Six: Carmella

F**k you, I hope you die. 

My famous last words to the girl who was currently dead, being examined and photographed ten feet away from me. 

F**k you, I hope you die. 

I'd written these words to her a year ago, just before freshmen year was over. I logged onto the school chatrooms during my multimedia computers class to see who was available for some nice conversation before she ruined it. She'd called me a w***e, and then tried to threaten me with the incident at the Conway Party. And then I told her. 

F**k you, I hope you die. 

And she did. Candy Melendez died. She was murdered on school grounds, found in a math classroom, choked to death. Her eyes were left wide open, staring up at her attacker. Staring up at me. 

At me. 

Me. 

I was a guilty party, in my own mind. I told her I wanted her dead, and now she is. I basically killed her. 

"Miss Velazquez," Sheriff Culbreth spoke. I looked away from her body to look up into his large brown eyes. "You knew her personally, as well, didn't you?" 

"Yes..." I trailed off. My eyes watered. "We used to be really close." 

"All right," he mutters as he takes note of this. "Why aren't you so close now?" 

I shrug and shake my head at the Texan sheriff. "I don't know, we just...drifted apart." 

He nods and continues to ask me questions, but I don't answer any of them. Instead, I stand there, watching them zip up her body in their coroner's bag, wheeling her out of the class, down the hall, and out of the school, taking her away forever. Once she's wheeled off school grounds in that body bag, she's gone. She's in the truck. They drive away. She's gone forever. She's officially dead. 

Candy Melendez is dead. 

And she never even said sorry. 

-_*_- 

Carter Conway took his lips off of mine, hovering them just centimeters above. I can taste his Listerine breath and I feel a shiver go down my spine with excitement. I kissed him, and he let me. He kissed back. I liked it. I liked it a lot. 

His free hand (the one that isn't scrunching the fabric of my dress at the small of my back in a tight fist) is running down my jawline and neck, stopping just above the sweetheart neckline of my dress. "It's so loud out here. Come inside with me?" 

I giggled. "But it's even louder in there." Didn't he know that? 

"Not in my room," he whispered into my ear. 

Why was I so stupid that night? How did I not notice all the horrible, disgusting things he was implying to do to me when he mentioned his room? Because I was a stupid, stupid girl with a crush on a stupid, stupid boy. 

His hand left my waist and grabbed at my own appendage. I clutched back at his with a force that probably cut off the circulation in his fingers. I felt breathless, weightless. I just met a boy, who had just met a girl. And this boy was making me feel like I was on the moon. I didn't care that this was scientifically impossible, I was on the moon and no one was taking that away from me. 

We were back inside the house, walking down the hallway that housed several guest rooms, a game room, a home theatre, and three bathrooms. Half the guest rooms were open, revealing nerds in a safe haven (Emelia was one of them and I happily waved at her as I caught her eye), girls making out with boys, boys making out with boys, and a few jocks from the high school playing ego-boosting games. 

He brought me to the stairs and we began to scale them. I was giggling the whole way, blushing mad when he wrapped an arm around my waist and buried his nose in my neck, smelling at the juncture of skin that smelled like pears and peaches. 

"Carmella?" 

I looked up, stopping mid-step in the middle of the stairway with a touchy Carter Conway, into the eyes of Xavier. Kaden was standing right beside him, eyes wide with envy, shock and envy. Kaden was envious. Xavier on the other hand... 

"Get your hands off her, you tool," he snarled at the older boy. My eyes blew up in saucers. Was Avi...was Avi defending me? 

"Hey, calm down, bro." The Conway twin brought up his hands in mock surrender. "I was just bringing her upstairs for some quiet. It's pretty loud in here, don't you think?" 

Xavier turned red in his face and neck, eyes narrowing and fists clenching. The notorious cellist of Melody Hills was becoming dangerous and mad. This was not a good combination. 

My somewhat-a-friend took a single step forward and I took one as well. I placed myself in front of the angry boy and stared him right in the eye. "Stop tossing your cookies, Avi." 

"He's going to hurt you, Carmy," he whispered. The only time he was ever affectionate with me in that way was when he knew something was up. I knew better, with the way he was calling me that pet name. But I was so stupid. I decided to stop listening that night. "I may not like you, but I'm trying to be a good person here and make sure nothing bad happens to you that will..." 

I didn't let him finish. I grabbed Carter Conway's arm and stomped up the rest of the stairs and into the first room I could find. 

That's when it went south. Oh, it went so beyond south... 

