30. SELF-ABSORBED

The life you live through, is never not free from problems. You do things people don't understand, and when they think they understand, they actually misunderstand. No one knows what you're doing except yourself, but sometimes, you also have no idea what you're doing.

"Pardon?" Jaxon asked back, a scoff appearing from his lips, "Escape? Or lead me to a trap?"

"Do you need a lecture on English?" she asked, "I'm here to help you escape," she repeated, more firm this time.

"What makes you think I trust you?" he asked back, approaching her.

Jaxon was apparently the tallest out of the trio, and Jayce was by a slight taller than Amber, but in the bigger picture, he was tall enough that Amber just reached in between his neck and shoulder.

"I have Ashton's lighter with me, and I have everything I need to cover up my mess," he explained, "I'll burn the school and make it look like Ashton did it,"

Amber sighed, "That sounds stupid. Why the hell would he burn the school?"

"Everyone wants to burn the school," Jaxon replied.

"Look, I'm the only chance you have left, if you do want to escape and start a new life," Amber replied.

"I killed Eric, the person you liked," he tried to scare her off, "And now you're here, willing to help me?"

"Yes,"

"Are you not catching the reason why I don't trust you? When I thought Ashton could be 'trusted', I nearly fell into a huge bunch of traps and now I'm trying to escape and yet you stand here, in front of me, and tell me you want to help me escape?" Jaxon was nearly about to yell, the rock still in his hands.

"We can burn down the cell towers, so no one can make calls. Meaning, Jayce and Ashton need to go to the police station to report to my dad and bring Niel," Amber said, "Then we can escape through the woods and out of town, 'cause even if someone sees us, they wouldn't be able to tell the police immediately as there's no signal for phone," she said it so proudly and specifically.

"Why are you helping me?" he narrowed his eyes.

"You deserved to do what you did to Eric," she replied.

"And why is that?"

"He's rejected me, a lot of times, and he really should have gotten what he got. A little boom in his mind to help him think," Amber responded, "That's why I owe you,"

"I'm not fully convinced," Jaxon furrowed.

"Would you rather have one supporter or none?" she asked back, "I'm the only ticket you have,"

"I can do it by myself,"

"But I'm a shield," she stated, "My dad would trust me, and I wouldn't be suspected of helping you escape,"

She has a point, Jaxon thought, and he was really on the verge of trusting her.

"I can help you get a fake identity," Amber continued, "And you can live off a fresh new page,"

He thought of her words well, "Fine, but if you try to double-cross me, you're only a step away from death,"

She gave a side-smirk, "No worries,"

That day, Amber had all the things she needed for her plan to go well. An alibi, her sister's hoodie, and now Jaxon, who was holding Ashton's lighter.

~~~

"By the way," Ashton interrupted, "We've solved the murder, so you can call your dad and tell him about everything, can I have the knife please?"

"For?" Jayce asked back.

"Carving on Niel's skin," he replied innocently, making a baby face.

Niel squirmed in his seat.

"If that'll make him scream, here," she gave the knife to him, and he played with it in his hands.

"Thanks, president," he grinned then went to Niel who wanted to get off his seat but didn't manage.

Ashton stepped on his foot to make him stop moving, and bent down, rolling up his other sleeve and carving the word 'backstabber', making the boy yell as he covered his mouth with cloth again.

Jayce went on her phone and began to dial her dad, but she couldn't. There was no signal. She went across the room, back and forth, but still didn't manage to call or send him a text.

"Anything wrong, president?" Ashton asked, hands covered in blood while still carving on Niel's arm.

"There seems to be no signal," she replied, "Let me go outside,"

Jayce went out of the door and began to search for some signal. But still, nothing.

Ashton finished off his bloody-beautiful writing before walking outside and joining Jayce too.

"Still no signal?" he asked.

She shook her head when her eyes were distracted by something in the horizon, that was glowing and burning. He saw it too, and they both realized they were cell towers.

Ashton and Jayce then turned around at the same time and stared at each other, "Jaxon."

~~~

The cell towers, which were located behind the school, as it was the point that could give the entire town without having it to be put in the streets for the signal they needed for phones, was approached by the two teens.

Jaxon lit the bottom of the tower, making it spread through the rest of the tower, and the sparks started to spread. It was all starting to burn.

Amber took Jaxon's hand as they ran towards the woods that goes through the right of the cell towers.

They decided to get around the woods instead, to the street near the entrance of the school, passing through the lane Ashton always used.

"Let's just stay here," Amber said to Jaxon.

"And why is that?" he asked.

