"TJ, i'm so sorry. I'll pay for your jeep." Allison spoke as he walked over from the ambulance that she was sat in the back of, getting her head wrapped.

"The amount of times i've crashed that thing by now. It's just a dent." he said in return, nodding to her head. "So, what? You have a concussion?"

"No, they said just minor headaches." she shook her head, looking toward their cars. "So, I really just swerved into the other side of the lane?"

"Yeah, you don't remember?" he gave a questionable look, making Allison shake her head. "It was fine at first, then you just jolted right infront of the Jeep. I hit my breaks but it was extremely close."

Allison exhaled, nodding her head as she looked down. Embarrassed was an understatement.

"You alright?" he gave a worried look, the same look so many people had been giving Allison all day. "You sure you didn't hit your head that hard?"

Allison looked up again. "I-"

She was cut off by both their phones going off. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her phone and stared at the About That post that had just been uploaded.

I got the idea of killing Simon while watching some shit news show. There was this story about a guy who killed his wife. Sort of obvious. I mean, it's always the husbands, right? But it took the police months to catch him. Turns out, a lot of people were happy this woman was dead. She had gotten a coworker fired, had an affair with her friends husband- she was a nightmare. Basically, there was motive everywhere the police looked. And that got me thinking, that's the kind of person you can get away with killing- someone everybody wants dead.

Allison read the message over and over again, the words replaying in her head on repeat, tuning out the lecture she received from her parents, she couldn't even remember them picking her up. She now laid back in her bed, staring at the same wall from before. Rolling over, she stared at Simon on her window ceil, just sitting there. "You aren't going anywhere, are you?"

"Doesn't seem like it." he repeated with a shrug. "I'm almost offended you don't want me here."

"I want you here more then anything." Allison said back with a blink. "I never wanted you to die, Simon."

"I believe you." he nodded at her. "Thing is...who else does?"

Allison was in her own bubble of panicking. She'd never snuck out of her house before, especially not to go see a boy she'd been sexting with over Pinterest. Apart of her was worried. It wasn't as if she didn't know who Simon Kelleher was, she knew what he was all about too. A little part of her was expected to wake up tomorrow and see he'd exposed her heavily all over About That. Yet, back then, just a few months ago, she couldn't bring herself to care.

Simon walked outside, keeping the porch light off. Allison had expected him to come out of the window, but no, he walked right out of his front door to greet her with a smile. "Hey there."

Allison smiled shyly. She had thought she'd have plenty to stay, but fell completely silent. He found it ironic, how she could talk so much in text, yet was silent right now. Simon didn't mind much, because he liked to talk, and she'd listen. He out reached his hand to her. "Come on, let's go in."

Allison latched onto his hand, their hands laced, walking through his front door.

"Allison." Bronwyn spoke as she met them near the lockers, being pulled out of class.

The girl looked to Bronwyn to the detective. "Miss Dallow sent me here?"

"We're just needing the five of you to help us with something." the detective reassured her. They looked over as Addy and the principal came around the corner.

"This is Detective Wheeler. She just needs to search your lockers." she informed Addy, introducing the two.

"What, why?" Addy gave a worried look.

"Do you even have a warrant?" Cooper spoke up, stood between Nate and Allison.

"We don't need a warrant. Lockers are on school property." Detective Wheeler laughed slightly. "Look, I understand it's invasive, and I thank you for your cooperation."

"Was there an option to not cooperate?" Nate leaned against the lockers, pulling his open as the detective laughed slightly, looking inside.

"I don't understand. What are you looking for?" Bronwyn asked as she crossed her arms.

"Well, any piece of evidence that might help us understand what happened to Simon." Detective Wheeler looked back at her, finishing up Nate's locker. "Allison, this next one's yours?"

Nate and Allison had always had their lockers side by side. Neither ever understood it, considering their last names weren't close. A coincidence, it seemed. Allison walked forward some, pulling at the collar on her shirt slightly. Pulling her locker open, she backed up. Detective Wheeler searched it.

"You might have the most boring locker i've ever seen." Cooper spoke, seeing how bare it was on the inside. "Didn't you use to-"

He was cut off by Detective Wheeler pulled one of Allison's books out, a small square falling from inside it. They all looked down, staring at a condom laid on the floor. Nate gave a snort. "Not so boring now."

"I don't-" Allison began, turning into a tomato in a matter of seconds. "They made us take one in health class, you can ask Mrs.Brady!"

