A/N: You guys really seemed to enjoy that last chapter. Awesome! I got a few more followers and favorites which is amazing! Thank you guys so much for becoming fans of this story and some of my other works. It means so much to me, seriously it does! So without any more delay, here's the next chapter. Please, enjoy!
The skies threatened a storm with their dark clouds, and the air had become colder. Chloe mindlessly stared out of the passenger side window, twisting the ring on her finger while Derek drove them to school. They had no further luck on finding June, and the news about Rae's death had become a hot topic around town.
Luckily, the Dragonhead didn't pay much attention to it, only stating that he had a keen sense on who his family got involved with, aiming his words towards Simon at dinner last night. All Davidoff seemed to care about was this grand deal he made back in Seoul. They were to get a giant shipment from South Korea; this meant that Cortez would become a greater threat if he got word of this.
Derek and Simon were to get to the bottom of the mole issue. So, instead of searching for June after school they left it to Tori, Liz, Adeline, and Chloe using wedding preparations as a cover up.
Derek parked in front of the school in his usual spot, looking over at Chloe to make sure she would be okay. She was still staring out the window, fiddling with her ring. Derek took the hand with the ring on it in his, raising it to his lips and gently kissing her finger tips. Chloe looked up at him finally wanting to burst out in tears.
She didn't know how to go on with school knowing one friend was dead, and the other on the run and being accused for murder. This on top of the pressure of a Triad wedding, wondering where her father was, and if Jay was okay…she felt as if the world was crumpling beneath her feet and she couldn't run fast enough.
"You need to stay strong, you can't lose it now." Derek guided her, still holding her hand tightly. Chloe took in a shaky breath keeping her tears back.
"Does th-this e-ever get eas-sier?" she stuttered.
Derek looked her in the eyes, trying to come up with something good to say, but he didn't want to lie to her. Instead, he kissed her fingers again leaving them pressed against his lips.
"I'll always be here to help you through it."
Chloe sniffled finding it harder to hold back the tears. When he said things like that she found it easier to find a reason on why she had stayed so long. Through all this bad Derek was the good that kept her going.
A knock on Derek's window startled the both of them, but they both looked to find Simon standing on the side of the car. With one final look at each other Derek squeezed her hand to give her strength and they got out of the car.
Derek pulled his bag out from the back, looking at Simon while he shut the door. Simon had an irritated expression displayed on his face. Derek nodded wondering what was up with him and Simon jerked his head to the side of the school.
"You guys will want to see this." Was all that Simon said, and turned around stuffing his hands inside his jacket pockets.
Chloe looked up at Derek curious, but Derek shrugged taking her hand in his and followed Simon. They turned to the front of the school building, a large crowd of students hanging around talking wildly.
As she continued to follow Simon to the doors her eyes widened at the crowd. She continued to scan the grounds, finding three news vans parked out front in the No Park Zone, all with reporters talking into cameras facing the front doors.
"They make it seem like some fucking Circus." Simon growled heading towards the doors.
"Why all the m-media?" Chloe asked still staring at the reporters.
"Teen dies on Halloween, turns out her foster sister is the murderer; it's hot news apparently." Simon explained in disgust. "They portray it as this huge thing, but by the middle of the week everyone will forget about it."
Chloe knew he was right, and she hated that he was right. She wondered what everyone was saying about June, and the whole situation. Did anyone think she was innocent aside from her group?
She soon found her answer as she passed one reporter who was speaking to one of the girls in her gym class. She was a senior, what was her name? Harper something…
"I always thought that June was a bit bi-polar, so it's not a surprise to hear that she snapped, you know?" Harper said to the reporter.
Chloe stopped as she heard this, making Derek stop as well. He looked down at Chloe seeing that she was staring at something so he followed her gaze to Harper and the reporter.
"Did you ever think she would end up killing someone?" the reporter asked.
"Well, you can't just look at someone and think that they will be a psycho, even if they do give off that kind of feeling." Harper answered.
Chloe was absolutely outraged. Before she knew it she let go of Derek's hand and headed towards Harper to give her a piece of her mind, but Derek quickly grabbed her and pulled her back.
"We can't do anything that will bring attention to us. Not about this." He warned her.
"But she's," Chloe began to argue, but Derek shook his head.
"I know how you feel, but we can't." He looked at her sadly. Chloe looked up at him wanting to fight him on this, but she knew that they couldn't do anything about it. She just wished people would stop slandering June's name.
