The Help

Chapter 22

Warning: Child loss
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I blocked Priya in the midst of her typing a response to me. From the bottom of my heart: Fuck her, and that sentence.

The night progressed and ended with me sitting in my room, writing in the journal that my brother had "gotten for me".

The house seemed to be filled with nothing but silence, but that's just because all of our rooms were far apart.

Dear Book

I wrote. I affectionately named my journal Book. I had to give it a name, so that it could feel like I was talking to a friend.

You're not going to believe what happened. If I told you, right now, that I had eaten Naya out in a house full of people, would you think that I was lying?

I wrote hurriedly and with purpose, feeling like I was finally able to vent.

Oh and also, Priya and I are completely done. Like, for real. I did something petty, but I told you what she did to me right? So it was deserved? Or was I just an asshole?

I paused, reflecting on my thoughts before I continued.

I always care too much. Two wrongs don't make a right. But it made us even.

I fell asleep after concluding my entry and to my surprise, the next day I woke up with a missed call from Deon.

I rubbed my eyes, yawning as I navigated my way through my phone to return his call.
He only placed it ten minutes ago, so he shouldn't take long to pick up, right?

Louder buzzer sound, EH! Wrong!

I blinked as I stared at the ceiling as the phone rang. If this was an animation movie, my face would be completely straight with a singular sweatdrop.

The phone rang at least five times before he answered.

"Hi-" I started to speak.
"Max!" Deon sounded relieved, "Why couldn't you answer the first time? You had me stressed."
I checked the time and frowned, "It's not even 8AM. And why did it take you so long to answer?"

I could practically hear his eyes roll.

"Girl I'm at pilates."
"Oh. Slay?"

My response made both of us giggle before Deon snapped us make to the main point of our call.

"I'm just checking up on you. Priya told me that you guys broke up."

I frowned. He was being so nice to me despite how things went down, and he was Priya's friend. Not mine.

My overthinking kicked in, as it usually does.
Did Priya ask him to talk to me?

"I'm okay, Thanks for asking." I answered.
Deon spoke, "Just so you know, I'm not friends with her anymore."
I frowned, "Huh?"
"Yeah. I didn't know that she was doing all of that with Coy, or I would have told you. The fact that she didn't even tell me what's up just made me feel like she's a dishonest person overall." Deon explained.

I took a second to process his words. He seemed genuine.
Once again, horribly so, I always gave people the benefit of the doubt.

"Maybe she was too ashamed to admit it. Even to you."
"Or maybe she just wanted to hide her secret even more," Deon retorted. "All I know is, she was my best friend. I would never have kept something that big from her. To me, that shows we were in two completely different places when it came to our friendship. Plus, we have different morals. The way she acted was grimy, Max, and I feel like I have to apologize on her behalf."