Worst Impressions

Bonus Chapter - Taking the Blame

The students who'd still not returned or joined the group text chat were summoned back to the hotel by staff and teachers who'd called them directly. Although they were in trouble for sneaking out, they reserved the bulk of the punishment for those identified as the ringleaders.

No one had considered leaving the hotel without supervision before Beth had arrived, and so they concluded she was the instigator of the plan. Her friends were secondary suspects and, because we had turned up at the same time, Charlie, Chantelle, Mandy and I were all to be scolded with them.

Chantelle maintained ignorance. When I considered the animosity between her and Beth, I wasn't convinced that this was an act of kindness. Rather, it seemed in her own interest. Self-preservation suited Chantelle and, whether or not she intended it, it helped to conceal the truth of that night's events. The rest of the students rallied together and presented a united front to the teachers who questioned them. None pointed the finger at Beth and her friends. There was no solid proof to say that she had driven them out to the streets in search of Lisa; only the intuition of Beth's father, who knew his child better than anyone.

Once our group lecture was over, the rest of the students were allowed to retire to their rooms. All were threatened with cancelled excursions and benefits should there be a repeat of that night. I was sure that no one wanted to live through the events again, but I knew the teachers needed to give the impression that they were in charge, even though they knew that they'd dropped the ball and lost control this time.

Before we could follow, Beth's father closed the door, indicating that he wasn't yet done with us.

'Gideon is staying in police custody,' he told us. 'Which is where he would have ended up even if you hadn't put yourselves in harm's way.'

'You were taking too long,' Beth argued. 'I'm not going to apologise. We found her way before you did!'

'Have you looked in a mirror, Elisabeth?' Mr Bennett shouted at her.

If he hadn't said it, I might have. She should have apologised to him for what she'd done. Not only had she put everyone at risk, but she might have been killed by Gideon. Wanting to help her friend was noble and I couldn't fault her empathy and compassion, but her recklessness almost cost her dearly. I wanted to shake her and tell her that she was so much more important than she seemed to think she was. That her life was worth preserving and that she almost threw it away just because she was impatient and pig-headed. The fact that she was still stubbornly refusing to believe that she'd done anything wrong was ridiculous.

The proof of her actions was right there on her neck for everyone to see.

A visual reminder of just how close Gideon had come to taking her away from everyone who loved her.

'Mr Bennett,' Jenny said, 'it was my fault. I convinced Beth to –'

'Save it,' he said. 'I know my daughter. There's no way she wasn't the one behind this.'

'She wasn't,' I interrupted. 'I was. It was my idea to fly out here, and I convinced Beth that we could track Lisa down. I wanted the chance to get back at Gideon without anyone interfering.'

I was partly to blame. My entire family were. I didn't want Beth to suffer any more than she had already. Besides, she might be thrown out of the school if they thought they could place every ounce of blame on her for what happened. It was better that we all take responsibility if we could. They wouldn't throw us all out. Three of us weren't even their students anymore and Mandy had never attended the school in the first place.

'It's true,' Mandy backed me up with batting an eye. 'He did it for my sake. I'm sorry, Mr Bennett. We got separated because Will and I were careless. Beth was only guilty of wanting to help Lisa, and we exploited that.'