Player

by DeLuca, Laura

  “You don’t love him, Andrea!” Jim shouted. “You might think that you do, but I’m the one who protected you all this time.”

  “You’re just as nuts as she is, aren’t you?” Bryan’s voice echoed Josh’s exact thoughts. “How could you think she cared about you if she was killing people to try to get to Josh?”

  “I saw the way things were going,” Jim told them. “And I’m a much better detective than either of you two morons. I knew it was Andrea from the very beginning. But the cops thought it was Josh. I figured once he got arrested and was out of the way, Andrea would finally realize that I’m the one she loved! Especially after everything I did for her—after I protected her.” He turned back to Andrea. “You have to realize now that we belong together. We love each other! I know we do. You’re just confused.”

  “Please!” Andrea rolled her eyes sarcastically. “I mean, I appreciate you keeping your mouth shut and all, but did you really think I could ever care about a loser like you?” She laughed so hard she nearly dropped her gun. “What a joke! I never cared about you! I just kept you around to keep up appearances. I had to fight the urge to gag every time I kissed you.”

  “Stop, please. . . .” Jim begged. He slid to the floor and rolled himself into a tight ball.

  “How does it feel to know you just threw your life away for someone that doesn’t give a crap about you at all?” Bryan asked.

  Jim ignored Bryan and looked up at Andrea with tear streaked eyes. “You’re killing me, Andrea!”

  “I really could kill you, you know,” she said viciously. “It would be sooo easy. All I’d have to do it pull this little trigger, and BANG.” Almost everyone in the room jumped, except for Jim. “You’d be dead and none of us would have to listen to you whine anymore.”

  “It would hurt a lot less than what you’re doing to me now!” Jim sobbed.

  “I know,” she agreed, turning more serious. She looked back at Josh. “Unrequited love sucks. It can make you do things you never imagined you’d do. Like covering up for a killer or even becoming one.”

  “Andy, why didn’t you just tell me how you felt?” Josh asked. “All this time . . . I never suspected.”

  “Exactly my point!” Andrea screeched. “You should have realized! You should have felt the same connection I did. I’ve watched you flit from one girl to another all these years, all the while wondering when you would figure out that I was the one you were meant to be with. It never really bothered me that much because I knew none of them meant anything to you. Then this bitch Rosa comes along.” She gestured to Rosa with her gun and Josh pushed her further behind him. “When you told me that you loved her, all my dreams fell apart. I finally realized that you were never going to love me the way I loved you. I hated you for that! And I hated Rosa even more. I hated every girl who ever got to be with you.”

  “But you encouraged me with Rosa,” Josh said, confused. “If you hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have kept trying after she turned me down.”

  “I thought she would reject you again. She’s supposed to be the class brainiac! She should have known you were a player and weren’t worth her time.” She shook her head. “I never expected you to give that little performance in the hallway. I was so angry and so hurt. . . .” A few tears snuck free and she wiped them away in disgust. “But even before that happened, I had already decided to poison you. I knew the rat poison wouldn’t kill you if I used just a little. When I got the chance, I slipped a little into your prescription bottle. My plan didn’t go the way I expected. I was supposed to be the one to take care of you. Not Rosa!” She huffed in disgust. “I had just made things worse and brought you even closer together. I realized I had no other choice. I had to take things a step further. One of the girls had to die. That was the only way you were going to learn your lesson.”

  “You killed my sister!” Bryan shouted.

  He tried to fling himself at her, but Elena kept a surprisingly firm grip on his arm and instead of throwing himself into the gun in kamikaze fashion, he crumpled into Elena’s arms. She tried to sooth him and shielded him as he wept. Andrea watched him with curiosity and seemed almost remorseful for a moment.

  “I tried to make it painless for Lily,” she told him gently, as if that were some kind of comfort. “She just fell asleep, Bryan. That’s all. She fell asleep one last time.”

  “How dare you stand there trying to sound compassionate?” Elena shouted. “You’re insane! You’re a monster!”

