the story in front of Brooke’s house.

“This is Lucia Alvarez, reporting at the scene where Brooke Tillier was found dead in her home. Her body was discovered yesterday evening when she was visited by a classmate. The victim was found dead in her tub, and her wrists were cut. The police consider this a homicide and are investigating. Grief counselors will be at Willowdale High as staff and students mourn. Brooke was a senior. She was only eighteen years old. This is Lucia Alvarez, with Channel Five news.”

My mother walked in the room and caught me watching the television. “Oh Hanna, you shouldn’t be watching that,” she said, then darted towards the television and immediately turned it off.

“I can’t believe this is happening to me!” I exclaimed, then stormed into the kitchen and grabbed an apple off the table.

“Is that all you’re having?” my mom asked.

“I’m not really hungry.” I snatched my purse off the table.

“Can we just go to school, please? I want to get this day over with so I can come back home and lock myself in my room.”

My mother walked over and embraced me. “It’s going to be okay. If we could get through the Simon thing, we can get through this, too.” I forced a smile as my mother scooped her keys off the counter. “Oookay, let’s go.”

I opened the front door and my heart almost jumped out of my throat: lying there, in front of our door, was my phone.

“Oh, your phone!” exclaimed my mother.

“Yeah,” I said puzzled. I looked around to see if anybody was watching me, then grabbed it and immediately pressed the
messages
icon to retrieve all the messages Brooke and I had exchanged.

“Maybe somebody found it and left it there for you.”

“Maybe.” My breath caught in my throat: all the messages were gone! It felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs...any shred of proof I had was gone.

“What’s wrong?” asked my mother.

“Nothing.”

When I got to school, everybody was talking about what had happened to Brooke. As soon as I appeared in the halls, people were gazing at me and whispering to each other. I heard one girl say, “I heard she might have killed somebody.” Another girl whispered to her friend, “That’s the girl who stabbed her boyfriend at her last school.” Some guy said, “She’s like a celebrity.” I heard another guy say, “She’s hotter than Claire Miller.” That comment was totally random, but I liked it.

One girl jumped out in front of me. She had chestnut brown eyes and long thick raven black hair that was dip dyed a fiery red. She wore black skinny jeans, a sequined black tank top, and black leather knee boots. “Are you the one who found Brooke dead?” she asked in an eager tone.

I tossed some hair behind my ear and crossed my arms, covering my chest. “Who are you?”

“My name is Stephanie Bradshaw, and I write for the school newspaper,
The Scoop
. I’d love to write a column on what happened.” 

“Now’s not a good time, okay?” I put my hand in her face and scurried through the hall in search of a bathroom when I ran into Josh.

“Hey…I heard what happened. Are you okay?”

“No…not really.” 

“Well, if you need me, I’m here.”

He squeezed my shoulder, making my stomach flutter. I smiled, and he smiled back. Claire caught my eye and sprinted towards us, with Katie and Jessica by her side.

“Am I interrupting something?” she snapped.

Josh quickly removed his hand from my shoulder. Claire glared at me, and I looked down.

“Hi, babe,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and kissing her on the cheek. He then spotted a couple of his buddies. He gave Claire another kiss, this time on the lips. “Hey, wait up, guys! See you later, babe.”

“K,” said Claire.

“See you in geometry, Hanna,” he said, then wandered off with his friends.

“So, is it true? Is Brooke Tillier really dead?” Claire asked.

I gave a languid nod of my head.

“I heard her wrists were cut,” Jessica blurted. Claire shot her a stern look, and Jessica quickly looked away.

“Yeah, it’s pretty messed up,” I said, then bit my bottom lip.

“Well, whoever killed her did the world a favor...or should I be thanking you?” she said to me with a smug look on her face.

“How could you say that?” I shot back.

“Well, I dropped you off at her house last night, and now she’s dead. What would you think?”

“I can’t talk about this anymore!” I shouted. I turned to leave when I remembered where I found my phone. “By the way, I think I left my phone in your car when you dropped me off at Brooke’s yesterday. Did you leave it in front of my door this morning?”

“No, I didn’t,” Claire muttered while she fiddled with a loose thread on her top.

Then who did?

Suddenly, the first bell rang, warning students to make their way to class.

“I’ll see you guys later,” I said.

“Where are you going? We have class,” Claire said.

“I have to use the bathroom.”

“Okay, well, toodles,” she said before she whirled around.

Her long streaked hair swayed back and forth as she strutted away. Katie and Jessica trailed behind her like baby chicks following their mother.

I scurried through the hall and made a dash down the chemistry wing, where I spotted a bathroom by a row of orange lockers. I was about to go in the bathroom when Mark stopped me.

“Hanna!”

“Hey Mark.”

“I heard what happened. That’s craaazy.” He touched the back of his head with his hand.

“Tell me about it.” I had a dull pain in my chest.

“Are you okay?” He gently touched my arm.

“Why does everybody keep asking me if I’m okay? Would
yo
u be okay?”

“I’m sorry, I-”

“No, I’m sorry…I can’t do this right now…I gotta go.”

I stormed into the bathroom. I checked the stalls to make sure nobody else was in the bathroom with me. Suddenly, the bathroom door whistled open and a group of giggling girls strolled in. As soon as they saw me, they stopped short and looked at each other before turning around and leaving. I felt nauseated. I ran to the sink and turned the cold water knob counter-clockwise, then leaned over the sink and tossed some cold water on my face. 