Before anyone of them could do any damage Derek lead them inside the school. Following their usual routine the boys took Chloe to her locker where she angrily put in her combination. She wanted to hit something, break something-anything! She didn't know how much more of this she could handle.
"Hey, Chloe!" a voice came from down the hall. They all turned to see Stan, one of the journalists for the school paper, magazine, and yearbook.
"Can I ask you a few questions on June, seeing as you two were best friends and all?" he smiles at her.
"Go away." Chloe glares at him.
"What about questions on Rae, come on the paper's looking a bit dry, and your input would set it on fire!" Stan pushed.
"She said no." Derek took a threatening step.
"Um," Stan smiled nervously, he was defiantly intimidated by the Baes, but he also vowed to do anything for a story. "H-how about you Simon? There was a rumor saying that you and June had an underground thing going on."
"Get out of here Stan." Simon warned.
"C'mon guys, give me something at least." Stan sweated.
Suddenly, Simon's fist flew into a nearby locker, causing a loud bang to ring through the hall, and a small dent cratered into the door. Stan stared at Simon's fist in the locker his eyes going wide in fear.
"Get out of here or the next one is flying into your face." Simon warned in a menacingly low voice.
Stan didn't even hesitate, immediately turning around and fleeing back down the hall. Simon pulled his hand back relaxing his fist to his side, his knuckles that were already swelling. Chloe went up to him and smacked the back of his head.
"Ow!" he protested, but Chloe rolled her eyes taking his hand and examining his knuckles.
"It's what you get for going over the top." She chastised.
"I'll be fine." Simon tried to take his hand back, but Chloe pressed down on his middle knuckle making him cry out.
"I think you just bruised them." Chloe sighed dropping his hand.
"Idiot." Derek commented getting an annoyed look from his brother.
"Let's go get ice for it." Chloe said picking up her back pack and shutting her locker.
The boys followed her to the nurse's office too annoyed to notice the stares from the other students. Chloe noticed them though. She saw how everyone was watching them, as if they were expecting one of them to break down and go mental. Tightening her grip on her bag she opened the door to the nurse's office.
The nurse wasn't anywhere in sight, and Chloe took a sigh of relief. She didn't want to deal with any questions. Before the nurse came back she walked into the back knowing where the ice packs were held and grabbed one, breaking it and having it turn cold as she handed it to Simon.
"Thanks." He muttered knowing that punching a locker was a stupid move.
"C'mon." Derek led them out of the office and down the hall towards their classroom.
They had only gotten to the end of the hall when the intercoms in the halls echoed a chime. That was the signal that an announcement was about to be made.
"Attention all students and staff," a woman's voice came over the halls, most likely one of the office secretaries. "Please make your way down to the auditorium for a morning assembly. It is required for all staff and students to attend. So, please make your way down to the auditorium as fast and as orderly as possible. Please find your homeroom teachers and be seated immediately. Thank you."
The three of them stopped and looked at each other, all assuming the same thing. Derek looked down at Chloe wondering if it would be okay to let her go through this. In response, Chloe took Derek's hand and leaned into him, as if asking him for strength.
"Let's go." Simon said holding the ice pack close to him and beginning to walk down towards the auditorium.
They joined the crowd of people making their way down as well. Along the way Alexa had spotted them and joined up with the group. She didn't say anything more than a simple hello. With one look Chloe knew Alexa was hurting too. She could see it in her puffy eyes and by her red nose.
"Check it out." Simon pointed down the other hall towards some lockers.
Chloe craned her neck to look at what he was pointing at. Her stomach knotted up and she felt uneasy. There was Rae's locker; decorated with ribbons, balloons, and candles. Derek wrapped his arm around Chloe's shoulders pulling her in close. He was afraid the sight would be the thing to break her, but much to her surprise Chloe wrapped an arm around his waist and held on to him and kept going.
They walked into the auditorium receiving warm smiles from some of the staff that stood at the doors. They looked about the room looking for their teachers. Alexa found hers first and pointed out Derek's class who sat right behind hers. Derek sent Alexa off first saying he would make sure Chloe got seated first.
Simon was the one to spot Ms. Coon seating their class. They walked up to the end of the section before Simon turned to Derek.
"If she can't take anymore, get her out of here." Derek ordered, and Simon nodded.
"You make me sound so fragile." Chloe protested.