"Because, we should go when Jayce and Ashton leave the police station. The police would be busy, and they wouldn't notice us, that's the entire point of escaping." she scowled in return.

"Why didn't we burn the electrical towers too?" Jaxon asked, "To cut off the power?"

Amber pursed her lips, "We're escaping, but we're also blaming someone else for your escape,"

"Who?"

"The CCTV camera there," she pointed to a camera that was placed on the entrance of the lane, "That's the only camera in this entire lane and it will record Ashton and Jayce's car only and then since it's a longer lane, it'll take them longer to reach the school and the police will think that they were 'murdering' you in that time. They will be recorded in the entrance of the school, and police will also question why he doesn't take the graveyard path,"

"Then?" he asked.

"You'll be reported missing and they'd be suspected for it," she replied, "Because they have reasons to help you escape, or in other words, make you disappear,"

Jaxon seemed to trust Amber quite a lot, it made him stagger.

"I'm wearing Jayce's hoodie, and then I'll put this all over the forest floor to make it seem that she was here, then put it in her cabinet," Amber continued.

"Looks like circumstances really sided with you today," he snorted.

"Yes, and you, then, will be free," she remarked.

"And you?" he asked.

"I'll stay here,"

"Why?"

"Because when Ashton and Jayce will be in jail or a psych ward, I can have all the things I want. No one will outshine me anymore," she replied, "I'm doing this for me too,"

Jaxon scoffed, "I legit thought you were one dumb girl when I first met you,"

"And now I'm not?" she asked.

"The reason I killed Eric was I never thought he deserved to go near Ashton," he said, "Eric's perfect life filled with joy, and the need of wanting Ashton for myself, it was so great,"

Amber sat under a tree, making sure the camera or no one from the lonely road saw them. Jaxon sat beside her.

"For me, my sister had such a perfect life. A perfect face, a perfect body, perfect grades, perfect social life. She has nothing on her back," she said, "Except trauma and whatever that is. It's not like she was the only one my mom neglected,"

Jaxon just sat there listening, not responding.

"So now, I've added a little flame to her perfect life, so everything can go down."

~~~

"I'm gonna freaking send him to hell," Ashton clenched his fists while turning and about to walk out of the school.

"Hey!" Jayce grabbed his hand, "We're taking Niel to the station, and we're getting hands off this case. We've done our part, now we just have to submit it to my father,"

"I need my vengeance, president," he replied, somewhere of losing control in his eyes.

"Do you remember what you said?" she asked back, the grip on his hand went tight.

"I've said a billion things to you," he replied.

"Fair enough," she clicked her tongue, "You said no more deaths,"

"Jaxon isn't going to kill me," he complained.

"He killed Eric," she justified back, "What makes you think he doesn't have the power to kill you?"

"Jayce-" he sighed.

"You promised." Jayce stated.

There was silence before Ashton finally spoke again.

"Fine,"

"We take this report to the police and you tell them everything. I'll persuade my father to trust you on your 'sixth sense' part, but after that, hands off the case, okay? We stop playing with fire and live a peaceful life, okay?" she queried, some worry was found.

His breath shook, "Okay," he said, "Fine, okay,"

She formed a thin smile, "Let's get bench kid and get to the police before Jaxon escapes out of town,"

"Before that, president," Ashton broke in, taking off his coat, "Use this,"

She was still in her basketball jersey.

"I'm not the one who gets easily cold," she scowled.

"I wasn't asking," he put the coat on her shoulder and went back into the storage room.

She sighed and put the coat around her, following Ashton into the room and preparing to take Niel to the police.

~~~

Ashton and Jayce used the backdoor, with Niel who had his hands tied together and still whimpering from pain.

They went in his jeep, putting Niel at the back, and putting the seat belt on him, even though it would be much better if they didn't. If they went into an accident, at least he would die with no seatbelt on.

But no, their main objective at the moment was Jaxon.

They went through the longer lane to get to the police station, and Jayce didn't want to push him to go through the graveyard.

"What is even your relationship at this point?" Niel whined at the backseat.

"Partners," Jayce said.

"Friends," Ashton said instead.

She furrowed back, "We are certainly not friends,"

"Well, obviously, I'm not your best friend, but at this point, you're my best friend and the only one I can practically trust," he explained.

Niel cleared his throat before he spoke, "Jayce, look, I'm really sorry for what I did, okay?"

"You still did it anyway," Ashton dragged on his words, interrupting.

"The point is, it's up to you if you want to forgive me or not. I'm sorry, I don't care if you forgive me or not but I'm sorry," he continued his words.

Jayce scoffed from the front seat, "Were you just trying to guilt-trip me?" she asked.

