STARCO THE GIRL NEXT DOOR |SEQUEL TO BOY NEXT DOOR| COMPLETED✔

TGND|Marco (May 1,2020)

C h a p t e r  T h i r t y -
C o n f e s s i o n

"Take a seat, Marco," Mrs. Anderson offers, taking a seat from opposite of mine. She clasps her hands and says to me in a dead-panned tone. "You know her true colours..don't you?"

I reluctantly nod, sweats trickled down my forehead as she mustered the courage to speak. "Laura is a manipulative person."

"She's  cunning and can guilt-trip you by playing with your emotions. She doesn't care about anyone hurting but herself and she will never take the blame."

"You know why we moved here?" she asks and I answered. "Because she was expelled from school."

"Exactly. But it wasn't just that," she grimaced. "---she had a boyfriend. At first I thought she was actually getting better and she seemed normal. Then suddenly I found out that she manipulated the boy into a relationship."

"She almost killed the poor girl," her fingers trembled and my eyes widened. "Didn't she caught her boyfriend cheating?"

Mrs. Anderson let out a bitter laugh. "It's funny. Actually, that boy isn't  her boyfriend. That poor girl was the true girlfriend and Laura truly believed her lies that she was the true one and thought that the guy cheated on her."

"I never knew when Laura started becoming this way," she starts. "---but it started when she almost stabbed her friend with a scissor when she didn't back off from this kid named Aron."

"I was truly afraid of her," she croaks. "--but this was all my fault. If only I actually did something and didn't neglect her."

"If I only..." she says in a hoarse tone, trying to keep her tears. "--I got her help. I thought that she would be better if I just left it that way but it grew worse."

"Why didn't you?" I spoke up, clenching my fists. "--if you knew something was wrong with her, why didn't you do anything?"

"Because I'm a coward," she answered. "--if news broke out that our daughter had mental issues, then our family's name would be ruined."

I can't believe this! Anger boiled down as I slammed the table with force. I look at her in anger, not minding who the hell she was or her status. "Is you status more important than your daughter's own health?!"

"If it comes to that, yes!" she shouted back and I look at her in revolt. "I can't believe you."

She mumbled. "That's why I called you here," she grabs a envelope and slipped it across me. I grabbed it and she motioned me to open it.

I opened and my eyes widened in fury upon seeing it. I slipped the envelope back to her. "I'm not taking it. What do you take me for? After learning your mistakes, will you never learn?!"

"I'll pay you any amount," she looks at me with blank in her eyes. "--just continue to play along with Laura's desire."

"You're horrible," I grit my teeth, feeling bad for Laura. Her family is even awful.

"I'm doing this because it's the only way I can repay my sins to her," she answers me. "--I've been a horrible mother to her--heck I haven't been acting like one. If I made her happy with this, then I would do anything."

I stand up from my seat and gave her one last glance. "Get her help," then I unlocked the door and opened it, then slammed it shut.

I take a deep breath and unhinged my clenched fist. I stare up the dark sky and felt myself getting calmer. Her family is crazy. No wonder she turned out like that.

I never knew such families like that existed. "Marco."

I hear her familiar voice and I thought I was just imagining things when I felt the hem of my blazer getting tugged. I look down and see her. She smiles at me faintly. "Hey."

"Hey," I say back at her, not knowing what to say.

It's been awhile.

Her nose looks puffy and her eyes looked swollen, like she was crying. I cupped her cheeks to make her look at me. I caressed her cheeks. "Have you been crying, Star?"

She shakes her head and removes my hand from her face. She looks away. "Why would I cry?"

"You can tell me," I mumbled. "--I'm your boyfriend, aren't I?"

"I told you it's nothing!" she insisted. "--what are you doing in front of Laura's house?"

"Her mother and I just had some discussion," I say vaguely, not wanting to tell her about Laura and her situation. It wasn't my place to and I didn't want Star to think differently of Laura knowing that she wanted to be friends with her.

"I see."

"Are you angry at me, Star?" I asked her, worried about her acting so distant and cold all of a sudden.

"I'm not...angry," she hesitates for a while. Then she fiddles with her fingers. "I just missed you."

"We haven't saw each other in a while," she rambled. "--and I wanted to see you but you were with Laura."

She smiles bitterly, not bothering to look at me. "You sure are getting close."

"Are you jealous?" I ask her and she gets all tensed up. She glances at me and furrowed her brows. "I'm not jealous!"

I couldn't help but let out a smile. She scrunched her face at me and points a finger. "Why are you smiling?! I told you I wasn't jealous."

"I know," I watch her pout and I pat her head softly, knowing that she likes it. "I'm sorry."

She looks at me. "What for?"

"For not making time to be with you," I respond. She lets out a faint smile, then faces me. "I understand that. We're all busy from time to time."

She steps closer to me and wraps her arm around my waist. I feel her head nozzled on my chest as she holds me tighter. "I miss you so much," she confessed and I hug her back, running my fingers  on her hair. "I miss  you too, Star."

"I trust you Marco," she mumbled,  her voice muffled. "--that's  why I'm alright."

And I smiled, enjoying her warmth against mine.

If only time stopped. We could always be like this.