"I'm just," Derek began but Chloe rolled her eyes.
"You're just watching out for me, I know." She sighed and looked up at him. "I'm not a china doll, I'll be fine." At least she hoped she would. Derek smiled down at her and leaned down kissing her forehead.
Chloe closed her eyes savoring the feeling and using that as her strength. She smiled up at him as he pulled back and made his way back to his class.
"C'mon." Simon shifted the ice pack letting Chloe walk in front of him.
They walked up to Ms. Coon who was surprisingly dressed in black, instead of her cheery bright colors. When Ms. Coon saw them walk up she smiled at them, but it wasn't a happy smile, you could see the hurt in her eyes.
"Oh Chloe," was all she said and opened her arms to her.
Thinking her teacher needed it more than she did; Chloe walked up to her and gave her a hug. Ms. Coon rubbed Chloe's back in comfort and pulled back holding her at arm's length.
"Don't listen to what everyone else has to say, you keep hope, alright?" she instructed, and Chloe smiled slightly nodding. "Okay, you and Simon can sit at the end here." She said waving at the two empty seats at the end of the isle.
"Okay, everyone please be seated immediately, we are about to begin." It was their school principal, Mr. Anthony.
The room died down to a silence, and Mr. Anthony waited while everyone got seated. Just then the audience lights dimmed leaving the stage lights on.
"Thank you everyone for making your way down here, and taking time out of her classes to be here." Mr. Anthony began and cleared his throat. "You can all guess why we are here, I'm sure you're all aware of the tragedy that happened this Halloween weekend."
Chloe hooked one leg over the other and clasped her hands together in her lap. This should be interesting.
"Rachelle Rogers, or known to many as Rae, was an amazing person and someone whom I'm sure we will all miss. No words can be put together to describe the type of woman Rae was and it saddens me to know that so much potential and so many dreams have gone."
"Maybe he can't put words to her because he doesn't know the first thing about her." Simon muttered to Chloe, who couldn't agree more.
What did these people know about Rae? She wasn't friends or close to anyone from here. She was someone who kept to herself. Chloe bet that not one person in this room even knew Rae went to this school. It pissed Chloe and Simon off that now that she was gone people start to notice her.
"If anyone is need of counseling, our school counselors are free to your use. All you need to do is come to the office and set up an appointment, and we would more than happy to help." Mr. Anthony said, once more clearing his throat.
"I was also asked by our local police department that if anyone has any information on the whereabouts of June Aitaro, or if you know of any place she could be, please report it either to me or the police. Thank you." He said.
"That's all they're going to say about her?" Simon scoffed shaking his head. "Why don't they just come out and say that they think June killed her."
Chloe sighed rubbing her head a small headache forming in the back of her head.
"Now, please enjoy this performance by our very own Dance Company, who dedicated this dance to our late Rae Rogers." Mr. Anthony announced clapping as he walked off the stage.
"Rae hated these Dance Co-hoes." Chloe growled angrily.
Throughout the whole assembly Simon and Chloe sat there steaming. The whole thing was a joke, a stunt for the media no doubt. This place didn't care about Rae; to them she was some foster kid that got them their quota for multiculturalism.
When the house lights came back on Chloe quickly got up wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Simon stood up to lead her out, but Ms. Coon grabbed them pulling them to the side.
"I was asked to have you guys make your way down to the principal's office." She said.
"Why?" Simon asked a bit irritated. Ms. Coon shook her head unsure.
"I was only told to tell you two." She said.
Chloe looked up at Simon wondering if he had a clue why they were being sent to the office.
"Okay, thanks." Simon said and turned to Chloe placing a hand on the small of her back leading her out of the auditorium.
"Why are we being called to the Principal's office?" Chloe asked making her way down the hall.
"I'm not sure, but I don't have a good feeling about it." Simon answered looking around seeing if he could spot Derek.
He found Derek already making his way towards them.
"They want us in the Anthony's office." Simon told him, receiving a confused look from Derek.
"Me too." Derek said.
"What?" Simon asked now even more confused.
"Baes, Saunders," Mr. Anthony's voice came from down the hall. The three of them looked over at Anthony who waved for them to follow him. They all looked at each other before following their principal.
They were taken to the teacher's conference room. Inside, they found Tori and Liz already seated. They looked at each other in complete confusion not knowing what was going on.
"Please, take a seat." Anthony instructed. "I'll be right back." He said leaving them in there.