He gulped at the backseat.

"That's quite stupid," she continued, "Why should I feel guilty of not forgiving you?" she asked.

"I've said sorry," he replied.

"People like you who say sorry, they don't mean it at all," Jayce said, "You're nothing, but a piece of crap picked up in a trash can, and is surprisingly alive. You're nothing but a pervert and stalker. You're nothing, Niel. Nothing."

"I hope that anyone who dates you, only uses you for your body," Niel spitted on the jeep's car floor.

She clenched her jaw, about to grab the knife but the car seemed to go a little slower, and Ashton's hand reached to the backseat, grabbing Niel's hair and thudding his head on the glass, that it nearly broke.

Jayce stayed in her seat, playing with the knife.

"If you threaten her one more time, I swear on my life, that instead of going to the police station, you'll be going into a coffin," Ashton warned, with his hand on Niel's head as he squirmed with a bleeding nose.

He smacked his head onto the window one more time, before pulling his head, taking some strands of hair with it and continued driving.

"And it's a new jeep for goodness sake," Ashton groaned, concerned about the speck of saliva on his jeep's carpet.

Jayce lent her hand with the knife to Niel's thigh, and pushed it deep enough to make another long scratch. Niel yelled, "STOP IT. STOP."

She glared back at him with alert eyes, then taking the knife back into her hands, dripping with blood. Words didn't have to explain how mad she was, what she enjoyed doing spoke better.

She took tissue and wiped the blood off, and then sat back in her seat, "It's quite funny that all these things that are happening are all due to obsession,"

Ashton gave a small scoff, then took her hand and rubbed it, "You need to promise me too that you'll be hands-off the case once we report everything,"

She took his hand as well, and pursed her lips first, "I promise."

Their car passed by Amber and Jaxon, and now they only had to wait 'til they came back from the police station, and Amber would commit the 'magnificent' plan.

It was evening at that point, around 4.30pm, and the evening became darker. And most secrets lay in the dark.

~~~

The three arrived at the police station, and all the eyes went on them.

"Jayce, what is this?" Dave approached them. He smelled so horrible, it seemed he had been taking long nights, "Who is this?" he looked at the boy with the bleeding nose.

"We've found Eric's killer," Jayce replied.

"Are you sure?" Dave furrowed, noticing Ashton, "Is it him?"

"No," Ashton felt offended, "I didn't kill him,"

Dave scowled, "Then who's this kid?"

"Niel," Jayce said, "He has evidence,"

~~~

Dave brought the three to an interrogation room, where they explained everything.

The camera and Niel's phone were given to the police, and everything started to be processed.

"You expect me to trust someone who has this sixth sense?" Dave asked, "And saw Eric's ghost who told him that Jaxon killed him?"

"It's crazy, I know, dad," Jayce argued, "But he was correct. He knew mom was going to die but he didn't have the guts to say it. I trust him and you need to trust me,"

Ashton looked at Jayce. It was one of these rare occasions that he valued. His dear president defended him. Aw, he must have thought.

"Anyways, you've gotten the chronology and evidence, I think Jaxon has a separate account he used to pay Fredrick Jackville for the phones," Jayce stated, "Just check for accounts under fake names,"

"Yes, okay," Dave said, "Now, we're done with Eric's case, we will process it quickly,"

"Oh, one more thing," Ashton interrupted, approaching Jayce and taking something from the coat she was wearing. Her pen. "This was found under Eric's bed. I took it, and hid it from the investigation. The tape recorded in 6 October's morning shows that Jaxon stole the pen from the twins' dorm,"

"Why would you hide it?" he furrowed, taking the pen.

"I must have been crazy but at that point, I didn't really think Jayce would've done it," he remarked, "And thank God, I did. If the police found it, she would be in jail,"

"She wouldn't be in jail," he muttered, "Because I wouldn't let her be,"

Jayce flinched at his words, "So if I committed a crime, you would just bend the rules to defend me?"

"Anyways," Dave changed the topic, ignoring her question, "Back to Jaxon. Where is he?"

"Jaxon burned down the transmission towers," Ashton said, "He's escaped,"

"We'll find him so you both just have to go back to the school and stay there. Don't get involved," Dave stated, "But we have another thing to talk about,"

"What?"

"You two," he said, "What happened with Niel back there?" he asked.

The knife was inside the coat Jayce was wearing at that point, "Gave him a lesson. He deserved it,"

"Are you both partners in crime or something?" Dave asked, "You both have the guts to do these type of things,"

"What's wrong with harming the harmer?" Ashton complained.

