Chapter Twenty-Three
At Least You Have Each Other

3rd Person POV

val woke up as she looked around and noticed nothing but she felt the tape on her mouth and the gas mask on her face. she felt the rope around her neck and her hands tied behind herself

val looked up and saw the light flashing as she looked at elisia and rowan in fear. they wrangled around in their seats as they stared at zoe and she started to talk

" welcome to Camp Terrero. I spent my summers here. A bunch of us did. You guys didn't. If you had, you would've heard the rumors last summer. Some of them were true. One of the rumors, the one about me going all the way with David ropes in the crew shed, that was true too. I guess. I mean, I did go all the way with him but i wasn't okay with it" zoe said and then she stabbed the table as val gasped in fear

she almost felt bad for zoe, nobody deserves to be treated that way and nobody deserves for something like that to happen to them no matter how bad of a person they are

" after that, the rumors about me and what I would do to all the counselor spread. And once they started, you couldn't stop them. But at least I had my cousin. He defended me. He sat with me when no one else would. He even even told a couple of the other guys to go screw themselves when he heard them talking about me. They kick the shit out of him. He's the only one that would have done it for me" and she got up after she stabbed the table and looked at them.

she now stood in front of val and leaned down face to face as val turned her head away

" you see Dunbar, Dunbar had my back you know" she said and she knocked off rowans mask before kneeling in front of her

" Have you ever watched someone die from? Did you stick around while Dumbar bled out or did you run from the room? I watched my dad die and I I think I just watched hawk die. You know, it's a lot easier to stab someone than you think" she said and she got up before she removed elisias mask and then val's

elisia started to cry and val tried to calm her down but it didn't work so zoe walked over and pulled on the nooses ropes

" I will stop when you stop making noises. Oh? Good" she said and she dropped them back onto ground

" it was easy really all I had to do was text Hawk that I had Haley up here, and he came immediately. You know, hawks probably the only one who never actually had anything to do with it. He told me after Dunbar I need to get help. Help. He rejected me. Do you believe that?" zoe said and she dropped the gun a she walked away but then she came back with another chair and sat down next to them

" do you know I wish I wish I could've been there with Dunbar when he died. I mean, the truth is if I go on to the party that night, he'd still be here. So that's my personal hell Do you know what the last thing he said to me was? See you later. Those three little words will stay with me forever. See... You... Later" and she got up as she jumped up onto the table

" Well, well, well look at this. Two down, three to go. Nikki's dad, yeah. Haley's gone. And, you're next but at least you have each other. you really did make it so easy though. Your lifes, your secrets, they've always been right in our fingertips. Online. You idiots. But I can't take all the credit, you know? Lance was good when he was Lance but he was great when he was Mr. empty. There was nothing he can do. He saw the text from Bree about her friend stinger, hijacked the number, and answered the phone when you called,  rowan and that's why we don't use phones to communicate. you know it's crazy how stupid you are" zoe said and she got up as she grabbed the gun. val kept twisting her hands in the binds as she felt it start to loosen and she continued

" But I don't blame you. I mean, we trust our phones. We trust our computers. If it's on the news, it must be true, and if you say your name is Stinger , then you must be stinger! No. You're a idiot. And he really loved me. He loved me so much almost as much as you love each other but no matter how hard I made it for Lance to love me, he kept loving me anyway. Get this, Lance thought I would be happy he shot val. can you believe that?" she said and val's breathing stopped

she had spent so much time in pain and suffering, she spent so much time trying to find out who shot her and almost took her life, she spent so much in the very same room as her almost murderer and she never knew. not for one second did she assume that it was stinger , well no not stinger , lance, she didn't think it was lance but now sitting in front of her, zoe had said it and she heard it clearly

lance had shot her, lance almost killed her . val zoned back in when she heard zoe speak again

" Lance did that for Lance. You know, I think in truth, we mostly just do things for ourselves. And if I have to be honest with myself, I'd say all this is for me just as much as for Dunbar. Dunbar made a choice , he could've killed you Rowan. But he killed himself instead, that was his choice. Oh, Dunny" zoe said and she slammed down on the piano as val kept messing with her restraints

" so, tomorrow the police will get an anonymous tip about strange noises coming from camp terrerro . They will find three dead girls strung up by Dunbar rakes childhood friend, Hawk and they will find  hawk with a shotgun in his mouth and his brains all over the  back wall. Hawks apartment, they'll find a ton of evidence in Jake's gun, which singer put the right in front of you, elisia. Idiot. I'm going to enjoy watching you three die. Goodbye, rowan" she said and she pulled rowan up by the noose before there was a noise in the back

val watched as rowan got out of her restraints, she got up and she helped elisia and then val out. they ran out of the buislint ad they removed the tape and looked around

" We have to get out of here" rowan said

"where are we? where's the car?" elisia asked

"i don't know but we have to run" val said and they took off running into the woods. they hid behind  a cabin as they heard zoe pass and they got up

they ran into the woods and saw a dead deer hanging and they continued to walk

"i won't make that mistake again" zoe said and she cocked the gun as she pointed it at them

" I feel sorry for you. Because you don't know what it's like to have real friends or girlfriends. Do you have to hide behind a computer or behind a mask. Because of you, we thought we can trust anyone, but that's not true. We trust each other. We would die for each other. We're family.who would die for you? dunbar? hey, dunbar said He wanted to make us pay because we're bullies? But you... You became the king of all bullies" rowan said and they stepped closer to zoe

"rowan" elisia and val said together but rowan shook her head as they stared at zoe

" Is that what dunbar would have wanted ?" rowan asked

"haven't you learned anything? everyone's a bully" zoe retorted

" No. No that's not true. It's about intention. We never meant to hurt anyone. You can't stop us from trying to be better" rowan stated

"yes, i can" zoe said and she cocked the gun as

a bullet went off

-ABBYS NOTES-
GIRLFRIENDS WHO PROTECT EACH OTHER STAY TOGETHER