Emma Dethridge is not a bad person. It’s all Valerie Smalls’ fault really… Well that’s just my opinion anyway. So let me tell you from my point of view, the story from a bystander’s eyes. Emma and Valerie are extremely different from each other in more ways than one, but they’ve been best friends since anyone can remember. In 3rd grade one random day at recess someone pushed Emma off the swing, and Valerie threw mulch at them, and that’s how their friendship blossomed. A kind act from a not so kind person. Emma is a sweet and overall good person with wavy blonde hair and big brown eyes. Valerie on the other hand has dark brown bone straight hair, greenish-bluish eyes, and she kinda sucks. I would know, her locker has been right next to mine since freshman year. While being her locker neighbor is the literal worst, it also has its perks, like listening in on her many many meaningless conversations. All her conversations weren’t meaningless though, some were actually worth listening to. Just like this one…

“I don’t know about this Val, are you sure you want to go?”

“Duh Em I have to go, my reputation depends on it! If I don’t go, people will think I’m a loser nobody who never gets invited anywhere, and that could seriously destroy my rep. And if my rep is trashed, I won’t win homecoming queen,” 

She slammed her locker shut and looked Emma in the eye.

“I have to win.” 

And just like that they walked away. I assumed the party they were talking about is the party tonight at Asher Lewis’ house, the party he says will be “the party of the century”. I wasn’t planning on going of course but after that discussion I knew something was going to happen at that party. And I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

So a fight broke out between them just as I knew it would. I don’t really know the full context because I was in the kitchen raiding the pantry and being unsocial, but I do know one second I heard Drake, and the next it was drowned out by the sound of two girls yelling at each other. 

“All you care about is your reputation and winning homecoming queen! What about me Val? What about your best friend?”

“Ya know what Em? Everything has always been about you since the day we met! I spend everyday constantly trying to make you feel better about being a lowlife, antisocial, loser! Because you just have this nagging fear that I might outgrow you like a worn out toy. Well guess what Emma, I just did.”

I came out of the kitchen to an awkward silence in the room, except the low indistinct whispers going around. The music had been completely turned off and everyone was just standing there not knowing what to do. Emma and Valerie had stormed off in different directions, basically fuming from the ears. But the tension was eventually broken by some guy who was drunk out of his mind.

“Let’s get this party started!”

He stumbled into a different room and we could hear him throwing up before the music started playing again. I sat on the arm of an ugly, brown, large recliner and ate out of the newly opened bag of family sized Cheddar Cheese Ruffles and watched everyone dancing and having a blast. Then Emma came my way mumbling to herself and sat in the unoccupied recliner.

“That self centered stuck up-ugh! I don’t need her.”

Now I know I said I was just a random person with the inside scoop, but this stranger might’ve gotten involved. Now that I think about it, was this all my fault..? Probably not. Emma just seemed like she needed a friend, and I just stepped in to fill the void that’s all. 

“You know Emma it’s really not your fault if you think about it, Valerie is a brat who was raised getting everything she wants.”

“That’s the thing, she’s really not as bad as she seems. She can actually be sweet sometimes.”

“In the 3rd grade maybe.”

Emma looked over to the middle of the room where everyone was dancing and sighed, staring at Valerie in the middle of everything looking unbothered by the fact that she and Emma just got into a huge fight. She was the center of attention.

“Sometimes I just wish she had some competition, someone to give her a run for her money.”

“That could be you Emma.”

“Huh… maybe it could be.”

So I may have been the cause of all this, but who told her to listen to me! Now Emma had an idea in her head which I may or may not have planted. She was going to run for homecoming queen. We spent the rest of the night talking, laughing, dancing, and just having fun. Emma did leave before me, but we exchanged numbers before she did. The next morning as I was brushing my teeth I got a text from Emma, asking me to meet her at Blue Lily Boutique and help her pick out a homecoming dress. She would’ve gone with Valerie but they weren’t on speaking terms at the moment, obviously. 

At the boutique we tried on dresses and made our own little chick flick montage. The dress she ended up buying was a knee length, sparkly, navy blue halter dress. The dress I bought was- well unimportant. Now homecoming was about a week away and I know Emma wouldn’t have the votes. So I may or may not have (and this is not me admitting guilt) bribed a couple people and specifically asked people who hate Valerie Smalls, and that’s about half of the high school population. 

