Fear? What was Heather afraid of? Me?
‘What are you here for?’ I asked her.
When she spoke, her voice was a sob. ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’ She was crying now, talking through her sobs. ‘I didn’t mean for all this to happen. I’m so sorry, Hannah.’ She took a deep breath before she spoke again. ‘It was me,’ she said.
‘It was you?’ What was she talking about? Then, it was as if my brain exploded. She was talking about the fire! Heather had started the fire at Erin’s!
The tears were tumbling down her face.
‘You set fire to Erin’s house?’ I asked.
She drew in a great sob and shook her head violently. ‘No, no. Of course not that. I didn’t do that.’
‘What then?’
And even before she spoke I suddenly knew what she was going to say.
‘I was the one who told everybody about Erin.’
It was as if the world stopped dead. Erin’s secret. It had been Heather all along.
Her words spilled out. ‘I heard you that night at the wedding, I saw you going into the ladies with Erin. Followed you. I was so jealous.’ Her words came in the middle of her sobs. ‘I stood outside, heard you whispering. Best friends, you were saying … and I wanted Erin to be my best friend. She told me I was her best friend.’ She said that as if it justified everything. ‘And I was so annoyed at her. When I heard what she said about me, talking about me as if I was stupid. Not as smart as you and her!’
I remembered that too. Erin, always ready to say something negative about someone.
‘I only told one person, just to get it off my chest. I thought I could trust them … and then before I knew it, it was all over the school, and Erin blamed you.’ She looked at me and sobbed again. ‘I was going to tell her it was me, honest, but I thought I’ll let you get the blame, serve you right … I was just going to let you stew for a while … and then, suddenly I was Erin’s best friend again. She hated you. I still would have told the truth. I know I would have, Hannah … but when I saw how bad they were making things for you – you were out the gang, nobody would talk to you – I was too scared to say it was me. They might do that to me as well.’ She drew in a long sob. ‘I didn’t know it would get as bad as it did.’
I stood there, couldn’t move, remembering the pain and the humiliation of those horrible days, weeks. All because of Heather. My heart was thumping. ‘You could have stuck up for me, Heather. You knew it wasn’t me and you didn’t back me up. Just one person believing me would have made all the difference.’
‘I was going to. Honest. But …’ She could hardly speak for crying. ‘I was jealous of you. You were funny and everybody wanted to be your mate and you were stealing Erin away from me. I know it was a horrible thing to do, but how was I to know it would get that bad? Then you seemed to be all right. You joined the Hell Cats. And they’re really tough. You changed, Hannah. You got just like them. And I didn’t care any more.’ She stopped for breath. ‘But I didn’t think you would hate Erin so much you could do this.’
I made a sudden angry rush at her and grabbed her by the collar of her jacket, pushed her up against the wall. Her eyes went wide with fear, frightened of what I might do next. ‘I never did anything to Erin. I had nothing to do with that fire. None of us did.’ And even as I said it I was thinking … except Wizzie.
‘You said you were going to get us all back,’ Heather said. ‘Rose didn’t get the part in the musical. That really broke her up. You said Erin was next … and you set fire to Erin’s house.’
‘I’m telling you, we didn’t.’
I let her go and she crumpled against the wall. ‘I know it’s my turn next. I was sure you’d found out it was me all the time. You were just waiting your chance to get me. Keeping the worst till last. And I’ve been so scared. Because if you could do that to get back at Erin … what were you going to do to me?’
She was afraid of me. I could see it in her eyes. Heather, who had been my friend for so long, was terrified of me. I didn’t like the feeling. I took a step back from her. She had caused all this. I should hate her. I should want to thump the living daylights out of her. A few days ago I probably would have. But not now. I’d had enough of revenge.
‘I’m not going to do anything to you, Heather. But I want you to take a message back to Erin. Will you do that for me, Heather?’ She nodded. ‘I want you to tell her that we had nothing to do with that fire. The Hell Cats are just like us, Heather. Just like the Lip Gloss Girls.’ (All except Wizzie. The words flitted into my mind, I couldn’t stop them.) ‘Tell her I’m so sorry it happened. We all are … And tell her the truth. Tell her it was because of you everybody found out her secret. Not me. Tell her everything. Will you do that, Heather?’