Deadly Secrets

Chapter 22

It felt so good to be in control of something again. I turned the steering wheel smoothly as I rolled into the parking lot. I shut off the engine and grabbed my books from the back seat. I saw the big yellow jeep out of the corner of my eye. I locked my doors and walked over to Bryn. She looked up at me and gave a sheepish smile.

“Come to bite my head off?”

“You stop being such a pain?” She rolled her eyes and linked my arm with hers. Walking towards the school a smile broke out over her face.

“He’s hot by the way.”

“I know, trust me, I know.” We both burst into giggles. I unlinked our arms as I approached my locker, “See you in class.” She nodded, making her curls bounce around her face. It was good to have her back, but I could feel my secret twisting inside my stomach. I decided that I wasn’t going to tell her, to tell any of them. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to them because of me. I can’t help but feel a nagging feeling in my stomach though. I couldn’t shake it all morning. I sat my tray down at lunch and numbly picked at my burger.

“What did the cow do to you?” I look up to see Kale sitting next to me. “Don’t tell me, it roasted your ass and stuck you in between two stale sesame seed buns.” I gave him a look and sighed. “Hey I would be pissed too.”

“Enough Kale, I’m not feeling it today.”

“What’s up superstar? I thought you and Bryn made up.”

“We did, that’s not the problem.” I watched his hand as he stole one of my fries.

“Okay you just let me steal your food,” I felt his hand against my forehead, “well you don’t have a fever.” I shooed his hand away and push away my tray.

“I have a question for you Kale.”

“Uh, alright?”

“Have you ever had a secret that you couldn’t tell anyone? Because if you said it out loud it might hurt the people you care about.” He laced his fingers under his chin and furrowed his brow.

“Yeah, I have.”

“What did you do?” He scratched behind his head.

“I ignored it basically. I mean at first I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but that feeling never goes away. I mean I just did nothing because I thought it wouldn’t help. But I ended up doing less than nothing, because nothing changed and the pain I felt inside never ended.”

“So-”

“I’m not finished. Now technically my secret never physically hurt anyone, and technically it didn’t effect more than one person. Now I think your secret is a bit worse than that right?” I nodded. “Every secret is different, and every one costs us something. But is what it is costing you, going to cost someone more?” I blinked a couple of times and looked at him.

“That was surprisingly deep.” He coughed out a laugh and I joined him. Courtney and Bryn sat on the other side and set down their trays.

“What’s the joke?” asked Bryn as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

“You, like always.” She glared at her brother as he winked at her. He turned back to me, “I got practice so I got to go. The conclusion of my sob story is no matter what it is, we will always love you.” I smiled and watched as he headed out of the cafeteria.

“Okay, what was that?” Bryn asked while looking after her brother.

“He was giving me advice.”