  “You know, I think you might be right,” Andrea admitted sadly. “I guess love can do that to a person. It can make you crazy. Make you kill innocent people. I really hoped that just the one girl would be enough. I tried to make it look like a suicide to make Josh feel guilty. I even had the backup plan to shift suspicion to Elena by planting that earring, just in case someone caught on. I figured Josh would be so consumed by guilt that he’d have to come to his best friend to make things better. But did he come to me? No! He went to Rosa again. Rosa, Rosa, Rosa! She was the one he trusted with his secrets and his suspicions. I knew it was time to hurt him again.”

  “Jazz,” Rosa said with a shudder.

  “Yes,” Andrea said. “I followed Josh when he got my little note, so I knew where to find her. Then I waited until she was alone in the parking lot. I picked up a pipe, and hit her from behind. I thought one hit would be enough, but she was strong. I had to hit her a couple times before she went down. She did catch a glimpse of me before she passed out. It was dark so she didn’t see much, but I guess my bright red hair stands out even in a dark parking lot.”

  “But she wasn’t dead,” Bryan said. He came to stand beside Josh. “You made your first mistake.”

  “Dead, drooling vegetable. . . .” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Does it really make a difference? Her life is still over. And I sure didn’t mess up with Nadine,” she boasted. “That one took a lot of planning. I was just lucky no one caught me messing around with the wires. Jim was on to me by that time, so I forced him to fix the online votes. I know Jim thought Josh was going take the blame, but I wasn’t going to let that happen. It was always my plan to frame Elena. Jail would be a much better punishment than death for my least favorite person. And of course, I was saving the best for last.” She smiled sweetly at Rosa who buried her face in Josh’s chest.

  “So what are you going to do now?” Kevin asked. “We’re all witnesses. How many bullets do you have in that gun?”

  “Would you like to be the first to find out?” Andrea snarled.

  “You can’t kill all of us,” Rosa told her. “There are too many of us. I don’t think even Jim will help you now.”

  Jim was still sobbing in his corner, so it didn’t seem that he was going to be much help either way, but Andrea wasn’t worried about being outnumbered. “I have to kill at least one more person. Bryan’s big reveal party wouldn’t be much fun without a dramatic ending. I mean, if I’m going down anyway, there’s no reason not to finish what I started, right? Rosa, you were always my main target. I won’t even care if the cops take me away as long as I know you won’t be with Josh once I’m gone.”

  “No, please!” Rosa cried. “You can’t just shoot me in cold blood.”

  They all knew Andrea was capable of anything. She lifted the revolver toward Rosa, but before Josh had a chance to block her aim, Kevin stepped in front of Andrea. He didn’t say a word and his face was white as a sheet, but he stood his ground bravely with the barrel of the gun only inches from his chest.

  “Oh, how noble.” Andrea sneered. “The rapist wants to redeem himself. You were always such a pig. Maybe I should take you out of the equation and do the entire female population a favor.”

  “Andrea, no!” Jim exclaimed, finally coming back to life and joining Kevin in blocking Andrea’s path to Rosa. “No more! You need to stop before it’s too late.”

  “It’s already too late,” she said as she snapped back the hammer. “Now you both better get out of my way.”

 
Kevin and Jim exchanged nervous glances, but neither moved. “No,” Kevin said firmly. Jim shook his head at the same time.

  Andrea shrugged her shoulders. “Have it your way.” With an expertise Josh had no idea she possessed, Andrea fired the revolver twice in quick succession. The deafening crack reverberated through the air as Jim and Kevin crumpled to the ground.

  Chapter 33

  The bang echoed in Josh’s ears long after the shots were fired. He wasn’t sure if the cloudiness was from the gun or from his eyes fogging over. Jim and Kevin were both on the ground, growing puddles of blood mingling with the cigarette burns on the soiled carpet. Kevin was screaming and clutching his leg, but he was alive. It didn’t look like Jim was moving.

  “Shit . . . shit!” Kevin cried out. He tried to crawl over to Jim, even as the blood gushed from the wound on his leg. “Jim? Are you alive? Man, say something! Shit! Shit, you killed him. You freaking killed him. What the hell?”

