UNMASKED (mha)

61

"You were there..."
Aiko whispered, rubbing her eyes.
"When Tris..."

"I sat with you for two hours, waiting for some adult to tell us what to do. You were in shock, we both were." Tris said, staring into the dark.

"Thank you."
Aiko choked out.

"We... We were friends you know."
Tris whispered.
"I'd like to think we were close. Spent near every day at school together, had all the same classes. I told her everything and she..." Tris choked and covered her eyes.
"I don't think she liked me as much as I liked her. Looking back it seemed like she just tolerated me. It was you, you were always her best friend."

"Is that... Is that why you hate me?"
Aiko asked, wiping away her tears.

"Hate is a strong word. I'm jealous really, you seem to get everything I want, without even trying. It's just handed to you, it pisses me off." Tris shook her head with a chuckle.

"Jealous... Of me?"
Aiko whispered.

"Yeah, who wouldn't be?"
Tris laughed. "You're famous, you're easily kind, people love you, guys love you... And you do it all without even trying."

"You didn't like me even before you knew all that though." Aiko said, looking at her again.

Tris rolled her eyes.
"Don't be so sure." She whispered. "After... After Tora passed I... I was really depressed, she was the only friend I had really made, and even then she never consulted me about... Anything."

Aiko watched and waited her to keep going.

"I was so lonely... Until... I found a YouTube video. A channel ran by a girl who looked EXACTLY like Tora, who talked and acted in the same way. She said all of the same things. The held all of the same opinions... It was HER on camera." Tris laughed and threw her hands up. "I was there from the beginning Aiko, watching when you only had fifty subscribers! I was LITERALLY your biggest fan! I almost forgot Tora actually had a twin until I saw you in some coffee shop a few days before the UA entrance exams... I noticed... Well I mean a stupid mask can't hide everything you know?"

"You knew... From the beginning? And... You didn't tell anyone?"
Aiko asked, shaking her head.

"I was never sure... You just acted so DIFFERENT. It pissed me off, I kept snapping at you. Trying to get you to do something, to say something like you did online! But you didn't! You were just some... Blah! Who just moped around!" She crossed her arms. "I wasn't so sure after that. I thought for sure that it all was some sort of coincidence... But come on! "AZ"?! It's literally just your initials! You follow fifty people on Instagram and your MOTHER is one of them! How did no one else know?!"

Aiko laughed.
"I have no clue..."

"And then there was that whole thing with Monoma... Aiko I SWEAR I had no clue you guys were together. I mean I assumed he had a crush on you and that you liked him. But I didn't know you were together. A-and then I went to see him at work and we got to talking... And he drove me over to his place, like we used to do and..." Tris shook her head. "And then Sora came down." She said with a groan.

"I... I figured you didn't know."
Aiko said with a smile. "I only blamed him, and myself a little bit..."

"Why? Because you didn't fuck him? You made a good choice. He's not that good."
Tris said with a frown.

Aiko giggled.
"That's not why I didn't..."

"I know. Don't do it, have sex with someone to keep them. It won't work, believe me. I'd know. In fact they'll just get bored sooner if you rush in."

"That's what my mom always said."
Aiko smiled. "Her and my dad dated a year before they did it. At least that's what she told me anyway."

"Well, that was a good idea. I tried to do that... That story? About me hanging out at the club? And dumping my boyfriend because he had a problem with it?" Tris scoffed at herself. "It was actually the reverse, HE went to the club. He had a threesome with two college bitches. And the worst part? He dumped ME, because he realized he could do better."