ADORA - PRESENT DAY

The police either don't care about the poster emerging in front of Widener Library or they're too old to use TikTok. Either way, the poster doesn't seem to have any serious consequences for now, if you exclude my reputation, which is going down the drain.

Katie sits two seats away from me and looks uncomfortable whenever someone enters the Oleana restaurant in Cambridge. It's no one we know, we're far enough from Harvard, but she's doing it to prove a point. I'm not good enough to be in her company anymore.

It's a good I never liked being in her company in the first place.

We're in the garden covered by a green roof. Sunshine casts its rays on the leaves, colouring everything light green. It's an Eastern Mediterranean restaurant. The interior is warm and inviting, the garden is small and secluded. No one can see us here.

Mark sits on the opposite side of me. Katie is closer to him than she is to me. Melissa, a tall redhead with way less makeup than Katie, sits glued to her boyfriend Jimmy, a smug jock who eats steroids for lunch and looks the part.

I don't even know why I'm here, aside from the delicious lamb moussaka I've just devoured.

"So," Jimmy pours himself another glass of Sauvignon Blanc, "I heard Graham's funeral is postponed. They have to examine the body."

"Eww, Jimmy, not during lunch!" Melissa lets out a fake, inappropriate laugh, her small nose wrinkles and she washes her disgust down with some fine white.

"What? It's not like I said what they're gonna do to him!" Jimmy shouts.

They're my least favourite people on campus. Melissa is an empty-headed bimbo and Jimmy is way too loud. But they're Mark's friends. My opinion doesn't matter.

"Poor guy." Katie whines and pouts. "He must have been going through so much."

"I don't think he did it to himself, you know?" Jimmy chugs the wine. He tends to forget he's not in a bar from time to time.

"Me neither." Mark murmurs. "It's, like, we would have noticed something was wrong."

He looks at his plate as he speaks. Things are tense between us. But Mark doesn't really like solving problems, he's better at avoiding them.

So, he hasn't talked to me since someone put up that damn poster.

"What do you think, Adora?"

"Hmm?" I glance up.

"About Graham." Katie squints. "Our friend who's been murdered."

"We don't know that, Katie." Mark says.

"Well, we don't know that he killed himself either." Jimmy takes Melissa's plate and eats her leftovers.

I sip my wine, "I think we can never know what goes on in someone's head."

"So, you think he did kill himself?" Katie pushes me.

She hates me. It doesn't bother me much, since she's irrelevant to my existence and I'm not particularly fond of her either, but I could never understand why. Is she jealous? Is she into Mark?

"I think there are competent people out there who will determine what happened that night." The wine slides down my throat; slightly too acidic, but it might have been my words that added the flavour. "If he killed himself, the only person who knows for real what happened is Graham and he can't tell us anymore. Our theories are unnecessary."

"He wouldn't do it, man." Jimmy shakes his head and calls for the waiter. "He didn't even believe in depression."

"What if someone killed him and made it look like a suicide?" Melissa's eyes widen.

I swear to God, I have no idea how some of these people got into Harvard. Higher education is a scam.

"Man, why would someone kill Graham?" Jimmy keeps looking for the waiter. "Everyone loved him!"

I laugh through my nostrils, "Seriously?"

Everyone looks at me, even Mark.

Fuck.

"What's that supposed to mean, Adora?" Mark asks, his eyes are cold, colder than I've ever seen.

Defences kick in, "Are we seriously going to pretend everyone loved Graham? I know he's dead and you shouldn't hate on the dead, but he could be a real prick. And I know for a fact he pissed off a lot of people."

Katie scoffs, "How dare you? He's dead, Adora! His body isn't even cold yet!"

I cross my hands on my chest, "So? The bunch of you decided to theorize what happened to him, don't back away now. We're theorizing!"

"Adora, now is not the time." Mark shakes his head.

My lips spread, "To do what? To be a bitch?"

"Well, yeah."

"How am I a bitch if I say Graham wasn't the most lovable dude out there?" Maybe I should stop talking. "Even you agree it's likelier someone offed him."

"Jesus Christ." Mark grabs the edge of the table. "You should just stop talking."

And that's it. My tolerance is gone and my temper soars through the roof.

