Who Killed Grace

Chapter 8

Violet | Before

It's the first time I've stepped into Jackson High for a month. No one asks where I've been or why I disappeared so suddenly. Everyone heard about Cassie. About the fire. About how we were hanging out when it happened. They must think we were watching a chick flick or something, not contacting her dead boyfriend from beyond the grave. 

I walk through the cafeteria, head down as I carry my tray to the back of the room. But people are in my way, waiting for me to look up and talk to them.

"Hi," one of them says. 

I almost jump out of my skin. All my senses have been sharpened since that night, ghost senses and normal senses. When I walked past the cemetery on my way to school today, my head was filled with voices. And the old man resting on a bench reeked of death, like he's going to die soon. I look up to see Audrey, Bianca and Dana- Cassie's best friends.

"Hey, Vi," Audrey says, smiling warmly. "Why don't you sit with us today?"

Absolutely unheard of. A mere freshman sitting with the high and mighty seniors never happens at Jackson High. Especially the Ivy League girls, the smartest our school has to offer. Harvard for Cassie, Yale for Audrey, Brown for Bianca and Princeton for Dana. All of them got in Early Decision

"Okay," I whisper, following them to their table. 

"How are you?" Dana asks, taking a sip from her orange water bottle. 

"I'm okay. How are you guys?"

"We're doing okay too," Bianca says. "It would've been Cassie's eighteenth tomorrow, did you know?"

"I did," I admit, fiddling with my fork. 

"We're having a little thing tomorrow night to remember her," Audrey explains. "We were hoping you might come." 

Excuses jump to my mouth at once. I already have plans with some friends. I have a hospital appointment. I have to go see my Grandma. I have to have dinner with my parents. But Audrey's wide brown eyes are fixed on me and I can't refuse. 

"Sure." 

* * *

"Glad you're getting back into things, Vi," Dad says as he stops in front of Audrey's house. "Call if you need a ride, okay?"

"Okay." 

I reach over to hug him awkwardly before heading up the driveway of her house. Mom insisted I bring something for dinner to be polite and give a good impression, so I'm holding a box of a dozen vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting from Mimi's. They were Cassie's favourite. I knock on the door nervously, holding the cardboard box tight. A guy opens the door. 

"Hi," he says. "You, um, Viola?"

"Violet," I correct. "And hi."

"Come in. They're in the kitchen I think. I don't know. They're somewhere." 

"Scott!" Audrey calls, poking her head out of what might be the kitchen. "Stop being awkward and bring her in!"

Scott rolls his eyes and leads me to the room where the girls are sitting. His cheeks redden as he sees Bianca sitting with her legs daintily crossed, raking her hand through her thick bronze hair. 

"Violet!" Audrey leaps up to give me a hug. "So glad you could make it. What have you got there?"

"Cupcakes from Mimi's," I mumble. "They were Cassie's favourite."

"So sweet," Dana says. "God, I miss her. Remember when she wouldn't eat anything but these when she broke her leg freshman year?" 

Bianca chuckles. "Or when she begged Mimi to sell her the recipe?" 

Leaning against the doorframe, Scott cracks a smile. "She was addicted to those cakes. She made me drive all the way there to get them the night before your SAT." 

"It's a ten minute drive!" Audrey protests. "And sit down, Scott. You knew Cassie too."

"Barely," he mumbles, taking a seat next to me. "You guys just stop talking the minute I enter a room." 

"We do not!" Dana cries. "Come on, Bianca, back me up here."

Scott meets Bianca's icy green eyes for second before he turns to me, a forced smile on his face. "So, Violet."

"Scott."

"You're a freshman?" he questions. 

"Yeah. Are you a senior?" I ask. 

"Sophomore actually. Can't wait to get out of here though." 

Our conversation continues, quiet and easy compared to the other girls talking about Cassie and Jace. 

"I swear, they never shut up about them," Scott mutters. "They'll start a fan club one day. A sick, morbid fan club."

I press my lips together to stop myself from laughing. "That's mean."

He shrugs. "Audrey agrees. Says I was born without a sensitive bone in my body. You have any siblings?"

"Um, yeah. Kind of." I pause. "My big sister Nikki, she's sort of a genius. She started college this year to become an FBI agent."

