Chapter 43: Do We Know Eachother.
"I can’t wait to meet Princess and give her one of these," I muttered, blowing on my fist, preparing for the moment I set my eyes on Princess. I swear on the Moon Goddess, I am going to punch her. How dare she plan to take my pups from me?
My fist stayed in front of my face for a moment. I stared at it, imagining the impact, imagining her expression when it finally landed.
The thought almost made me smile. Almost.
I dropped my hand and looked across the room.
I stared at Malo, who happened to not listen to what I had been saying for the past 20 minutes.
He sat across from me, his back slightly hunched, his eyes open but distant. His fingers rested on the table, unmoving.
He looked like someone whose body had shown up, but the rest of him had stayed somewhere else.
"Malo," I called.
No response. He didn’t blink. Didn’t move.
His eyes were open, but his mind was somewhere else.
"Malo!" I shouted.
This time he heard me.
He nearly jumped out of his chair, his shoulders jerking up as if something had shocked him.
He sat properly, quickly straightening his back. His hands moved across the table like he had suddenly remembered something important.
He began pretending to arrange things on the table that were already arranged.
We were in the nurse’s office.
The room was quiet except for the faint hum of the air conditioner and the soft scraping sound of Malo’s fingers tapping the surface of the desk.
"What is wrong?" he asked.
"Where did you put your fucking mind?"
"My mind is not here," he said quickly. "It’s the fact that somebody died last night and..."
"Shuu! Someone can hear," I whispered sharply.
My eyes flicked toward the door automatically.
My voice dropped lower.
"Obviously someone will find out and trace it back to us. I cannot go to jail. I am the only one my siblings have," he cried in a low tone.
His fingers began tapping faster on the table.
"What about me? I can’t go to jail. Imagine if my brother finds out about what happened last night. He is going to be devastated."
The image flashed across my mind for a second.
My brother’s face. The silence that would follow.
"You, you are saved. Princess is going to have your back. And me? I have no one. No one."
His face looked worried as he tapped his fingers on the table.
His leg started bouncing under the chair.
"Yeah," I muttered.
"Have my back until the pups come out, and after that I will become a waste product."
The words tasted bitter in my mouth.
Obviously, the only reason she might want to have my back is because I am carrying her pups.
Nothing else.
I can’t believe I got myself into this kind of mess.
"Well," I continued after a moment, "they have not noticed him missing. I passed the basketball court and they seemed just fine training, which is odd. They have been training since this morning."
"That is because there is a championship coming, and Peamah is the co-captain. No one will start searching for him for now, but after 48 hours they will," Malo said.
His voice was quieter now.
Like he was already imagining the moment everything would collapse.
"Why don’t we just go to the GPF and explain to them what happened? We tell them every single detail and they will arrest the culprit, that fucking bitch," I suggested.
The idea sounded simple in my head.
Tell the truth. Let someone else handle it.
"Really?" Malo stared at me like I had just suggested jumping off a cliff.
"We are accomplices. Chief Frost won’t care. Peamah is his only son. I will go to jail... or worse, dead. After the Kings he is the one with power. And he doesn’t look nice.."
He swallowed hard. The tapping stopped.
"Alright then," I sighed.
"We fucking keep shut and wait for the worst to happen."
I leaned back in the chair.
The plastic creaked softly under my weight.
Malo took a deep breath and grabbed his phone from the table.
His thumb started moving across the screen almost immediately.
Scrolling.
I brought mine out too. The screen lit up in my hand. Scrolling.
Checking through social media.
Anything to distract me.
Anything to stop my brain from replaying last night.
I found myself on Princess’s account. Her profile picture sat at the top of the page.
Scrolling through her profile, I noticed she didn’t really post much.
A few pictures. Nothing dramatic.
She had followers and was verified.
Of course she was. I checked who she followed. It was like 5 people.
Her brothers. Her best friend, including Kiara.
And the last one was a private account.
Speaking of Kiara, I checked her profile.
Stupid flashy bitch.
Her page was the complete opposite. Pictures everywhere. Clothes. Parties. Perfect poses.
Everything looked expensive. Everything looked loud.
Then it got into my head. Kiara asking why I came back.
She fucking knew me during my stay here in Oakland.
But I don’t remember knowing her.
"Malo."
"Yes," he answered, still staring at his phone.
"Do you know me?" I asked.
He blinked slowly.
"Know you as how?"
"Like... I was ten when I left this town."
I leaned forward slightly.
"I am supposed to have friends or maybe some childhood memories. Have we met before?"
His phone slowly moved up, covering half of his face.
He stayed quiet for a moment, too quiet.
"Have we met before?" he repeated.
"I am the one asking you."
I frowned slightly.
"So do you know me? Because I don’t remember telling you where I stayed, but somehow you knew."
I paused.
"And the other day you asked if we had met before..."
I remembered it clearly. The first day, he had asked that question like he was waiting for something.
Waiting for me to remember. Waiting for me to say yes.
We immediately connected. Even if I hated him for giving me those crescent pills.
And last night Eriko called him my friend.
Even though I had never once mentioned him as a friend.
"Malo, why are you quiet?"
"Nothing."
"Then answer my question."
He lowered his phone slowly.
"We have met before." He shrugged lightly.
"The first day you arrived at the school, we met in the principal’s office. That was our first meeting." He leaned back in his chair.
"And you live with Eriko. It’s Eriko’s house. Everybody knows where Eriko lives. Sometimes he invites me to play games with him and Dina. So how would I know you if you don’t know me?" He laughed lightly.
But how does Kiara know me?
The thought refused to leave.
Or maybe she was just making things up.
Saying I have always wanted my way with Princess.
I haven’t met Princess before.
The first time I met her was at the mall.
I can still remember it.
Or have we met before that?
"Holy fucking shit!"
Malo’s voice snapped through my thoughts.
I looked up quickly.
"What is wrong?" I said.
His phone was in his hand, his eyes wide.
"A body was found at the cemetery."
Fuck!
