The Pages Between Us

3 | The Connection

TW: suicide letter mention + brief mention of drug usage this chapter 

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I panicked when I heard the toilet flush down the hall. I dropped the letter and covered it with papers, then ran over to Quinn's bed and acted like everything was fine.

But it wasn't fine at all.

"Okay so I think we have monopoly or candy land, your choice" Quinn said, walking back in her room.

I looked over at her and smiled "Candy Land is fine"

My eyes followed Quinn as she walked towards her desk "My mom keeps that cabinet locked so I have to find the key, sorry about this"

I tried to think of things I could say to make it less awkward. I knew that in a few seconds she was going to realize that she left her suicide letter on her desk, meaning there is a high chance I saw it. Which I did.

I watched as Quinn moved some papers around and paused on one piece. She turned to make eye contact with me.

I froze, she had probably just realized that I dug through her stuff and found her letter. I was scared that I was about to lose the friend I just made.

"I found the key" She smiled, holding the key up so I could see it.

I let out a breath.

"Awesome! Can't wait"

Quinn gave me a confused look "okay, well I hope you're ready to lose"

I chuckled but my face fell when she left. I felt terrible that I invaded her life like that. And the fact that I played dumb and didn't tell her what I had seen. It's one of my bad traits, I get it from my dad.

Quinn and I ended up playing 3 rounds of Candy Land, she won. After we were done playing we just hung out and talked until 2:40, when I could go home.
I arrived home to an empty house, meaning my brother was most likely getting high with his friends. I grabbed an apple out of the fridge and jumped onto the counter. As I was sitting there I realized that I had an actual friend. Sure, Emmy and I were friends but it always felt like I was just an item to her. It made her seem like less of a bitch if she still had a friend from middle school. Quinn was kind and even if we had only hung out for a day, it felt like we actually had a bond.

I looked out the window and saw a car pulling into the driveway. It was my moms. This was odd because she usually doesn't get home until later but I wasn't complaining because it meant I didn't have to make dinner for once.

"Hey mom" I said as she walked through the door. She placed her stuff down and sighed "Hi sweetheart, how was your day"

"It was good, I don't really have any homework to do so that's a plus"

My mom made eye contact with me "is that because you skipped school today?"

shit.

"I was minding my business and filing Mindy's papers- because for some reason she's incapable of doing it herself, when I got a phone call from the school saying you didn't show up to science or any class after that" she raised an eyebrow.

I wasn't really sure what to say to her because I could lie to her, but I might as well be digging my own grave with that. If I told her the truth she might be happy and I'd still be in a lot of trouble, but it really seemed like the better option here.

"Mom, I'm so sorry. I promise I just got ice cream and hung out at my friends house, we didn't get into any trouble"

"Well thank you for telling me the truth" she walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge "so how was your day with Emmy then?"