Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

from dinner the night before.
    I pulled the covers up to my neck. “Um, I need to go to the bathroom real quick. Can I meet you guys in the living room?”
    “ Good idea,” Mom said as she plucked a few dead flowers from my collection of vases.
    Once the door shut, I lumbered out of bed and limped to the bathroom. My toiletries sat untouched on the counter. After a good brushing, I finished up with a gurgle of mouthwash and pulled my greasy hair into a ponytail.
    The warm washcloth felt refreshing over my face. But the swipe of deodorant and spritz of honeysuckle perfume did a poor job of covering up several days of stink.
    I peeled off the jammies I’d worn for three days and dug through the clean clothes piled in a laundry basket. The sight of the swim team jacket stopped me. I ran my hand over the satin and my lips tingled remembering I’d worn it that day. I pulled my arms into the sleeves and felt comforted somehow.
    “ Hey,” I said as I hobbled into the living room and took the couch opposite Callahan. He sat right where Fin had during his visit. My face tensed, remembering his plea for help—a plea that had to be deeper than just a request for clothing. I’d been so cruel.
    “ Glad to see you’re getting around better,” Callahan said with concerned eyes.
    “ Yeah, well—” I shrugged and tried not to care where he sat, forcing my feelings somewhere under the buffer of pain meds. The way Georgia and Callahan looked at me made me feel like an insect in a jar, every move watched. “What’s the big surprise?”
    Callahan turned to Georgia. She could barely contain her excitement, bouncing in her seat. “We found out why Brooke was suspended.”
    I got out of bed and cleaned up for gossip? Completely unamused, I raised my eyebrows and waited. “And?”
    Georgia’s lips curled up. “She and Kylie rigged the vote. A teacher found discarded votes for you in the trash. The office had a hidden camera. They were totally caught red-handed!”
    “ Oh, wow.” I sat up, curious to what exactly would happen to the Senior Ball Queen now that she was dethroned. “So?”
    “ They’re announcing the new winner tomorrow, so you have to be there.”
    I laughed. “I’m not going through this again. People will just vote for me ’cause they feel sorry for me, that’s all.”
    “ No,” Georgia said and looked to Callahan for support. “They’re taking the person with the second highest votes from the original count.”
    “ She’s right,” he said.
    I sat there and shook my head. What if other votes were tossed too? How unfair. Not only to put the other girls through the humiliation again, but to make me go back early to prove some point. All because of lies.
    The irony suddenly seemed funny. My best friend, whom I trusted implicitly wasn’t even human and neither was her brother—a foundation of lies. And Brooke needed the Senior Ball Queen title so bad, she was willing to do anything for it—more lies. And I almost died from my own actions, but allowed people I love to believe it was an accident—lies, lies, lies.
    Where was my dishonor? My title stripping? I deserved to be exposed as well.
    “ I’m a liar, too,” I said and began to laugh.
    From inside, a week’s worth of stress rumbled from my belly and strangely cleared my head. Georgia and Callahan both looked back in shock as I continued on. “I didn’t get swept up by a wave off the beach. I took out our family’s row boat on Sunday and fell out of it. The whole thing was my fault, and I lied about it.”
    “ Ashlyn,” my mother said behind me, her voice filled with disappointment.
    I stopped laughing and stared at her. “Sorry, Mom.”
    She blinked back the tears in her eyes and remained quiet for a moment. Callahan and Georgia sat stiff like statues.
    “ I think it’s time for your friends to go,” she finally said.
    In silence, they popped off the couch and filed out, looking shocked and disturbed, but I didn’t care. I needed to come clean—to have them know what really happened. I wasn’t worthy of the crown either.
    But instead of relief, guilt swept over me and I burst into tears. The burden was so much deeper than just my mother’s disappointment in me; grief for Fin and Tatchi’s abduction and their faces right before they disappeared underwater haunted me. Not knowing their location or wellbeing wracked my nerves. My fragile psyche couldn’t handle any more uncertainty.
    I leaned onto the couch cushion and