{30}
Bay sat down next to me on the boot of Carrie’s car. We faced open land but the night sky was clear and full of stars. Despite the ugly situation we were in, it was a beautiful night out. I played with my fingers as I stared at the stars in silence.
Bay didn’t say anything right away. She just sat beside me in silence until I glanced over at her.
“Conrad should be the one telling you this,” she began.
I quirked a brow, “Tell me what?”
Bay sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Mia and Conrad were seeing each other.”
I nearly fell off the car.
“What?” I choked out.
Again, Bay sighed and ran a hand through her hair; this time she kept a hold on the ends of her hair. “I don’t know a lot of the details. That’s Conrad’s personal life and I’m not involved in that. I just put up with him because he’s Mark’s friend.” She paused. “I walked in on them one day in the basement at school. Later that night, Conrad came up to me at one of the movie nights we had. He explained that they were seeing each other and that it was pretty serious.”
I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. “Oh God, today is just not my day.”
Bay slid off the car and wiped the back of her jeans. Without another word she walked back into the house. A few minutes later Conrad walked out and I wasn’t sure whether or not to scream at him or tell him to leave me the yell alone.
I pushed the bottom of my palms into my eyes and held my breath.
“We need to talk,”
I snorted out in bitter laughter and looked up at him. I had no doubt in my mind that I probably resembled a drug addict at this point. I felt my eye make-up messed up and I knew my eyes were red from holding my tears back.
“Is there more to say?” I asked him.
As he placed both of his hands on the truck of the car and bowed down his head, I couldn’t help but feel that I wasn’t going to like whatever he was going to say.
Conrad exhaled loudly before he raised his head and met my gaze. His blue eyes locked with mine and I felt as if ice had been dunked over my head. His eyes were cold and distant.
“She was pregnant.” He started but then he spoke again. “She had an abortion a few weeks before she died.”
This time, I really did fall off the car. It all made sense then. Why she had been acting like a stranger months before her death. She was sleeping around with Conrad and not only was she in a serious relationship with him but she got pregnant and then got an abortion.
Conrad tried to help me up and as he continued to talk and try to explain everything else that he thought I should know, it clicked.
The night she died we had fought. I had stopped her as I noticed she was walking towards the woods alone. I had questioned what was up with her and she had snapped. Told me things I couldn’t even remember now but her last words still haunted me till this day.
“The truth may hurt, but lies kill, Malia.”
Oh how right she turned out to be. Because I was finding out the truth now and it hurt. But all those lies she told me and kept secret about other people ended up being her downfall. Those lies killed her.
