Page 27 of They Never Tell


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For now, though, they were on the backburner. His focus was on the semen. That was it, that was the key. All he had to do was figure out who at that party had sex with Nyleah that night.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Itwasthefirsttime they had all been alone together in the same room, at the same time, since the party, and nobody seemed to know where to start. Bria picked at her bandage while she waited, and then she remembered she was the one who called the meeting. Still, she said nothing. Everyone else was chattering or joking around, but she felt afraid, like she was back in that room with Nyleah’s hanging body.

“Alright, y’all,” Mike said. “We need to hurry this up. Some of us got somewhere to be.”

“We all got somewhere to be, bruh,” Bakari said. Bria detected irritation in his voice and wondered what was wrong. He had come in the door with an attitude. The only person he’d had a kind word for was Danielle, who had been just as pleasant to him in return. Bria didn’t remember them being so familiar with each other.

“Bria, you’re the one who called the meeting. What’s going on?” Mike asked. He perched his lanky body precariously on a barstool at the kitchen counter, waiting for Danielle to finish putting the tray of snacks together. So far, the only thing that looked edible was the cheese and crackers.

“You want some help?” Bria asked Danielle. Her friend loved rabbit food, as Bria’s mom called it, and didn’t seem to realize that other people had different tastes. Danielle was a vegetarian now, or vegan, or something with a “v” in it. Bria couldn’t keep up with her friend’s ever-changing lifestyle choices. Half the time, Danielle seemed to be trying on personalities like a pair of pants just to see if one would fit.

Danielle shook her head. “No, I think I’m good. Let’s go in the living room.”

The group made their way into the living room and settled onto the brown leather couches. Danielle set the tray down on the coffee table before taking her seat next to Bakari. She tried to hide a smile when his hand brushed her bare thigh, but Bria caught it. Her eyes narrowed, but there wasn’t time to worry about it.

“Okay,” Bria began, “let’s talk. And y’all, make sure that anything we say here stays in this room.”

“Alright, I got a question to start this whole thing off,” Mike said as he munched on an apple slice. “Which one of y’all did it?”

They all looked around, but no one said a word. Bria was taken aback by the bluntness of his question. She shouldn’t have been. That’s just who he was. “That’s not funny,” she said.

“Nobody else was gonna ask it, so I’m asking it now,” Mike said. “Be real.”

Bria shook her head. “None of us would do that. I’ve thought about it a lot, and…I just don’t believe any of us would.”

Mike shrugged. “Well if it’s not one of us, who was it?”

“What about somebody outside the Twelve?” Avianna asked.

Bria had given that some thought. There were other kids there, all Stockton students, but none that had any beef with Nyleah. In fact, Nyleah was more well-likedoutsidethe Twelve.

Mike shook his head and took another bite of apple. “None of them knew her like that. Just like my boy Demetrius didn’t know her like that.”

Bakari, whose thigh was now resting against Danielle’s thigh, frowned at Mike. “What made you bring him up?”

“I’ll get to that later,” Mike answered.

Bria had never been especially close to Mike, mostly because she didn’t understand him. He was funny in an annoying way; his jokes were always at someone else’s expense. Most people were able to laugh that off, but Bria was sensitive. She did respect his intelligence, though, and right now, she wondered what he was thinking.

Bakari glared at Mike. “So what’s your point, bruh?”

“My point is everybody in this room had something against Nyleah at some point.”

“I didn’t,” Danielle said softly. They all turned to look at her. “I was her best friend since sixth grade. She was like a sister to me. We never argued once.”

What about that time you cussed her out because you liked Kenyatta Smith and Nyleah turned around and gave him her phone number anyway?Bria thought, but she let it slide. Danielle either forgot about that, or conveniently omitted it from the narrative. Either way, Danielle was full of shit, and nobody else could see it. That was annoying.

“Okay,” Mike said. “Maybe Danielle never had any issues with her, but everybody else in this room did. Jace been trying to get at her for years, and she wasn’t interested. We all know about the dance captain thing with her and Bria. I think everybody knows about her and Avianna and Chris. And me and her got into once. Plus—”

“Hold up,” Bakari said. “What happened with y’all?”

“It was a while ago, and it doesn’t matter.”

“Wait. Why does it matter for us but not for you?” Bria said.

Mike was silent for a moment. “It’s private. Just like the thing with her and Bakari.”

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