"And maybe you should tell me what the fuck is up with you." I squeeze through my teeth. "Are you mad because of the poster? Do you think I did it? Is that it?"

Mark holds my gaze, but says nothing.

"Hey, now, that poster was a joke." Jimmy intervenes and for once, I don't hate his entire existence. "No one took is seriously. Hell, someone either wrote it to stir things up or they did it and are trying to blame someone else."

I'm still staring at Mark, trying to decipher what's going on in his head. But his eyes offer nothing except anger. I know it's not just Graham. There's more. And for a moment, a wave of fear floods my senses.

Does he know about Eric?

"I don't think the poster was a joke." Katie's words swipe all thoughts from my head.

"Excuse me?" My eyes leave Mark's and land on the fake skank. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you know?" Melissa leans towards her friend.

Katie shrugs, "It's probably nothing, but... I think I know who the nerd might be."

Alarms set off in my head.

"Tell us." Melissa's hand drops on Katie's arm.

Mark turns to her. Jimmy forgets about the waiter.

Katie rolls the words on her tongue for a few seconds, "Do you remember that girl that came to the Druid with Graham and that friend of his a couple of weeks ago?" She's looking at Mark now.

The funny thing is that the only thing I clearly remember from that night is making out with Eric Slade against the bathroom wall. Everything else is a blur.

Mark nods, "Who is she?"

"Her name is Elaine Jenkin." Katie says. "Graham told me she was obsessed with him. She stalked him and everything. He didn't want her, but she kept pushing. I guess his rejection made her go crazy or something."

The bubble of anger grows inside me and I have to bite my tongue to keep myself from talking.

"Seriously?" Mark frowns. "I thought she came with Josh Wright that night"

Jimmy laughs, "Josh's a total loser. I doubt he could get any girl to sleep with him now that he's lost all his money."

"That was just a cover." Katie shakes her head. "She was always interested in Graham. I'm telling you, she was obsessed with him. Graham said she threatened to kill herself or some shit. His rejection hurt her a lot."

"When has Graham ever rejected an easy fuck?" A small, vicious smile emerges on my lips.

Katie turns red, "He rejected girls!"

I shrug, "Only after he's fucked them."

She slept with him. It's so obvious it's almost painful. Plus, I heard them screwing in Mark's guest room after some party.

"Do you really think this girl could have killed him?" Mark ignores me.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, man." Jimmy pours himself another glass and tries to catch the waiter's attention again.

"Oh, come on!" My voice doesn't come out right, I sound like a choking chicken. "Have you met Elaine Jenkin? She's too damn anxious to kill someone. She'd probably turn herself in."

Eyes settle on me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"That's a good point, though." Jimmy says. "Maybe she wrote that poster herself. You know, like murderers leave clues because they kinda wanna get caught?"

"There's no way she's done it." I shake my head.

"You shouldn't defend her, Adora." Katie notes.

My eyes shoot up, "And you shouldn't be allowed to vote, but life is full of little disappointments."

Katie gasps. Jimmy chuckles. Melissa pouts and shakes her head.

Mark pinches the bridge of his nose, "Katie is right. You shouldn't defend her or hang out with her. If she really had something to do with it, you'd be dragging yourself down with her."

"And by accusing Elaine based on a poster, you sound like you believe the other part, too." I say. "I had nothing to do with it and I'm the only one TikTok is raging over."

Mark takes his hand in mine, "It's probably about Elaine and someone else. Maybe everyone jumped too quickly when they accused you of being the bitch."

"It might have something to do with you telling people they shouldn't be allowed to vote." Katie raises her eyebrow.

"Seriously, though." I take in a sharp breath. "I didn't do it. You guys know that, right?"

"Of course." Jimmy lets out a laugh. "You've never even talked to Graham."

"Adora," Mark rubs the back of my hand with his thumb. "We know you didn't do it. You know how rumours work, but no one seriously thinks you're behind this."

Katie offers a smile and it's almost entirely free of malice, "We know you didn't have a motive."

I let out the breath, "Thank you. This thing is screwing with my head."

They're right. I didn't have a motive.

It's not like Graham knew something about me. It's not like he knew about me and Eric.

That would make this situation a bit awkward, right?