Black Hill High

Chapter 7

The morning sky is like a widow - weeping and obscured. The gravel-grey clouds stretch out through the sky like the tentacles of a Kraken. The rain plummets with a vengeance and Amelia is thankful she's managed to seek shelter before she got caught in the shower. However, in this tense moment, she almost wishes the flood of water could wash her away.

She never pictured spending Saturday afternoon in the home of Ethan Crawford, but this entire month has been nothing but surprising. She'd contemplated pushing the entire project to the side and risking a failure - but an unforeseen text from Ethan lured her here. She woke up to a text from an unknown number which she'd read over at least four times before replying. He apologized for being rude to her in class and asked if she could meet him at his home to work on the assignment. How could she say no? She'd dreamed of a text from him for ages.

She awkwardly drums her fingers against her knees as she glances around his quaint living room. He'd excused himself to check on his younger siblings as he'd been assigned to babysitting duties while his mom was at work. She rubs the back of her neck adding pressure to a tense spot as she curiously glances at a framed picture on the coffee table in front of her. She recognizes a younger-looking Ethan but everyone else is unrecognizable. None of his siblings are in the picture - only him and an older man and woman. She leans forward for a closer inspection the very moment Ethan enters the room with an apologetic look.

"Sorry about that." He doesn't question her nosiness and sits beside her placing his laptop on the table between them.

Her body unintentionally stiffens at his proximity. She tried to distract herself by glancing at the glaring screen, but she could feel his arm brushing against hers with the slightest movement. She shivers.

She'd been in such a state of overthinking that she hadn't noticed he'd started discussing topic points for their essay.

"I have to confess." He pipes. "I haven't read the book." He gives her a perplexed look.

The corner of her lip subtly rises before she shrugs.

"That's cool." She feigns nonchalance. "I know enough to help us out."

He exhales a sigh of relief and his shoulder slouch before they dive into an in-depth discussion of the rise and fall of Julius Caesar.

"You don't talk much, do you?" He questions as she finishes writing down some notes.

"You're not exactly easy to talk to." She said with a shrug and Ethan smirked.

"I see you've been listening to the rumors." He said and her eyes furrowed in confusion.

"Everyone thinks I did it." He said staring at the bookcases on his right.

He seemed extremely deep in thought and she decided not to disrupt him.

"They think I murdered her." He said still not looking at her.

She put her forearms on the table and silently clasped her hands together.

"To everyone else, I'm weird and troubled and that seems to make me a prime candidate for murder."

His green eyes were so intense, and they held a certain emotion within them.

"It's not like you give people a reason to believe otherwise." Those were the cruelest words she has ever said to someone and she instantly wished she could take them back.

I accused him of murder to his face. His eyes widened and she swore she saw a hint of sadness before they turned ice cold. He stood up from his seat so fast that she almost got whiplash. He glared at her and she hurriedly packed her things before exiting his home. She wanted to say something but was in so much shock that she could barely get a word out.