five
don't keep secrets
FIRST PERSON
"YOU GUYS CAN'T GO tonight," Brie told us. "Tell me you're not meeting up with him."
Rowan looked at us; she was afraid to admit it. She needed to go but she was afraid.
"We're not going," Rowan answered. "Of course not."
"You need to tell dad, Ro," Brie instructed her. "Promise?" Her sister gave her a serious look.
"Yeah," Rowan agreed.
Brie nodded then when up to Hailey. "You: be nice to my sister, I don't need her crying into her pillow every night again."
"Thanks," with that, Rowan grabbed her phone and left.
♡
We all got out of Hailey's car and Rowan started to walk away really fast.
"Rowan," Hailey called. "Wait up."
We all ran towards Rowan who stopped for us.
"So, are you two friends or not?" Elisia asked, catching on to the unfinished tension between them that was actually beginning to annoy me.
"We were best-friends," Rowan answered. "Always," looking at Hailey.
"I met new people," Hailey shrugged. "Like, Cynthia's cousin, it's no big deal," she pointed towards me.
"You used to make so much fun of Nicki," Rowan muttered in disbelief. "And Brandon, and Sean," she looked at me when she said that.
"They're cool," Hailey defended. "Get over it."
Those harsh words made me feel for Rowan as I saw the hurt in her eyes.
"We always said we wanted to meet more people," Hailey continued. "Wanted girls like Nicki to like us."
Rowan just nodded in disbelief.
"She's nice, I swear," Hailey defended.
"No, she's not," Rowan stated; which was true.
"She's definitely not nice," Elisia added, chuckling a bit.
"I doubt she even knows who you are," Hailey snapped.
"Sorry, Hailey, but I agree. She's a bitch," I agreed.
"Maybe you did something to her," Hailey said to me. Realizing what had came out her mouth, she tried to back herself up. "She is nice...to me, at least."
Rowan held out her hand. "Do you even remember?" She asked Hailey.
That's when they started to do a handshake. They were smiling and laughing.
"See ya," Elisia interrupted.
"Wait, wait, wait," Rowan repeated loudly. "I meant to ask you: where do you live?"
Elisia looked at her once before answering. "I stay with my cousin."
Oh, yeah, Jake, I thought.
"Well, where are your parents?" Rowan asked.
"They're out of town for work," she lied.
Then the bell rang, I said goodbye to Hailey and Rowan and went my way.
♡
I walked out of school and got a private video message from m0nk3ym4nnn. I pressed on the video and it was Brandon and I when he kissed me on my way home.
On the video it wrote, 'Should I tell Sean?' with kissing emojis. Then I got a text that said 'Be there tonight'.
I wasn't exactly threatened by it but I knew I would never hear the end of it from Sean and I couldn't stand betrayal; which is exactly what I've done to him.
I saw Rowan and I ran to her.
"We have to go tonight," I told her.
"We can't tell my dad," Rowan nodded.
"Did you guys get a video message too?" Hailey asked us out of no where.
"Yeah," I nodded sheepishly.
"What was yours about?" She asked me.
I didn't really wanna say and neither did Rowan. Luckily, we weren't able to answer as Elisia approached us.
"Hey, we gotta go to the motel tonight," she said.
"He sent you a message too?" Hailey asked her.
"Yeah," she whispered. "Look, we can't tell anyone."
We all looked at each other in agreement.
"It's probably just a joke," Hailey was still trying her best to gaslight herself in believing that. "Right?"
"Right," Elisia confirmed.
I just looked at Rowan because I know she thinks the same as I do: there's no way someone would follow us and just be joking.
"We find who posted that video. Then it will be over," Elisia theorized.
"We'll be fine if we all stick together," Rowan stated.
"Lets just, uh, meet up at the motel," Elisia told us.
"Okay," Rowan responded with a nod.
And with that, I just left and started to walk to Sean's house. Once I got there, I knocked on his window and of course, he was playing his stupid games.
"Hey, come in," he welcomed, helping me through his window.
"Playing your stupid games, I see," I observed, saying my thought aloud.
"Shut up," he rolled his eyes, laughing. "Where did you go today with Hailey?" He wasted no time on asking.
My eyes widened at his words. "Oh, um, she wanted me to help her with some homework," I lied. "But actually, I have a question for you too," I wanted to know what was going on with him and Hailey.
"Okay," he nodded.
"Do you and Hailey have a thing?" I asked bluntly.
"What? No," he denied almost immediately.
"Sean, do you?" I questioned more sternly. "I saw you grab her waist the other day and today, I saw you almost kiss her."
"Look, Cyn, it's nothing," was his response.
"So it's fair for you to tell me who to stay away from but I can't at least know the truth behind your secret relationship with her?" I rose my voice and didn't even try to sound like I believed his words. I knew he was lying and he was aware that there was no avoiding it. "We're family, Sean. We're not supposed to keep secrets."
"Fine— we kissed," he stated. "And I dont know, I like her but it's not that easy."
"Not that easy? Yeah, you're dating Nicki, which I still can't believe," I judged. "And now you're cheating."
"Okay, let's forget about it," he pleaded of me and I decided to let it go. Although cheating was a sensitive spot for me, I knew better than to argue. "Wanna get some food?"
"Sure," I responded. I tried my best to sound less hostile toward him even though I don't support his actions.