For a moment, everything was silent. I swallowed hard, looking at Amelia’s pale face and the way her nails were digging into the palms of her hands to stop them from trembling. While the four of us were sitting on a couch together, Elle’s hand on my thigh on one side and Seth leaning into me on the other, she looked utterly forlorn. Finally, I asked, “Could we have a word with Amelia for a moment, please? Alone?”

Mrs. Whitworth nodded, immediately getting out of her chair. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, if you would follow me outside?”

Amelia’s parents got up reluctantly, clearly not happy about this turn of events, but left the room without uttering any complaints.

Amelia let out a breath she probably had been holding the moment the door fell shut behind them. Then she slowly looked up at us, the look in her eyes that of a convict awaiting their turn to step up to the gallows.

“Amelia . . .” I said. “Can you tell us why you did it? Why did you write the blog?”

She was silent for so long I was starting to think she wouldn’t answer. Finally, she whispered, “Because I was sick of being quiet. I . . . you’ve seen my parents.” Her voice shook so much I was afraid it was going to break. “With them, there was never any room to express my opinions, no one who heard me. But on that blog, I could say anything and people would listen.”

Elle huffed.

Amelia’s eyes shot up to look at her. “I know it is not an excuse,” she said. “The things I wrote were unacceptable. I just

. . . I was so angry, all the time. Most of it was directed at me, but it was easier to take it out on everyone else, make others feel the same shame I felt, make them feel helpless. I hated myself, so I hated on others. And in the end, that just made everything worse.”

“I still don’t understand why you directed so much of that anger at her though,” Jasper interjected, gesturing at Elle. “You always seemed to dislike her, but as time went on, you down-right hated her. Why is that?”

Elle sat up a little straighter, clearly interested in hearing that answer.

Amelia looked even more embarrassed now, unable to hold Elle’s gaze. “In the beginning, it was just jealousy, I think. You always seemed so confident and in charge. Like you were not afraid of anything. I hated that because . . .” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “Because I knew I could never be like that.”

Elle shook her head. “I was never like that. Never will be. No one is scared of nothing.”

“Maybe,” Amelia softly said. “Either way, everything got worse when Evelyn arrived here.”

“Because you liked her,” Seth simply stated.

I could feel my jaw dropping as I stared at Amelia. At first, it didn’t make sense—I didn’t want it to. But then I thought back to the afternoon we had spent studying, to her crying in the empty classroom, to her face when I hadn’t sat with her on the bus. The entire time I had only had eyes for Elle. How could I have been so blind?