  Kevin’s hysterical cries were almost overshadowed by the sound of sirens in the distance. Josh, still dazed, returned to awareness. He tried to glance over his shoulder to see out the window, which was difficult with Rosa crying and clinging to him in a desperation born from pure fear. When he finally managed to turn around, he saw that emergency lights were flashing down the street. As they got closer, it was impossible to miss the black and white patrol cars and blaring ambulance sirens. For the first time, he saw a panicked look on Andrea’s face.

  “This is it,” she mumbled to herself. “Now or never. Now or never.”

  Josh didn’t know or care what she meant. Jim was bleeding out on the floor and they were all just watching. Finally spurred to action, Josh dropped to his knees next to Kevin, and tried to find where all the blood was coming from. Jim seemed to be covered in it. His blue jeans were a rusty brown, and his tan t-shirt was almost black with blood. In contrast, his freckled face was an eerie ash grey.

  “Elena, help us!” Josh demanded. He wished he had paid more attention when his parents talked about work. “Do you know what to do?”

  Nodding, Elena finally remembered to breathe. A candy striper wasn’t a doctor, but it was the best they had. She turned an even paler shade of white when her bare knees touched the blood soaked floor. She swallowed back her fear and examined Jim while Bryan watched the police cars surround the house.

  “It’s about goddamn time,” he mumbled.

  “You did this!” Andrea swore. “You called them. Damn you, Bryan, I should shoot you now!”

  Bryan didn’t flinch when she pointed the revolver in his direction. “Damn straight, I called them! Actually, I texted them when you thought I was having a little emotional breakdown. I have the rest of my life to grieve for my sister. Right now, I’m only concerned with getting her the justice she deserves. You want to shoot me for that?” He puffed out his chest in a ridiculous show of bravado. “Go ahead! It’s over for you no matter what you do, Andrea. You’re finished!”

  “So is Jim if we don’t get to him to the hospital—and soon!” Elena exclaimed. She had taken off her windbreaker and was using it to try to quell the bleeding on Jim’s side, where she had discovered the wound. It wasn’t doing much good. The garment was already soaked in blood and it was obvious she was starting to panic. “His pulse is really weak, Bryan. He can’t hold on much longer.”

  “Shit, this hurts like hell! What are those damn cops doing out there anyway?” Kevin grimaced, though he stayed by Jim’s side like a nurse’s aide.

  Josh heard the distinctive sound of glass breaking in the kitchen and knew the cops were coming in the back way.

  Andrea shook her head. “It’s not going to happen. I’m not going to let them lock me up. Not in prison and not in some mental institution either!”

  Josh tried to take a few tentative steps toward her, but it was difficult with Rosa desperately clinging to his hand, afraid to let him go. “Andy, look at Jim. He needs help. At the very least, you have to let them take Jim out of here.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Do you really think I care about him? I should have killed him years ago.”

  “What about you, Andy? If you don’t put down that gun, the cops are going to kill you. They won’t negotiate. They don’t care that you’re just a teenager. You need to surrender if you want to make it out of this alive.”

  “He’s right, Miss.” Detective Gibula squeezed through the kitchen doors, his firearm aimed at Andrea. His partner, the same tall black man who had been following Josh around for weeks, was beside him. “If you put the gun down and come with us quietly, you won’t get hurt. Don’t make it any worse for yourself by hurting someone else.”

  “Do you think I’m an idiot?” Andrea spat. “I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid! You’re not dragging me off to prison. No!” She shook her head adamantly. “No way. It’s not going to happen. The next person who takes one step in my direction will get their brains blown out.”

  Josh looked from the two cops who kept their guns trained on Andrea, to the terrified faces around him. Elena was sobbing. Her blonde hair was matted with blood. She desperately tried to help Jim, who was dying on Bryan’s living room floor. Kevin had been helping her, but he seemed to have finally succumbed to the pain of his own injury and passed out beside them.

  Rosa was in shock and Bryan was glaring at Andrea but frozen in front of her revolver. Even the cops were at an impasse because they couldn’t take Andrea down without fear of her shooting one of the other kids first. The worry of hitting the wrong target was probably also stopping any snipers waiting at the front of the house. Josh knew the next move was up to him.

