IX: Truth
I'M ABSOLUTELY HOPELESS. Starring at all the new clothes Hannah and Elle had chosen for me, seeing so many skirts and dresses and blazers, and I still went right to the same thing: jeans and a t-shirt.
One of them, probably Hannah if I'm being honest with myself, had taken all my old clothes and thrown them out. So even though I was in jeans and a t-shirt, I was slightly more chic (whatever that actually means) now than my old Brooklyn self.
I wore jeans, but they didnt even feel like denim. They were tight and looked as if I'd need to peel them off at the end of the day. My t-shirt, one that I had chosen with my eyes closed, was made of soft white cotton and had black leather shoulder sleeve cuffs.
My favourite plimsoles had been thrown out too, so now I was trying to find a pair of shoes that didn't have a platform heel. I finally settled on three inch plum suede pumps because they were the only thing I found that I actually felt like I didn't walk peg footed in.
Just as I was putting my hair up in a high ponytail, I heard the doorbell. Making my way out of the room to greet who I had assumed was Felicity, I froze when I heard raised voices.
"Please leave. Miss White does not wish to see you."
"But I have to talk to her!" There was a pause. "Poppy! Poppy please hear me out!"
"What is all that screaming?" I said as I trotted down the stairs. I paused when I saw Elle and sighed. "What are you doing here?"
"Poppy, please..." There was something in her gaze that made me falter. Sincerity maybe, but it was more than that. She seemed...hurt.
I sighed. "Okay."
Elle visibly relaxed and followed me into the drawing room. "I see you liked the clothes."
"Well, I don't fancy walking around naked, and since you both threw my old clothes away...I guess I have to like them now."
Elle gave me a weak smile. "Hannah insisted."
"Yeah, you say that a lot."
Elle raised an eyebrow. "You have met her, haven't you?"
I tensed at the almost friendly direction the conversation had drifted to. I'm supposed to be angry. "Why are you here?"
"Poppy, you need to believe me. I had nothing to do with this. And Hannah, she can be a pain in the ass but she would never--"
"Then who?" I interrupted. Tears were blurring my vision. Who would ever target me like this?
"I don't know." I looked up and met her soft gaze. "But I do know that this has scheme written all over it. Someone planned this; they purposely went out of their way to hurt you. You need to be careful of who you trust. Secrets have a way of getting out around here, and scandal always follows."
"Are you speaking from experience?" I asked. I watched as her composure crumbled and I instantly felt horrible.
"I uh yeah, I guess I am. People are still getting over my latest hiccup. It's been over a year and...and they're still condemning me for it."
I wanted to say something. My mouth was poised and ready to apologize but she stopped me with a smile. "Look, I didn't come here to talk about me. I just came to warn you. You need to watch your back, but not from people like Hannah and I."
"What are you saying?" I had a feeling something was at the tip of her tongue, but like she said before, secrets are meant to be kept or they'll cause havoc.
"I'm saying," Elle said standing, "That maybe you should ask yourself why Felicity Prescott is being so friendly."
"Are you...Are you accusing her of this?"
"No, of course not. But you need people in your corner, people you can trust, because this is just the beginning. Someone is out to get you, Poppy, that much is obvious. I haven't a clue who it could be, but a good start is checking off the people that aren't. Ask Felicity, and if she tells you her truth then you know you can trust her."
"What about you?" Elle stopped short. "What's your truth?"
Elle looked down and sighed. She raised her arm and pulled her sleeve up. My eyes took in the angry faded marks on her wrist, long healed but still pulsing with repressed life, and I gasped in shock.
"This is my truth, Poppy. The rest you can hear from others and read elsewhere, but this, this scar, is my truth."
I couldn't move. Not after a confession like that. The Upper East side was turning out to be a lot more complicated and twisted than I first thought.
*
IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES after Elle left that Felicity came bustling into the parlor. "Was that Elle's car I saw down the corner?"
I looked up at my friend, her eyes the deepest emerald color, and wondered if she would tell me her truth. "Yeah, she was just here."
Felicity rolled her eyes and flopped down beside me. "Did she feed you some shitty apology? It's the least she could have done."
"Felicity, I don't think it was her..." I paused and looked down at my hands. "She had no reason to hurt me after all."
"Then who?"
She must have interpreted my silence wrong because suddenly she was back on her feet and looking down at me with disbelief lighting her features. "You don't think I--"
"No, of course not." I said quickly. "It's just that Elle said something, and it got me thinking is all."
