The Truth

“I can’t fucking believe that Brandon has been camping out in the woods this whole time,” Ashley growled as she looked out the window of the moving car, watching but not really looking at the small town of Azure Rock rescind into nature. She was too shocked and angry and astonished at her own ignorance at Brandon, at Hannah, at all the new information that had flooded her brain in such a short space of time to really see what was in front of her. Luckily it was not she, but Heather who was driving once again, so she was free to sit in the passenger seat and seethe and brood as much as she liked. With no provocation, she continued, abruptly, “And with Madison,”

“Heh, yeah…” Heather laughed, anxiously aware that she hadn’t told Ashley the whole story. What the little blonde cheerleader didn’t know was that Brandon and Madison weren’t just camping together but, ever since he stormed out of the cabin, Brandon had actually been fucking his own twin sister. Heather wasn’t quite sure how to tell Ashley that their break-up had been so bad it had driven Brandon to ****, to cross that taboo line with the one woman he believed could never hurt him like Ashley had.

In fact, Heather had contemplated not telling Ashley at all. She was confident that his ex-girlfriend was the last person Brandon wanted to know that he was camping out in a clearing in the woods nearby. However, when she weighed the cost of not telling Ashley against Brandon’s feelings and the need to find a way to gain some kind of leverage on Hannah, she felt that she had **** but to inform Ashley that Brandon might still be able to help. And Heather was confident that the football player would help. Despite his current hatred of Ashley, he’d do it because proving Lisa’s innocence mattered more than his issues with the blonde cheerleader currently occupying the passenger seat.

“And Zack knew!” Ashley’s voice rose suddenly from the silence again. She clenched her fists and shook them, the petite blonde appearing almost comical in her anger. But her fury was very real. She wasn’t even sure why she was so angry. So, he’d stuck around in the park. What did it matter to her, when she’d so clearly moved on? Yet, she had felt guilty over his leaving, that she’d ruined his Spring Break, and then it turned out he hadn’t left at all. Of course, it wasn’t a major dupe, but the foolishness she felt at believing Hannah to be innocent intensified all of her other emotions, making Brandon’s lies feel all the worse. “How could he not tell me?”

Ah yes, that nugget. Heather had accidentally let that one slip when she explained that she, Lisa, Kurt and Zack had met the Cole siblings while searching for Victoria two nights ago. She hadn’t thought anything of it while she was saying it, simply trying to paint an accurate picture of how they’d discovered Brandon and his sister. Unfortunately, she hadn’t thought anything of Ashley finding out that Zack knew her ex-boyfriend was hanging out nearby. Internally she apologised to the boy who might be her half-brother. She could only hope that this didn’t do too much damage to his and Ashley’s relationship. Though she imagined that they’d be fine. Once Ashley calmed down a little, it wouldn’t seem so terrible.

“Um, guys…” It was Chloe now who was breaking the silence, the red-head having been quiet since they left the café. She’d sat in the backseat so silently Heather had almost forgotten she was there. Heather looked at her through the rear-view mirror, seeing her wet her lips anxiously. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Do what?” Ashley barked, a little too aggressively.

“This. Setting up Hannah. It feels…deceitful. And I don’t mean because we’re being underhanded or trying to record her without her knowledge…I think you guys are doing the right thing, I just don’t think I can be involved,” Chloe replied, speaking a little louder but simply struggling to find the right words. Normally, Ashley’s anger might have made her shrink back, defeated, but Hannah’s influence had given her the confidence to stand her ground. But just deciding what she needed to do, and being assured of herself enough to act upon it, wasn’t enough to make the right words flow from her tongue, such were the complexity and delicacy of her feelings. “It just seems two-faced to sleep with the girl one night and then turn her over to the police the next…I feel dirty just thinking about it. I just…I just don’t think I can have any part in this.”

“That’s alright, Chloe. It’s perfectly understandable to feel that way,” Heather intervened before Ashley could react. Though the act was more selfish than simply trying to protect Chloe’s feelings. She didn’t want Ashley convincing Chloe to stick with them because, sooner or later, Heather was going to have to prepare them for the fact that Brandon and Madison might be naked, or even mid-fuck, in that clearing. And this certainly seemed like more of a need to know basis kind of thing. Or at least, if it were Heather’s relationship with her father, she wouldn’t want a single soul to know unless it was absolutely necessary. She could imagine that Brandon felt the same way.

“Yeah, we can deal without you,” Ashley grumbled, more irritated that Chloe even had the option of walking away. Now Hannah was involved, Ashley couldn’t step back. She had to see it through.

“Thanks, you guys,” Chloe replied with a sad, sombre kind of brightness, thankful that there was no pressure on her to stay, but still feeling guilty that she was leaving them at all. “I really hope Brandon agrees to help.”

