They buried Sadie at a cemetery that resembles a garden. Rose bushes flank the chapel, but it's too early for the roses to bloom, just as it is too early for the rest of the flowers I know are planted behind the stone church.

"A day so sad shouldn't be this sunny," Evans says by my side.

Nash, another friend of mine, rakes his hand through his curly hair, sighing. "Poor Sadie."

"And Connor." Drew nods at Connor standing next to Sadie's grave, his broad shoulders slumped. "He fucking blames himself. Says he should've been there to protect her."

Brian walks over and joins our group. "Do you know anything, Bast?" he asks. "What if there's a psycho roaming the area? No girl is safe until they catch whoever did that to Sadie."

I shake my head. "My father says they're still looking into it. They'll tell us."

"Hope so," Brian mumbles. "I don't know what I'll do when Leah returns to class."

He's worried about his girl, just like I am worried about Tara. I look at her for the hundredth time today. She's with a group of girls, breathtakingly beautiful despite the sad expression she's been sporting since her friend died.

I take in her slim body in a modest black dress. Her blond hair is gathered in a sleek ponytail. She looks elegant and put together, and I don't know how to be there for her when she doesn't want me near.

I, not Kenny, should be by her side, but each day that passes, I feel more helpless. And that they're still keeping her in the dark for reasons my father refuses to disclose only adds bricks to the wall wedged between us.

Tara turns her head. Her blue eyes seek mine, but the contact lasts barely a second.

She's fighting the pull she feels toward me with the same strength I fought my attraction to her since the day she entered Philosophy class.

Only that I surrendered. Waved the fucking white flag and fell to my knees.

I doubt she will.

***

Standing outside Fashion Victim, I peer inside the boutique through the square window. Clay, the guy who works there with Kenny, is folding shirts. It's almost closing time, and I have no clue what I'm doing here. What the fuck will I even say once Kenny sees me?

It was coming here or drinking myself into oblivion.

I miss her so much I can't function.

None of my friends will understand me the way you might.

I think I need help.

Clay switches off the lights. I shove my hands in the pockets of my sweats and backtrack until I'm concealed by the shadows, far from the glare of the streetlight that'll give my presence away.

Both Kenny and his employee exit the store. They say goodbye with a fist bump, and once Clay hops on his Yamaha, Kenny takes off in the opposite direction.

"Kenny!"

He stops and looks my way over his shoulder. "Hi, Seb."

I approach him. He greets me with a handshake and tips his chin up. "What's up?"

"I..."

Say the words, don't be a coward. "I was hoping we could talk."

Kenny glances at his smartwatch. I know what day it is. I know we don't have long, but what I need to say won't take hours.

"Sure," he says. "I know a place. Let's go."

We stroll down the street, bypassing busy bars and restaurants trying to lure diners in with delicious aromas and soft music.

A bit farther, a cozy garden is squeezed between two four-story office buildings, and Kenny heads there.

"I sometimes eat my lunch here," he says, dropping onto a stone bench opposite the modern fountain that consists of two marble columns facing each other. I'm sure there must be meaning behind it, but it's impossible to tell what it is.

I sit by his side. "How's Tara?"

"She wasn't okay yesterday after the funeral, but at least I made her eat something. Detective Solano saw her today. Asked her about Sadie. Tara's still waiting for some news from her father, you know?"

"I do."

Kenny crosses his arms, leaning against the back of the bench. He taps his foot as he stares ahead of him. "She misses you, Seb. She's miserable. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"I don't want her to be miserable. I miss her too. You have no fucking clue how much."

"But you continue hurting her with the secrets you keep."

Kenny's words cut me like shards of glass. I deserve them, but he doesn't understand how much is out of my control.

"Her father is involved in shady shit," I say, meeting Kenny's eyes. "And I swear I don't know how bad it is. I have no idea what exactly he did."

Kenny crosses his feet at his ankles. "I see. But I wasn't talking about Tara's father. Tara told me you used to hate her, and I couldn't understand why, but then it clicked. You're not okay, Seb. It's been four years, and you're-"

"I know."

Kenny nods, toying with the stud in his ear. "Good. But here's the thing- knowing isn't enough. If you want Tara's honesty, give her yours. She's the most understanding person I know. If you think she'll turn her back on you, you're wrong."

I've never been one to open up easily. At least, I haven't been open about my feelings for a while. I trained myself not to feel, and I've told myself it was easier this way enough times to believe it.

Kenny stands and straightens his clothes. "Think about what I told you. I'd chat with you some more, but I'm already late."

My heartbeat quickens. It's now or never, and yes, it's for Tara but also for me.

"Wait," I say.

Kenny buries his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie. "Yeah?"

"Can I go with you? I know it's late, but..."

This is it. The words are out, and I feel a thousand times lighter.

"Sure," Tara's friend says. His tone is pure nonchalance, but he smiles at me as if he were proud.

We take a few steps forward. Kenny halts, and I nearly bump into him.

"One thing," he says.

"Yeah?"

"Twenty minutes or four years - it's never late."

***

The following morning, I'm spent. Physically and emotionally. I power through the first two lectures and have coffee before heading to Ethics.

The need to see Tara is so strong my body buzzes with anticipation. Even if we don't talk, she's going to be near. It's a win, considering I haven't stopped thinking about her for a second since last night.

I enter the hallway where the Ethics class is. A few guys linger outside the lecture hall, reading something on the notice board. As my eyes take in the space around me, I spot more people looking at something on the walls on either side of the hallway.

I draw nearer, and my blood turns to ice.

Tara's pictures are everywhere. She looks younger, and she's posing in lingerie.

Frozen, I stare at her beautiful body in nothing but a pair of black panties. She covers her breasts with her arm, but it's suggestive bordering on explicit.

All pictures are.

"Atla Hagen," a guy reads. "Fuck, she's hot."

Rage socks me in the stomach. I shove him aside and rip the photo off the wall. Indignation and apprehension batter my insides. She can't see herself exposed like this. She can't go through the humiliation after the hell of the last few days.

"Fucking move," I say through gritted teeth, ungluing more photos. I elbow those who gawk and try to remove the printouts fast, but it's not fast enough.

"What the-"

I hear Tara's quiet voice. Then I see her standing in the middle of the hallway, eyes wide as she examines the walls.

And it takes one fucking glance at my right to know who orchestrated everything.

Elena's face is screwed into a grimace as if she finds the images disgusting.

Murmurs travel across the hall, but Tara's voice rises above them.

"Anything you've never seen before?"

Nobody moves. She drops her purse to the floor and yanks her shirt over her head.

A white see-through bra is underneath.

Fuck.

I shrug off my hoodie to cover her at the same time Tara picks up her purse and slowly turns around as if she were posing. "Do you like it, Elena? Do you need more pictures? Take some, don't be shy."

Someone gasps. Tara winks at the crowd and slings the purse over her shoulder. She starts walking and raises her arm, giving the finger to whoever's watching.

She doesn't look back and quickens her step.

Anger suffocates me. Voices grow louder, and Dr. Garcia enters the hallway.

But I can only think about her. Humiliated and alone.

I push through the cluster of my classmates and sprint in the direction Tara had gone, praying I find her.

Hi❤️
You probably have lots of theories at this point. And you probably hate Elena.