The Unexpected Twist, Marline [e book reader pc .TXT] 📗

before Cam was raped. Cam did a pregnancy test and it turned out that she was not pregnant and Stan and his friends were still safely locked up. The only thing that changed was that since we last spoke, I hadn’t said a word to Liam and he hadn’t said anything to me. We avoided each other at school and now every time my parents met up I refused to join and apparently so did he because he never joined his parents when they came to my house. I was heartbroken but refused to let it take over my life. Only Cam knew how I truly felt.

I was shocked when I found out that Cam started hanging out with Liam more and more. At lunch I caught them talking a number of times and when I was looking at pictures on her phone she got a text from him. Was my best friend hooking up with my x-boyfriend? Was Liam even my x? I did not like this, the one person who knew everything about me and whom I trusted with everyone was starting to have secrets.
“Is something going on between you and Liam?” I asked her one day at lunch.
“Claire, I would never do that, I would never get together with someone you like.” Cameron answered. I smiled because with one simple sentence Cam had taken all my awkwardness and doubt away. I hugged her.
“Thank you.”

Prom was coming up and I had no date. Not that I wanted a date, there was only one guy I wanted and he was the one I couldn’t get. I was wistfully looking at prom dresses when the doorbell rang. It was Cam, we had planned a nice afternoon of watching movies and eating as much food as possible. In my room Cam immediately grabbed my laptop and saw what I was looking at. She stared at the screen for a couple of seconds, deep in thought and then suddenly jumped up.
“Claire, I have a brilliant idea.” Her eyes were glittering with excitement and she grabbed my hands and jumped up and down.
“What, what is it?” I laughed.
“I am going to find you a date to prom.” She said in a mischievous tone.
“Cam, I don’t want to go to prom.” I whined.
“Yes you do, why else would you be looking at prom dresses? Stop complaining, I am going to set you on the perfect blind date.” I couldn’t help laughing.
“Oh really? And where are you going to find this perfect guy?” I teased.
“I’ll find someone,” Cam said, and then, looking around the room: “do you have any food?”

I was nervous, but excited at the same time. I would be able to show Liam that I had moved on and I could only hope that this guy was nice. What if he didn’t talk? What if there would be awkward silences throughout the evening? I shrugged that thought away, if he decided to be silent then I’d just talk to fill up the silence and hopefully not run out of stuff to talk about. I was getting changed at Cam’s house and I put on my new dress which I had bought somewhere at a tiny boutique. I had fallen in love with it the moment I saw it.
“Cameron, what if he doesn’t talk?” I moaned.
“You’re going to love him.” Cam said, with all the surety of the world in her voice. “Besides, he’d be an idiot not to talk to you when you look like this. You look amazing.”
“Thank you,” I smiled, “so do you. Nathan is going to love you in this.” A guy in our class, Nathan, had asked Cam to prom and he had done so in such a romantic way that I had begged Cam to tell the story over and over again.

My hair was curled, my make up perfect and I was wearing a gorgeous dress. Furthermore, I was going to meet a nice blind date and it would be a lovely evening. Perfection is a recipe for disaster. Nathan came to pick us up and drove us to the dance where I would meet my handsome stranger. On the short ride to school I daydreamed while Cameron and Nathan flirted. We got to school, stepped out of the car and walked the few meters to the school gym. The party committee had spent days decorating it, leaving a frustrated coach and annoyed basketball players, but when I saw the gym, I knew it was all worth it. It looked stunning, semi see-through curtains were suspended from the roof to give couples some privacy and large ballroom-like curtains had been attached to the walls. Cameron grabbed my arm.
“Come on, let’s go meet your date.” She pulled me past dancing couples until we reached the middle of the gym. Then she pushed aside a few curtains but when I saw who was standing there I stopped abruptly. I started tugging on my arm.
“Cameron, I don’t want to go.”
“Yes you do.” Cameron said firmly. “You are going to go.”
“No Cameron, I really, really don’t want to.”
Cameron looked at me sternly and it looked like she was about to get mad at me.
“You have no choice.” She turned around and pulled me towards my date. I could hardly sit on the ground and force her to drag me, although the idea did pass through my mind, so I reluctantly put one foot in front of the other until I reached the extremely handsome young man who was standing in the middle of the gym. When we arrived I didn’t dare look up at him.
“Claire, meet your date for tonight. Liam, meet yours.” Cameron said. We both looked at her in shock but couldn’t get annoyed at her because then it would seem like we weren’t happy with our date.
“Ok, well, you two have fun,” Cameron said, as she pushed me closer to Liam, “and I will go dance with Nathan.” She was gone in a flash. I stood opposite Nathan and finally brought my eyes to meet his. How could a person look so gorgeous? I just stared at him for the next few moments, trying to see if I was dreaming or not.
“You look beautiful.” Liam said softly. I was speechless. I had no idea what to say. Liam looked so handsome in his suit and his eyes were so captivating that I wondered how I could ever have been mean to him. The only thing that missed from his face was a smile.
“Thank you,” I eventually managed to stammer. I was making a complete fool of myself, and I knew it. Liam didn’t want to be here at all and I felt like I would ruin the evening. After a short awkward silence I decided that I wasn’t going to spend the evening this way. I bit my lip, looked up at him and said: “You don’t have to be my date for this evening. I’m sure you’d have much more fun with someone else.” It wasn’t my intention to make my words sound so harsh but in a way I was trying to protect myself. Liam chuckled but when I snapped my eyes to his he became serious.
“No Claire, I’d like to spend the evening with you. We can spend time together… as friends.”
“Friends.” I tasted the word on my lips. That was a completely new concept, Liam and I had been enemies, then a couple, but never friends. “All right,” I said thoughtfully.
“Would you like something to drink?” Liam asked me and I nodded in reply.

