Storm's POV

I didn't know where to begin. Yes, let me confirm it! Storm Jackson is lost for words. I had been planning what I would say to Stella if I was lucky enough to get the chance to talk to her but all the words, phrases and sentences had left my mind. Stella was getting impatient as she waited for me to start talking.

Might as well skip to the point before she gets tired and leaves!

"Emma wasn't the person who wrote that post," I blurt out.

Judging from Stella's reaction, she wasn't expecting me to start this conversation like this. A look of bewilderment passes over her face but is replaced with frustration. She startles me when she stands up from the bench.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Clearly, Storm, you haven't thought this through. Contact me when you decide that you're no longer wasting my time. Until then, see ya!"

As Stella spoke, there is no warmth in her tone: just hostility. It made me even more nervous.

"Please, Stella! I promise I'm not wasting your time," I plead.

"You telling me why you think that Emma 'didn't' post that tweet about me is wasting my time."

"I don't think that Emma wasn't behind that post. I know she wasn't!" I declare.

"Who was it, then? A ghost?" Stella remarks sarcastically.

My throat suddenly becomes as dry as the Sahara Desert as I mumble," River."

For a moment, Stella freezes like a statue. When it looks like she's recovered from her shock, she chuckles drily.

"You actually had me there, Storm! For a minute there I had actually believed your sick prank," Stella snarls.

I have had enough of this girl! She has every right to have a problem with me but I am not asking her to forgive me(even though I really want her to); I'm providing her with the truth she deserves.

"I'm awful, I know. Sorry, I made a mistake. I'm terrible. Hopeless. Worthless. Selfish. I try to change but every time I do, a sign from the universe reminds me that no matter how hard I try, I will never be a good person," I cry out.

Silence. The only noise that can be heard is Stella's foster siblings playing in the background: I forgot that they're in the park as well as Kate and Harry.

"You are a good person, Storm. You may have not been there for me since the post but you are here, now," Stella whispers.

"I'm sorry, Stella! I ignored the signs! I should have stopped her," I apologise, my voice shaking.

I start telling Stella about how I had found out about River being the culprit behind the Twitter post.

"River had gone Christmas shopping but had forgotten her phone at home. I started looking on her phone for family photos to put on the front of a Christmas card."

Flashback

I decide to call River so that I can ask her for some photos(I know I can just wait for her to come home but that will be just wasting time - I haven't even bought any presents yet!). I open my 'Phone' app, tap on my sister's name and click on the phone icon to call her.

I almost fall off the sofa when River's phone, which I've just realised is on the other sofa, starts to ring.

She may be smart but she is forgetful!

I get up from the sofa I'm currently seated on to go and retrieve my older sister's phone.

River never allows me to look on her phone but it's not like she's going to mind. I'm just looking for photos to send myself!

Her phone asks me for her password. I try her name, age and her birthday but none of them work.

What would River set as her password?

I type into the space where I'm supposed to enter the password:

Smartgirl

I'm not surprised when I'm taken to River's home screen.

Typical River!

I tap on her 'Gallery', not knowing I was just going to find family photos...

Flashback Ends

"I couldn't believe it. I had found photos and screenshots of research about you. When she came home from her Christmas shopping, she was acting like the River I knew. The River I had grown up with. Not the monster she hid so well from me. I was hoping that when I asked her for the truth that she would tell me a sensible reason for the photos and screenshots. That I had made a mistake. That I had jumped to a conclusion," I say before taking a pause in speech.

When I'm ready, I continue.

"I asked her about what I had found on her phone. Immediately, River tried to grab her phone from me but I held it out of her reach. She got angry and told me to give her the phone but I told her she's not getting it back until she tells me the truth. I asked her again about the photos and screenshots but this time she didn't say anything. I could tell from the look on my sister's face that I had caught her. I told her she had a choice: confess everything to me or to Mum and Dad," I continue before directing an important question to Stella," Are you ready?"

Stella nods and some part of me wished she had replied no so that I don't have to retell everything River had told me.

You can't back out, now, Storm!

I breathe in and out before starting.

"Remember, the first time I took you to my house after school to start on the project? After you had ran out, River said you had looked familiar. When you and your parents left Minehead when you were five, my sister was thirteen so she could remember you but it took her some time to recognise you as she hadn't seen you for eight years. She wasn't giving up. That same day you had ran out of my house, River wouldn't give it a rest on how fishy she found you. I hadn't realised she was being serious."

