Betrayed in Blood

Chapter Twenty

"You really broke up with him?" Michelle asked, stunned. Camilla sighed, admitting with a nod that she had. "Is he upset?"

"Of course he is," Camilla replied. "I apologized to him, but I don't think he's going to forgive me. I don't know why he wouldn't, though."

"Yeah, I mean, you're obviously sorry, he should just forgive you."

"Exactly-"

Interrupting their rambling, Meagan plopped in the seat across from them, dropping her stuff hurriedly and folding her hands on the table. Her face held a perky expression, a stark contrast to Camilla and Michelle's frowns.

"Okay, guys," she started, seemingly oblivious to the atmosphere in the room, "I have news. The Tiger Times newspaper is ready to get started! We have you-" she points to Michelle "-André, and me. Jared wanted to do it too, of course, but we all know he's not the brightest, especially when it comes to writing."

Meagan chuckled, but the other two girls didn't react. Rather than breaking the news to her, though, Camilla said, "That's great, but I still don't think there's any reason for it. The newspaper committee isn't against me, they said themselves that they're neutral for now."

"'For now' is the key word," Michelle noted.

"That's two key words, not one," Camilla retorted.

"Regardless," Meagan interjected, "we're doing this to defend you. The Edwardsville Paper newspaper committee claims to be neutral, but you need people to be completely on your side. Otherwise, everyone will just listen to Amy's false claims."

Camilla sighed. "That's the thing. I plan on doing the interview too."

"Seriously?" Michelle snapped. "I thought you'd forgotten about that by now."

"Of course not," Camilla replied. "The newspaper is available to everyone in the school, so if I can do anything to prove I'm innocent to them, I'll do it."

Michelle still looked exasperated and turned to Meagan to hear her thoughts. "I mean, you're going to get your voice heard. Remember how popular the paper with just general information about the case? I bet yours will be just as successful."

Although Camilla's best friend shook her head in frustration, Camilla completely agreed with Meagan. I suppose today would be a good day to do it, she thought. So, during the break between classes, she went to the journalism classroom, where two of the committee members were sitting-Zoey Larson and Leah Miller, according to Michelle.

Zoey had a petite figure, although she was fairly tall, with naturally black, curly hair dyed burgundy that complimented her dark skin. She sat with flawless posture-something that threw Camilla off-as she spoke with Leah, a blonde with wavy hair parted to the side. Her face was heart-shaped with occasional freckles dotted on her light skin, and her eyes were a deep shade of blue.

As Camilla approached, the pair turned her way and immediately recognized her, as was evident from their shared glance at one another. She suddenly made herself hyperaware of their body language. Leah swallowed and began fidgeting with her hands. Was she nervous? Zoey, however, seemed calm. She held up a polite smile and maintained her position.

"Camilla Green," Zoey greeted, rising to shake her hand. "I've heard about you and written about you all the time, so it's great to meet you."

Camilla grinned and shook her hand. "Zoey Larson, correct?" She nodded. "It's great to meet you too."

"What took you so long to come do the interview?" Zoey inquired, eyes scrunching in amusement.

Camilla giggled, admitting, "Well, my friends weren't so sure you guys-the newspaper committee, I mean-would be willing to believe me, so they discouraged me from showing up. But I figured you seemed to want to hear both sides of the story, so I came anyway."