It was a romantic evening, couples were dancing everywhere, a few were kissing, laughter could be heard over the sound of slow, often classical, music. After drinking something Liam asked me if I wanted to dance and I agreed. We walked back to the middle of the gym, the place where Liam had stood when Cam introduced us and the curtains gave us some privacy. Not that I needed privacy because with Liam in front of me the whole world vanished and I wasn’t aware of anyone being around me. Without a word Liam placed one hand on my waist and with the other he took my hand. The moment he touched me it was like fireworks exploded and my whole body suddenly felt warm. I knew I was blushing but it wasn’t long until I felt completely at ease in Liam’s arms.
“So how are you?” He asked me.
“I’m good,” I answered, which was a partial lie because I hadn’t been completely happy since we broke up. “And you?”
“Yeah, I’m good too. I’m just happy that everything is back to normal and that Cameron is fine.”
“You talk to her a lot, don’t you?” I asked, curious to what he would say. A smile slowly crept over his face.
“Are you jealous?” He teased. I was so incredibly happy at that point because one simple comment lightened the mood so much that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“No.” Was all I answered to Liam’s question because whatever else I said I would give away that I still liked him. More than liked him, in fact.
Liam unexpectedly twirled me around and I giggled. When I was back in his arms there was no space between us anymore. His arms were around my waist and mine were around his neck. I leaned my head against his shoulder. We danced in silence for a few minutes, I was enjoying his presence so much that I didn’t dare ruin this moment by speaking. Then someone pushed one of the curtains away and the magic was gone. Liam and I pulled away from each other to see who it was. It was Jennifer and she did not look happy.
“Claire, do you mind if I steal your date?” Before even waiting for an answer she started tugging on Liam’s arm.
“No, not at all.” I lied, and let go of Liam completely. Just before Liam disappeared with Jennifer, his eyes met mine. He looked at me so intently that I started wondering if he could see right through me. Then he was gone and I was standing there, feeling all alone. I decided to go get another drink. Stupid curtains, I wouldn’t be surprised if I got lost in my own gym with those things hanging there and I kept on bumping into dancing couples and having to say sorry. The joy I had felt just a few seconds ago when I was in Liam’s arms was gone and I suddenly became painfully conscious of the fact that Liam wanted us to be friends. Just friends.

Chapter 9

“Claire. We need to talk.” Liam suddenly appeared beside me and he looked so worried that a pang of fear shot through me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, as he led me towards the doors of the gym. He didn’t answer me until we were outside in the hallway. It was empty, apart from a few stray balloons dangling from the ceiling.
“It’s Stan.” Liam told me grimly. He has escaped from jail and murdered Lisa.”
“What?” I stammered. Lisa was in the year below us, I hadn’t known her but I’d seen her in the hallway. No, this couldn’t be true. Stan raping someone was one thing but murder… I almost couldn’t believe it.
“Proof.” I said, suddenly defiant. “What’s your proof? Because if Jennifer is all the proof you have then I’m not going to believe it. She will make up anything just to…” I