11. Claire
11
CLAIRE
I have no idea how long I stay numb for. Minutes, hours. By the time feelings return to my body, an ambulance is here, loading the girl onto a stretcher. She’s unconscious.
Lily’s silently crying as we both watch.
There are police cars, too, and a small crowd has formed. I don’t know how I didn’t notice.
“That was awful,” I whisper, my heart still pumping fast.
“Yeah. That poor chick.”
“Do you know her?” I ask.
Lily shakes her head. “Not really. I mean, I’ve seen her around, so maybe she’s a student? I don’t know. She was fine, right? The medic said so.”
I’m glad she was aware enough to take in that information. I certainly wasn’t.
“But she could have died. For a minute there, she was dead,” I reword. “She wasn’t breathing when we got her out.”
“Yeah. Good work on the CPR, by the way. You’re definitely a handy roommate to have around.”
Lily hugs me a little, likely because she can tell I need it.
“I think I need to tell Cross.” Lily grimaces. “I mean, this is his house. He’ll be a huge dick, if he finds out I was here and didn’t tell him. Do you mind if I give him a quick phone call? Won’t be long.”
I do. I do mind. I don’t want her to leave me alone tonight. But it’s stupid and selfish, so I say, “Of course.”
She steps away, already snapping as she talks to the man on the other end of the phone.
They clearly have a weird thing going on, but who am I to judge, really? I just let a quasi-stranger finger me.
“Excuse me?”
Damn, I was so out of it I didn’t even notice the cop approaching until he was right in my face.
“Yes, Officer?”
“You’re the one who found the girl, miss?”
I clear my throat. “That’s right. We were—” I start to gesture to Lily, but she’s already at the edge of the garden, as if she’d tried to put as much distance as possible between herself and the house. “We were walking home, and I saw a girl jump in the pool. Only, it looked wrong. And she wasn’t really resurfacing, so I told my friend. She jumped, got her out. She wasn’t breathing, so I did CPR, and then, we called the ambulance.”
I’m rambling, only he was going to ask all those questions anyway, so might as well blurt the answers out.
“I see. You said you were going home; is that to the dorms?”
I nod. “That’s right.”
“And would you have been coming back from the party up the road?”
“Yes, in the Wyvern House.”
“I see. Did you notice this girl in the Wyvern House?”
I shake my head. “No, I—” I clear my throat. “I’m new. I don’t know many people, and there were so many faces. Maybe she was there. You should ask Lily. My friend. She’s on the phone.”
The officer glances up from his notes to spare one look at Lily, but doesn’t move. “There was alcohol at the party?”
“Well, yes, it’s a college party.”
“Drugs?” he prompts.
“I wouldn’t know.” I don’t like that line of questioning at all.
“Think. Were people acting strange?”
“Maybe? I certainly didn’t take any.”
“Of course not,” he replies like the idea didn’t even cross his mind. “But it’s possible someone might have slipped something in that poor girl’s drink. Would explain how she tripped.”
Except she didn’t trip. She jumped, I saw her, and I told him so.
“If they did, I didn’t see them.”
“You’re new, you said. A freshman at Rothford?”
I nod again.
“So, what, you’re eighteen, nineteen? And a little tipsy. Did they serve you at that party?”
“No,” I lie immediately. It doesn’t feel right to throw anyone under the bus for giving me delicious champagne and cocktails. I made that choice. “I helped myself.”
There. It’s not like people get more than a slap on the wrist for underage drinking. Serving to minor is a different story.
“So there was alcohol available for you to help yourself?” the officer insists.
“I stole it,” I hiss.
And maybe admitting to theft to a cop isn’t the smartest idea, but I doubt Keller and his friends will press charges, so whatever. Better than to tell him about the open bar without any ID checks. It’s not like they were selling anything, anyway. Luke just made drinks for everyone for free.
“No one gave me anything,” I insist. “And even if they had , I don’t see how it has anything to do with a girl trying to kill herself in a pool.”
“What makes you think she was acting in her right mind?” the officer retorts, with a smug smirk. “A girl almost dies, and you’re protecting your rich friends, huh? I see how it is.”
How the hell did this turn around to make me the bad guy?
“Look, maybe there was alcohol, or drugs, or whatever. I don’t know. I was there with a couple of friends, and hardly talked to anyone else. What I drank, I helped myself to.”
“That’s your statement?”
“It is.”
“And what’s your name?”
I really don’t want to tell him.
“Is there a problem, Officer?”
Cross .
I’m relieved to see him, if only because my interrogator seems pissed.
Ignoring the dark-haired hunk, the officer keeps his attention on me. “I’m going to need you to come down to the station tomorrow, ma’am. Record your statement. Until then.”
He walks away without a parting glance.
Cross takes a step towards me, his gaze scrutinizing. “You okay?”
I nod. “I think…that guy was trying to make me tell him bad things about the party. I didn’t, though.”
“Didn’t you?” he asks, those mercurial hazel eyes unrelenting. “Because the only thing one should say to a dick like that cop is ‘no comment.’ You seemed to be having a nice chat.”
I shake my head. “I told him about finding the girl, that’s all. When he pushed about the party, I said I only drank what I took. No one served me anything. He was trying to push. I didn’t let him.”
He pauses. “I heard what you did for Charlotte. The CPR. That’s the only reason why I’m telling you this now, Keller’s pet. Don’t go down to the station tomorrow.”
“I can’t just ignore the police.”
“You’re not under arrest. They have nothing on you. You’re nothing but a weapon for those wanting to harm us.”
“Maybe that’s how it works in your world, with the lawyers you can afford and all that, but in mine, I do what the police tell me to do,” I snap.
Cross sighs. Deeply. “Have it your way.”
And then he just walks away, past Lily, who watches us in horrified silence.