Chapter 3
The gym had security cameras. Bessie was smart–she never once accused me of anything, just claimed she’d somehow hurt her knee. Both sides were bleeding, looking like a pretty nasty fall.
Keith took a look but didn’t follow Alexander’s lead in blaming me. “Let’s get her to the nurse’s office first.”
They all rushed off, leaving only Henry looking confused. “Bella, did you push her?”
The chairs in front blocked some of the view, but you could clearly see Bessie had fallen on her own. Getting the video footage to prove it was probably overkill, but I wasn’t about to take the blame for something I didn’t do–especially knowing I was being used as a stepping stone.
I sent the video to our four–person WhatsApp group, which stayed quiet for a long time. An hour later, Alexander finally sent a voice message:
‘Isabella, stop reading malicious intent into everything. Bessie never once said you did it.”
[ let out a breath, suddenly understanding Alexander’s bias toward her–because this used to be exclusively mine.
I really had pushed someone once when I was little, and I’d been terrified. I’d run to them crying, even though I’d been the one cheating in our game and the other kid had just muttered a complaint. I’d lashed out, but all three of hem still stood by me and covered for me.
‘Isabella didn’t push him!”
‘He totally fell on his own and tried to blame someone else–what a faker!”
‘Yeah, it wasn’t Isabella!”
I felt embarrassed, but they stuck to their story when explaining to the adults. So the truth never really mattered.
How could I not miss that? I sniffled and blocked Alexander before leaving.
Henry said, “I think they just genuinely feel sorry for Bessie. Seriously, you didn’t see–Bessie’s mom is sick in the hospital, hooked up to all these tubes, but she kept thanking everyone for taking care of Bessie.”
‘So you saw her too?” My tone was certain.
I watched Henry’s face change completely as he scrambled for excuses and bolted.
My phone buzzed with a new group message notification.
Henry: “@everyone Guys, what do I do? I think I let something slip in front of Isabella!”
One second later, the message was deleted.
15:04
Chapter 3
I thought I was strong, but right then my chest felt like it was full of cold wind, chilling me to the bone like a January
freeze.
I left the group chat. Henry immediately private messaged me:
“Bella, I think you’re misunderstanding–Bessie really doesn’t mean any harm. She looks up to you and wants to join our group, but she was afraid you wouldn’t accept her.”
“We were planning to gradually introduce the idea to you…”
I stared at my phone, but those words didn’t transform into something else.
After a while, someone knocked on my door. “Miss, it’s time to go.”
15:04