Detective Wheeler held her hands up. "Whatever you do in your personal time is up to you, i'm just searching."

"But I don't do anything!" Allison shot quickly. Nate and Cooper shared a comical look while Bronwyn looked confused, Addy was in her own state of panic. Unlike the boys, Bronwyn knew exactly who Allison's parents were. "Will the school notify our parents about the locker search?"

"Not unless you wish to tell them." she reassured her with an awkward smile. "Okay, Bronwyn, is your locker one of the-"

"We'll look at Addys next." Detective Wheeler cut her off with a forced smile, clearly noticing the guilty look the blonde possessed. Addy shrugged slightly, nodding her head as she lead them down the hallway.

"Do your parents know?" Bronwyn whispered to Allison with wide eyes.

"There's nothing to know. They were handing them out in health class." Allison whispered back, her stomach was flipping. "But, please don't tell them. If they so much as suspect it, they'll make me listen to Pastor Larsons lecture and take me to the gynecologist."

"The gynecologist? Why?" she looked oddly.

"To see if my hymen is still in tact." Allison said back.

Bronwyn looked in shock. "But, hymens can break from riding a bike, or literally anything. Not just from sex."

"I know." she whispered back with wide eyes. "But they don't think so."

"Girls." Detective Wheeler looked back at the trailing behind pair. "Can you keep up?"

"Sorry." Bronwyn apologized as her and Allison walked forward as Addy grabbed her locker combination.

The blonde spun around. "What if someone put something in our lockers?"

"What?" the detective asked.

"Yeah, like, what is someone put something in there to make us look bad." Addy pointed out with a head tilt. Allison rose her eyebrows in pure disbelief, wondering if Addy had any clue how stupid she looked saying something like that.

"Wouldn't be the first time police found evidence right where it needed to be." Cooper mumbled, rocking on his heels.

"Yeah, and Bronwyn said someone put a phone in her bag and that's how she got detention, and I-I got detention in a weird way too." Addy spoke quickly with a worried look toward the smaller woman.

"Addy, if you haven't done anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about so just open the locker, please." Detective Wheeler reassured her with a shake of her head. Addy turned back around, opening it up as the detective walked toward. Allison tried to peak behind her head, but it didn't take long for Detective Wheeler to grab a small bottle. "Did someone plant this Peanut Oil in there?"

Allison felt a chill, looking over to Addy as she quickly came up with an excuse. "It's moisturizing. I use it for, uh, my hair and dry skin and blackheads and-look, this peanut oil could not have killed Simon. Peanut oil has to be cold pressed for someone with allergies to react to it, and that's basically all the super bougie gourmet kind, basically."

Allison looked down the hallway, not knowing what to think. She new for sure she thought Addy was an idiot for all she'd said just now and before. But to kill Simon? Could she have? Allison didn't know, mainly because she stayed away from Addy because of how rude Vanessa always was to Allison. But, it was enough for her to wonder, and wondering was bad for Allison.

"How do you know that?" Detective Wheeler asked.

"So, what are you thinking?" Simon leaned over her shoulder, whispering in her ear. "Did she kill me?"

Allison tilted her head to shrug him off, listening to Addy go on. "Saw it on the Food Network."

"Maybe that's something you should keep to yourself." Nate rocked on his heels, voicing the obvious thought.

"Well, we'll run some test of the samples we found in the library." Detective Wheeler hummed, dropping the bottle into a plastic bag.

"You're more talkative on Pinterest." Simon spoke, leaning on his dresser while Allison sat on the edge of his bed.

"Sorry." she gave a tiny smile. "I'm glad you invited me over."

"Yeah?" he hummed, flashing a half grin. He pulled a book off his shelf, flipping it over as he walked over to her. Allison held her breath before he held the book out. "Tell me what you think that means."

Allison looked down at the book page. "Knowing your power is what creates humility. Not knowing your power is what created insecurity."

"What do you think that means?" Simon tilted his head up slightly.

Allison hesitated, blinking as she looked up at him. He stood right in front of her, taller from how she sat down. "I think- well, I think that it means that people that realize they have power in the world often times let it go to their head, and that alone will cause humility."

Simon nodded with a half grin. "And the second half?"

"Is better." she said, making him give a single chuckle. "Not knowing your power can lead to doubt and insecurities, but at least you won't humiliate yourself."

