Page 132 of Rock Me

“It just all happened so fast. After… after he… got hit by the car, I lost control of it and hit the pole. When I came to, I checked and you were out. And there was nothing I could do, I promise, I checked! I couldn’t do anything to help you at that point. And I knew, I knew I’d be in so much trouble with the police, I had had too many drinks. But I didn’t think you had!” She looks past me, her eyes wild, not focusing, like she’s reliving it in her head. Reliving the horror. “So… so I swapped places with you. And when the paramedics came, I… I pretended I was just coming to.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I just stare at her, horrified. Praying that I’m dreaming.

“I didn’t know how much you’d had to drink, if I had known I wouldn’t have…”

“Wouldn’t have what? Framed me for the accident that almost killed me and Jez?” I scream and she flinches, the tears blurring her eyes. No, no. This is just another sick joke. They’re in on this together, she’s trying to help me get back with Jez. No one could do this. Let alone my best friend.

But I know. I know in my heart of hearts, it’s true. I knew that I was never the one driving that car.

“Oh my god, Paige. Is that why… is that why you paid for all my medical bills? Because you felt guilty?”

“No! I…”

“And… every time I asked you to help me with my memory exercises, you would come up with some excuse not to? You were scared I was going to remember…” The depth of the lies makes me shiver.

“Noémie… please. I made a mistake.” She grabs onto my arm, gripping tight, her eyes desperate.

“What else?” I ask, my eyes narrowing.

“What do you mean?”

“I know there’s more. What else?”

“Nothing!”

“You’re still lying to me? After all this? I know there’s more! Tell me everything!” I shout and I see the last of her resolve crumble. There’s no going back now.

“Chris,” she whispers, her head lowering.

“What?”

“Chris! You… were never dating. You guys never dated. I… I paid him to pretend he was your boyfriend.”

Stars dance in front of me. And I have to take a moment to breathe.

“I knew it. I knew I could never have been with him. For God’s sake, why? Why, Paige??” In some ways, this is the biggest betrayal of all of them. Using my own memory loss against me. Abusing my trust in her.

Jez’s voice cuts through. “Because you were getting too close to me. She couldn’t risk me jogging your memory of that night. So… she…” he can’t even finish, it’s so abhorrent. His face is hard, unreadable. I can’t even imagine what he’s thinking about all this. But I don’t have the strength to deal with him right now. I can barely hold it together with Paige.

I think back to the conversations with Chris at the hospital, and my stomach sinks.

“But…But he knew things about me, my birthmark…”

She grimaces, and I want to slap her.

“You told him. You told him all the right things to say. You took advantage of my vulnerability, knew that I was questioning everything, everyone! You make me sick!”

“Noémie, please. I did it for the both of us! If I got in trouble, my Dad would have cut me off! He can’t take anything negative to do with our reputation.”

I shiver again. The blood in my veins running cold. “Did he know? Did your father know?”

She squeezes her eyes shut and then answers. “Yes. I told him. And he said if I ever told anyone, I’d be out on the street.”

A wave of nausea comes over me and I bend over, dry retching. My body trying to purge all this information.

“Noémie!” She tries to grab me, but Jez pushes away.

I hear Paige argue, “Get out of my way, she’s my friend.”