He started kissing me again, throwing his hands into my hair and knocking me into a dresser. It was all lips and teeth and tongue. I loved it. 

I threw myself into the kiss, running my hands down his torso and around his waist to the small of his back. I pushed his shirt up an inch, touching bare skin. He shivered at my touch. 

That must have been his trigger because he started forcing his hips into mine. He grabbed at my waist too tightly, biting at my lips and then my neck and jaw. He ground into me too hard. 

"Carter," I gasped. "Can you please stop?" 

He protested in the back of his throat, pulling me tighter to him. I tried to get away, but he dug his nails in my skin, throwing me onto the bed and covering me with his own mass. 

"You're not going anywhere," he whispered. That's when I smelled it. I couldn't taste it because of my extreme Diet Pepsi taste buds and the extra mints and gum I'd swallowed. But there it was; the smell of beer. How could I have been so stupid? 

I started pushing, kicking, scratching, anything to make him get off, but nothing worked. I was doomed. 

The door opens and Candy stumbles in, slightly intoxicated and very giggly. She stands up straight, looking at us on the bed and cocking her head to the side. 

I cry at her, "Help me, Candy!" She just snorts, shaking her head at me. 

"Why would I, you little w***e?" 

She walks out. Now I'm more doomed. 

That's when I scream. I scream at the top of my lungs, hoping someone will walk by and save me. I scream, crying out for Xavier, Kaden, someone. I scream, wishing that this would end. 

His hand got to my chest, touching the revealed skin, breathing his sticky breath on it. I cried, mascara running down my cheeks, and soaking the neckline of my dress. 

"HELP ME!" I screamed until my throat was raw, then screamed again. 

Just as he ripped the sleeve of my dress, the door flew off its hinges, revealing Conner Conway. He stomped over and pulled his brother off me, throwing him onto the floor. 

"That's just messed up," he spat at his brother. Carter gurgled as his brother's foot came down on his neck, holding him there. "You don't ever put your hands on a girl like that." 

Conner Conway grabbed me and lifted me, bridal style, walking me out of the room and into the hallway where several kids in my grade and a few cheerleaders from the high school stood with wide eyes and shocked, hanging jaws. He clambered down the stairs and tightened his hold on me as I started shaking. I was crying into his red shirt, staining it with mascara and salted tears. 

He took me outside in the cool air, past the pool, and into the pool house. He shut the door with his foot and placed me on one of the counters. I stared out the pool house as he grabbed the first aid kit. I didn't register much. All I could do was stare at the girls in their slinky bikinis and tiny skirts, flirting with guys who would, more or less, probably do what Carter Conway would have done to me. They were dooming themselves. 

I hissed as the familiar sting of alcohol touched a scratch on my leg I hadn't noticed was there. The blood was soaking through my dress before he removed the fabric. Now there was a big red splotch covering twenty purple polka dots. Conner Conway watched me with hooded, heavy eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered. 

"It's okay," I croaked back. 

The blonde boy shook his head, eyes set on my leg, frowning as he cleaned my wounds. "It's not. It never will be." 

-_*_- 

I opened my locker, leaving behind the memory of that dreaded party. It was best if I didn't dwell on things that had no reason to be fixed. What Candy had almost let happen to me was gone in the past. She'd clearly gotten over it. I needed to get over it, too. 

After the incident, Conner had cleaned me up; throwing my dress in the washing machine I sat on the counter next to. I'd huddled into myself, shivering in my bra and panties as he grabbed an old sweatshirt from the pile of boxed clothes that didn't fit him anymore. I threw it on, sighing in relief when I realized it was long enough to touch my knees. I kept my oxfords on, and touched the flower in my hair while he called Kaden from my phone. He wanted to call Xavier, because that's who he saw me with all night due to the fact that Kaden was off somewhere, checking out the guys from the swim team pull off their shirts and race in the pool. I refused to let him, because Xavier would be very angry with me. And the least thing I wanted was a mad Xavier. 

But it didn't matter. Kaden showed up with a wide-eyed Xavier, rushing past my best friend and the tall freshman Conway brother, grabbing my shoulders and moving my hair away, touching my face and waist, making sure I was alright. If I hadn't been so upset, I would have freaked out that Xavier was worried about me. 

Kaden and Xavier took me home, telling my dad there was nothing wrong with me and that I had gotten a big cup of soda spilled on my dress and that that was the reason why I showed up in a sweatshirt-turned-dress. They tucked me into bed and slept on either side of me, Kaden with his hands in mine and his face in my shoulder, and Xavier with his chest to my back, face buried in my neck. 

