Secrets and Lies [COMPLETE]

Rosetta (Chapter 32)

32

For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

Adrianna and Claire had set a trap, together. And I'd walked right into it.

I had to oblige to Adrianna's command. I was too scared to do otherwise.

'You can hate me for telling you the story,' I began, 'but don't call me a liar. Because every word I'm going to be saying is true.'

'We'll see about that,' Adrianna sneered.

'Lara was not normal. I'd always known that. But it wasn't her feistiness that made her different, it was something else. I could never put my finger on it, but there was always something off about her. In the end, I figured it out. She was g-gay.' I paused.

Adrianna nodded.

'You know her family,' I said. 'They would have never accepted it. Why did the Trïo want that kind of information? I don't know. That's something Claire will be able to tell you. But the family? They'd be livid if they found out. So she kept quiet. Till she told you. But she never said anything to me.'

'If she didn't tell you,' Adrianna snapped. 'Then how do you know?'

'This is the part which you don't know. You see, she kept a diary. I read it. And everything was written there. I couldn't read the entire entry because she stepped in when I was reading it. Did she see me holding her diary? No. I was smart enough to quickly slide it in my bag.'

Adrianna looked at me with disbelief. 'You stole her diary?'

'I didn't know know what else to do!' I screamed.

Adrianna turned to Claire, ignoring my hysterics.

'Why did the Trïo want that sort of information?' she asked.

'Because,' Claire said, 'there was something else in the diary.'

Claire didn't say anything else. I guffawed.

'That's what your courage has come to?' I said. 'Tell her!'

Adrianna's stance screamed danger, and Claire sensed it.

She began.

'It was all very simple, really. Casey wanted to know something damaging about Lara. Everyone has a loophole in their perfect existence. Casey believed that nobody was perfect. She managed get the information that Lara kept a diary. She also got to know that Rosetta and Lara were old friends. She was desperate to know anything that would destroy Lara.'

Adrianna changed her posture but kept quiet.

'They had put me on the job. I was the one who told them about the diary and about Rosetta being an old acquaintance. They cornered Rosetta later. I was then told that they'd gotten the diary. Rosetta had delivered. The diary. It would destroy Lara. But, like I said before, there's always a loophole.'

Claire paused.

'Do you really want to hear this?'

Adrianna nodded.

'You do know that,' Claire said, 'a person has to discover being gay, right? Because people in this town are orthodox and they're hellbent on making us believe we're not. You know how Lara found out?'

Adrianna said slowly, 'Are you suggesting she slept with someone?'

'Precisely,' Claire said.

I was taken aback. But I knew if I spoke, I would be hastily shut up. So I remained silent.

'And not just anyone,' Claire said. 'She slept with the one. She slept with Casey's sister.'

The room was silent. I had a sickening feeling growing inside me and this story didn't make me feel better.

'The information was damaging, alright. But to who? Casey? Or Lara?'

'Both,' I said, finding my voice. 'Lara's parents wouldn't be sympathetic but they didn't own a business empire. Casey's parents did. And if this town found out one of their two daughters was gay, they would be ruined. This wasn't about school popularity anymore. This was suddenly about—'

'Survival,' Adrianna said.

'Survival is the ability to swim in strange water.' Claire said vaguely.

'And if you can't swim, you drown.' Adrianna said. She adjusted the bag strap on her shoulder. 'The quote you just said was by Frank Herbert, by the way.'

Then, she walked away.