Derek took his seat nodding at Tori wanting to know what was going on.
"They just called us in here, I'm not sure why." She answered.
"Well, I just saw my dad outside with a few of his cop buddies." Liz said looking a bit worried.
"Shit." Simon slouched in his seat letting his head hang off the back off of the seat.
"What?" Chloe asked.
"We're being pulled in for questioning." Derek explained pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Is that bad?" Chloe asked not getting why they were all worried.
"Only if word of this gets back to Davidoff." Tori sighed nervously.
"Oh." Chloe understood now.
"My dad won't tell the Dragonhead if you just tell him not to." Liz said. Derek looked at Liz and nodded.
Just then the door opened, and just as they expected Officer Delaney and two other police men stepped inside. They shut the door each of them taking a seat at the head of the table.
"Good morning, everyone." Delaney greeted, and bowed his head at Derek. "I'm here on duty, sir, so if I may," he asked Derek who only nodded.
"Thank you," Officer Delaney sat up straight turning to the rest of the table. "You guys probably know why I'm here."
"To help June or to capture her?" Simon asked catching Delaney off guard by the hostility in his voice.
"Simon," Derek warned, having his little brother sit back quietly. He then looked to Officer Delaney. "If we do this, we need to keep it confidence. The Dragonhead mustn't know of our involvement."
Officer Delaney was curious as to why they would need to keep this a secret, but knew better than to ask. So instead he simply agreed and gave his word to keep this meeting a secret.
"So, it was reported that you all were the last to see June Friday night." Delaney started off.
"Not true," Tori spoke up. "Liz and I didn't even know she showed up." She explained. Liz nodded agreeing.
"Right, we didn't see her that whole night."
"Not at all?" Delaney asked, and the girls shook their heads. He turned to the other three, who kept quiet. "Did you guys see her?" he asked.
"I did." Chloe answered and looked up at the officers. "I was with her at the party." She answered.
"Was there anything…off about June? Did you notice anything wrong with her?" Delaney asked and Chloe shook her head.
"No, she was her normal self." Chloe replied, not sure if she was helping or not. Delaney looked at Derek and Simon for their input.
"I was with Chloe the whole night, and I agree with her. June wasn't acting out of the ordinary." Derek answered.
"Thank you." Delaney said making sure his colleagues were getting all of this down. Then they turned and looked at Simon.
"Yeah," Simon shrugged. "She was the same as always." He told them.
"Someone from the party said that they witnessed the two of you fighting." One of the other officers said. Simon looked up at him, while the others stared at him.
"We had an argument, so what?" Simon replied.
"What were you two arguing about?" Delaney asked.
Simon bit the inside of his cheek. He didn't know if it was the right time to bring it up or not. Was he sure that they were trying to help June, or if they were just looking for motive.
"Were you two arguing about Rae?" one of the other policemen asked.
"What?" Simon asked in complete shock.
"Well, June's father had reported that June had always been jealous of Rae. Perhaps the fight with you pushed June over the edge." The other policeman said.
"Are you kidding me?" Simon asked appalled.
"June was jealous of Rae at all!" Chloe interrupted.
"Easy, settle down." Delaney held out his hands to quiet them. "We didn't say she was it was only reported that way."
"Do you have any other suspects other than June?" Tori asked. Delaney looked to her blinking a few times.
"You believe June didn't kill her?" he asked.
"You believe she did?" Liz asked him.
"Mrs. Low said she saw June pull the trigger," Delaney began but Simon interrupted.
"How? She was clear down the hall when the gun was fired. She couldn't have seen anything."
"How do you know this?" Delaney asked.
The group was silent for a while before they decided to fess up.
"When the news came out about Rae's death we went to go investigate." Simon explained.
"Mrs. Low told us what had happened." Derek added.
"I went upstairs to try and find anything that would help." Simon confessed.
"You tampered with evidence?" Delaney asked shocked.
"No, I didn't touch anything, I'm not stupid." Simon rolled his eyes. "Bottom line, for Mrs. Low to have seen who shot Rae she would have had to been directly in front of the door, but according to her story June knocked her down as she came out of her room, which is down the hall and around the corner by the stair case."
The police officers scribbled down this information quickly on their notepads, while Officer Delaney stared at Simon expressionless.
"We weren't aware of that detail, thank you for letting us know." Delaney finally said. "Is there any more that you can give us? Anything at all?"
