She is not bad

Chapter 66 : Under the bed

Jane's freedom spread in the entire school. Especially the fact that she was completely innocent. Beverly was wound up. She had always known that Jane was innocent, but now she wanted to see the others' face, those who accused her without knowing a thing of the situation. When she arrived at school, she went directly to her locker to take her books before going to her classroom. She was waiting resolutely for her friends. Gabrielle was the first one to arrive with Lucas. The black-haired girl proudly tapped Bev's hand. The others arrived a few seconds later, sitting at their seats without looking at the two girls. Once everyone here, Bev decided to say:

- "I hope you'll all apologize."

- "Why? Because we disagreed with you!?" Mike snapped.

- "I wasn't talking about me! Jane deserves apologies!"

- "She doesn't even know what we were thinking! And there was proof against her! It was hard to believe she was not guilty!"

- "Whatever! It would have surprised me if you all admitted you committed a fault!"

- "Can we, please, stop talking about her!?" Gary replied.

- "Why!? You can't accept you were wrong about her!?"

- "No! It's just, every time we talk about her, we fight! And I'm tired of this!"

Bev grumbled before crossing her arms and leaning against her chair to look away. No one seemed glad she was not guilty and out of prison. She wondered if they were really liking her before this story. She was thinking that until Dustin asked:

- "Do you have some news about her?"

- "No, she doesn't answer my messages," Gabrielle said.

- "Yeah...same for me..." Max added.

- "I sent a message to her aunt, to know how she was and if she would come back. But she told me that, for now, Jane needed time for herself," Bev explained. "I don't think she will come back. I'm not even sure she will talk to us again."

The friends all looked away, feeling sad by this. Bev was still glad that Jane was out of prison and, especially, declared not guilty. She knew she would miss her, but she couldn't force her to still be her friend. She wouldn't give up so easily anyway. She would let her some days before visiting her, to show her that she still could count on her.

- "My mom saw her," Will said.

- "Really?" Gabrielle frowned.

- "Yeah, well, Jane's aunt asked some of her friends to stay at her apartment when she is at work, to keep an eye on her. To be sure she won't...you know, hurt herself."

- "She is that bad?" Mike said.

- "She was sent in prison for sexual assault, how do you think prisoners treat people like that!?" Max replied.

- "...I didn't think about that..."

- "You didn't think a lot!"

- "Anyway, what did she tell you?" Bev asked.

- "Um, she told me that they broke her, she is not talking at all, she is hiding under her bed...That's all, I guess. She didn't say more things, I think she prefers keeping it for herself," Will explained.

- "Or she knows you were against her and doesn't want to make you feel guilty for this," Gabrielle added with a bitter tone.

The boy clenched his jaw of embarrassment. They all stopped talking about Jane for now, all lost in their thoughts. Max was feeling awful. Not because she had doubt about Jane's innocence, but because she didn't support her as much as Jane needed. She wished she could do more. Maybe she could visit her too, to tell her that she was caring a lot about her, that she was more than a friend for her, and that she was missing her a lot. It would probably not change a thing. It would be inappropriate to tell her all of that after rejecting her the way she did. She was so stupid. Jane was probably hating her now.