I'm so sorry for the long wait! Hope you all enjoy this new chapter.
The last thing Jake wanted to do was sleep at Kitty's place after finding out that she could potentially be Marley and Tina's murderer. Jake remembered there being a children's playground only a couple blocks away, and decided to walk over there for some much needed space.
As Jake sat on one of the rusty old benches, he took out his phone and called his mom. The call went straight to voicemail. Jake realized then how much he really missed his mother.
"Hey, mom, I was just calling to let you know that I'll be home soon, and I'll explain everything. I wasn't really with Ryder, but please don't freak out. It's been a really crazy week. I love you." Jake hung up the phone with a heavy heart. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he curled up on the bench. He tried to ignore the chilliness of the air around him, and willed himself to fall asleep.
The following morning, Jake trudged over to Kitty's house. He knew he would have to face her sooner or later.
"Where the hell were you?" Kitty snapped when Jake walked through the front door, causing him to flinch slightly.
"I, um, was at the park and accidentally fell asleep," Jake said, mentally kicking himself for not coming up with a better lie.
"Oh, did the twisty slide and monkey bars tire you out so much that you couldn't walk two blocks back home?" Kitty asked, her voice oozing sarcasm.
Jake knew there was no way to skirt around the issue. He knew the best way was to just come right out and say what was on his mind.
"Did you kill Marley and Tina?" he asked quietly.
A look of panic washed over Kitty's face for a split second before returning back to its normal scowl. "You're seriously asking me that?" She rolled her eyes, but Jake saw right through it.
"Yeah, Kitty, I am." Jake's voice rose. He took out his phone. "And I have 911 on speed dial, so if you try anything, I'll-"
"Why do you think I killed them?" Kitty interrupted, her voice eerily calm. "Were you snooping in some place you shouldn't have been?" Her eyes had a certain glimmer in them, something that Jake had never seen before.
"Just answer the question," Jake said, swallowing hard. Truth be told, he was slightly afraid of her at the moment.
A smirk appeared on Kitty's face. "That's a pretty big accusation to be making, Jake." She walked closer to him. Jake took a step back. "Am I scaring you?"
Jake gulped. He had to get out of here. Now that he knew what Kitty could possibly be capable of, he didn't want to be near her. "Did you kill Tina because she found out what you did to Marley?"
There it was again, that smirk. "You're so naïve, Jake," Kitty said.
"You're insane," Jake shot back. "And I'm calling the police."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kitty said. "Unless you want to end up like Tina."
"Really? You're threatening to kill me? You and I both know you wouldn't."
"And why not?" Kitty got right up in Jake's face, but this time he wasn't scared.
"Because I know you didn't mean to kill Marley. It was an accident, wasn't it?"
Kitty's face immediately fell. Jake swore he saw tears in her eyes. "If I tell you, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone."
"Just tell me," Jake demanded.
"Promise?"
Jake gritted his teeth. "Kitty, tell me now."
"Fine!" Kitty screamed, startling Jake. She bursted into tears. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. "I didn't mean to kill Marley."
Finally, Jake was getting somewhere. "Then what happened?"
Kitty wiped away a tear and began telling Jake everything. Memories of that night flooded back to her.
"Marley, I need to talk to you." Kitty opened the door of Marley's dressing room and walked right in.
Marley, who was in the process of doing her makeup for the dress rehearsal, turned around to face Kitty. "Can it wait? I need to finish my hair and makeup."
"Did I do something wrong?" Kitty asked, ignoring Marley's request. "Did I do something to make you angry at me?"
Marley put her blush brush down. "Why would I be angry with you?"
"Because you've been spending so much time with Tina, and you've been ignoring me for the past week."
"I can have more than one friend, you know," Marley said.
"Well it looks more like you've traded me for Tina," Kitty snapped, raising her voice.
"Girls!" Mr. Schue yelled, running into the room. "We can all hear you. Take it outside."
"Fine, we will," Kitty said, dragging Marley by her sleeve down the stairs and out to the parking lot.
