"Wow, you are getting popular," Emma said, looking after Jana curiously and then back to Chloe.

They hadn't noticed, but the diner was slowly filling up with students. A lot of them were looking their way. The game must have ended.

"Should we go?" Chloe asked as the others followed her gaze.

Grey looked around, "Yeah, maybe..."

"Chloe, what are you doing here?" Jake was suddenly at their table, still in his football uniform.

"Jake?" Chloe said, dumbly.

"We have to go home," Jake said.

"What? Why?" Chloe asked.

"Because Kate is on her way here to cause a scene," Jake looked upset.

"What happened?" Chloe asked.

Jake shook his head, "We got into another fight. Come on, we have to go."

"Good reason," Chloe said and then turned to Grey and Emma. "Sorry guys. Catch you later."

Chapter 20: The Dead Girl.

Chloe was glad to be home. As much fun as eating pie with Grey and Emma had been, she was glad that they managed to avoid a scene with Kate at the diner. Chloe didn't need any more unwanted attention. Her popularity was already getting to be too much for her.

Jake unlocked the door and they went inside. He had been quiet the whole way home. Chloe knew to leave him alone now. He needed to deal with things in his own time. The house was silent. Jeanette must have stayed to hang out with some of the other parents after the game. Jake was about to shut the door behind them when Kate stuck her foot in the door.

Surprised, Jake let go of the door handle, allowing her to enter, "What are you doing here, Kate?"

Kate walked in, looking angry. Chloe felt sudden fear course through her veins. Something was wrong here.

"I need to talk to you Jake. Without her here. Now," Kate said, vehemently, walking forward without shutting the door.

"Whatever you want to say to me, you can say in front of Chloe," Jake said, looking suddenly exhausted.

Chloe didn't really want to get involved, but Kate was already glaring at her.

"Look, Chloe. I know you want to break Jake and me up so that you can have him to yourself," Kate took a step toward her, walking past Jake, whose jaw dropped open in surprise at Kate's complete animosity toward Chloe.

"Kate, we are broken up. What's wrong with you? This isn't you," Jake said, grabbing Kate's arm.

"But you can't do this to me!" Kate flung Jake's arm off of her own, violently, throwing him completely off balance. Jake fell backwards and crashed through the gla.s.s coffee table behind him, shattering it. He fell through it, landing unconscious on the floor, blood pooling around him.

"Oh my G.o.d," Chloe whispered moving forward a step, toward Jake before she realized a crazed Kate stood between them.

Kate was standing frozen, looking at Jake's body on the ground. She seemed surprised at what had happened.

Kate whirled on Chloe, closing in on her, "You killed him!"

Chloe backed away from Kate, suddenly fearful for her life. Kate was the murderer. Her face contorted in rage and it didn't even look like her anymore. She was completely beyond reason.

"You killed him!" Kate screamed again, in raw agony.

"I didn't!" Chloe cried, hoping to reason with her. "He grabbed onto your arm and fell off balance."

"It was only because you were there. I was trying to get to you. It's your fault! You killed him!" Kate cried again. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she kept advancing on Chloe, threatening her with every menacing move forward.

"It's n.o.body's fault," Chloe said, trying to take another approach. "It was an accident."

"It's your fault," Kate repeated like a broken record.

Chloe found her back suddenly up against the kitchen wall. Her eyes jumped from Kate's face to her immediate surroundings, looking for anything with which to protect herself. There was a knife stand, but it was out of her reach. The only thing within her grasp was a stack of mail or the stool that stood on one side of the kitchen counter. Chloe put her hands inconspicuously on the stool, thinking that she would swing it just before Kate got to her. If it didn't surprise Kate, at least it should make her retreat a little, Chloe thought.

Kate walked another step toward her. Chloe slowly firmed up her grip on the stool. She was braced to swing it, when there was a crack and Kate fell to the floor unconscious.

Chloe looked dazedly over at Emma, who was holding the remains of a now cracked flower vase that had been standing in the main entranceway.

"Emma! What are you doing here? How did you know?" Chloe asked, letting go of her grip on the stool and running forward to hug her friend.

It had been brave of Emma to knock Kate out before she could hurt her or anyone else. Thank G.o.d she had shown up when she did. Emma was looking down at Kate as if in shock. Chloe stopped short of them, suddenly unsure what to do.

"Emma, are you okay?" Chloe hesitantly asked.

Emma seemed to shake herself out of her state, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Chloe nodded, "I'm going to go check on Jake. He's hurt. Call the police."

Chloe ran into the living room to attend to Jake. She hoped that Kate had overreacted in thinking that Jake was dead.