Candy and I stopped talking. Kaden kept his eyes on me, never leaving my side. Emelia replaced Candy in our circle, and Xavier became cold in my vicinity. 

As if Xavier and I didn't have enough hate issues, now he won't even look at me without glaring... 

A note fell out, fluttering to the floor. I opened it, reading its contents before dropping it onto the floor. I gasped, clutching at my chest as panic filled my bloodstream. I slammed my locker shut and ran. 

I ran until I reached my home, where my dad waited on the front porch with a newspaper, and Starbucks. I told him about Candy, I cried, he held me. I woke up later that night in my bed, screaming. 

The nightmare I had was nerve-racking. 

In the darkness of my dream, Carter Conway had been hovering over me, eyes glistening with lust and predatory instinct. He was predator. I was prey. I was screaming and crying, begging for someone to help me. Hoping someone would save me. But no one did. No one saved me, and now I was dead, broken, battered, bloody. I was beyond dead. 

But it wasn't me Carter Conway was violating with his disgusting ways. It was a girl with brown hair and auburn highlights; a girl with a large b**b-to-butt ratio much thicker than mine. It was Candy. 

I had a feeling it had something to do with that note, and what she had done to me. The way the nightmare had played out was frightening and disturbing. It was frightening because of the way her face reeled in my nightmare. The way he'd left her after he finished raping her. 

Just like her body, when Kaden found her at school, and I heard him scream. 

Her eyes were sown shut. 

-_*_- 

"Rise and shine, Carmella, baby." Papa's voice reached my ears loudly as a familiar wet tongue came crashing on my face. I groaned, and then squealed as the tongue entered the corner of my mouth. 

"Nomi," I cried. She barked at my, large tongue poking out of her mouth as she gave me her wolfy smile. I giggled at her and petted my hand across her muzzle. She whined, setting her head onto my lap. She was fourteen years old, and still energetic. I didn't get how she could last this long. Papa tells me it's because we're soul mates and that she wants to make sure I'm on my path before she leaves. 

Psh, I thought to myself that day, whatever that means. 

Papa chuckled from the doorway as Nomi pushed me out of my bed. He held out his arms and kissed the crown of my head as I crashed into them. Papa was strong, graying at the edges (and not just his hair, might I add), and not much taller than me. Meaning: my dad was a midget. "You have some friends here to see you," he muttered into my hair. I nodded, throwing on the first thing I could find. 

I pulled my hair into a floppy, messy bun as I hopped down the stairs to meet my guests. My clambering feet wobbled to the kitchen, where they would most likely be. I was expecting Kaden, holding up a bag of movies we couldn't see yesterday because of my freak-out. I stumbled though, when I saw familiar floppy, brown-blonde hair and an infectious smile. 

"Avi, Em," I said cautiously. "What are you doing here?" 

Emelia's smile fell as she looked at me with worried eyes. "We came to check on you," she replied. 

"Why?" 

"Because of what happened yesterday." Xavier replied this time, very cautiously. His eyes watched me with caution and high observation. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was checking me out. But this was junior year and Xavier we were talking about. 

I snorted as I pulled an apple from the fridge. "I'm not the one that found the body." 

"No," Xavier sighed, "but you are the one crying about it." 

I stopped, mid-bite. Emelia excused herself to go sit with Papa and Nomi, who were both watching CSI: NY with passionate eyes. Even the dog watches that s**t, Kaden said once. 

I put the apple down and turned away from the cellist. I crossed my arms over my chest. "Don't," I growled. 

"Yes," he sent back in an equally mean growl. "We have to talk about this." 

"It's been two years, Avi. There's nothing to talk about." 

"It doesn't matter," he whisper-yelled. "You're clearly being affected by this!" 

"No I'm not." 

"Yes, you are," he said strongly. 

That's when I started to cry. 

"Aw, crap," he muttered. He rushed over to me and wrapped his arms around me uncomfortably. Xavier doesn't do this at all, comfort crying girls, much less me. "I didn't mean to make you cry." 

"She didn't even say she was sorry," I croaked. I sniffed, then buried my face into his chest. It was warm and well-muscled. "She's gone and she never even apologized." 

He sighed and relaxed against me. His hold tightened as he smoothed back my messy hair. "I know, Carmy, I know." 

Emelia walked in, bouncing and screaming with a dancing Nomi behind her. "They just announce the Halloween Carnival. Yes!" Xavier and I split apart quickly. "Wait, what were you guys just doing in here?" 

Good question. What were we just doing in here?