All night, Erica couldn't get her mind off of everything she had been told by the two boys....or the way things had wrapped up with Ryder last night.

He had seemed like he was in pain - not physical, but the kind that you couldn't see. She couldn't help but feel horrible for him, if what he told her was the truth.

Dawson, on the other hand, was a the part of Ryder's side that she couldn't believe. These past two weeks, the boy had seemed so innocent and kind that being told he was the murderer seemed very far off.

Still. She could not judge until she figured out who was telling the truth.

Arriving at school, today she had decided to try and keep a low profile. Thus she had resorted to wearing dark colours. Ripped black jeans, grey tank top and a pair of plain black boots.

For the first time since her first day at this school, she was feeling quite nervous. Though she thought it was ridiculous...what even was there to be nervous about?

Heading into the building, she avoided going down the usual route to her locker, since she didn't really want to face her friends today...Gen would only pester her to squeal everything and if there was one thing that Erica certainly wasn't, it was a squealer.

After having successfully made it to her locker without being noticed, she caught sight of a few mean looking girls whispering amongst themselves at the end of the row of lockers.

Gossipers, she thought with an eye roll and turned her attention back to getting all the necessary books for first period out of her locker and into her bag. Once she had finished at her locker, she headed off quickly to her first class. She didn't care if she was early.

In the halls, she took note that there seemed to be a lot of groups of students whispering to one another. It was odd, but this was a high school, so of course the latest gossip was bound to hit the shredder. She wondered who the poor victim was this time.

Brushing the thought aside, she entered the classroom and sat down in her usual seat, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

She was secretly dreading this first lesson though. Gen, Ryder and Dawson were all in this class along with her. It would be a surprise if nothing went down. She hadn't forgotten their Home Economics class, and everything that went down between then and lunchtime on Monday.

If there was one thing she knew about these days in particular, it was that Tuesday was just Monday's ugly sister. Often the drama at the beginning of the week was raw and fresh. Everyone was all over it and each day just added on to it until Friday. Because on the last day of school each week, everyone had calmed down, and was happy...or relaxed at least. By the end of the week, no one could be bothered with drama.

Within a few minutes, students began to fill the classroom. The first person arrive out of the three that she was keeping an eye out for, was Dawson. His goody two shoes act meant keeping up with his grades.

He came in, sat down in his seat and threw some very odd glances in her direction causing her to shift in her seat uncomfortably.

"You need something or...?" She questioned, unable to stop herself any longer.

"No." He said coldly.

Extremely odd. She couldn't help but feel out of place. Although Dawson was the only one she could see staring, she couldn't help but feel as though there were other eyes on her.

But why?

She hadn't done anything. Not that she was aware of anyway.

As she was trying to think, Gen came strutting into the classroom and took her seat behind Erica.

Her eyes followed the brunette and she turned her body around to face her friend. Despite not wanting to be noticed today, she had already picked up on the fact that something was going on and she wanted to know exactly what.

"Gen, what's going on?" She asked.

"Oh girl, big mistake. Whatever you have done...not cool. So if you could just turn around and pretend we don't know each other then that would be perfect, okay." Gen stated.

Confused, Erica turned back around to face the front. Those words were pretty hurtful and she couldn't figure out why everyone was being so cold to her.

She watched the door, waiting for the third expected person to walk through. It wasn't long until he did.

He looked as though something had angered him, but she had assumed that it was one of his natural looks. He stormed through the row of desks and plonked himself down heavily in his seat which was next to her.

Trying her luck for a third time, she turned to him.

"Hey." She greeted warmly.

The look he gave her in return was the coldest she had received yet. It made her want to run and hide.

"Okay, enough! What's with all the looks?" She questioned desperately.

But no one answered her. With a sigh, she turned around to face the front as the teacher walked in, ready to begin the lesson.

Throughout the whole lesson, she could feel the coldness of the eyes upon her and the more the hour progressed, the more uncomfortable she became. She was searching her brain for a logical explanation but came up blank.

She would catch one of the three of them after class. Then she would get a reason why.

After the lesson ended and the bell rang, she packed up quickly in order to catch one of them before they left. Unfortunately, before she even had the chance, they had all left.

Feeling confused and hurt, she made her way to the cafeteria. Little did she know that she was about to get the answers that she had been looking for.

Going into the cafeteria and getting her lunch, she went to sit in her usual space amongst the group of girls, however as soon as one of them saw her coming towards them, they placed their bag down in the empty seat.

Changing directions, she saw Dawson sat alone. Although the thought of being sat with him through the entire break was not a good one, she decided to take her chances.

Sitting down at the table wearily, she placed her lunch tray on top and put her bag down by her feet.

"Hey...can I ask you something?" She greeted.

Swallowing a mouthful of food, he looked up to speak to her.

"What is it?" He asked curiously.

She felt a tiny bit of relief that when he looked at her, he hadn't done so with the same coldness he had back in the classroom.

"What's going on today? Everyone is being super cold to me." She informed him.

"Ah that. Yes, uh...apparently someone overheard you and Gen talking in the bathroom and are spreading rumours that Ryder killed Monica. Unfortunately...half the school thing it was you who spread them." Dawson explained.

Erica's eyes widened in horror. That explained so many things. Gen's words to her, Ryder's ignorance. But surely they should know that she would never do anything like that.

It was rather upsetting to hear that she had gotten the blame. The only way to prove her innocence was to find the real culprit, and to clear Ryder's name.

Before she could say a word to Dawson, the school principal walked in along with two police officers by his side.

That was not a good sign. Her stomach dropped as all three pairs of eyes scanned the entire cafeteria before locking in one particular area.

Following their stare, she felt sick. The person that they were focused on was Ryder and the minute they located him, all three men marched up to him.

All students in the cafeteria fell silent as they began to notice the police presence. Not one person had their eyes anywhere other than on the scene that was about to unfold.

"Ryder Griffin. You're under arrest for the murder of Monica Keane." The officer that appeared to be in charge stated loud and clear.

Hearing those words, Erica could not catch her breath. She felt as though everything had just fallen apart.

"Please hold your hands behind your head. You have the right to remain silent, and anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law." The officer spoke professionally.

Surpringly without fuss, Ryder obeyed the demand and raised his hands up behind his head. As soon as he did, one of the officers cuffed his hands and brought them down to his lower back.

Erica watched in shock and horror along with the rest of the students as they led Ryder through the cafeteria and out to their cruiser. Suddenly her appetite became non-existent, and the food in front of her remained untouched.

Was it really true that Ryder had killed Monica?

She felt a burning desire to speak to the boy once more. No matter if he thought that she was the one to start the rumours or not.

"Wow! Guess nothing stays buried for long." Dawson commented.

"Yeah..." She agreed, still staring in the direction of the door.

The whole situation was beginning to feel surreal to her. Though for some odd reason, the one thing that hadn't happened was the creepy feeling that she had usually got around Dawson.