Chiara [PUBLISHED] ✔️

Thirty-one

The brain sure was a magnificent organ.

Especially when it came to controlling heart's reactions.

As I watched Chiara lying on the ottoman, her eyes searching my face, all I wanted to do was scream. But somehow, my brain remembered Bryan begged not to say anything to her, not to reveal that we both now knew the true content of that tape.

"Are you okay?" She pushed herself up, the strap of her dress falling off, reminding me of the happiness I felt mere minutes ago.

"Y-yes." I stuttered, those three letters almost stuck within my throat.

No, no, no! The heart screamed.

"What happened?" Chiara asked. Even Josh and Reina paid attention to us, even though their pupils seemed too dilated to give a shit about anything. "I thought you were asleep."

"I-I have to go." I said, hoping she couldn't see the dread on my face. But I felt it all over my body. I felt it pierce through my heart.

"What? Where?" Chiara sat upright. "It's the middle of the night." Concern radiated from her face, but I didn't believe it.

I couldn't believe anything she said or did.

"Home. I have to go home." The urgency in my voice gave me away. "I-I have to do my assignments, it's-" I swallowed. "It's the end of the school year."

"Jackie." Hearing her say my name felt like an explosion in my ears. "What happened?"

I clutched the purse in my hands and tried to speak, but no sound came out. What the fuck was I supposed to say? What the fuck was I supposed to think?

Unable to form a coherent sentence, or even grasp the emotions swirling through me, I turned on my heel and ran down the hallway. The air became too dense; I couldn't breathe in. Some inner map led me outside, through the dimmed hallways and through the door, straight to the beautiful garden in the front of the house.

The smell of grass and flowers lingered in my nostrils. Nature's scent was just the thing I needed to breathe in the cool air. My mind cleared and revealed just how strong the ache in my heart was.

I opened my purse and searched for my phone. Hesitating only for a second, I erased the video. Right in that moment, the door behind me opened and I turned around quickly, finding Chiara at the doorstep. Her hair was rustled and her eyes were huge; a nervous, concerned spark shining through them.

"Jackie..."

What? What? What?

"You were in rehab." I spat, knowing I had to say something. There was nothing else that could explain my behaviour and I couldn't say anything about the damn tape.

Chiara stopped in her tracks, realisation crossing over her features.

"You were in rehab!" I shouted, not really giving a shit if any of her friends heard me.

I hoped they didn't know. I truly, deeply hoped they didn't know. Because if they knew and still let her use cocaine throughout the night – what kind of people were they?

"How did you find out?" Her voice shook only a little. Hearing the slight fear in her tone was unnatural, unfamiliar.

"Bryan told me." I said, trying to push the video out of my head. I couldn't tell her. Not when Bryan begged me to keep it to myself.

And I knew why he begged. That piece of information might have been the most dangerous thing I've ever encountered in my entire life.

"How...?" Chiara seemed confused for a second. "Fuck!" She stumbled across the stony pathway towards me.