“He will,” Heather said confidently, glancing at the red-head in the mirror and then back to the road. “Even if he’s still angry with Ashley, I trust that he’ll want to do the right thing and help.”

“I’m still doubtful,” Ashley remarked, having expressed the same sentiment earlier between the café and the car. “Brandon was really angry when he stormed out, and it’s only been a few days. He’s so upset that he’d rather camp outside than have to look at me. That doesn’t sound like someone who’ll be cooperative.”

The dark-haired cheer captain had to bite down on her tongue to keep from correcting Ashley, that Brandon wasn’t just hanging out in the woods to avoid her, but to continue his **** fuelled, sex laden escapades away from the judgement of the civilised world. Instead, she **** herself to laugh and said, “There are bigger issues at stake here than just whether Brandon is still holding a grudge against you. I mean, come on, Ash, you know him better than anyone. Can you honestly say that if Lisa is falsely accused and there’s something he can do about it that he’s going to let her take the fall just to snub you? Just for one last ‘fuck you’?”

“No, I know he’ll do it. He’s a good guy, and I can’t even blame him really for letting his temper flare when faced with what Zack and I did to him,” Ashley admitted with a sigh.

“And me,” Chloe interjected bitterly from the backseat, looking coolly at the blonde with her arms folded tightly across her chest.

“Yes, what we did to him and you,” Ashley conceded, continuing. “But we were able to put it aside to deal with the problem and I know he will too. I’m just not looking forward to spending the rest of the day with a guy who hates my guts.”

“Well, you’ll know soon enough,” Heather noted, feeling the dread building in her stomach, as she knew she’d have to tell the blonde cheerleader the whole truth very soon. “We’re nearly back at the cabin.”

The rest of the drive was fairly silent, punctuated only with random and abrupt outbursts of frustration and anger by Ashley, usually directed towards Brandon, almost like she was trying to avoid thinking of the person that she was really angry with. Heather mostly just hummed some sort of vague agreement, preferring to focus on the road ahead, figuratively and literally. In the back seat, Chloe returned to her previous state of quiet contemplation.

In what seemed like no time at all, the car tires crunched against the gravel as Heather’s vehicle rolled to a stop in the yard by the cabin, lining up neatly beside Zack’s sedan. The trio hopped out of their seats, Ashley and Heather walking towards the forest trail, while Chloe paused at the foot of the steps to the cabin proper.

“Good luck,” Chloe called after them.

“Thanks,” Heather stopped and looked around at the hot bodied, sizzling red-head. “Hopefully the next time we see each other, this will all be over.”

“Hey, Chloe. I know I have no right to ask but I’m still a little annoyed at Zack,” Ashley requested while fidgeting with her hem, a mournful kind of grimace painted on her face. “Could you tell the others what happened? I mean about my sister, and, um, the plan. I know it is kind of a big ask, but Zack will want to know, and he won’t be able to wait.”

“Sure, yeah, of course,” Chloe replied quickly, eager to be able to help out even while, as she felt it, abandoning them. “It’s the least I can do.”

“It’s exactly what we need you to do, and it’s important in its own way,” Heather insisted encouragingly. “You’re entitled to feel how you feel and deal with your own issues in your own way. If you need to step back from this, then that’s what you should do, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it.”

Chloe erupted into a sprint, launching herself at the other two girls, surprising them both with a tight, powerful hug, a girl to each shoulder. Ashley and Heather both laughed, their alarm fading into comfort as they brought their arms around the red-head’s back, embracing her just a firmly as she held them. They remained like that for a moment, until Chloe finally released them, pulling back with tears streaking her face.

“I’m so sorry it had to be like this,” Chloe said, sniffing back the urge to cry. “I almost wish it was Daniel Ravers now.”

“Don’t worry,” Heather assured her again, one hand still resting on her shoulder. “It’ll all be over soon.”

“I guess this means you won’t be my new sister-in-law any time soon,” Ashley teased with a dramatically sad exhale and pout. “Pity, I was just coming around to the idea.”

“Shit, could you imagine, you with Zack and me with Hannah?” Chloe chuckled, though she noticed Ashley bristle at her sister’s name. “Where three-fourths have seen the other three-fourths naked?”

“If you two are done lamenting your weird, awkward future,” Heather cut in, though her jovial tone showed that she was enjoying their banter too. “We should get going.”

“Right,” Chloe agreed, pulling them in for one more tight, three-way hug.

Parting and waving, the girls went their separate ways. Heather and Ashley disappeared between the shade of the trees and foliage, out of sight, while Chloe ascended the stairs to the cabin, mentally preparing herself with each step.