Chapter 3 #2
“What was your sister’s name?” Ginny asked, eyes flickering with a mix of compassion and curiosity. “We might’ve known her. Depending on when she was here, obviously.”
I swallowed hard. “Calista,” I said softly.
The change in the group was instantaneous, as if someone had dumped ice water over all of them. Cherry's hand froze on my arm, Ginny's eyes went wide, and Jeremiah's face drained of color. Even Dylan, who'd been so animated just seconds before, went completely still.
“Calista Hoffman?” Cherry said, voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes. Did you know her?”
“Know her?” Cherry stared at me for a beat, mouth hanging open. Her eyes were shimmering with tears now. “Violet… Cal was my best friend.”
“We were all friends with her,” Jeremiah added. “She met Cherry in a theater tech class in freshman year, and Cherry introduced her to Dyl and Ginny. Then me, once Dyl and I started dating.”
My eyes widened, darting between the four of them. “You really all knew her?”
“Yes,” Ginny said. “I honestly can’t believe it. What a crazy coincidence.”
“I never would’ve guessed it,” Dylan added, staring at me with wonderment. “You two look nothing alike. Apart from—”
“The eyes,” Jeremiah cut in. “I knew there was something familiar about you when we met, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together before now,” Cherry said, head slightly shaking. “She must’ve mentioned her sister to me a hundred times, and she always said the name ‘Vee’. But I should’ve known it was a nickname for something else. I just… I guess I never thought to ask.”
I swallowed another lump in my throat. “How come I didn’t meet any of you at the funeral?”
“Because your family held it in California,” Jeremiah said, guilt streaking across his face. “We tried to pool our money to get enough together for plane tickets and accommodation, but… well, let’s just say we’re not the standard Blackthorne students.”
“We don’t have huge trust funds or family fortunes to dip into,” Dylan clarified. He waved a hand around the auditorium. “I know it probably looks like we do, given all this extravagance, but the theater and all its events are funded by rich patrons. Not us.”
“Oh.”
“We had a memorial service for Cal here,” Ginny said softly. “Seeing as we couldn’t make it to the proper funeral. But believe me, we really wanted to go. So much.”
“I get it,” I said, voice coming out all choked up.
I wiped a tear from under my left eye and spoke up again.
“I just wish Cal and I had talked more about her friends when we did our catchup calls, so I could’ve known who you were before I came here.
But meeting you all like this anyway… it feels like kismet. ”
“It totally is!” Jeremiah replied. “Literally the one time I don’t watch where I’m walking, and I bump right into you. It’s amazing.”
I briefly closed my eyes, recalling the names I’d seen in Calista’s messages every time I went through her phone in the hope of finding answers.
“She had nicknames for you, didn’t she?” I asked, opening my eyes again. “Jeremiah, you were ‘Jer’. And Dylan… you must’ve been ‘Pickle’. I guess it was a joke about dill pickles sounding like Dyl?”
Dylan grinned. “Yeah.”
I looked at Cherry. “There was a contact in her phone saved as ‘C’ with a cherry emoji and heart next to it. That must’ve been you,” I said before turning my attention to Ginny. “And, um… were you Jinx?”
Ginny smiled. “Yeah, it’s a theater superstition thing. I slipped and fell right off the stage during a rehearsal in freshman year, which was super bad luck, and after that the name stuck. Mostly because it sounds so similar to Ginny, I guess.”
“Wow. I still can’t believe this,” I murmured, wiping away another tear. “It’s incredible.”
“Yeah, it really is.” Cherry gave me a watery smile and squeezed my hand. “Is that why you transferred here? You were hoping to meet her friends as a way to feel closer to her?”
“Not exactly.” I paused for a moment, chewing on my bottom lip as I mulled over my next words.
“To be honest… I came here because I want answers,” I finally said.
“They ruled Cal’s death an accident, but I never believed it, for so many reasons.
I’ve been driving myself crazy for the last year, trying to figure it all out, and eventually I realized I’d have to come here and look into it in person. ”
The other four fell silent again, and I noticed none of them were meeting my eyes.