Chloe's shoes crunched across gla.s.s and she carefully picked her way across the floor over to Jake, not wanting to cut her feet on the shards of gla.s.s that were everywhere. She could already see that he was breathing. Chloe bent down to check his pulse. It seemed strong to her. He still definitely needed an ambulance. His cuts didn't seem so bad from where she was standing, but she was unsure how much gla.s.s and blood lied beneath him. When he woke up he was going to be in a lot of pain. She wasn't going to move him herself. Chloe reached into the tiny purse that had somehow stayed on her shoulder this whole time and pulled out her cell phone to call an ambulance and the police. Chloe hadn't heard Emma call yet from the kitchen. She was probably still in shock and Jake needed help. Chloe started dialing nine one one when she heard a loud sickening crack and the world went completely black and silent.

Chloe didn't know where she was at first, when she opened her eyes. Her immediate thought was that her head was killing her. She had never had a worse headache. Her head was throbbing to the beat of her heart. She could barely focus on anything else, but that beat. Still, she knew something was wrong and she opened her eyes. She was lying in the bathtub. Chloe tried to move, but her legs and arms were bound together. She was helpless.

"You're awake. Lucky you," A female voice said above her.

Chloe looked over and saw Emma walking toward her.

"Emma? What's going on?" Chloe felt confused and bewildered.

"As if you don't know," Emma said, casually as she leaned over Chloe and turned on the bath water.

Cold water spurted out rapidly sloshing against Chloe's body. It was freezing. Chloe tried to move away, but almost caused herself to fall face forward into the water. The water quickly lapped the length of the tub and started filling it. Her nightmares of almost drowning in the ocean were suddenly fresh in her mind.

"What are you doing?" Chloe asked again, voice rising in a panic.

Emma sat down on the edge of the tub, watching Chloe with interest. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying Chloe's panic as the freezing water filled the bathtub.

Emma smiled, "I'm killing you, dummy. I know how scared you are of water."

Chloe felt the fear rise in her throat. How could this be? She and Emma had become friends. Emma had never done anything cruel or mean to her. Why was she doing this? How could this be the Emma she knew?

"Why Emma? I haven't done anything at all to you!" Chloe said, trying to remain calm.

Emma laughed, an insane laugh. "As if you don't know what you've done. I even warned you to stop, but you just couldn't, could you?"

Chloe felt confused and quickly ran through her friendship with Emma in her mind. Emma was obviously insane and there was no rational explanation for what she was doing, but she had to be talking about something. Maybe there was a way Chloe could calm her down. Her brain chose that moment to chime in a like you calmed Kate down. Chloe shut her brain off, not wanting to think about the fact that she had dealt with at least two complete psychopaths that night. Were they in on this together?

"What did you want me to stop?" Chloe asked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Emma smiled at her. Chloe didn't smile back. The freezing water was rapidly filling the tub. Her toes and legs felt somewhat numb. If Emma didn't let her go of her own volition, Chloe wasn't sure how on earth she was going to get out of this predicament.

"So, what are you talking about?" Chloe asked again, when Emma didn't say anything more.

Emma smiled wider. "Grey, of course, and Jake. You just couldn't stay away from the popular crowd."

Chloe felt confused. "Grey? But you said that was over and done with. You said you were completely over him and that you understood if I liked him. And, I didn't know you liked Jake?"

Emma shrugged. "It has nothing to do with liking them. I don't want to date either of them. That crowd is poisonous."

"What?" Chloe pleaded.

"They destroy everyone in their path. Look at Kate. Driven insane. Look at Ted. Driven to suicide," Emma said.

"But I'm not like that. I wouldn't hurt anyone," Chloe protested.

"Now that's just not true," Emma said, reaching over Chloe to turn off the water, which had now completely filled the tub. "Don't lie. You have no problems going after boys who have girlfriends. Just ask Kate. Oh wait, you can't. She's unconscious, but she told me all about how you have been trying to steal Jake out from under her. She knew what you were."

"I wasn't trying to steal Jake from her! She's crazy!" Chloe yelled.

"Yeah, but she still has a point. And, you loved all the attention everyone was giving you," Emma said.

Chloe's mind felt like it was in a fog. This was surreal. Emma was totally crazy.

"And, I wasn't trying to steal Grey from you either!" Chloe begged, trying to say anything to get Emma to grasp reason. "We're friends!"

"It doesn't matter now," Emma said, ignoring her. "What's done is done."

"But, Emma," Chloe tried to reason with her.

Emma's look was pure insanity, "You are not going to replace Lora. n.o.body will."

Chloe wasn't sure what to say. Emma was insane. Chloe was hoping if she kept Emma rambling that maybe Jeannette would come home and find the chaos or that someone would somehow discover what had happened in the house that night before it was too late.

"So, wait, did you kill Lora Kelly?" Chloe heard herself ask, through chattering teeth, even though she already knew the answer.

