Chapter 14: Double Vision

"Ash!" I heard someone call after me. I was half way to Ashley's car at the end of the school day when I turned around. Emma Keifer was running after me. Ashley's second best friend.
"Hey." I said and smiled. I felt my throat tighten up at the sound of hearing "Ash" being referred to me. I'd have to get used to that.
"Do you want to hang out tomorrow after school?" She asked with a smile on her face. She was acting kind of weird. The smile almost looked fake.
"Yeah, of course!" I smiled back as real as I could.
"Cool. We can go out and get some of your favorite Iced Cappuccino." She said and put her hand on her shorts awkwardly.
"Yeah, of course." I said less enthusiastically. What flavored Cappuccino was that again?
"Alright, see you tomorrow!" She blew a kiss and skipped away.
I got into Ashley's car and started driving. I couldn't help but wonder how this meeting would go. What if I said something wrong? What if she asked me about how if I knew 'Cassandra' was doing and I said something dumb like "I'm fine."? That would totally blow my cover. I'd be behind bars in no time.
I shut my eyes as long as the stoplight would allow me. This wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.
Could it get any more complicated?


I walked quietly into Ashley's room. My mom was sleeping. She was probably tired from being worried about 'Cassandra'.
She probably wasn't worried about me. She was probably relieved to have me gone. If it were up to her, she'd probably be partying about losing me. She did buy a cake, after all.
I plopped down on my dead sister's bed and looked around the room. Everything was cleaned up and back in order. My mom re-organized the room neatly.
My eye caught something in the mirror. It was under the bed. I stood up and looked under the huge bed. It was a diary.
"My diary" was scribbled on the cover in what looked like Ashley's 7th grade handwriting. I couldn't help myself from looking in it. Maybe it had information about that day I was pushed in the lake.
I opened the diary, hands shaking. Was I nervous to find out who was following me? Or would I be relieved in the end? It probably wouldn't even have any information about the time in 7th grade. But I still let my eyes scan over the little words on the page.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited." Typical diary entry for Ashley. "I'm going to New York with a couple of my friends! I like, can't wait. I'm asking Cassandra to go just so I can trick her into thinking I love her." I swallowed back the tears, but continued reading. "Devilish plan, huh? No one likes her, so why not humiliate her? I don't like her either. I don't even love her. What could go wrong? She'll kill me?" One tear fell from my cheek and soaked into the old piece of notebook paper. But still, I continued. "Just kidding. She would never kill me. I swear, I'm like her idol. She wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone her own blood. Emma, Annie, Isabelle, and Emma are so excited to go. They know about my plan. And they're in on it. They're going to pretend that they like her, but they really don't. I'm practically laughing my head off writing this. This plan is going to be great."
I remembered that night at the lake in New York. We were sitting by the lake when I was talking to Emma.
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"Look at the way Ashley walks." I said, watching my sister waddle away. This was before I was pushed in. Ashley walked off to go get another Iced Cappuccino. "She waddles like a duck." I turned my head to look at Emma throw her head back and laugh.
"She does waddle like a duck, now that I think of it." She said and laughed even more. "Nice one, Cass. I might even grow to like you." She held her hand out for me to high-five, and I did exactly what she meant by it. She laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world when she saw Ashley coming back.
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My mind connected the two memories.
Emma's laugh was the same laugh I'd heard in the bathroom today.