Hi! Thanks for coming back to my blog!! Here's the second chapter of Innocent Until Proven Guilty! If you haven't already read chapter one, click this link, read it, then come back: https://miribrooks1.wixsite.com/quoted/post/innocent-until-proven-guilty-a-short-story-chap-one
Here's a recap from chapter one: Astrid's brother turned himself in for killing his best friend. But, Astrid knows her brother would never murder someone, let alone his own friend. So, she decides to figure out who actually killed Jaydin's best friend, and clear her brother's name.
Astrid's boyfriend, Frank, comes along for the ride to help Astrid clear her brother's name.
Chap. two
“What college are you thinking of applying to?” Beth, Astrid’s best friend, asked.
They were sitting on Astrid’s bedroom floor, searching through old yearbooks because they were bored.
“I haven’t really thought of it yet,” Astrid said honestly. She knew that senior year was the year to start planning for your future, but she didn’t want to think about college yet. She was afraid that if she thought about where she wanted to go to college, she would make up her mind, then Frank would come along and tell her he wanted to go somewhere. Then, they would be split up for school, and that might just ruin their entire relationship. She couldn’t think about college when thoughts like that popped up. “Maybe I’ll just take a GAP year. I could use a break from school.”
Beth gave her a small smile. “Okay, whatever you say.” Beth went on to tell Astrid all about her life plan, and Astrid tried to listen and act like she was interested, but then worries started to brew in her mind.
What if I can’t find out how to clear my brother’s name before the end of senior year? How would I be able to go on? What would happen to me? Would I be depressed? Or would I learn to live with it?
“Astrid? You okay?” Beth asked, patting her arm.
Astrid blinked, looking at Beth with a shrug. “Sorry. I zoned out a bit. What were you saying?”
“I was just saying, I need to go home. Goodbye!” Beth hugged Astrid, and grabbed her bag as she left the room.
Do all my friends hate me? Astrid thought, laughing silently as she thought about how she hadn’t really paid attention to her friends recently. Beth was the only one she’d really talked to, and with Frank around so much, she just didn’t have time for anyone else. It was kinda sad, but at the same time Astrid didn’t think she needed a lot of friends right then. She was perfectly fine with it just being her for a little while.
Astrid sat on the floor for a few minutes flipping through more old yearbooks. When she came across the picture of Jaydin, her older brother, she stopped. She released the page, and it fell against the other pages in the yearbook.
She stared at his picture, remembering how he always made her smile. He always hung out with her. He never neglected her. He was always there for her.
She sniffled, hugging herself. I miss you big brother.
Every time she thought about her brother, she cried. Just knowing he was locked up in prison hurt her heart. She hated it.
When she had taken control of herself again, she wiped a stray tear off her cheek and looked closely at Jaydin’s yearbook picture. It was the picture from Jaydin’s senior year, before he graduated. Jaydin had been eighteen, the same age Astrid was now, but back then, Astrid had been sixteen, and in her sophomore year.
Astrid recalled all the memories from Jaydin’s senior year. From throwing parties with no alcohol because he was that good, to dating girls that he never wanted to break up with, he was the best brother she could have ever asked for.
Astrid went to the back of the yearbook to see how many pictures Jaydin was featured in. She smiled when she noticed he was in three different yearbook photos. One for being on the 4-H team. One for being a student. And one for being at the last football game of the season.
When she flipped over to the picture of him at the football game, she studied it for a little bit. Then, she noticed a girl with dark black hair, pale skin, and bright blue eyes standing off to the side of the picture. The girl was staring straight at Jaydin in a very strange way.
“What the what…” Astrid mumbled. “Who is that?” She flipped back through the year book to the place where all the student pictures were located, and finally found the same exact girl. She was a junior that year, and her name was Amylee Anderson.
On Wednesday, Astrid found herself sitting in a coffee shop across from none other than Marie Anderson, Amylee’s sister.
The only way Astrid was able to get in contact with Amylee’s sister was because of Facebook.
The day she had found out Amylee was the one in the background of the photo, she had searched her name everywhere, but Amylee was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t on Facebook, or Instagram, or YouTube, or Twitter. She wasn’t anywhere on the internet at all. But, when Astrid had searched Amylee’s name, Marie Anderson’s accounts had come up.
