Cromulent

Chapter Eighteen

Katherine, why does Carson say that you're the one that killed him? I inquired in my head as we drove down the road. The sun was close to setting, and the November breeze was carrying crisp, brown leaves down the road. Katherine was busy resting her head against the window and breathing onto the glass. She would proceed to trace shapes onto the foggy window: first a kitten, then a basketball, and then a crude spaceship rocketing to the moon.

"Katherine...," I began, attempting to find the words.

"Mmm?" she mumbled in response. I sighed, putting my blinker on and cautiously pulling over onto the side of the road. "What's going on, Avery?"

I found the website that Dakota had presented me earlier. The Girl Who Killed Me. I silently handed Katherine the phone and watched her observe the photo and analyze the caption. "What's this?" she squeaked out.

"I think you know what it is, Kat," I replied.

"That...that doesn't even look like me anymore," Katherine murmured. I had to agree: my friend either flipped from being quiet as a mouse to being angry like a madman. The girl in the picture, though?--that vicious smile and wilted rose belonged to someone from a long, long time ago.

"You see that caption, Kat?"

"Yeah...yeah, I see it."

"What's it mean, Kat?" A car zoomed by us, breaking the deafening silence that had permeated the car.

"He look that picture when we were at the carnival. The Ferris wheel is blurred in the back, if you can make it out. He found that rose discarded from someone's bouquet--someone had gotten married there that day, it was really cute--and told me to hold it. I told him not to take a picture because his camera would get wet and break, and that would mean he would have to buy a new one. He didn't care. He said the best pictures were taken in the rain. So then he told me to smile. I...I didn't know that my smile looked like that. It scared me a little bit, to be honest.

"I don't know why he captioned it like that, Avery. Must've just been something artsy, you know? Something ironic or sad." She looked at me with dolorous eyes, her woebegone expression causing my heart to break. The heartsick girl that was in front of me was still mourning, and I had the audacity to imply that she killed her boyfriend? Anyone could've done it, I reminded myself. Even Kat. Even my friend. "You don't think I killed him, do you, Avery?"

"O-of course I don't, Kat. I just was wondering, that's all." I put the car back into drive and casually rolled down the street.

"Avery?"

"Yeah?"

"You're a bad liar," she muttered, and went back to her drawings, drawing rudimentary stars on my car's window. "I still love you, though."

"Love you too, Kat." Love you too.

Mr. Summers waved to me from the car as he wrapped an arm around his daughter. She smiled back at me. It was void of any spite, and it made me want to punch myself.

Their friendliness left a pit in my stomach as I drove away.

After dinner (a local Mexican restaurant that Mom was obsessed with), I texted Liam.

8:23 pm
guess who got into college??

8:28 pm
you??

8:28 pm
yup!!!

8:36 pm
yay!!! we'll celebrate tomorrow :D

8:36 pm
can you come over tonight?