It was humbling how her people believed her without a second’s hesitation. Not Dylan though; he thought her guilty.

Bastard.

“The evidence is weighted pretty heavily to suggest that maybe I did.”

“Bullshit!”

Her fiery friend stood now with hands on both hips.

“You’re the gentlest person I know. You’d never do something to cause someone pain.”

“Thank you, Maggs, for believing in me.”

“Where’s Grace?”

“In bed.”

“So what happens now?”

“Don’t know. I guess we wait to see if there’s enough evidence to charge me.”

“The evidence is there, it’s just not clear that it was you who put it in the donuts,” Joe said.

Piper watched him scratch his head. He hated this, hated that he couldn’t make it right for her. Joe was a fixer, especially when it came to those he loved.

“What happened to your knuckles?” She grabbed his hand and turned it over, examining it.

“Nothing.”

“Clearly it’s something.” Bailey came closer to inspect it too.

“He hit Dylan.”

“What? Why?” Piper looked at Luke.

“He doubted you.”

And it was that simple to them. No one should doubt her because she was clearly innocent.

“He has a right to his opinions,” the low-life rat. “It was his mother that was poisoned.”

“You care about each other, Pip, and don’t try and tell us otherwise,” Joe said. “Therefore he should know you well enough by now to realize you’d never do that.”

“We don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Plus, there’s this trouble going down with his family, and it could be related to that.”

“What?” She looked at Joe. “Surely not?”

But it was possible, she realized, especially if they’d been seen together. Piper gave in to the emotion that had built up inside her then, and laid her head down on her arms and cried. These people loved her, they’d seen her cry, so if she was going to do it, now was okay. Hands patted her, and she felt kisses on the top of her head.

“I-I’m g-glad you hit him. I wanted t-to.”

This made them laugh.

“That looks bad, so I’m guessing it hurts like hell?”

Dylan didn’t look at Fin Hudson; instead he kept his eyes on the water. He’d been standing out there leaning on the railing for hours, and all he could see in his head was Piper, and her eyes when he’d asked her if she’d attempted to kill his mother.

“I got you a tea and scone from Tea Total.”

“Go away.”