Chapter 118: Malo Confession
Okay... I don’t know what happened after the confrontation with Kiara, but I found myself on the school rooftop with Sasha. We were waiting for Malo. I had texted him earlier that I needed to talk to him ASAP. My fingers had been shaking as I typed it, but my mind was set.
The air up here was thin and cold. I felt every bit of the chill. I was furious. Angry. Ready to do anything to make that boy talk. The frustration had been building up like a physical weight in my chest. I had asked him several times if he knew me from before, but he kept denying it every single time. He looked me in the eye and lied, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
I heard his footsteps approaching, hitting the metal stairs with a rhythmic thud. I stood my ground, my heart hammering against my ribs. I was going to get the truth out of him, no matter what it cost.
"Okay, what’s so important that you had to call me up here?" he said as he stepped onto the flat roof. He looked at me, then his eyes flicked to Sasha standing like a statue behind him. He looked confused, maybe a little annoyed.
"Malo, wassup," I said. My voice sounded deeper than usual, even to me.
"Great... so what’s this meeting about? Why are we on the school rooftop?" he asked. He was looking around now, clearly noticing the tension thick in the air. He tried to play it off with a shrug, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye for more than a second.
I walked closer to him. I didn’t stop until I was right in his space, stopping right in front of him and folding my arms. I wanted him to feel how serious I was.
"I want you to be honest this time. No dodging, no excuses. Did we know each other 6 years ago?" I asked. I kept my voice steady, even though I wanted to scream.
He scoffed and stepped back, trying to create some distance. He let out a dry laugh that sounded fake. "You need to stop asking that question, Faye. I don’t know you. If I did, I would have told you... you have to believe me," he said.
"Really?" I felt the anger flare up.
"Yes. Believe me."
"Okay..." I muttered, stepping away. I gave him one last look, seeing the sweat starting to bead on his forehead. "Since you won’t talk, I have no choice."
"You want to beat me up? Come on, Faye. Even if you punch me a 100 times, I’ll still say the same thing. I don’t remember you from 6 years ago," he said, his voice cracking just a little.
"Sasha."
I didn’t have to say anything else. Immediately, she raised her hand. Without even touching him, she used her power to lift Malo into the air. She grabbed him by his hair and dragged his floating body toward the edge of the building. The roof didn’t have a high railing, and in seconds, he was dangling over the drop.
He started screaming. The sound was raw and pierced through the quiet morning.
"What is the meaning of this, Faye?!" he shouted, his legs kicking at nothing but empty air.
"What does it mean, Malo?" I replied coldly. I walked toward the edge a few steps away, looking at him.
He glanced down at the pavement far below, and the fear on his face was instant. His eyes went wide, and his skin turned a sickly shade of grey. For a second, I almost told Sasha to bring him back down. My stomach turned. But I had already gone this far. I couldn’t let him win again.
"If you lie to me, Malo, you die. I don’t care what happens to me after this," I said, stepping closer as he dangled in the air. The wind caught his clothes, making them snap. "I told you not to lie to me. But that’s all you’ve been doing. From the first day I came to this school, no one wanted to be my friend because of what I did to Princess, but you kept coming close. You wanted to be my friend."
I took another step closer, my toes near the ledge. "I cost you your job. You should have backed off. But instead, you tried to save me from Peamah that night. You knew things about me... like my underwear taste. Things I never told you."
His breathing grew heavier. He was panting now, his chest heaving as he struggled against Sasha’s invisible grip.
"If you don’t tell me the truth, I’ll tell Sasha to drop you. You might not die... but the pain, the broken bones... and no one will be there to take care of your siblings," I said. I hated myself for bringing up his family, but it was the only leverage I had left.
"Sasha wouldn’t dare. You’ll both go to jail," he said, trying to sound brave, but his voice was trembling so hard I could barely understand him.
"If Faye tells me to drop you, I will. Without a second thought," Sasha said. Her voice was flat, totally calm, which made it ten times scarier.
Malo looked at me, searching for mercy. He was looking for the Faye he knew, the one he joked around with and didn’t throw people off buildings. I gave him none. I held my expression steady, staring him down even though part of me was screaming to stop this madness right now.
When he realized there was no hope on my face, something in him broke. The fight just went out of him. He stopped kicking.
"So you really are going to let me fall... even knowing my life depends on my siblings?" he said, his voice shaking with real hurt. "Fine. You want the truth? Here it is."
He swallowed hard. I leaned in, my heart stopping.
"Yes. I know you. We’ve been friends since we were little pups. It was just the two of us... our own circle. No one else. I was the pants and you were the star. Starpants."
My chest tightened so hard it hurt.
"But then your brother wanted to leave town. He was going to take you away... and Princess wouldn’t let you go. So you took a serum from PP’s shop and put it in the school water... so no one would remember you when you left."
My heart dropped. My stomach felt like it had been filled with lead. Kiara was right. She wasn’t crazy. I was the one who did it.
"But I don’t remember doing that..." I whispered. The world felt like it was spinning.
"Drop him," I said. I meant for her to bring him back, but my voice was weak and broken.
Sasha misunderstood. She thought I was giving the order. She loosened her grip.
Malo slipped.
"No!" I screamed. I ran forward, my heart jumping into my throat. I lunged over the ledge, my fingers scraping against the concrete as I grabbed his arm just as he started to fall. I pulled with everything I had, my muscles screaming, dragging him back onto the rooftop.
He collapsed onto the gravel, shaking and gasping for air, completely terrified. He stayed there for a long time, just curled in a ball. I stood over him, my own hands shaking so much I had to hide them in my pockets.
After a moment, he forced himself to stand. He wiped his face, looking older than he ever had.
"Did I drink the water too?" I asked quietly.
"Yes," he said, looking at the floor. "You drank from Princess’s cup."
So... Princess and I were that close. I had poisoned my own memories just to get away.
"Why didn’t you tell me the truth?" I asked.
He looked at me, and for the first time, I saw anger burning in his eyes. Real, deep anger.
"Because my best friend made me promise. No matter the weather, no matter who asked, even if it was you, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. It was my secret to take to the grave."
He shook his head, looking at me like I was a stranger.
"I don’t like what you did today, Faye."
He glanced at Sasha, who was still standing there silently, then back at me. He didn’t say another word. He just turned and walked away, his footsteps heavy and slow on the stairs. I watched him go, feeling smaller than I ever had in my life.