“What is it?” I asked, brows pulling into a frown.
Jeremiah finally spoke up. “We never thought Cal’s death was an accident either,” he said softly. “Nothing about it made sense.”
“We didn’t think it could be a suicide, either,” Dylan added. “I know you can never really tell how people are feeling inside, but still… we just knew it wasn’t that, right off the bat.”
“She was murdered,” Cherry said in a low murmur.
“Or at the very least, it was an accident caused by someone who never came forward to admit it,” Ginny said. “Not just Cal slipping and falling by herself.”
I blinked, shock coursing through me. “If you all thought someone pushed her, why didn’t you say anything to the police?”
“We did,” Jeremiah said. “But they dismissed us almost immediately, and we didn’t want to stir things up too much because of—” He stopped abruptly, exchanging glances with the other three. “Well… because of the night she died.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She died on the night of the Selection,” Ginny said in a hushed voice. “And everyone knows you don’t mess with those guys, so we decided it was best not to push it.”
“I know that makes us sound like total cowards, but we were honestly worried they might come after us next if we kept hounding the cops,” Dylan added, eyes flashing with a mix of guilt and sorrow.
“Hold up. What’s the Selection? And what guys are you talking about?”
His eyes widened. “No one’s told you about any of this stuff yet?”
“The girl who did my campus tour last Sunday mentioned something called the Selection, but only in passing,” I said. “I just assumed it was a recruitment thing for the secret society she was talking about.”
“Oh, god.” Ginny let out a low groan. “There goes the rest of our night.”
“The Selection is an annual Dionysus Club event,” Cherry explained. “That’s the secret society the tour girl was—”
Jeremiah shushed her. “Wait. We probably shouldn’t talk about this here. Those guys have eyes and ears everywhere, and if they know we’re talking about Calista’s death on top of it all… well, that could turn out badly for us.”
Cherry nodded slowly. “You’re right. Let’s go to The Cove,” she said. She looked back at me. “It’s our fave bar in Blackthorne Harbor. Very cozy and very private.”
We gathered our things and headed toward the exit, weaving through the party. As we passed the stage, a girl in a flower crown called out to Cherry.
"You're leaving already?”
Cherry didn't miss a beat, putting her years of theatrical training to use.
Her face transformed into an easy, bright smile, and all traces of our heavy conversation vanished.
"Just for a bit!” she called back to the girl.
“We're taking Violet to The Cove for their Amarula espresso martinis.
She hasn't tried them yet, which is basically a crime. "
"Oh my god, those are so good," the girl agreed, nodding enthusiastically.
"We'll be back in an hour," Cherry added with a casual wave. "Mike is handling the music, and there's still tons of food. You won't even notice we're gone."
We pushed through the doors and out into the cool night air. The moment we were away from the warmth and music, Cherry's smile dropped. Her shoulders sagged slightly, and she wrapped her arms around herself.
"Okay," she said quietly. "Let's go.”
Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at a cozy bar tucked between an art gallery and a shuttered bookstore.
Inside, the air smelled faintly of coffee, and low jazz hummed beneath the soft murmur of conversation.
Candles flickered on each table, casting golden halos across the dark leather booths and the scuffed wooden floor.
The hostess, clearly familiar with Cherry, waved us over to a high-backed booth near the side, with a window overlooking the faint shimmer of the harbor.
“Five Amarula espresso martinis, right?” Jeremiah asked, remaining on his feet while the rest of us sat.
I shook my head. “Oh, I haven’t had my birthday yet, so I don’t think—”
“Don’t worry, no one’s going to card you,” Ginny interrupted, gently nudging me.
“Not a single place in this city does that. Gotta keep all the rich kids happy, right?” Cherry added, rolling her eyes.
Jeremiah returned with a tray of cocktails three minutes later, and then he squeezed into the booth next to Dylan.
“So, Violet,” he said, lightly slapping his hands on the table once the rest of us had a drink in hand. “Let me tell you about the Dionysus Club…”