"Are you afraid of humiliation, Allison?" his hand came up and held the side of her face. Allison's heart raced, blinking as his thumb ran across her bottom lip, pulling slightly. "Are you?"

"Maybe." she admitted, frozen in place. "You're not?"

"I think everyone is, in a way." he said back, pulling her bottom lip as his thumb brushed her teeth slightly. "You have to find a place in the middle. Between insecurities and humiliation."

Allison sighed as he let her lip go, it popped back against her. "How?"

"Knowing how you look in other peoples eyes." he spoke to her, leaning down to be on eye level. "It just takes time to figure that out."

She didn't know what it meant, and he didn't tell her. Instead, he just leaned in and kissed her.

"I think one of you took Simons laptop." Detective Wheeler spoke as she stared at the five, all sat lined up infront of her. "If you did, we're gonna find out, and soon. I'm sure you had a perfectly good reason for taking it, but you gotta tell me now, because if we find it and we find you've been hiding it and lying about it, especially after i've given you a chance to come clean, I don't have to tell you how that's gonna sound to a judge, right?"

She looked at Bronwyn, who looked extremely guilty and like she was on the verge of breaking down. "You got something to say?"

Allison looked over, watching as Nate placed his hand ontop of hers to make her seem less obvious. "Yes. Um, why are we even talking about the laptop when you just found peanut oil in Addys locker?"

"It's moisturizing." Addy defended herself with a look of disbelief her way. "And you know, some of us actually like to spend money on makeup once in a while."

"Have you spoken to Simons parents?" Allison cut in, popping her fingers under the table. "Have they said anything at all?"

Allison knew they had to have seen or heard her sneaking in every single night for nearly three months. Detective Wheeler gave a questionable look. "What would they say?"

Oh shit. Allison shook her head. "Well, if Simon left his laptop somewhere, it's likely to be at his house, isn't it?"

"He had it in the library with him. Now it's gone." she said back as Allison nodded, leaning back in her seat again and hoped her question hadn't brought too much attention upon herself. "What makes you believe he'd keep his laptop at his house? Have you been over there?"

Allison realized, in those moments, that something had to have been said. Someone had to see them together. Someone knew she wasn't as innocent as she seemed. Allison blinked. "It just seems likely to leave your laptop at home. I didn't know he brought it to school with him."

She got away with it, not answering the question, meaning she didn't lie, and still didn't let anyone know she had been inside the Kelleher house.

"I'm trying to help you guys. This is serious." the detective looked down the row of five. "Why do you think i'm sitting here instead of Officer Miller? I'm a homicide detective. This now a murder investigation."

Allison bit the inside of her mouth, looking at the ones around her. Her heart thumped, her stomach flipped. She heard Simon breath right into her ear. "Who do you think did it, Allie?"

"What?" Cooper gapped.

"Murder?" Addy matched his tone.

"We found Peanut oil in Simons cup, and only Simons cup." she said in return. "We also found capsules residue. Someone put Peanut oil into a capsule and dropped it into the water in Simons drink. That happens in the moment. In the room. So, your teacher left the room. You didn't see anyone come in or out. No one had the opportunity except for the five of you."

Allison was sweating, she couldn't breath. The About That post wasn't some sick joke, he was truly murdered. Allison was here, in the chair, and then she was back in detention with Simon, trying to keep him alive. She was going back and forth, seeing the pain in his face, the way he gripped onto her cardigan that day. Then, for half a second between coming back and forth, she'd fall into the memories of him kissing her.

"Allison?" Detective Wheeler asked when she saw how distressed Allison looked, her breathing getting heavier by the second. "Are you all right?"

"You're looking extremely guilty." Simon spoke, standing behind Detective Wheeler as he stared her way. "Even I think you might have killed me."

"I-I didn't-I-" Allison was looking for words, but the inability to breath was too over powering as she swallowed hard. "I can't breath."

She stood up, stood up to leave, stood up to do anything. But, her entire body was hot, and she was seeing black spots. She was dizzy, her memory going back and forth from here to detention. He was murdered, and then died right in her arms. Allison's last thought, before blacking out, was of her dead boyfriend dying because of one of the four around her.

•

kylie speaks

even though i have learned
to separate the show from the
book, because i was soooo pissed when it came out bc of
how different the show was from the book, one thing that i can't
get over was addys character.
she was my fav in the books, even before her whole haircut
thing, but the show made her so
annoying to me...idk if it was just me bc i was expected more bc of the book or what