"Rad." 

We continue talking until Audrey announces that it's time for dinner. Every few minutes, Scott throws a look at the other girls to my confusion. 

"Are you okay?" I ask. "You keep looking over there like something's wrong."

"Naw, it's fine," he answers. "Audrey, isn't it time for dinner?"

"It is," she agrees. "Come on, let's go to the dining room." 

She takes my hand and leads me to the dining room with the other girls on our heels. "My brother isn't bothering you, is he?"

"No, he's being nice," I answer, desperately hoping Scott isn't in this room right now. 

"Good. Jace was his best friend, you know. He's been weird since the car crash." 

It feels wrong for me to nod, so I just bow my head. Audrey pushes me into a chair and walks out, yelling that dinner was ready. Bianca and Dana make awkward chit chat, their expressions immediately relieving when Audrey and Scott return with their parents, Cassie's and dinner. It's a simple affair, just mac and cheese. 

"I think it'll be better if we left the kids to it and ate in the living room," Mr Granger announces. "You guys get settled and I'll bring everything in."

Cassie's parents seem relieved to get away from us and following Mrs Granger out quickly. I'm glad too. They look too much like the way Cassie had the night she died. Sad and lost. 

Scott passes the dish to me and I awkwardly scoop some onto my plate before passing it to Bianca. We eat in silence, the only noise coming from the living room where the adults sit. 

"Violet, I know this isn't exactly the right time, but what we're you doing with Cassie the night your house burnt down?" Audrey asks. 

I freeze, fork halfway to my mouth. "What do you mean?" I ask, putting the fork down. 

"It's not a hard question, Violet," Dana says. "What we're you doing?"

"Hanging out. I don't know, we didn't really do anything." 

"I texted her at least five times that night before the fire," Bianca adds. "She replied saying it was a bad time and she was busy." 

There's a scented candle in here. I haven't noticed it before, but know my fingertips are burning like they were the night Cassie died. The way they were before the candles tipped over. There it is. It's on a shelf, high up and well out of the way. But not enough out of the way for me. How long until it tips over, burning down Audrey's house too?

"So, what we're you doing?" Audrey asks again. 

"We weren't doing anything important," I say again. "I don't know, I can't remember."

"If she can't remember, she can't remember," Scott says firmly. "Shut up about it."

"Stay out of this, Scott," Bianca spits. "Violet, this is the last time I'm going to ask. What the hell were you doing?"

"I told you, I can't remember," I say once again, my fingertips burning even hotter. "Can't you just let it go? I think we watched a movie on N*****x about some girls summoning the ghost of one of their exes. If it bothers you so much, I'll check."

"Cassie is always texting in a movie," Dana says. "She wouldn't have said she was busy. You're lying, Violet. You know exactly what you were doing." 

That's the breaking point. The scented candle tips over, the books on the shelf catching fire almost immediately. 

Shit. 

"How the—" Scott begins. 

"Daddy! Daddy!" Audrey shrieks. "Daddy, the candle fell! Daddy, there's a fire!"

"Dad!" Scott bellows. "Bring the fire extinguisher!" 

"She did this," Bianca says, pointing a shaking finger at me. "She's crazy. She's a crazy bitch and she killed Cassie."

"Violet, get out of here," Scott whispers in my ear. "Go home."

"But—"

"Go," he says again as his father runs in with the extinguisher. 

So I do. I run. I run until my legs are aching and my chest is pounding and I feel like I'm going to die. I sink to the ground, pressed against a wall. It's the wall of the cemetery, the big cemetery I pass on my way to school. I can't see the old diner or convenience store that I also pass though so it must be the other side. It's a big cemetery after all. God, it'll take me ages to get to the apartment where we're staying. And then Mom will want to know how it went. Dad will want to know how it went. They'll want to know when I'll next go to dinner at Audrey's house. 

As if Audrey Henson will ever talk to me again. 

Because I'm Violet Radford. The girl whose house burnt down. The girl who killed Cassie George, the girl who was bound for greatness. The girl who almost burnt down Audrey's house. I'm the ghost seeing girl and I'm unnatural. 

I'm a freak. 

I'm insane. 

I'm bound to death.