Dave sighed, "You two fake-dated, I know that. Jayce thought-"

"I know why she dated me," he interrupted, "I also dated her for information and to keep her under my watch. That's it and that's that. What matters right now is Jaxon. Catch him before he gets out of town,"

"Communication's low. We have no cell tower, and no signal to call. Everything would be done manually," he said, "But you two. If you both get into trouble again, I won't be able to help you again. Let's just say what you did was for taking information from Niel,"

"Yes, okay," Jayce replied, "And please don't tell Izzie about this,"

"Fine, I won't. You both may leave now but we might still have questions," Dave said and the two went out.

Ashton went to the jeep and took a piece of tissue, cleaning the blood and speck of saliva. He wanted to puke on the saliva, he didn't like having whatever was trash in his jeep.

On the other hand, Dave took Jayce to talk for a while.

"Are you okay? Is Ashton not hurting you? Threatening you?" Dave asked, rather concerned, "Is he making you say this because he's the true killer?"

"Dad," she sighed, "Can you stop with those thoughts?" she groaned.

"He's also a suspect, Jayce," he warned.

"Ashton's treated me well, far better than I have." she replied.

"Then what are you both now?"

She was silent for a moment, "Friends," she bitterly said, "We're friends."

"If he's doing anything-"

"I swear on my life, he isn't," she assured, "Because if he was doing something, he'd be dead in my hands already," she smiled, "I hope you can catch Jaxon before he escapes,"

He was worried about his daughter. The fact that they could find Eric's killer was due to a camera placed in her room as the main evidence, made him feel uneasy, "How's Amber?"

"She needs alone time, she's at the dorm at the moment," she replied, "She has to process everything,"

Dave looked at the ground, "Thank you, Jayce, for your help. If it wasn't because of your insane brain, I don't think we would have cracked the case. Stay safe, okay?"

Jayce smiled in return, "Thanks dad,"

Niel was placed in the jail at the station, with a few other criminals there too.

He thought this would be his end, rotting in a place with metal bars. But no, it wasn't. Vengeance still lurked among everything.

~~~

Ashton and Jayce started to drive back to the school, with happy faces planted on them.

"We just have to let the police do their work now," Ashton said, smiling.

"Yes," Jayce was smiling widely, "We're free,"

"With no deaths," he smiled, staring back at her.

"With no deaths." she repeated.

The daylight was fading, and the street lights started to turn on.

"Now that we're free from Eric's case," Ashton started, "Let's talk about what we are going to be,"

Jayce flustered for a while, "We're friends, vice president," giving a rather inconvenient smile.

"And my confession?" he asked, looking back at the street, as they were going through the long lane again.

"I told you I don't feel the same way," she stated.

Ashton knew it was a lie, but he didn't want to push her either.

"So, friends?" he asked.

She nodded, then saw the house key in the compartment of his jeep, "And the house, think of it as a friendship house," she smiled.

"Okay then," he smiled, "But just know, that if you need anything, I'm still here, president, as your friend,"

She thinly smiled, "Same goes to you, vice president,"

They passed the camera on the entrance, and Amber and Jaxon saw it. Ashton and Jayce both didn't know they were being set up.

~~~

A smile formed on Amber's lips as she stood up, seeing the jeep pass by, "That's my cue," she remarked.

She was holding a sharp twig behind her as Jaxon stood up in front of her.

"Let's go," she said, "Let's walk near the cliff so that no one sees us, then we get out of town through the woods that pass through the town's entrance,"

"Mhm, okay," Jaxon nodded, "Thanks, by the way,"

"Welcome," she smiled. It wasn't a genuine smile anymore.

Jaxon walked towards the edge, near the cliff, hiding under the canopy of leaves. Amber followed behind him.

Before Jaxon could start walking, Amber stepped in front of him and he raised a brow on why she was. She took out the sharp twig from behind her and stabbed his abdomen.

Jaxon choked in pain, "What the-"

Amber pushed the twig farther into him, and he was at a loss of words. Her eyes were filled with anger and rage and vengeance. His clothes started to soak with blood, including the forest floor beneath him, filled with autumn leaves.

"You should know better, Jaxon," she whispered in his ear before tugging on his collar and pushed him towards the edge. "Bye bye," she smiled before pushing him off the cliff.

Jaxon couldn't even yell at that point. The only face he made was of fear and shock. He fell down the tall cliff, before he reached the lake at the bottom. He sank down the blue, suffocating in pain and not being able to swim. His vision blurred until it became pitch black and he sank to the bottom of the lake. And his blood spread around him, in the water.

Jaxon Spencer was dead. And Amber Brooks had killed him.

But Jayce and Ashton were the ones taking the blame.