Mia's POV
I was dumbfounded. What the hell was wrong with Shawn? Why would he even do that? Doesn't he understand what the word NO means? Geez. In my eyes, he's nothing but a criminal—a walking red flag, practically a rapist.
"The hell, Shawn! Jump!" Lexi screamed, though it wasn't exactly her full voice. More like restrained panic.
Hiro dove first, cutting through the dark water, followed by Zeke and Lexi. I hesitated for only a second before Missy and I followed.
I gripped my phone tightly as I leapt. It was waterproof, but I still prayed I wouldn't lose it.
The air rushed past me, icy and sharp, before the ocean slammed against my body like a wall. I winced—my landing was terrible. That's going to bruise.
I forced myself to swim upward, breaking the surface with a sharp gasp. The night had fallen fast, swallowing everything.
Then Lexi's voice cut through the waves. "Shit! Guys—Mariah's missing!"
Panic exploded in my chest. Lexi cursed, loudly, over and over. I cursed too, under my breath. This wasn't supposed to happen. The pranks, the bullying—it was all supposed to be harmless this time. No fights, no chaos. Just… fun. Fun.
Now? Someone might actually die.
I dove beneath the surface, shining my phone's flashlight as I searched. The saltwater burned my eyes, but I forced them open, scanning the void below. It was useless. My vision blurred, my lungs burned, and the ocean was too deep, too black. Without snorkeling gear, we were blind.
One hour passed. Still no sign of her. My eyes were bloodshot from the salt, my body trembling from exhaustion. None of us could reach the bottom; the water was far too deep. If we pushed ourselves any further, our eardrums would burst.
"Guys, quit it," Merida's voice came, flat and cold.
I whipped my head toward her. "What? Are you serious right now?" My suspicion flared—she had whispered something to Shawn before Mariah was thrown. Did she really hate her ex-best friend that much? Enough to…
Lexi's patience shattered. "Quit it?! You scum!" she screamed, her voice hoarse from swimming. "For sure you're the reason we're even here, searching for her! You told Shawn, didn't you? I saw you whisper to him! Don't you dare deny it, bitch!"
Merida didn't even flinch. She raised a brow, smirking like some villain in a bad movie. "Do you have any proof?"
Her nonchalance made me sick. I almost wanted to swim over and drag her under myself.
"Guys, shut the fuck up!" Cynthia's voice boomed over the argument, silencing us.
She was panting, her voice rough. "It's been an hour. If Mariah drowned, her body would've floated by now—I think. If not… guys, it's pitch-black. We can't see anything. We're putting ourselves in danger, too. Let's quit. Mariah's dead."
Her words stung. My throat tightened, but she wasn't wrong. The cold was seeping deep into my bones, and this water could easily kill another one of us if we kept searching blindly.
"I second the motion," Hardin said, raising his hand like this was some kind of class debate. His tone was annoyingly calm. "This is pointless. Listen, we're all legal adults now—except Lexi, she's seventeen. If Mariah's parents file a lawsuit and the police investigate, our families' reputations will be dragged through the mud. Worse, we'll all be suspects. What happened tonight stays between us. If anyone asks, Mariah is MIA. Just a missing person case. We protect ourselves first."
I stared at him, stunned. Cover it up? That was his solution?
"That's ridiculous," Missy muttered, voicing what I couldn't yet say. "Lying will only make this worse. It'll look like murder, not an accident."
I wanted to scream. The best option wasn't to lie. The best option was to tell the truth. Tell everyone exactly what happened. Shawn threw Mariah off the cliff. Merida ordered it. Simple.
"I'm not covering for those bitches," Lexi growled under her breath. I nodded silently. Same.
Hardin kept talking, trying to twist his logic into something palatable. "Look at the bigger picture. If the school confirms Class 12-A always bullied Mariah, the cops will focus on us. All of us. Even those of us who didn't touch her. Do you want to become suspects? Think carefully."
I swam to the rocks and pulled myself out of the water, shivering. My patience was fraying. "Think carefully? Hardin, I own this place. My family owns this island. And what—you want it to be remembered as the scene of a murder? Are you insane?"
No one answered. Everyone just… stared.
I turned my back to them, muttering under my breath, "Believe what you want. But I won't help cover this up."
We all climbed out of the water eventually, retreating to the kubos in silence.
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. This was supposed to be Mariah's bed too, but now it was just mine.
I couldn't sleep. My mind replayed everything. Shawn's arms grabbing her. Merida's smirk. The sound of Mariah's scream as she fell.
I didn't even feel hungry. Lunch had been my last meal, but my stomach was too tight, too knotted to care.
⸻
Morning came in a blur. Voices outside yanked me awake. More arguing. More accusations. And now, a new plan: we were going back to the cliff to "find" Mariah.
Find her. Or… whatever's left of her.
It had been nine hours. No one survives that. Not here. Not in this ocean.
Hiro and Zeke maneuvered the boat as we headed back toward the spot. The water sparkled under the morning sun, the cliffs towering above us like silent sentinels. It was beautiful. Instagram-worthy, even.
But none of us were here for the view.
I wasn't close to Mariah. We weren't friends. We never had been. But none of that mattered now.
Because I was the reason we were here.
And this island—the one I loved, the one my family owned—was starting to feel like a grave.