Masquerade of Lies by Wendy Hinbest Read Free Book Online

woman wearing a grey skirt suit and holding a microphone was covering the story in front of Brooke’s house.
    “This is Lucia Alvarez, reporting at the scene where Brooke Tillier was found dead in her home. Her body was discovered yesterday evening when she was visited by a classmate. The victim was found dead in her tub, and her wrists were cut. The police consider this a homicide and are investigating. Grief counselors will be at Willowdale High as staff and students mourn. Brooke was a senior. She was only eighteen years old. This is Lucia Alvarez, with Channel Five news.”
    My mother walked in the room and caught me watching the television. “Oh Hanna, you shouldn’t be watching that,” she said, then darted towards the television and immediately turned it off.
    “I can’t believe this is happening to me!” I exclaimed, then stormed into the kitchen and grabbed an apple off the table.
    “Is that all you’re having?” my mom asked.
    “I’m not really hungry.” I snatched my purse off the table.
    “Can we just go to school, please? I want to get this day over with so I can come back home and lock myself in my room.”
    My mother walked over and embraced me. “It’s going to be okay. If we could get through the Simon thing, we can get through this, too.” I forced a smile as my mother scooped her keys off the counter. “Oookay, let’s go.”
    I opened the front door and my heart almost jumped out of my throat: lying there, in front of our door, was my phone.
    “Oh, your phone!” exclaimed my mother.
    “Yeah,” I said puzzled. I looked around to see if anybody was watching me, then grabbed it and immediately pressed the messages icon to retrieve all the messages Brooke and I had exchanged.
    “Maybe somebody found it and left it there for you.”
    “Maybe.” My breath caught in my throat: all the messages were gone! It felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs...any shred of proof I had was gone.
    “What’s wrong?” asked my mother.
    “Nothing.”
    When I got to school, everybody was talking about what had happened to Brooke. As soon as I appeared in the halls, people were gazing at me and whispering to each other. I heard one girl say, “I heard she might have killed somebody.” Another girl whispered to her friend, “That’s the girl who stabbed her boyfriend at her last school.” Some guy said, “She’s like a celebrity.” I heard another guy say, “She’s hotter than Claire Miller.” That comment was totally random, but I liked it.
    One girl jumped out in front of me. She had chestnut brown eyes and long thick raven black hair that was dip dyed a fiery red. She wore black skinny jeans, a sequined black tank top, and black leather knee boots. “Are you the one who found Brooke dead?” she asked in an eager tone.
    I tossed some hair behind my ear and crossed my arms, covering my chest. “Who are you?”
    “My name is Stephanie Bradshaw, and I write for the school newspaper, The Scoop . I’d love to write a column on what happened.” 
    “Now’s not a good time, okay?” I put my hand in her face and scurried through the hall in search of a bathroom when I ran into Josh.
    “Hey…I heard what happened. Are you okay?”
    “No…not really.” 
    “Well, if you need me, I’m here.”
    He squeezed my shoulder, making my stomach flutter. I smiled, and he smiled back. Claire caught my eye and sprinted towards us, with Katie and Jessica by her side.
    “Am I interrupting something?” she snapped.
    Josh quickly removed his hand from my shoulder. Claire glared at me, and I looked down.
    “Hi, babe,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and kissing her on the cheek. He then spotted a couple of his buddies. He gave Claire another kiss, this time on the lips. “Hey, wait up, guys! See you later, babe.”
    “K,” said Claire.
    “See you in geometry, Hanna,” he said, then wandered off with his friends.
    “So, is it true? Is Brooke Tillier really dead?”