why would you even bother telling someone your secrets before killing them

[self_composed]

By the end of Bio, the halls are full of people eager to inform Bella and everyone else within earshot that her friend is a murderer. They have entirely the wrong attitude to have formed the impression because he just now murdered someone, and also her father hasn't come looking for her yet, so this is probably nonsense.

Bella goes to gym.

Comments

[self_composed]

Bella swallows. She doesn't say anything.

[edgeofyourseat]

Next: Alice's lower back, his shirt and jeans both visible, the latter half falling off and bearing a slash across his hip that goes right through into the flesh underneath. A few lines of background suggest he is pressed against a flat surface.

Last: Alice's hands, flattened against asphalt, decorated with drips of what is presumably blood.

This sequence has taken him to the bottom of the original page, all the way down the other side, and halfway down the next one. He draws a sharp slashing line across this page, under the final image, and hands Bella her book back.

[self_composed]

Bella "reads" through it again.

"Someone hurt you," she says. "And you didn't want him to."

She flips back a page, forward again. "When was this?" she murmurs.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Back in New York," he says. "Remember when I said 'got caught hooking' was making a really long story really short? Yeah." He gestures to the notebook. "There's the rest."

[self_composed]

Bella's holding the notebook kind of tightly. "You sure you want this drawn? I told you people've stolen my notebooks, before."

[edgeofyourseat]

He shrugs. "Rip it out and burn it if you want. Or do whatever with it."

[self_composed]

"I don't have a scanner. So I can't really put it in the computer." She's still looking at the drawings. "What got you thinking about this just now?"

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice takes a deep breath, slowly.

Looks out the window.

Says, very quietly: "I get off on getting hurt."

[self_composed]

The spiral binding on the notebook is starting to dig into Bella's hand.

"I didn't mean - this isn't what I was talking about. This isn't pushing Dave into a locker."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yeah, well. Apparently up here," he taps the side of his forehead, "if pushing Dave into a locker was a sex thing, then so was—that. Which explains why I got all weird about it."

[self_composed]

"That's not what I meant," Bella repeats.

[edgeofyourseat]

He shrugs.

"Okay. So what'd you mean?"

[self_composed]

"This creep," she points at the faceless image, "attacked you on his own, right? Dave, you pushed and you knew what was going to happen or you wouldn't have bothered pushing him."

[edgeofyourseat]

"And that's the difference? Whether or not I started it?"

[self_composed]

"Yeah. Pretty much." She pauses. "Also, since I seem to be getting misinterpreted today - I'm not defending Dave, let alone this asshole. Dave took a push and turned it into a beatdown. That's not okay either - it's worse, it's unapologetic violent escalation, not just needling somebody in a vaguely sketchy manner, and there is a definite hierarchy between those things and the first one is worse. I'm just not friends with Dave and since he doesn't care what I think there wouldn't be a point in talking to him about it."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...Thanks," he says, grinning wryly. "I guess."

[self_composed]

Bella looks at the drawings again, and closes the notebook. "I'll type up this notebook's stuff worth saving today and start a new one tomorrow," she says. "Charlie doesn't pry. It's pretty secure to leave it at home without actually shredding the pages or setting them on fire. You're a decent artist."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Okay," says Alice.

He glances out the window again.

"...And there's my ride."

[self_composed]

"See you tomorrow," Bella says. "I'll bring you your own notebook."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yep. Thanks," he says, and hops out of the car to go meet Theo.