***

That afternoon, we ate lunch in the quad. I picked at my French fries while Claire and Jessica nibbled on their fruits and yogurt. Katie didn’t eat anything.

“Katie, aren’t you going to eat anything?” I asked as Claire and Katie exchanged a look.

“No, I’m not hungry. Just thirsty,” she sing-songed as she lifted her water bottle.

People were still whispering to one another and staring at me, but I tried to ignore them as we talked about the homecoming dance. Claire, Katie, and Jessica were members of the homecoming dance committee. The theme this year was winter wonderland. “Jessica, you ordered the arch, right?” Claire demanded.

“Yeah.”

“Katie, where do we stand on the winter snowflakes?”

“Got ‘em.”

“Well, since
I’m
in charge of entertainment, I asked my daddy to get
Ariana Grande
to perform.” 

Claire simpered and flipped her brown and blonde locks over her shoulder. “Josh and I are obviously a shoe-in for homecoming king and queen. Those crowns are as good as ours. Besides, who else are they gonna vote for?” 

Katie and Jessica didn’t dare say anything; they just smirked and agreed. I couldn’t think about the homecoming dance, as my mind was preoccupied with Brooke’s murder. Suddenly, my phone buzzed; it was Mark.
Are you feeling better?
I texted back:
Yeah…thank
s


“Who is
that
new girl?” asked Claire.

“Mark Edwards.” I smiled.

“Oooh, are you guys like dating?” teased Katie.

“We’re just getting to know each other.”

“Nice. He’s super hot!” Katie shrieked. Claire pursed her lips and leered at me.

The school bell chimed, and everybody started packing up their things. It suddenly hit me that I’d forgotten my chemistry book in my locker, so Claire, Jessica, and Katie went their way while I headed in the other direction across the quad. I took a shortcut through lecture hall and landed at my locker. I opened it and grabbed my chemistry textbook.

I was about to close my locker and saw Claire’s face. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Her hair was tied back in a tight ponytail, showing off her high cheekbones. She sank into one hip with her hands crossed at her chest.

“Boy, aren’t we a little jumpy?”

“Claire? Where did you come from? I thought you were headed to class?” I asked. My pulse was racing. I slammed my locker shut.

“I was, but I wanted to see if you were OK. You seemed a little weird at lunch.”

“Thanks, but I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Well, I gotta go to class. See ya.” I looped around her and started walking away.

“Sure. By the way, I’m glad you found your phone,” she called out.

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. “Me too.”

“We wouldn’t want your phone getting in the wrong hands,” she said before she turned around. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. What did she mean by that?

I watched her saunter down the hall until she vanished around the corner. Suddenly, I realized I hadn’t told Marisa what was going on yet! I escaped to the bathroom and called her. It rang a few times and went to her voicemail, so I left her a message to call me back.

***

During class, the principal made an announcement about Brooke’s death. He asked the school to participate in a moment of silence out of respect.

My phone buzzed a few times; it was Marisa calling me back. I decided I’d just call her back after school.

As I was leaving class, my Motorola buzzed again; this time, it was my mother. She was reminding me that she was going to pick me up from school. Ever since the whole thing with Brooke last night, my mother didn’t want to let me out of her sight.

She drove me to school that morning and offered to walk me to my first class. I guess I couldn’t blame her too much; ever since she and my dad split up, I was all she had. After everything that happened with Simon, we decided to move. My dad stayed in Deerwood. Sometimes I thought I was the reason they weren’t together anymore, although my mom said they just grew out of love. She’d always accused him of cheating on her. He used to work a lot of late nights, and sometimes I’d hear them arguing about the lack of activity in their marriage (if you know what I mean). I used to put my iPod EarPods in my ears and listen to music so I wouldn’t have to hear it. We even tried going to family therapy, but that was a waste of time.

My mother pulled up to the front of the school, and I got in the car.

“How did it go today?” she asked.

“Awful. Everybody stared at me and whispered about me.” I tossed my back pack in the back seat. “Maybe I should be homeschooled,” I said as I put on my seatbelt.

“Hang in there,” my mother said as she reached out and squeezed my hand. “This, too, shall pass.” She gave me a reassuring smile.

Suddenly, I remembered I had to call Marisa back. I dialed her number and put the phone to my ear. It rang a couple times, then she answered.

“Hey, girl!” she shrilled.

“Hey!”

“What’s going on?”

“A. Lot. I have so much to tell you!”

I told her that Brooke and I had planned to meet but she never showed up. Then I told her how I’d found Brooke dead the next day at her house and that I was a suspect. She couldn’t believe it. I told her how everybody at school was staring at me and talking about me.

“Screw ‘em!” she said.

That was one thing I admired about Marisa: her ability not to care what people thought of her. She exuded confidence, and she never had a problem sticking up for herself. I wish I was more like that.

“Ohmigod! Your life is like a movie right now,” she said. She made a comment about how I left Deerwood to escape the drama but ended up getting myself wrapped up in more drama.

“I know, right!”

We both laughed. It was really good hearing her voice. I missed her.

I let her go as my mom and I pulled into Starbucks. I usually got a vanilla latte venti, and my mom always ordered a skinny peppermint mocha venti. Every time we went there, my mom and the manager constantly flirted with each other. He was a little bit taller than her, and he had short sandy brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. His face was smooth, and the muscles in his arms bulged through his shirt. My mom always said he reminded her of Matthew McConaughey. I was starting to think she wasn’t going there for the flavored coffee.