Flashback

"She's probably sulking because her weird friend left with no warning," River explains, an amused smirk forming at the corners of her mouth," It's probably for the best! She looked fishy!"

"You're a day early for fish and chips, sis," I joke bitterly.

"Ha, ha! Very funny! You know what I mean! You're covering for her," River sarcastically accuses me," Spill!"

"I thought you're studying to become a doctor, River, not a detective," I reply smugly.

"Wow! Talking about a different subject! Definitely suspicious!"

Flashback Ends

"But River had no evidence to prove her point...that is until I unknowingly handed her proof," I mutter, the guilt inside of me increasing.

For the first time since I've started explaining, Stella speaks up.

"How?" she questions, the dread of hearing the answer noticeable in her voice.

"After that time I followed you home and found out you were in foster care, I may have written your secret in my journal. I didn't know River would read my journal. I didn't even know that she knew I had a journal," the words rush out of my mouth as soon as I notice the frown stretching across Stella's face," The next day, I found out that somebody had looked through my journal while I was at school. River had been the only one at home so straightaway I guessed it was her."

I gulp and I can feel my eyes watering.

"When I confronted her, River acted so believable. As if she didn't go into my room without my permission and invaded my privacy. It made me even angrier because it made me doubt myself on whether I was right and if she really had gone through my journal. My parents came home from work and surprisingly took my side. River completely lost it and while storming out, she said something I couldn't get out of my head: with everything I've been through, you still side with her."

Flashbacks of my older sister admitting that she had looked through journal play in my mind like a movie. Half of me was shocked at the revelation but the other half wasn't. Questions had crowded my mind after River had told me the truth: what use would the information about Stella being in foster care do to her? The same question is now written all over Stella's face as she listens to me.

"After what had happened, River didn't talk that much to me until that morning she had left for Bristol. She had told me that it was part of her uni course," I sniffle," But it wasn't. It was another lie. How could I have been so gullible?"

"You're not gullible, Storm," Stella consoles me.

"Turns out that my sister had not only read my journal but also read my notes on the project. She had found out that you had been living in Bristol."

"I don't like where this is going."

"That day we had a girls day out-."

"When Emma deliberately tripped up Noah to get milkshake all over my sweatshirt?" Stella asks.

"Yeah. I posted a photo of you, Sophie, Emma and I on Instagram. I totally regret doing it now," I reply," Initially, River only knew your name so it wasn't much to go by but the photo certainly helped. The..."

"Car accident that killed my parents," Stella gulps,"It's ok. I can't pretend it never happened."

"The car accident wasn't unheard of in Bristol. When my sister came back from Bristol, she came back with the knowledge of the car accident. But she wasn't stopping there. Somehow she knew that Emma didn't like you. The same day she had gone for Bristol, River contacted Emma on Instagram. She wanted the girl that I thought was my BFF to help her bring you down. It was an offer that Emma couldn't resist. Before agreeing to help, she asked River why she was doing this: what was my sister going to get out of digging into Stella's past. River told her that she felt that you were a danger and shouldn't be hanging around me. Emma was happy enough with the answer and they began investigating together-"

"That explains it!" Stella exclaims, startling me.

"What?" I question.

"Your sister contacted Emma after the milkshake incident, right? Emma started being really nice to me ever since then and I thought it was out of guilt about getting milkshake on my clothes but she was just using me."

I have to say, up until now, I've underestimated how cunning the girl, who I have known for years, is. How sly she is. How deceiving she is.

Emma tricked Stella into believing she could be trusted.

Emma tricked Stella into believing that she was her friend.

Emma tricked me into believing that she would never turn her back on me just like I would never do to her.

That's what made the wound that she caused by stabbing me in the back hurt even more. That all this time I thought our friendship was two-sided and it took me this long to open my eyes to the fact that only one of us was acting like a friend. Too long. What makes me feel even worse is my older sister having to show me the toxicity of my friendship. My blindness stopped me from realising it myself. Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed and if you don't start living in reality soon enough, it will have a negative impact on you and the people around you.

