Page 71 of Swamp Princess

The slide projector pulls down and I see Remington look over at me. The guilt on his face confuses me as he glances between me and the screen. I don't know what his plan is, but it has something to do with that video that is about to be played.

The lights dim and everybody quiets. For whatever reason, my nerves are jumping around, making me feel like I need to throw up, but as the slide show starts to play, I start to calm down and almost get a little bit sleepy. I close my eyes until I hear the sounds.

The sounds on the screen are me. There are other voices mingled but for whatever reason, they are muffled out along with the two very familiar bodies. They somehow managed to keep me in full view while they are blurred out. Everybody is seeing everything from the night at the bar where I met up with Loyal and Remington.

Horror flicks across my face as Mr. Brooks is frantically trying to shut down the projection screen. All faces are turning to me as they get a clear shot of my face, as well as everything else that I own. Diego looks over at me, unable to stop the production and motions for me to leave, and that is all the encouragement that I need to get up from my seat and race from the room.

I don't hear footsteps behind me, so none of the guys followed me out here. Christmas break starts today, so I race to my room, frantically tearing off the dress that I had on and throwing on some comfortable clothing. Shoving a bag full of clothes, I didn't want to be here anyway and now, I don't wanna be seen by anybody else.

The last question on my mind before I leave the school was where was Blaise, and why was he not in the dining hall when the movie started? I wonder if he ditched like I wanted to and was able to get away with it without the embarrassment.

Duffel bag in hand, I race from the school and start running toward South Warren. I don't even care that it's freezing because the tears on my face freeze as they slide down my cheek. I just want to make it to the trailer and lock myself away for the remainder of the break. How could the two of them do that to me? I know they wanted me gone from the school, but I didn't think they would stoop so low and show a video of us fucking in front of the entire school.

I am only halfway across the tracks when I hear the first gunshots.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Fuck.” This was not supposed to happen. I got here too late. The blood is everywhere, I wasn't too far behind him, but I don't know who it was. I figured that I would leave the ball early and go to Brinley's. After what she told me today, I thought I needed to make it right, but as I got closer to her trailer, I heard the first gunshot.

I didn't think, I just ran. I don't know who it was, but the man didn't even bother to turn around. All he did was take off and I rushed into the trailer only to find Brinley’s mother face down in a pool of blood. The gun was discarded next to her body which makes me believe that whoever murdered her wasn't worried about getting caught.

I quickly squat next to her mother's body and grab the gun, not thinking until it was already too late, and I checked her pulse, knowing before I did that, she was dead. Her body was twisted at an angle, making me believe that more happened before the gunshot.

“Mom?” Brinley comes racing into the trailer and stops dead when she sees her mother on the kitchen floor next to me. “Oh, my God! What happened? What did you do, Blaise?” She is looking at the blood pooling out of her mother's head and the small trickle that's made its own pathway toward her foot.

“This isn't what it looks like, I promise, Brin. I swear to you, I didn't do this.” I raise my hands, but I catch notice of the gun and know how guilty I look. “I found this next to her body. It wasn't me, and I stupidly picked it up without thinking.”

“Why would you kill my mother?” She is frantic now and looking all around. She doesn’t know what to do and I know she has never seen a dead body before.

“Brin, listen to me, I didn't do anything. I swear, I didn’t.” I stand, letting the gun fall which makes a loud sound in the silent trailer. “Brin, look at me.” I pull her close to me and she is glancing everywhere but me with a frantic look in her eyes.

“What happened here, Blaise?” Her eyes find mine and the tears she was holding back fall from her face. She is struggling to rein in her emotions and starts blabbing about the ball. “They showed a video of me, Blaise. I didn't know they were taking a video of me that night, and they somehow managed to blur their faces.”

“Brinley, what are you talking about?” I don't know if this is her reaction to trying to break down what's happening in front of her by talking about something else that she understands, or if she's literally going through a breakdown right now.

“I was riding his cock. I thought that they wouldn’t stoop so low, and I met my father tonight. He just showed up out of nowhere.”

Trying my hardest to make sense of what she's saying, I look around, trying to find some cleaning supplies. “Brinley, where are the cleaning supplies? We need to clean this up.”

“We need to call the cops.” She is frantic and trying to make sense of everything.

“Listen to me! We can't call the cops because I accidentally grabbed the gun before I thought about it, so my prints are going to be what they find, and I will go to jail for the rest of my life.”

“Were you not the one who did this?”

I grab her arms and shake her. “Brinley, listen to me! I did not do this. I came here to confront your mother about your father since I just figured out who he is not too long ago. The three kings of that school have fathers who are involved in the skin game and have been taking girls. Most of them end up in the auctions.”

“So, who did this then?”

“I don't know. They ran out after I heard the first gunshot. The man had dark hair. That's all I could see; his back was to me, but I need you to breathe with me because we need to take care of this. We can't call the cops because if they find out, they're going to put you in the system and you're going to lose everything, and that also means that I'm going to lose you.”

“Why are you so concerned about the girls in the auctions?” This was not something I was prepared to tell her yet, so I decided to change the subject.

“Bleach, Brinley, I need bleach.” She points to the kitchen, underneath the sink.

“My mom has some under there because she always tried to clean the trailer before children's services came out. Does bleach expire? Because that has been there for two years.”

“I don't know.” I'm trying to keep her calm and keep her from spiraling again, but I'm struggling myself.

---