"Kitty, I really need to finish getting ready," Marley said. "Can we please talk about this tomorrow?"
"No, we're having this conversation right now." Kitty placed her hands on her hips. "Is Tina your new best friend?"
"Kitty, you're my best friend," Marley rolled her eyes. "Stop being so insecure."
"You're telling me to stop being insecure? That's so funny, especially coming from the girl who starved herself for months when her costumes didn't fit." Kitty knew her words were harsh, but Marley had really hurt her by not telling her about her new friendship with Tina. She had to hear it from Sugar.
"Well at least I had costumes to be in, you know, since I was always the lead role. That's why Tina and I are such good friends now. We're both competitive, and we both want the lead. You're always stuck in the background."
"Wow, Tina's bitchiness definitely rubbed off on you," Kitty said. "What happened to my sweet, innocent best friend?"
"She became more independent and made new friends. You should try it to," Marley smirked.
That was it. Kitty had had enough. She grabbed Marley by the shoulders and shoved her hard, knocking her to the cold, hard ground.
"What the hell?!" Marley got up and fixed her hair. When she was finished, she grabbed Kitty when Kitty least expected it and pushed her down.
Now Kitty was extremely angry. Without thinking, she gave one final shove that causes Marley to lose her balance. She fell, and Kitty heard an ear-splitting crack.
Kitty sank down on her knees in front of her best friend. "Marley?" she whispered, but Marley's eyes remained closed. Kitty felt the back of Marley's head, and screamed when she pulled her blood-covered hand away. "Marley, wake up, this isn't funny." Kitty shook Marley's shoulders violently. "Marley, please." She leaned over her and listened for a heartbeat. There was none. "No no no no no no." Kitty jumped up to her feet and ran over to the nearest trashcan to throw up.
Kitty stumbled dizzily back to Marley, checking one last time for a pulse. After trying five more minutes, she gave up. Hot tears streamed down her face. Her best friend was dead. She killed her. She was a murderer. Kitty stood up and ran as fast as she could away from the parking lot, wishing she could disappear forever.
"So that's the truth?" Jake asked, snapping Kitty back to reality.
Kitty nodded. "Yeah, it is."
"So what about Tina then?"
"Well I was already angry about Tina stealing Marley away, and I just kind of let my anger out on her."
"So you did kill her then."
Kitty wiped away another tear. "Yes, and I immediately regretted it after. But she was going to tell the police. And she didn't know the whole story. She—" Kitty was cut off by the sound of someone bursting through the door.
"Jake, what's going on?" she said, widening her eyes.
Two police officers came into view. "Kitty Wilde, you are arrested for the murder of Marley Rose and Tina Cohen-Chang," one of them said, putting Kitty in handcuffs.
Kitty whipped her head around to glare at Jake. "How could you?"
"I gave the cops an anonymous tip before I came here," Jake confessed. "I knew you did it."
"You lied to me," Kitty said, her voice breaking.
"Well you murdered two innocent people, so I think that's a lot worse," Jake said. He watched as the two cops dragged Kitty away without another word.
In all honesty, Jake did feel a little sympathy for Kitty. He now knew she didn't mean to kill Marley, but she still did. She still killed Tina. She still lied about the whole thing. And because of that, she deserved to be in jail.
Out of nowhere, Marley appeared. "So she really did it," she said, shaking her head. Then at that moment, all the memories of her life finally came back to her. It played out like a movie. Memories of her eighth birthday party, her first day of high school, the first time she talked to her ninth grade crush, all came rushing back. Even the bad memories, like her dad leaving, and all the fights she had with her mom returned as well.
"Marley?" Jake said, oblivious to what she was experiencing.
The memories started to fade away, and were then replaced by a glowing white light.
"Jake," Marley said, turning her head towards him. "I think it's time for me to go."
So unfortunately we're getting to the end of this story :( Only one more chapter to go. I'm planning on writing another chaptered story after this, but I need some ideas, so if you have any, please send them to me on my tumblr, justjarley. The next chapter won't take as long to update. And as always, send me drabble prompts if you have any! Thanks for reading!