"Oh," she visibly relaxed and sat down again. "Well don't keep me in suspence here."
"Elle told me to ask you for your truth."
"What does that even mean?" she said with a mocking laugh. I shrugged.
"Why are you helping me?" I said in a quiet voice.
Felicity sighed. "Because I like you? Because you're my friend?"
"I've heard enough rumors from the Upper East side to know that you don't have friends, Felicity. You don't do sweet and sympathetic. So...why me?"
"Look, I'm just trying to be a nice person here. I'm trying to be to you what I didn't have when the gossip columns made me their target, just as they are doing to you now."
"What happened?"
Felicity turned in my direction, her emerald eyes searching my face. She must have found something worth her truth because she sighed again and nervously looked down at her hands. "My dad cheated on my mom. I know that sounds really lame, I mean who is actually faithful around here, but it was a little more complicated than that.
"My dad is a psychiatrist. You know, one of those celebrity docs that give sleep pills to desperate housewives and listen to their clients go on about how they slept with the gardener or something. Anyway, he and my mom were having troubles, they had been since before I could remember, but they always managed to work it out. We weren't a perfect family, but we didn't need to be either.
"It was during one of their many disputes that my dad got a new client: Olivia Richmond. She went to see a shrink after her divorce. Apparently when your husband finally comes out of the closet after forty-something years, it's a very traumatic experience. They saw each other for a few months, and--"
"What, Cole's father is gay?" I asked with my mouth hanging open in surprise.
"Keep up, Poppy. This is old news." Felicity rolled her eyes, "As I was saying, Olivia and my dad eventually started hooking up and I found them out one day when I went to his office. He didn't even try to stop me from telling Mom; he just didn't care.
"My mom didn't either. She left. She went on a trip around the world as soon as the divorce was finalized and I've only seen her a few times since. Almost overnight, I lost respect for my parents' relationship and gained a new step-mother."
Felicity looked composed, almost as if talking about the weather. But I could see right through her.
She was in pain and consumed with the bitter taste of betrayal.
"I'm sorry I made you tell me that." She looked up and gave me a weak smile.
"No, I wanted to. There's more but I won't bore you with the morbid details.
"They married with enough time in between the divorce to not cause a scandal. But when I refused to go to the wedding, Olivia threatened to tell everyone my eating disorder had gotten worse.
"My mom took me to a doctor in eighth grade because she'd caught me throwing up a few times, and I'd promised my parents I would stop."
"Had you really stopped?"
Felicity sighed,"I still saw myself as the fat preteen even after high school. I didn't stop, Poppy. I'd stopped eating solid foods and started snorting cocaine. I was throwing up anything that passed my lips and Olivia knew all this. She is a witch, feeding off of the pain and misery of others. She told everyone and I couldn't even deny it because it was true."
DARCY WOODS IS THE MOST PUT TOGETHER WOMAN I'VE EVER MET. She was all confidence and self-assured smiles in her smart stark-white blazer.
When she first came to the townhouse, I'd sat doubly watching her walk into the drawing room.
"D.W." Felicity said with a smile. "Thanks so much for agreeing to this."
"How could I say no?" the woman turned her piercing brown eyes on me, "I love a good scandal."
I stood and offered my hand shyly, "Hi, I'm Poppy."
Something I'd said must have amused her because her smile grew,"Darcy Woods, Public Relations agent."
"It's very good to meet you."
"Likewise. Now," Darcy said taking a seat and popping the latch on her briefcase. "Let's get started."
A/N: Guys, I realize this is short and I realize there are a ton of mistakes on this but I haven't the time to fix it. I've been gone so long because of school.
I'm currently a senior in high school taking a ridiculous amount of ap classes and trying to keep my grades impeccable because i'm applying to so many amazing schools.
Please forgive my lack of updates! Aside from school, I am also balancing two stories, those being Sealed With A Kiss and The Runway Bride (even though they take place a year apart). So I will update either one big chapter or two small ones every two weeks, each time alternating which book I focus on.
For example, last weekend I updated The Runway Bride twice. This week I'll update Sealed With A Kiss twice.
Hope that makes sense and I hope you all understand. I'm doing my best, but sleeping four hours every night is a definite hardship. I'll try to keep to this schedule! Thanks again, and look for another short update some time this week.