If I was more observant, I would have found out what River was doing earlier than I did; I could possibly have stopped Emma from getting involved in my sister's dangerous games and stopped that tweet about Stella from being posted. I wouldn't even have to be here, on a bench in the park, explaining to Stella how her past was revealed on a social media platform. However, if there's a lesson that I've learnt from River's mistakes is that you shouldn't focus on what can't be changed but put your concentration on what you can.

"I still couldn't believe it when I found messages with Emma on River's phone. They were about arrangements to meet up when they had discovered some new information. You wouldn't believe where one of the places they had planned to meet up was?" I continue.

"Where?" Stella asks, curiosity shining in her eyes.

"Starbucks."

Flashback

"Hi, Emma! Hi, River! What a coincidence that we bump into each other, huh?" I say.

The two look like a pair of deer caught in the headlights; the sight makes me silently cackle.

Caught red-handed!

"Storm, this isn't what it looks like!" Emma and River both say at the same time.

They said it so hurriedly that I barely understood their two different voices talking over each other; they're obviously hiding something!

If your best friend and your sister sound so anxious, whatever they're hiding must be important!

My heart starts drumming even louder and I wonder how Emma and River can't hear it.

Or maybe they can but they're too worried about being caught.

I shiver and not because of the draught that follows the person who has just entered. However, I can't make them feel that they're not the only ones feeling uncomfortable; I raise one of my eyebrows in amusement.

"You better start explaining," I somehow manage to say confidently.

"After I had just told you, Sophie and Stella about not being able to come to Starbucks, I had found out that what had actually stopped me from coming had been cancelled-," Emma starts to explain but I interrupt.

"What was it?" I asked.

"What was what?"

"What was that thing that had come up?"

Emma opens her mouth but River gets to it before her.

"Stop being nosy, Storm!" my older sister jumps into our conversation.

Who does she think she is? The audacity! In spite of being in public, I'm tempted to shout at River to mind her own business.

You must deal with this maturely!

I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Don't worry, dear sister! You'll get your chance to explain once Emma has told me all she has to say. So just amuse yourself for a few minutes," I taunt.

Even though River mutters under her breath rudely to not talk to her like a child and that she's older than me, I pretend that she's not there and signal for Emma to continue.

"I didn't know if you three would still be at Starbucks so-," she starts again but I once again put Emma's explanation to a halt.

"For goodness' sake, Storm! We're not going to get anywhere if you keep on interrupting!" River hisses.

"You're making this process longer than it has to be by always jumping in when you not involved," I hush my sister before turning to my BFF," You didn't answer my question from before? What had come up that had stopped you from coming to Starbucks with us?"

River murmurs how is this any important and I throw her a death glare.

"I-I-It's something at h-h-home I needed to do. I don't really want to go into details," is Emma's abrupt answer before continuing to where she left off where I had stopped her," I didn't know if you three would be at Starbucks so I thought I'll come here and wait. If after some time you still hadn't arrived, I would have gone home."

"There's something called a mobile phone that you happen to have and could have used to call Sophie or I to find out where we were," I state.

"I didn't want to disturb your plans if you had any after you had been to Starbucks, which also explains why I didn't join you guys once I saw you enter. I was planning to leave until River approached me."

At the same time, Emma's argument sounds convincing and unconvincing: her point is reasonable but it doesn't sound like her. For as long as I've known her, reasonable has never fallen into Emma's dictionary and I believe it never will so I can't say that I fully believe her after her statement.

"Is it my turn now?" River's bored voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah," I answer, shifting in the uncomfortable chair to try to make myself feel more at ease.

"Finally! So I came here to Starbucks to get a coffee and I saw a familiar student from your school looking really down. I then realised it was Emma and so I was wondering why she looked really sad and why she was on her own, especially because I saw you, Sophie and Stella together, seeming happy. So I asked if she's okay and she said yes. I was just about to go get my coffee and go home when you came to this table. Right, Emma?"

When River says this last sentence, I notice there's a slight edge to her voice and when Emma nods, there's a glint of fear shining in her eyes.

Have they told you everything?

"Are you sure there's nothing else you need to tell me?" I interrogate.

"Yes, Storm!" River sounds annoyed," Now, let me get my coffee and we can go home!"

