Everyone’s talking about Annalisa? Charlotte looks just as confused as I am.
This apparently means something to Sara, because her eyes widen and her face turns solemn. “Wacko Anna White is Julian’s girlfriend?”
Wacko Anna White?!
“Yeah, the one who told Kaitlyn she’d put her in the hospital if she even breathed in Julian’s direction, for no reason at all. Like, Kaitlyn was just in the hall with Makayla Monday morning, minding her own business, and Anna went off on her. She had to be restrained!”
What?!
There is so much wrong with that statement it’s not even funny. First of all, when has Kaitlyn ever minded her own business?
“And then”—Becki pauses dramatically, knowing full well basically everyone in the kitchen is listening to her—“she told Kaitlyn that her brother’s the one who killed her boyfriend’s dad, and that she’s not afraid to murder someone too! She said, and I quote, ‘We’re a family of killers.’”
Family of killers?!
My blood is practically boiling. What is wrong with people? Who says that?
I’m about to step in and tell them exactly what I think about their family of killers when some other girl in the kitchen beats me to it.
“That can’t possibly be true,” the girl says to Becki and Sara. “You know how Kaitlyn is.”
Yes! Thank you.
“No, no.” Becki rushes to back up her claim. “Aliyah was there and heard it all! She’s the one who told me.”
Everyone gasps, even the other people in the kitchen. A collective acceptance settles over the room, as if Aliyah is the fucking oracle of truth and if she said it, she must not be lying.
I can’t take it anymore. “That is not what happened. I was there. People like to twist the truth to make things more dramatic when they’re telling a story.” The girls in the kitchen stare at me.
“My friend Riley was there too,” some other girl pipes up, “and she told me that Anna almost knocked Kaitlyn out for no reason when they were talking.”
“Everyone has a reason to want to punch Kaitlyn out. Come on now, you guys are being dramatic,” I say. “Anna is not a murderer! I can’t believe I actually have to say that out loud.”
Just then, Annalisa enters the kitchen, and everyone stares at her with wide eyes. Perfect, she can settle these stupid rumors.
“Anna, would you honestly kill Kaitlyn? Like, straight-out murder her?” I ask, prompting her to reassure everyone that she’s not part of a “family of killers.”
Annalisa shrugs. “If she pissed me off enough, sure.”
Murmurs spring up around us, and everyone rushes out of the room to apparently get as far away from Wacko Anna White as quickly as possible.
“She’s just joking! She doesn’t mean that! Come on, guys!” I call after them, then turn to face Annalisa, who’s unfazed by everyone running away from her. Soon it’s just Annalisa, Charlotte, and me left in the kitchen.
“You’re not helping here!”
“What? It was a joke.” She pours herself some vodka and cranberry juice.
“Yeah. We know that, but they’re just going to use that to add more fuel to the rumor mill.”
Annalisa shoves a chip in her mouth. “What rumors?”
Charlotte and I tell her what we heard Becki and Sara saying. Annalisa’s face is normally pretty pale, but it gets even paler as we get to the family of killers part. Her fist smashes down on the bag of chips, turning the snack into little pieces of dust.
“Where’s Aliyah?” she manages through gritted teeth.
“Anna, if you beat up Aliyah it’s just going to make things worse.” Charlotte warns her.
“I’m not going to beat her up, I just wanna talk.” Annalisa pulls the multiple rings off her fingers and shoves them in her pockets, then strides from the room.
“Then why did you take off your rings?” I shout as Charlotte and I scramble after her.
This is not good, and Charlotte knows it, too, as we weave through the kids in the hall to catch up to Annalisa. She marches through the hallway with an angry purpose, stopping suddenly and causing Charlotte and me to practically run into her. She charges into the dark room where we last saw Aliyah; she’s still making out with Chase. She’s on his lap on one of the couches, and they look like they’re thoroughly enjoying each other’s company.
Annalisa walks right up to her, grabs her arm, and before I can stop her, roughly pulls Aliyah off of Chase, the force causing her to land on her ass on the floor.
Chase, who’s already pretty drunk, looks confused when the girl on his lap suddenly disappears. Charlotte must be the first person he sees, because he says her name almost reverently, as if hoping she was jealous and pulled a girl off his lap.
“Do you want to tell me what you’ve been saying, Aliyah?” Annalisa fumes at the girl sprawled on the floor. The other people in the room halt their conversations to watch the unfolding scene.
Chase looks at Charlotte sadly, probably realizing that it was Annalisa who interrupted his make-out session. “What the hell’s your problem, Anna?”
Annalisa’s dark smoky makeup makes her narrowed eyes look all the more intimidating. “My problem is that Aliyah is going around talking about me and my family, saying that we’re a bunch of murderers!”
Aliyah clambers to her feet in an instant.
“Your brother is a murderer!” Aliyah has to yell over the loud music to be heard.
“Anna, this isn’t helping with the whole Wacko Anna White thing,” I whisper.
She brushes off my concern and glares at Aliyah, who shifts uncomfortably on her feet as Annalisa’s gaze grows more and more heated.
“And all that stuff about ‘Anna’s going around telling people she comes from a family of murderers’? Where’d you get that one, Aliyah?”
“Fiona heard you say it, a couple others did too,” Aliyah says.
More than a couple of people are watching now, whispering and pointing at Annalisa. Some have even ventured in from the hall to see what the commotion is all about.
Annalisa looks like she’s going to snap, and as I mentally run through ways to de-escalate the situation, something seems to click behind Annalisa’s eyes, and the hostility in her posture deflates. “Just go, Aliyah.”
Aliyah looks wistfully at Chase, who still looks confused. “But—”