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That was the gameplan.
But when the casket was brought in, I wanted so badly to see inside it. I needed to see Brett’s face. Dr. Devy had hold me that it was a closed casket because there was so much damage in the accident, but I knew that wasn’t true.
His face was the last thing I had seen before I passed out in the car. He was fine. He wasn’t cut. He wasn’t bleeding.
He wasn’t dead.
“You’re doing great, Rose.” Kaleb was on my other side and he kept slipping his arm around my waist to help me to my feet when we needed to stand. Music swept over me and I tried to follow along in the bulletin, but my eyes kept glazing over and tears kept ruining my vision.
Everything was swimming. The entire senior class had turned out for the funeral, which was held on the quad. Mr. Taylor was up front sitting next to Brett’s parents. Apparently, Taylor Prep had a chaplain. He was someone I’d never seen before, but he commanded the crowd, droning on and on about how amazing Brett was.
They didn’t know the half of it.
Amelia got up to speak. Jackie had warned me beforehand that she might, but seeing her look teary-eyed over the microphone at the crowd was a punch to the gut. I’d asked Jackie and Kaleb why they hadn’t been asked to speak, but neither one of them had an answer.
We all knew that there was no way I’d be asked.
Not when a lot of people blamed me for his death.
Not when most everyone at Taylor Prep still wanted me out of the school.
Finally, when it was over, I slowly made my way back across the quad to my room. Jackie was on one side of me and Kaleb on the other one supporting me. I had to focus on each step. Each time I put one foot down, I had to remember to pick the other up and move it.
It was slow going.
Suddenly, though, the boys stopped. “Rosita,” Jackie breathed, causing my head to jerk up.
Mrs. Cox was standing by herself under a tree off to the side of the quad. Everyone else was around the casket, or talking to the chaplain. Nobody seemed to notice her. In fact, even her husband wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
I didn’t have time to think about what I was going to do. Before I knew what was happening, I broke away from the boys, cutting straight across the grass to her. She had her back to me, but I could easily tell that it was her.
“Mrs. Cox!” I tried to yell, but my voice came out strangled. What in the world was she doing here? Was it okay for me to go up to her or would she even want to talk to me? I was walking faster than I had since the accident, but I was still slow enough that Jackie or Kaleb could easily catch up with me if they want.
“Mrs. Cox!” Again, I tried. Now I was closer, and she must have heard me, because she turned around. She had on oversized sunglasses that hid her eyes, but her neck and her cheeks were splotchy like she hadn’t stopped crying in days. She probably hadn’t, now that I thought about it. The last time she saw her son, she basically kicked him off of the property.
“Rose?” Her voice was as quiet as mine. Heedless of whether or not anyone was watching, I ran up to her as best I could. My hip had a hitch in it and there was a throbbing pain when I walked, but that fell away. I had to talk to her.
“Brett. He’s okay,” I panted, bending over and grabbing my thighs while I tried to catch my breath. “I am so, so sorry. Mrs. Cox, I have no idea what happened. There was a car behind us and then it ran us off the road. I swear that he was fine, but everyone is telling me I’m wrong and that we were hit from the side, but I swear we weren’t.”
She stared at me, and even though she had on glasses, I could feel her icy stare. “Are you telling me that the police lied to me about the accident?”
“Yes!” Thank God, someone was finally listening and didn’t think I was crazy. I knew what had happened and I had no idea why the official report was something different, but I needed her and everyone else to know the truth. “Someone’s lying, but I don’t know why. And he was alive, I promise you. He was there, and he was breathing.”
“You whore.”
What? I sucked in a breath and stared at her. “I’m sorry, what did you—?”
“You heard me.” She was only a few feet away, and she closed the gap between us quickly, jabbing her finger into my chest. I took a step back, breathing hard. “You whore. You did this to him. All you had to do was leave the school and he would still be fine, but you wouldn’t, would you? You’re just like that slut of mother of yours.”
“I’m what?” I couldn’t be hearing her correctly, right? There was no why that she could be blaming me for this, right? “I was just trying to tell you—things didn’t happen the way you think. I promise you, he’s alive!”
“Shut up. Shut your fucking mouth. You should have never come here, and then when you were told to leave, you should have! You’re the reason that my son is gone, do you understand that? How can you live with that?” Her voice broke and tears streamed down her face.
“I didn’t…I didn’t do anything wrong.” Even as I tried to convince her, I knew that my voice sounded whiney. I knew that I didn’t sound like I believed myself.
“You are wrong. You’re a cancer at this school, Rose Bennett, and you need to leave before you get anyone else killed.”
“Anyone else?” I suddenly became hyper aware that Jackie and Kaleb were right behind me. “I don’t understand, Mrs. Cox, I just thought—”
