stay, Inez ~ xavier thorpe

the lake

Wednesday takes the yearbook, deciding to take a quick peak at a few pages.
We find a page based solely on a talent show.
Laughing, I point out mother's performance. A duo, her and Principal Weems?
There on the page in front of us was our principal, or Judy Garland.
Of course. Principal Weems is a shapeshifter.
Wednesday takes my hand, storming us into Principal Weems' office.
"It was you! Why are you covering up Rowan's death?" Wednesday says, running up to her desk, slamming the book on her desk.
"I don't know what your talking about." She plays dumb.
"Oh stop. Mother said that you had a great imitation of Judy garland. I didn't think she actually meant imitation." Wednesday says.
"Lower your voices. We both know it wouldn't have been good for Inez if they found his body." Weems says, making me fall silent.
She was right.
"Please, Inez is the least of your worries. Your just scared of your reputation getting ruined." Wednesday defends me.
"Both the town and the school's reputations would have been ruined, girls. Rowan's father also agreed to the cover up. It's better for his son to die in a good name." She says.
"It's still wrong. Who will remember Rowan now? You can't just let people believe he went home and never came back. What about his friends?" I speak up.
"If you hadn't noticed, Rowan was not too popular before his demise. His telekinesis messed with his head, and he snapped. Now his friends and family can remember him as a sweet boy, not a boy who tried to murder your sister." Weems says.
I storm out. I can't handle this. Walking to the lake, I take off my shoe to dip my non broken foot in the water.
Remind me not to save a kid from a carnivorous monster.
The ice frozen ground burns my foot, but is soon relieved by the warmth of the water.
The excitement in my body is replaced by sadness. Why do I deserve a family if Rowan won't get to see his again?
Someone approaches behind me, making me flinch by the touch of their hand on my shoulder.
"Inez. What are you doing out here." Xavier says, sitting down beside me.
"Didn't realize we were back on speaking terms." I say, staring at the ripples in the water.
"Well I guess we are now." He says, dipping his feet in the water.
"Who said I was ready to talk to you?" I ask, annoyed.
He laughs, unfazed by my comment.
"What's wrong?" He asks with a smile.
His normally contagious smile only makes me frown more.
How could he be so happy?
His former best friend went missing only weeks ago.
"I'm not cut out for this. I don't belong." I mumble under my breath.
"Neither do I." He smiles.
I notice how close we are. I could feel his warm breath on my forehead, seeing our breath in the cold air.
"Inez. You think too low of yourself. Sometimes I think you actually lost your mind. Like you say the craziest things sometimes about yourself. I promise you are 100 times better than you think." He tries to comfort me, only making me angry.
"I'm not going to watch some sleaze tell me what my words are worth." I stand up, walking away.
"Okay, ouch. I'm just trying to make you feel better." He says, joining me by my side.
I roll my eyes at his attempts to be my friend right now.
"How do I know you aren't the monster?" I ask him.
"Seriously? This again? I promise to you I'm not." He says, having to speed up his pace to catch up to me.
"I can't trust you. I've only known you for a year. Time isn't on your side." I say, rushing to get back to my dorm.
"You really think I could hide that from you? You know how bad a liar I am Inez." He says, now jogging.
I ignore him, now running as fast as my foot will take me into Ophelia Hall.
I run to Wednesday's room, looking for her everywhere.
Opening the door, I do not see anyone. Luckily, I see Wednesday outside on the balcony, setting up her cello.
I spin through the window and pull her into a tight hug.
"I feel a warm liquid on my neck." She says, trying to pull away from me.
I smile at her comment, but then return to crying.
"What's wrong? Do I need to get the knife?" She says, worried.
"It should be over, but it's all burrowing under my skin. I can't forget what I did to him. I can't help it. All I feel is hurt." I mumble into her shoulder.
She finally builds up the strength to pull me away from her, looking deeply into my eyes.
"Rowan?" She asks.
I nod, then pull her back into the hug.
"I robbed him of life. I robbed Xavier of his friend. And my ex-boyfriend is probably a monster. And I really loved him. Like it hurts to not know if he's the person he says he is." I cry.
"We will find out soon, Nez. He won't be able to hide it much longer." Wednesday says.
Okay.