  “Andy, can we talk? Please.”

  “Josh, no! What are you doing? You can’t go near her!” Rosa pleaded, her eyes wild. “She’ll kill you.”

  Josh kissed her forehead and smoothed out a few loose strands of hair that had escaped her long braid. “I’ll be okay. You just stay with Bryan.”

  He wanted to tell her he loved her, just in case it was his last chance. But he didn’t want to instigate Andrea’s fury, especially if she decided to turn her rage on Rosa again. Instead, he forced his girlfriend to release the viselike grip she had on his arm and left her in Bryan’s care. He knew his one true friend would guard her with his life.

  “What do you say, Andy?” Josh took one careful step in Andrea’s direction. “What about that talk? Just like old times, you know.”

  She narrowed her eyes. Despite her previous threats, she didn’t fire. In fact, her steady hand started to tremble as he drew near. “You can talk from where you’re standing,” she told him. “Don’t come any closer.”

  He nodded and stopped a few feet away, glad to have gotten as far as he had without being stopped by a bullet. The others looked desperate and a little confused, especially Rosa. At least with Josh so close to the barrel of the gun, he knew that Andrea couldn’t point it at anyone else.

  “Josh, get away from her and let us handle this!” the detective demanded. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

  “Shut up, Gibula. I know what I’m doing! Andrea would never really shoot me. Would you, Andy?”

  “Not you, Josh. I did all this for you. Because I love you.”

  The others probably thought he was acting, but his voice was filled with true compassion. “I know. It’s going to be okay, Andy. This is my fault. Not yours. And I’ll fix it. I promise I’ll take care of you. Your dad’s a lawyer and my parents know all the best doctors. They’ll make sure you get the help you need. You’ll go to some fancy hospital that will feel like a resort until you get better, and then we can put all this behind us.”

  Andrea started to sob. Josh thought maybe he was starting to get through to her. Only seconds later the sobs melted into insane giggles and he knew the little rationality that she still possessed had finally left her. She was completely insane. His selfishness had destroyed his best friend.

  “I only have one bullet left,” she revealed. “Only one. Sorry, Josh, but it�
��s too late to fix things. One bullet. One body. One more person has to die.”

  The hammer of the gun clicked and the two cops moved in almost simultaneously. Josh knew they would fire if they thought she was a threat. He couldn’t let that happen. Not to his Andy. He stepped in front of her, blocking their shot. All three guns in the room were aimed at him. If someone really had to die, he was the only choice that any of them had. He was hoping that Andrea wasn’t willing to let that happen.

  “Move out the way, kid!” Detective Gibula shouted. “Do you have a death wish?”

  Josh ignored him. He ignored all the gasps and cries of his friends, Kevin’s painful whimpers, and even Rosa’s quiet sobs, though they were the hardest to bear. “Andy, you said you loved me. Did you mean that?”

  She appeared honestly baffled. “Of course I meant it. Why do you think I did all this? I did it because I love you. But you don’t love me. . . .”

  “But I do love you, Andy. Maybe not in the way you wanted, but I’ve always loved you. And I know you’re a good person deep down. This isn’t really what you want. The real Andy—the girl I’ve known all my life—she would never hurt anyone.”

  “Your best friend.” Andrea shook her head sadly. “I guess that should satisfy me, but it doesn’t. You might love me as a friend, but you’re really in love with Rosa, aren’t you? A part of me still hoped she was just another bootie call, but it’s real this time.”

  Josh thought about lying, but he knew Andrea would know if he did. She could always tell when he tried to keep things from her. “Yes, I love Rosa,” he admitted reluctantly. “Very much.”

  Andrea cocked her head to one side, though she never lowered the gun. “Do you love her the way I love you? Would you kill for her?”

  “No,” he said firmly. “But I would die for her without a second thought.”

  Andrea was thoughtful for a moment, considering his words. “I really didn’t want to hurt anyone,” she told him, a single tear sliding down her cheek. “I only wanted to make you love me.”