Some time went by and everyone knew about Emma running for homecoming queen. People were voting for her left and right, Emma actually had a chance. When homecoming finally rolled around the corner I was actually excited for it. Ew. I wasn’t completely satisfied though, I had to ensure Emma’s win. But how… I scrolled through Instagram while I thought up a plan and a picture of Valerie biting into a chocolate covered croissant at the Tortllino Cafe popped up on my feed. I stared at the picture. I remember walking by the cafe one day last fall and seeing Valerie in the window biting into a delicious, mouth watering dessert for a picture, then throwing it away before her and some other friends walked across the street to go shopping. What a waste. Then a devious maybe even illegal idea popped in my head. I had to ruin her night. 

I drove down Reyes Street and turned down Aguilar Drive. When I saw the large, white, spacious, modern looking, two story house I stopped about two houses away. Two houses away from Valerie’s house. I know what you’re thinking, no I’m not some crazed stalker. I only know where she lives because she hosted several parties over the years that I wasn’t invited to but went to anyway. There wasn’t anybody there which makes sense because her parents are workaholics who never pay attention to her and the housekeeper only cleans on Wednesdays and Sundays. 

I walked to her house and up the driveway I walked around the house towards the pool and saw an open window. Bingo. I looked through it and scanned the house. Seeing there really wasn’t anyone there I pushed the window open a bit more so I could climb through. I crept through the living room and up the stairs into the last room down the long wide hallway. Right there hanging on the door inside her walk-in closet was her homecoming dress, a floor length, emerald green, velvety dress, with a plunging neckline. Plain but gorgeous, especially on Valerie Smalls. I went back down the stairs and rummaged through the drawers in the kitchen looking for scissors to ruin the dress. When I found them I sprinted up the stairs into Valerie’s room and went to work… 

I made sure to put the scissors up and close the window on my way out and I was gone. Emma was planning on coming over to my house to get ready for the dance, but I had to cancel on her. I told her I would just meet her at the dance and she agreed. I opened up Snapchat and looked through several people’s stories then I saw Valerie’s. She posted a video of the shredded dress threatening to kill whoever did it and having a complete breakdown. I almost felt bad for her. Maybe I went too far this time…so I decided to make it right. I went to her house and put my dress on her porch, brand new and  wrapped in plastic. I rang the doorbell and hid in the shrubs by the edge of the driveway. I watched her open the door shocked, but also a tiny bit relieved. I would just wear an old dress from another event. It's not like anyone would notice, I’m nobody. 

And this is where all questions are answered. The one everyone seems to be asking though is what really happened that night?

I was standing by the punch bowl as a DJ who was playing the 2016 greatest pop hits blasted Cheap Thrills by Sia, the music was out of date but everyone danced along to the nostalgia. I was bored of the whole scene already and Emma wasn’t here yet so I left the gym through the door that leads outside to take a little walk under the stars. I walked towards the huge tree behind the school then I heard voices. It was coming from the old shed by the tree that was used to store random tools and other things. It was normally locked and bolted shut so no one tried to hurt anybody. I hid behind the tree and looked around the large trunk to see Valerie and Emma arguing. 

Valerie was accusing Emma of ruining her dress while Emma was swearing she didn’t. Then it just happened. Valerie snapped. She picked up a rusted axe lying on the shed floor and swung at Emma’s head. Blood splattered all over Valerie’s face and her dress. My dress. My hot pink satin dress. A dress that I didn’t really like, but I knew the simplicity of it would bring attention to Valerie’s light eyes and contrast with her dark hair. A dress that was just a single piece in a larger puzzle. A dress that I bought specifically for Valerie Smalls. I watched Valerie break down and start to cry holding Emma in her arms. Holding Emma’s lifeless, nearly headless body in the dress. 

I quietly walked back into the gym just in time to win homecoming queen with a smile on my face. Yes me, a lonely bystander who convinced hundreds of students to vote for her instead of Valerie Smalls and Emma Dethridge. An outsider who spread lies to make Valerie and Emma the most hated girls in school. A stranger who got mulch thrown in her face for accidentally pushing a little girl off the swing in the 3rd grade. The observer who convinced Emma to run against a girl with records of violence from the 1st and 2nd graded because she knew it would push her over the edge. The spectator who brought bolt cutters to the homecoming dance. The viewer who knew Emma Dethridge had to die to ruin Valerie’s life. The onlooker, pulling all the strings. The puppeteer who had finally won.