Page 90 of Wicked Games

“It does if you know exactly why I wanted to kill everyone here,” she said. She paused and cocked her head. “Well, almost everyone.”

I stared up at her, still unable to believe it was trulyherall along. So many memories of our friendship were flashing before my eyes, each one now tainted with the sickening realization that I’d been best friends with a monster. How many times had I confided in her, unaware that I was confiding to the very person who’d ripped apart so many lives? How many times had she hugged me and reassured me while plotting to kill me?

“Are you going to tell me why?” I asked, finally realizing it was my cue to speak.

April fixed me with a steely expression. “I told you to use your brain, Carey. If I was going to murder a bunch of people from our school, what would be the most likely motive behind it?”

“I honestly have no idea.”

“You do.” She tapped the side of her head with her free hand. “C’mon. It’s in there somewhere.”

My mind raced through every conversation that April and I had ever had. Every story we’d shared, every moment of laugher,and every tear shed together flooded my thoughts in a chaotic whirlwind. Amidst the memories, one story burned brighter than the others.

“Abby,” I said in a hollow voice. “This is about her, isn’t it?”

“Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.”

“But… I don’t understand what anyone here has to do with what happened to her. I thought she died from an accidental overdose.”

April nodded. “She did. But this isn’t about her death. It’s about herlife.Every single thing that led up to the moment of that overdose,” she said. “I mean, people don’t just start taking drugs out of nowhere, do they?”

“I guess not,” I said softly.

“You want to know what everyone here did to contribute? Let’s see.” April frowned and lifted a finger. “We’ll go with Jasmine first. You know what that bitch is like, right?”

“Yes.”

“She had a target on Abby from the second she met her, because she was so pretty. She spread some of the nastiest rumors I’ve ever heard about her. Seriously fucked up stuff. Foryears.A lot of people believed the shit, seeing as Jasmine is the big Queen Bee on campus.” She sighed and shook her head. “Abby was scared to go to school some days because of all the gossip about her. You know what it’s like to feel that way, don’t you?”

“Yes. It’s awful,” I murmured.

“A lot of people jumped on the bandwagon of treating her like shit after the rumors first started. Some were worse than others. Like Evan, for instance. He used to follow her every single day and tell her how fat and ugly he thought she was.” April’s nostrils flared. “Remember in the Truth or Die game, when I said I was at an eating disorder treatment center over winter break two years ago?”

“Yes.”

“It wasn’t really me. It was Abby. All those shitty comments from Evan affected her so much that she started throwing up her dinner every night. One day, I even caught her Googling where she could find a tapeworm to infect herself with, just so she could be skinnier.”

I winced. “That’s horrible.”

“Yeah. And things got even worse for her after her friend Ava’s sweet sixteenth party. Hudson was there, and you know what he does to girls he wants.”

My eyes widened. “He attacked her?”

April nodded, lips pressed in a grim line. “She wasn’t as fortunate as you after he drugged her. She didn’t wake up and escape. We tried to report it to the police, but Rhys helped him cover it up. He lied to the cops and said he was with Hudson all night. They believed him.”

“I know what that’s like too,” I murmured, hands twisting on my lap.

“It destroyed her. That was when she started taking stuff to try and escape the pain. Tate was her dealer. Pills, speed. Coke sometimes.”

“I’m guessing she also found out about Zach and Courteney at some point?”

“Yeah. That’s why they were brought here.” April paused and gritted her teeth. “Cheating assholes. They broke her heart.”

“What about Brooke? I thought she was one of your best friends.”

She nodded. “She was. But she has a nasty little secret. You know how she’s the top student in chemistry?”

“Uh-huh.”

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