Chapter 2

2

I stared at that photo for hours. A single picture can reveal so much about social hierarchies.

I looked at the relationships. Silas had his arm around a guy with a buzz cut. They looked like best friends.

In front of Silas stood a girl with a large white bow in her hair. She was supposed to be in the center of the row, but she was leaning back, trying to get closer to him.

These three.

I traced my finger around their faces in a circle.

The next day, while Silas was at his internship, I lied and said I was going to the library for a deep-study session. Instead, I spent the day scouring school gossip pages and old social media archives.

Silas was a popular guy back then. Many girls had posted about him on the school's anonymous confession walls.

Ever since we started dating, he had made it a point to tag me in the comments of those old posts. He wanted everyone to know I was his girlfriend so they would stop bothering him.

Back then, my own social media profile saw a huge spike in visitors. They were all coming from Silas's tags.

They were probably curious about what kind of girl had finally landed the golden boy.

Over time, the traffic died down. The curious onlookers got their fill and moved on.

However, I noticed one person kept visiting my page. It was an account with a soft pink profile picture.

I didn't think much of it at first. I thought it was just a nosy girl. But now, I suspected it was the girl with the white bow.

Based on the photo, she clearly had a crush on him. She was likely checking my page to see if we had broken up yet.

I managed to log into Silas's old social media account. Sure enough, I found her in his friend list.

He had her saved as: Quinn Gardner.

Her recent posts showed she was an education major. She was currently interning as a student teacher at a local elementary school.

Their chat history was completely blank. I couldn't tell if they had never talked or if Silas had wiped the logs.

I took a risk and sent a message: "You there?"

To my surprise, Quinn replied almost instantly.

"I'm here! Wow, what brings you to my inbox?"

I sent her a photo of the old class picture. I typed in Silas's voice: "Look what I just found."

Quinn replied with excitement. "Oh my god! Is that our old class photo? Look at me, that bow was so extra back then!"

I was worried about how to trick her into talking, but she was making it too easy.

I decided to go straight for the jugular.

"I've been having nightmares lately. I keep dreaming about Clara."

That was my sister's name.

The instant replies stopped. A few minutes passed before she finally messaged back. "I thought we agreed never to mention her again?"

I replied, "I know. But the dreams are so vivid. I'm starting to get paranoid."

Quinn's response came quickly this time. "Don't be scared. Her death had nothing to do with us! She was just mentally weak!"

My fingers shook so hard I could barely type.

If she had really been bullied, her suicide wasn't just a choice―it was a murder.

I swallowed my rage and typed, "Yeah. How have you been lately?"

She seemed happy I asked. "Great! I'm back in Northcrest. I'm interning at the best school in the district!"

"Good. Let's not talk for a bit. My girlfriend checks my phone like a hawk."

She sent a pouting emoji. "She sounds so controlling. If I were her, I'd never restrict your freedom."

I didn't reply. I simply deleted the entire conversation.