Emma looked Chloe in the eyes and grinned happily, "Yes, I did and it was one h.e.l.l of a pleasure to put a knife through that b.i.t.c.h's throat. She loved to screw with people. Well, I had the last laugh on that one. She didn't even see the knife coming. She was telling me how stupid and ugly I was and how there was no way Grey would ever even consider dating me anymore and then the knife was in her throat and she was choking on her own blood. I pushed her toward the stairs and she must have died there. It couldn't have been long. There was so much blood."

Chloe was petrified watching Emma tell this story, gloating over the gory details. What had made her like this? How had she not seen it before? Had it been simple jealousy over Grey that had driven her over the edge or had it started somewhere else?

"Did you kill Elizabeth Hill too?" Chloe asked, her voice tinged with horror. She wanted to keep Emma talking. She had to keep her talking. She didn't want to know what was next in store for her, since the bathtub was now full of water. Was Emma going to drown her? Chloe tried not to shudder.

Emma grinned, "Yes, I killed her too. She and Lora were in on everything together. If one of them got something, the other wanted it too. She was replacing Lora seconds after she died."

Chloe felt sick. She had confided in Emma every day. She had known her ever since the first murder and never suspected a thing. Emma was so nice and sweet and welcoming to her that she never would have suspected a thing. She had even confided all of the horrific happenings to Emma. How had she been so blind to someone who was so completely unhinged?

"But Emma, I'm not popular at all. There is no way that I would become the next Lora Kelly or Elizabeth Hill," Chloe rationalized.

"Everyone already knows who you are and you're poised to date either Jake or Grey, both equally prestigious as boyfriends," Emma said simply. "After tonight, I just knew you were next. Jana even said h.e.l.lo to you and she doesn't talk to just anyone. I'd bet in weeks you'd be the next Lora Kelly. Now, Jana will never be a Lora Kelly, but she's smart enough to see you could be. She was trying to get her hooks into you early, so she could hang on for the ride. And, I did try to warn you, you know, since we were friends, but no matter how much I warned you, it just didn't matter."

"What are you going to do now?" Chloe asked, shivering from both cold and fear.

"Kill you, of course," Emma said simply.

"What about Kate and Jake?" Chloe asked, fearful for their lives as well. As much as she didn't like Kate, Kate didn't deserve to die for being jealous. Chloe was seeing Kate in a new light now. Kate was unhinged, but she wasn't as unhinged as Emma. She would not have hurt Chloe and she hadn't meant to hurt Jake. It had been an accident and her reaction toward Chloe must have been panic.

"I've been thinking about them," Emma replied, her smile widening. "Kate is the perfect scapegoat for all of this. She's been going insane over Jake. Everyone knows it. They've all seen her going crazy. That's why she wasn't on my list, actually. Jake breaking up with her was going to destroy her in every sense of the word for me. She could never be a Lora Kelly if a guy drove her nuts. I was cleverer. I've hidden everything. n.o.body even cares about me. I blend into the wall. Kate has not been blending into the wall. She's been standing out and making herself into an obvious wreck. It wouldn't be a long stretch for her to have killed you over jealousy for Jake. And, the same thing for Lora. He used to date her and Lora obviously still wanted him. Lora was a definite threat to their relationship, so Kate killed her and then killed Elizabeth for whatever reason you want to give her. Maybe she thought Elizabeth would find out. Or, maybe she thought Elizabeth was after Jake too. Like I said, they did like the same men."

"You're going to frame Kate?" Chloe felt horrified. She didn't know how she was going to get out of this situation. Emma seemed to have every terrifying detail completely worked out and accounted for in her mind.

"It's perfect right? It's like it's all meant to be, falling into place like this. I'm framing her this very minute. She accidentally knocked out Jake. He is witness to that if he ever wakes up. He'll corroborate that. He'll even say that he's positive Kate killed you. He saw how insane she was acting," Emma said.

"What if he doesn't wake up?" Chloe asked.

"Then he doesn't wake up. No big loss. It will be kind of funny to see Kate dealing with jail and the loss of her true love. It will be very tragic," Emma said, delighting in the thought.

"But what about Kate being knocked out? How are you going to explain that? She couldn't have killed me if she was unconscious," Chloe pointed out, hoping to throw a wrench in Emma's plan. She just needed to keep stalling. Someone had to come to her rescue.

"It's easy enough to explain," Emma shrugged. "She accidentally knocked Jake into the gla.s.s table. Then she killed you and to make it look like someone else did it all, she knocked herself out. She'll claim someone else did it too. It will be perfect because n.o.body will believe her. Her fingerprints are going to be all over everything."

Chloe shuddered. She couldn't feel her fingers and her toes anymore. Everything was numb.

"What are you going to do to me?" Chloe asked.