They all kept silent. Officer Delaney looked each one of them over realizing that they were at a loss, except for one. He looked at Simon and saw that he was debating something.
"I want to prove June's innocence as much as you do." Delaney answered. "But in order to do that, I need to know everything you know about where she could be. Or if you know anything about Rae that night too."
No one spoke; no one had any more information. Except for Simon. He had to tell them. Maybe they could prove June's innocence with it. June wasn't here to stop him now, and did her mom really deserve her protection?
"Simon?" Officer Delaney called out to him. Simon looked up at the police officers, coming to his final decision.
"There was this night," he began, and everyone starred wondering what he had to say. "There was a party I went to, and she was there. We ended up hanging out and going to her place for the night."
Tori's and Liz's jaws dropped but Simon shook his head at their assumptions.
"Nothing happened, I swear, June isn't like that." Simon assured them.
"Is that all?" one of the officers asked. Simon sighed leaning on the table placing his hands together on top.
"That morning when I woke up," Simon cleared his throat feeling the anger slowly burn up inside him. "She was acting strange, skittish almost. I was only up for a few minutes before Carl came up to her room." He began and then closed his eyes rubbing his head as if that was helping him.
"She shoved me into her closet before letting him in."
"He caught you?" Delaney asked but Simon shook his head.
"No, he had no idea was there." He answered.
"So, what happened?" Liz asked. Simon looked up at her before looking at the policemen.
"I saw Carl touch her…inappropriately." He finally said it.
A series of gasps came from the girls, their jaws dropping Chloe's hand flying up to cover her mouth.
"Are you sure that's what you saw?" Officer Delaney asked looking fired up now.
"Yes, I'm sure. I even confronted June about it, and she told me that he'd been doing that to her for years and that if she told anyone he would kill her mother." Simon replied.
"But he killed Rae instead!" Tori gasped.
"Oh my god." Liz let out.
"Hold on, wait a minute!" Officer Delaney waved them down. "We don't know that for sure yet, but that is excellent motive." He then turned to Simon. "How long have you known this was going on?" he asked.
Simon hesitated before answering. "A few weeks."
Chloe stared at Simon a mixture of feelings swimming inside of her. Why didn't he tell her about this? Why didn't June? Why hadn't he done anything sooner? She was so mad at the fact that it was a secret kept from her, but she was madder that something could have been done to prevent all this.
"Well, thank you for this information; we will do what we can with it." Delaney said.
"Any idea on where June is now?" Derek asked as the officers stood up. Officer Delaney looked at him trying to come up with something to say.
"We're still looking." He answered. Derek knew that only meant that they were still clueless.
"Thank you for your time." Delaney added bowing his head again as he left. As soon as they walked out of the door Mr. Anthony came back and ushered them back to class.
They were all walking down the hall headed towards their separate classes, when Chloe spun around and glared at Simon. This caught him off guard and he took a step backwards.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.
"Tell you what?" Simon asked.
"About June!" she shouted. Simon sighed looking around the hallway not wanting to have this argument with her. Not after all that.
"Chloe, I," Simon shook his head. "I couldn't tell you, I don't know, June didn't want anyone to know."
"I'm her best friend!" Chloe argued.
"And that's exactly why she didn't want you to know, she knew you would worry." Simon ran his fingers through his hair. "Besides, you were going through your own things at the time; it never seemed like the best time to tell you."
"Were you ever going to tell me?" Chloe asked. Simon looked over at Derek who knew that he should stay out of this one.
"I was going to tell Derek." Simon admitted.
"But not me?" Chloe stated, and Simon could only stare at her. Chloe sighed rolling her eyes and continuing down the hall.
"Chloe," Simon called after her.
"SHUT UP! I don't want to deal with you, right now." She shouted walking a bit faster away from him. Simon sighed looking at Derek who only looked back sympathetically, and then followed Chloe.
"Who knew Chloe had a temper." Tori said from behind Simon where she and Liz watched the whole thing go down.
"Shut up Tori." Simon said walking down the hall headed to his own class now too.
A/N: My fingers are so tired now. That was a pretty long chapter. I hope you guys liked it. More to come soon, I promise! I have a lot in store, and look forward to a little action next chapter. Oh, and a lovely surprise as well! As always, leave me your thoughts, tell me what you liked or disliked about it.
Love you guys! Happy New Years! Bye!