Ugly Secrets, Pretty Lies

Sixteen

I'm doomed. 

I'm going to jail. 

I'm never going to get married. 

I stood there stupidly, fidgeting with my shoulder bag and avoiding Kelly's eyes. Finally, she speaks up.

"Who the hell are you?" she demands.

Confused, I look up and met her sapphire blue eyes. Is she mental or something? She legit poured a cup of coffee on me not even an hour ago and she doesn't remember me?

"You know me, Kelly," I said. "Don't play dumb."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not Kelly. And I'm pretty sure I don't know you."

"But you look just like Kelly!" I said, confusion taking over me. 

The Kelly-look-alike rolled her eyes. "That's what everyone says when they see me. If they ever meet me. Kelly never takes me out and I'm always hidden at home."

"Then who the hell are you?" I asked bluntly. I was relieved she wasn't Kelly. Kelly would've killed me if she knew I was in her room and I had sneaked into her house. But what if this girl reports me?!

"I'm her twin sister. Pauline Hollister." She flashes me a sly smile. "We're identical twins."

I looked Pauline over. She's right. Kelly and her both have the same sleek blonde hair that's wavy, same heart-shaped face, same big sapphire blue eyes, same tall and slender, curvy body figure, and even the same skin tone. If no one knew Kelly had a twin and saw Pauline with Kelly, they might've thought Pauline was a clone. 

"Interesting," I murmur, looking back at her face.

"Okay, now tell me who you are."

I took off my ski mask and smiled sweetly at her. "I'm Quinn, Kelly's archenemy and a not-so-popular girl."

Pauline raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows. "Her archenemy, huh? Nice to know. Why are you in our house anyway?"

I blinked. Should I tell her? Can I trust this girl? As I was debating this in my head, the door opened and Lily stepped in. She shut the door quietly behind her and turned around, then froze.

"Quinn...?" she said hesitantly, her eyes glued on Pauline. I looked at Lily and gestured for her to come over.

"Don't worry, she's not Kelly."

Lily raised her eyebrows, but walked over and stood next to me. She looked Pauline up-and-down. The three of us stood in silence, with Pauline and Lily looking at each other and my eyes flickering between the two of them. Finally, the silence was broken by Pauline. 

"I'm Pauline, Kelly's twin," she says to Lily. 

Lily glances quickly at me. "I'm Lily," she said hesitantly. She took her ski mask off quickly. Then bluntly, she asks Pauline, "Can we trust you not to report us to security or anything?"

Pauline grins. "I will if you don't tell me why you're in my house. If you're Kelly's archenemies, then you certainly shouldn't be here."

Lily and I exchanged looks. We communicated silently with our eyes before turning back to Pauline.

"Fine," I say. "But you can't tell Kelly."

"I won't," Pauline promises.

"Not good enough." Lily narrows her eyes.

Pauline holds up her pinky. "Pinky promise then?"

I hook my pinky around hers. "Pinky promise."

"Pinky promise."

I took a deep breath, hoping she keeps her word and tells her everything. When I finish, she stays silent for a long time. I fidget around with my bag, looking around the room and wondering what she's thinking. Next to me, Lily stares out the window. 

"I'll help you," Pauline finally says. 

My eyes snap to hers. I put a hand on my hip. "And what makes you think we'll trust you fully?"

"For one thing, though it may be hard for you to believe, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of my sister. First"-she raises a hand and starts ticking off reasons why she can't stand her sister-"She's a bitch. Second, she's a selfish, manipulative psycho. Third, she hates me and I hate her and she never tells me anything at all. Fourth, she always turns against me. Fifth, she stole my boyfriend of 2 years 3 years ago." 

Lily chuckles lightly. "That last thing sure does sounds like something Kelly would do."

Pauline nods. "Yes. And she's a slut." She folds her arms. "Oh, and she hates the fact that I'm bisexual." 

"You're bi?" Lily asks. 

"Yes I am. And I don't really care what you think."

"I'm not going to make fun of you," Lily says quickly. Her eyes darted around the room. "That's, uh, interesting to know actually! You know!" She makes a few random hand gestures that makes completely no sense at all and avoids looking at us. I frowned slightly. Why is Lily acting like this? Shaking it off, I looked at Pauline with a tiny smile.

"Well... In that case, if you're telling the truth, then you can help us. Lily and I are looking for something that's very personal of Kelly's. You know, like a secret diary or something like that. Something we can use against her."

I wasn't expecting Pauline to know anything since she told us Kelly never tells her anything. And I wasn't expecting her face to light up in a mischievous smile either.

"I know just the thing!" she exclaims, bouncing up and down. 

I feel my smile widen and clap my hands together, letting my bag fall to the floor. "Really? What?"

Pauline looks around the room, as if searching for something. She walks over to a set of fancy made drawers with a small jewel on each handle and crouches down. A small lock was set underneath each handle. From her pocket, she takes out a key ring of keys, small and big ones. She slicks through the keys before landing on a particularly small silver key encrusted with a tiny diamond at the tip. She fits the key into the bottom drawer, turns it, and pulls the drawer open. Pauline thens puts the keys back in her pocket and stands up, turning to us.

"Come over," she says. 

Lily and I went over to her. I crouched down and looked in the drawer. Inside was a bunch of books, fancy fountain pens, and a few jewels. I looked at Pauline questioningly. 

She explains, "These are Kelly's most prized possessions."

Lily arches an eyebrow, returning back to her regular state. "These things?"

Pauline laughs a little. "Doesn't seem like Kelly, I know. But it's actually these books. They're not books though. They're actually diaries."

"Diaries," I murmur. I feel my lips tug up in a smirk and stood up. "Ladies and ladies, I believe we have found something we can use against Kelly."

*

Hello, hello, another update!

So.... What did you guys think about Pauline? Do you trust her? 

Enjoy, enjoy and thanks for reading!

- Hollis