Page 151 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

Beside me Jackson straightened.

“You all know Harper James,” Naomi began, voice sweet and sharp. “The transfer student who cost us State today. I figured everyone should know exactly who she really is.”

The man standing beside her was staring straight at me. Blonde. Familiar. It took a second, then it clicked.

Chad fucking Bowman.

I hadn’t thought about him in years.

Jackson leaned down, voice low and lethal near my ear.

“Who the hell is he?”

"Some douche from my old high school," I said under my breath. I pulled out my phone and started typing.

Naomi continued, savoring every word. “Harper transferred here after some serious issues at her last school. Violent ones. The kind of things most people don’t come back from.”

“That’s enough,” Jackson said.

She ignored him and kept going. “There was a girl there. Harper put her in the hospital. Nearly killed her. And somehow she still got to walk away and start over like nothing happened.”

I raised an eyebrow and kept typing.

“And that wasn’t even the first time,” Naomi continued. “When she was sixteen she stabbed a guy in homeroom. Right through the thigh. Her first victim is actually here tonight. Chad?”

Chad swaggered forward, holding up a folded set of papers like evidence. “Yeah. That was me. Crazy bitch jammed a pen straight into my leg. I’ve still got the scar. The school wanted her evaluated for being a goddamn psychopath. No remorse. Nothing. She’s dangerous.”

Someone near the back laughed uncertainly. Most of the room didn’t.

Chad pressed harder, voice rising as he played to the crowd. “People always covered for her. Teachers. Administrators. Everybody. She hurts people and somehow she’s still the fucking victim. Looking at her now, nothing’s changed.”

The room had gone silent.

“Figured people should know exactly who they’re dealing with,” Naomi added, still looking pleased with herself.

Jackson stepped forward, fury radiating off him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Naomi laughed. “Why? Can’t handle the truth about your little girlfriend?”

I caught Jackson’s forearm before he could take another step.

His attention snapped to me at once.

“Harper—”

“Let them finish,” I said, voice flat. “I want to hear every fucking word.”

Chapter 42: What She Didn't Say

Lia pushed through the crowd. “I don’t believe it. Harper’s not some violent lunatic. Whatever this guy is selling, it’s a lie.”

The silence that followed stretched thick and heavy. Half the room already had their phones out, recording.

I looked at Chad, then at the room, and said flatly, “No. He’s right. I stabbed him.”

From the corner of my eye I saw Lia’s head snap toward me.

Chad smirked. “See? She admits it.”