After a quick DM and Facebook comment, Marie had responded with, Yes, I’m Amylee’s sister. How can I help you?
Once Astrid had gotten a response, the next step was to meet up. At first, Marie wasn’t sure about meeting up with someone she had never met before, but once Astrid had explained why she wanted to meet up, Marie slowly gave in, and decided to say yes to meeting up.
“Thank you so much for meeting up with me,” Astrid said, giving Marie a smile. “I just wanted to ask you a few questions. If you don’t want to answer them, that’s okay, but your answers could be a big help in clearing my brother’s name.”
Marie nodded. “Of course. But, I’ve got to tell you that I’m not sure anything I say will help. I know for a fact that Amylee had nothing to do with your brother. She never talked about him. I don’t even think she knew who he was. I know you saw her in that yearbook photo, but I feel like it’s a coincidence. Maybe she was looking at something else, and you just couldn’t tell.”
Astrid kept smiling. She was aware that Marie didn’t think Amylee had anything to do with anything, but she also knew that there’s always secrets to keep. Amylee could have known Jaydin and just never said anything to her sister.
Astrid cleared her throat after Marie finished talking. Then, she began asking questions.
“Do you know where Amylee is?”
Marie shook her head. “Amylee is a few years older than me. When she was a junior in high school, I was just a freshman. And when she graduated high school, she moved to Nebraska for college. I haven’t really heard from her much. Sometimes she’ll text and ask how I’m doing. Sometimes she’ll text my parents and tell them she loves them. But, it’s usually very random when she texts. And, she never really answers our texts. It’s almost like she likes to be the one staying in contact. She would rather have contact with us than we have contact with her.” Astrid nodded for Marie to go on. “So, umm…what else did you want to know about my sister?”
“Well, if it’s not too personal, I was wondering if you knew if your sister was dating someone currently?”
“No, I don’t believe so.”
“Does she have a reason for not having any social media accounts?”
“She just wants to be anonymous to the world. She doesn’t like social media.”
For some reason, the moment Marie said ‘anonymous to the world,’ something clicked in Astrid’s brain. Is there another reason that Amylee doesn’t have social media? Could she have a huge secret that she doesn’t want to get out to the world?
Astrid took a sip of her matcha, thinking for a minute. “Can I have Amylee’s phone number please? I’d like to get in touch with her. I promise I won’t ask her about her personal life. I just want to ask her if she knew my brother.”
Marie agreed, giving Astrid her sister’s number.
“Thanks for coming, Marie. It was nice chatting with you. You’ve been a big help,” Astrid said as they both got up from the table.
Marie looked confused. “It doesn’t seem like I’ve given you anything to help clear your brother’s name, but I guess you’re welcome. It was nice to meet you. Bye!” Marie walked out of the coffee shop after saying goodbye. Astrid watched her leave, then gathered up her stuff.
When she arrived at a park near her house, she sat down on a bench and took out her phone.
“Hey, what’s up Ash?” Frank asked, answering almost immediately.
“Hey. Sorry I haven’t been in touch much. I’ve been thinking constantly about my brother. And, when Beth was over the other day, we were looking through old yearbooks.” Astrid filled her boyfriend in on the interview, and everything going on.
“How did the interview go? Did you find anything?” Frank questioned after hearing the whole story.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I think I did find something. Can you come over to my house?”
Okay, so that was chapter two! I'm not quite sure when I'm posting the third chapter. It will probably be on Saturday or Sunday. We shall see! But, I hope you liked this chapter! Astrid is beginning to find clues to help her solve this mystery!
In this chapter, I reference a few things that I love. When Astrid's best friend leaves, she says "Goodbye." That's a reference to my favorite song by Annie Rose called Goodbye. About a paragraph later, Astrid asks herself if all her friends hate her. That's referencing Mckenna Grace's new song do all my friends hate me. Also, when Astrid is meeting with Marie at the coffee shop, the story mentions Astrid is drinking matcha. I added that because I love matcha. (;
Those were all the little easter eggs to my own interests! Stay tuned for chapter three! Hope you are enjoying the story so far!! ~Ella
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