Flashback Ends

"That excuse they told me when you, Sophie and I bumped into them at Starbucks was all a lie. I knew there was something they were hiding but I never in a million years thought it would be something this big," I state.

"I knew Emma hated me but I never thought her hatred towards me will go that far!" Stella exclaims.

"After what had happened at Starbucks, River told Emma to keep her up to date on what she found via texting rather than in person as they had agreed the latter option was too risky. My sister also told her to organise the sleepover."

Flashback

My phone tells me that the time is five past eleven but most of my attention is drawn to the message icon that is displayed on my Lock screen. I tap on the icon to view the text:

Emma: Sleepover @ my house tonight?

I haven't communicated with her in person or via social media since last week when there was the Starbucks 'misunderstanding' so it's a bit weird for her to ask to meet up out of the blue.

Suddenly, I curl my hand into a fist. Not even a hello? Not even a how are you? Not even an apology?

She's acting as if nothing happened last week! That she definitely didn't lie to not only me but Sophie and Stella.

Flashback Ends

"River told Emma that it was a perfect time to fully apologise for what happened at Starbucks because everyone would be in a good mood to have fun."

Flashback

"Guys, I just want to say I'm really sorry about what happened at Starbucks. I should have updated on what was going on and none of you to deserve to be kept in the dark. I'm really happy that you decided to come and I understand if you're finding it hard not to be angry at me," Emma apologises.

Flashback Ends

"I forgave her easily. Too easily. It's what she wanted," I sigh regretfully.

"We forgave her easily. We were all pawns in Emma's game," Stella corrects me.

"Emma thought it was her game. Emma thought she held all the cards. Emma thought she had control but she didn't. She didn't know she was a pawn just like us. She didn't know that it was River's game. River held all the cards and had control," I disagree with Stella's correction," Their research into you wasn't pointless. They found the newspaper report about the fire. River was ecstatic. My sister told Emma that she would post a photo of the newspaper report on social media and reveal everything about you. She didn't expect Emma's reaction."

I think back to the phone call I had with Emma after River's confession. The girl who I had always believed to be so tough, strong and brave had seemed so vulnerable the last time I talked to her that I was questioning if this was the right person I called. I could hear from the way she talked that a weight was lifting from her shoulder and although I was so angry at her betrayal, I had sympathy for her.

"Emma thought that River had gone too far and she told her this. My sister lost her temper and told her that she couldn't back out so easily. Emma tried to calm River down as much as she could by persuading her that this plan wasn't a good idea because I would never forgive her but nothing was working. She blocked River but not before my sister threatened to make Emma regret this," I explain.

"Don't tell me River did what I think she did," Stella whispers, dreading the reply.

"Well, if you think that River found a way to access Emma's Twitter account and post all the information about you on it then, unfortunately, you're correct," I respond as sour as a lemon," When Emma found out, she unblocked River and told her that her plan would fail as she could always just delete the tweet but my sister was already one step ahead of her. River told her that if she deleted the post, she would find out Emma's darkest secrets and reveal it on social media for everyone at school to see so that made the tweet stay."

Nobody talks for a while.

"Is it bad that I feel sorry for Emma?" Stella asks,"I mean sure she shouldn't have done what she did but she didn't deserve the threats."

"I feel terrible,too, especially because she outright told me that she wasn't the person behind the tweet."

Flashback

I look up from my phone and notice Emma a few metres away. I walk over to her.

"Stella and Noah are suspended! I bet you're thrilled with yourself! You just had to post about Stella on Twitter!" I comment.

"It wasn't me that posted about Stella," Emma defends herself.

Why can't she just admit it?

"Then, how come the account that tweeted about her is yours?" I question.

"I swear, Storm, it wasn't me!" Emma resists.

I walk away, deciding that I can spend the day more wisely rather than wasting my time with a liar.

Then, why did some part of you believe her?

Flashback Ends

"Do you have any questions?" I ask.

"Yeah, I do have one: Minehead must be full of people who hate me for what they think my parents did but is there a reason for why River would go through so much to make me pay after so many years? " Stella questions.

"Do you remember Emily Hana? The girl that was killed in the fire that happened eight years ago?"

"The fire everybody blames my parents for?"

"Yeah. I already told you before that River was thirteen when the fire happened. Emily was also thirteen...and she also happened to be River's best friend."