I put my hands over my ears and I can hear a roar, a monster broken loose. No. He was my friend. He would never, never—look how embarrassed he was after I tried to kiss him. If he was what Bella is saying he was, he wouldn’t have pushed me away, would he? But…I was a good girl, he said. Not like the others. I got so angry when Bella said he tried to kiss her, like I was jealous of him perving on my sister. I wouldn’t, I won’t let it be true, because that stupid flash of jealousy makes me sick, makes me as bad as him for even for one second wanting him to have attacked me not her because why is it always her, center of attention, always Bella, never me.

So I lied, made up that awful, horrible story and now Bella has…

No.

It starts to rain, heavy drops that get faster and faster and soak us in seconds.

“I went to confront him. I was going to make him confess.”

No. I scream it out loud. “No—stop it, stop it. You’re lying.”

“I’m not fucking lying,” she screams back. “You’re the liar. You told me he raped you. I thought he was the killer and he was going to kill you too. I had to stop him. I had to—”

Lightning hits a tree and we both scream and jump away, too close to the edge of the embankment. The rain is a deluge, hitting us hard enough to hurt.

“What did you do?” I shout over the roaring in my ears, the howling wind, the crash of thunder.

“We killed him.”

The roaring stills for a moment and there’s silence. Then it’s back in a rush, worse, bigger. Terrible.

“We killed him and I’m scared, Tess. We have to tell the police. Tell them what you told me, tell them what he did to me and…”

“No!” I scream again, voice breaking on the word, and I push her away. “I’m not telling the police anything. It was your fault, you—flirting with Max, flirting with everyone. Leaving me behind. You knew how much I liked Max but you wouldn’t stop flirting with him so he wouldn’t look anywhere but at you. And then…Greg was mine. My friend and you stole him as well. It’s your bloody fault I lied.”

“You stupid girl,” she yells back, shoving me hard. I stagger back and stumble over a rock. “You made up that monstrous lie because you were jealous? You stupid little child.” She shoves me harder, her hands almost punching my chest.

“Stop it,” I shout, and I shove her back, as hard as I can, all my anger behind that shove.