"Were you actually friends with Aaron?" Abbey Posey interrogated. The next day, Abbey chased down Jade in the library. Abbey was the daughter of two social media influencers who lived in town. She was quite nosey. Word quickly got out about Aaron's suicide, along with his and Jade's alleged friendship.

"Of course," Jade said.

"I saw the note he left you," Abbey spat. "That's not his handwriting."

"It's typed out," Jade said.

"Aaron was my friend for years," Abbey said. "We had a falling out right before freshmen year. I know his secrets. I need you to answer me with full honesty. Was Aaron your friend? Or is this some sick joke to you?"

"This isn't some joke," Jade said.

"But were you, two friends?" Abbey questioned.

"Yes," Jade said.

"I'm watching you," Abbey said. She then finally left Jade alone.

That night, Jade arrived at Mitchell's residence. It was a quaint one-story home with loads of character. The walls were lined with family photos. In most of them, the family was bickering at each other. Jade kind of envied them. Most of the family photos at her house were of people she never met.

"Jade," Mrs. Mitchell said. She walked over to her and hugged Jade. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Thanks for inviting me, Mrs. Mitchell," Jade said.

"Call me Linda," she said. "Dinner is almost ready. What do you wanna drink, hun?"

"I'll just have some water," Jade requested politely. Jade followed Linda to the kitchen. She sat at the dining table. She took the seat beside Katie. There were two young kids on the other side of the table.

"Hey, I'm Eric," one of these kids said.

"And I'm Deborah," the other one said. The others sat around the table. They then started eating and talking about their day. 'Smile and nod,' Jade repeated in her head. 'You get a stutter when you lie.'

"So, you knew our brother?" Eric asked.

"Yeah," Jade said. "He was my best friend."

"Really?" Katie, who had been silent until then, asked.

"Yeah," Jade said. "He was with me when I broke my hand."

"He was?" Mr. Mitchell asked.

"Yes," Jade said. "He really liked that Apple Orchard near the mall. It was going to close, so we wanted to pick some apples. The line was very long, so we chose to sneak in. We found a tree, and I was going to jump the fence. I slipped and broke my hand."

It wasn't a complete lie. Jade was outside of the orchard when she broke her hand. She was climbing a tree and fell. She was by herself for two hours. No matter how much she screamed for help, no one came. It was getting dark out when a hiker found her.

"He never mentioned this," Katie said.

"I wonder why," Jade said. "We also sent a lot of emails."

"If you still have them, I would like to read them," Linda said.

"I'll try to," Jade said, trying to hide her panic.

"You really like obscure movies," Jade said. After dinner, Jade went with Katie to her room. It was Friday, so Jade was in no hurry to get home. Her mom was also taking the night shift.

"Yeah," Katie said. "I love all movies. I want to attend film school in LA."

"Go for it," Jade said.

"I don't think I can," Katie said. "I feel like I need to stay close to home to help recover."

"You should still go," Jade said. "Aaron would want you to."

Katie now had tears in her eyes. Jade grabbed Katie's hand. "I'm sorry," she cried. "When we were younger, Aaron and I were best friends. He was my closest confidant. When we went to middle school, he became a new person. I tried to be there for him, but he was so angry. I failed him."

"You didn't fail him," Jade said. "You couldn't have known."

"How?" Katie asked. "He was living in the bedroom down the hall."

"People are good at keeping secrets," Jade said.

"I'm sorry that I'm dumping all of this on you," Katie cried.

"It's okay, that's why I'm here," Jade said. She moved a strand of hair behind Katie's ear. Their faces started to inch closer together. As their noses were about to touch, Katie stopped.

"I'm sorry," Katie said. "You should go."