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And then everything went black…
I couldn't believe this was happening again. Sure, I was used to crazy, psycho, Easton students, but I didn't even see this coming. Sweet little Sabine was the sister of Arianna, and ever since she'd come to Easton, she'd been trying to finish what Arianna never had the chance to do. It was all so overwhelming. These are the thoughts that went through my head the few second after the lights went off.
And then a loud bang exploded in my ears. A gun shot. For a moment, because of all the darkness and silence, I feared I was dead. And then the screams began. The people around me began to move, but no one could see where they were going. Murmurs rippled through the room. Okay, Reed, calm down, you aren't dead. But why is everything so dark?
"Reed, where are you? Are you okay?" Finally, a familiar voice. It was Noelle's. Okay, so I'm definitely not dead.
"Right here," I said, reaching out towards the direction of Noelle's voice.
A small cold hand closed around mine. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Noelle. What happened to the lights? Who was shot?"
"I don't kn…"
Suddenly the lights came on. Noelle immediately pulled me into a hug.
"Oh my god, Reed. I'm so glad your okay. I heard the gun shot and I thought you were…" she never finished the sentence, because suddenly policemen entered the room.
"Attention Easton students, this is Headmaster Cromwell. I advise you to stay where you are, do not even move an inch, until we get to the bottom of what is going on here."
"Noelle, where is Sabine?" My voice dropped as I asked this.
Instantly we both turned around to where, just 2 minutes ago, Sabine was standing with a gun in hand. Noelle and I gasped at the exact same time.
Sabine was sprawled on the ground with a puddle of blood around her. The gun was a few feet away from her body on the floor. Other students, who had discovered Sabine before us, stared at her body in shock. I was sure that Noelle and I had the same expression on our faces. A few questions ran through my head. Had Sabine shot herself, or had someone shot her? Who?
Two policemen approached Sabine's body and began taping off the area around her. Another called on his radio for an examiner. Noelle pulled me into another hug.
"It's all over now. No more worrying. No more psycho after you."
It was all so overwhelming that I couldn't help with start to cry.
"Reed, honey, don't cry. It's all okay now. Sabine is dead. Nothing more to be afraid of," Noelle whispered into my hair. I cried for a few minutes without saying anything.
"Actually," I murmured into her shoulder, "I'm not scared. I'm… relieved."
"Well in that case, stop crying. You're getting my dress all wet. This is Valentino, Reed, it's not exactly cheap."
This made me laugh. "There's the real Noelle I know and love. The one that doesn't hug or let people cry on her shoulder. The one who's more concerned with her dress than her friend." She glared at me. "That last part was a joke."
"We all have our tender moments. And just so you know, I was telling you not to stop crying because everything is okay now."
"I know."
"And just so you know, Reed, you're my best friend. Now that we know the true story of what happened, all is forgiven. I've really missed you these past few weeks."
"Awwww," I cooed. "Noelle Lange has a sweet side."
"Not if you keep this up. Tell a soul and I'll ruin you." She smiled, and hugged me, yet again.
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Four hours later I was sitting at a cheap fake wood table in a cold metal folding chair at the police station. After my little tender moment with Noelle, the police had separated everyone at the party into two groups. The people who were simply at the party but not a witness to Sabine's confession were sent to their dorms. Those of us who were witnesses had each been taken in a squad car to the police station for questioning. I hadn't seen Noelle since. When Detective Haur came to talk to me, he told me that they had flipped the building breaker to make the power go out at the party, and then a policeman had shot Sabine in the back of the head just before she was about to shoot me. So, if we weren't criminals, was it really necessary to put us all in separate rooms for questioning? I was really hoping to get to see Josh, but so far, no luck. Ever since my questioning was over, I'd been sitting in this chair pondering all the different reasons Josh had said he wanted to talk to me. I had come up with bad scenarios and good scenarios, and I was very anxious to talk to him. I was daydreaming about more scenarios when a policeman opened the door to my little questioning room and told me I was free to leave with everyone else. Thank God!
I walked straight out of the police station and into the Easton shuttle happy that, finally, this was all over with. As I walked out of that police station, I let go of all the fear and worry and panic over what had been happening to me the past few months. Sabine was gone, so maybe, hopefully, I would get to finish the year drama free. And I was really hoping that since Sabine admitted to drugging Dash and I, Josh would break up with Ivy and take me back. I took a seat on the shuttle and closed my eyes. I was so tired. I heard a sigh and a plop, and I opened my eyes to see Noelle sitting beside me.
"Hey sleepy head. How was your questioning?"
"Oh it was absolutely terrific. Sitting in a police station is so much fun."
"Tell me about it. Metal folding chairs are so not my thing. My butt kept falling asleep. I can't wait to collapse in my bed back at Billings."
I laughed. "You know, maybe I should just stay here. That metal chair was so much more comfortable than my Pemberly bed," I joked.
Noelle looked at me with a puzzled look on her face. "Oh god, I can't believe I forgot to tell you! You're back into Billings. We still have to hold a vote, but don't worry. If I say your back, your back." She smiled.
"Really?"
"No, I'm just screwing with you." She watched my facial expression turn to one of horror. "God, Reed, I'm just kidding. Of course you're back into Billings. I was going to tell you that I was considering it at the party. But now that Sabine revealed the truth, you're definitely back in."
I had the hugest smile on my face as I hugged Noelle.
"Thank you so, so, so much," I said, almost squealing as we pulled into the Easton gates.
"Oh please," she scowled. "Let's just get to Billings and into bed. I know I'm ready to sleep for about 12 hours, and you look like you could use a lot more than that."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
We climbed off the bus and headed towards Billings.
"So I was thinking you could just crash here for the night and we'll just go pack up your things from Pemberly when we wake up."
"Sounds good to me."
We got to Billings to find a vast majority of the girls asleep in the parlor. It looked like they'd been waiting for us to get home. Noelle and I laughed.
"Should we wake them up?" I asked.
"They're probably just as tired as us, so no."
I followed her up the stairs to her room, the whole time observing Billings. While nothing had changed, everything about the house seemed different. I guess once you've been kicked out, it never felt the same as it once had. In Noelle's room, I stood awkwardly as she dug in her dresser for something. After opening and closing a few drawers, she threw me a bundle of clothing.
"Pajamas for you. I feel gross. I'm going to rinse off in the shower. Get changed and go to sleep. You can have my bed. I'll sleep on the couch."
"Thanks Noelle. Sleeping in jeans isn't the most fun thing."
"I know, I'm just so thoughtful," she said, entering the bathroom. I could hear her laugh through the wall until she turned the shower on. It was really great to hear her laugh again, and to talk to me without pure hatred in her voice.
I unwrapped the bundle of clothing to find the softest black silk satin pajama pants ever. I gasped as I looked at the label. La Perla. Quickly doing the math in my head, I calculated that these had cost about $150 more than my flannel sleep pants back in Pemberly, which I had bought on sale at Target. It's slightly funny that, even though I'm constantly surrounded by expensive things and carry around a rare Chloe bag, I'm still amazed at the discovery of expensive pajama pants. I guess that's proof I'll never get used to this extravagant new life of mine. I turned out the lights and crawled into Noelle's bed, burying myself in her thick down comforter. I was so glad to be back in a comfortable Billings bed that before Noelle was even out of the shower, I was dead asleep.