The Secret

Chapter 19

Haley's jaw dropped. Shock was written all over her face and she instantly went bright red. After I said what I needed to say a wave of relief went through me. But now looking at Haley, I feel uneasy. Maybe I shouldn't of said anything. I look down at my hands which are folded in my lap, feeling unsettled with the silence. When I look back up at her I see her eyes glistening with tears threatening to spill. Instantly I go by her side and wrap her in a hug.

"Hey, don't cry," I say while stroking her thick brown hair.

"Please don't tell anyone," she whispers, straightening up and wiping her tears with her hands.

"I won't," I say meaningfully.

"Thanks." she gives me a tight smile.

"Can I ask you something?" I say tentatively.

"Of course."

"Is he forcing you to have a relationship with him."

Haley's eyes widen. "Oh God no." she shakes her head. "It's mutual."

"Ok." I'm still unsure.

"Maya." Haley reaches her arm out to me. "He's not forcing me to do anything. I like him and he likes me."

I nod. "Ok." I still have to make sure that this is real. I don't want her to endure anything that I've gone through. My mind trails back to the gut-wrenching event but I quickly pull myself out of it. I've gotten better at doing that.

"Tell me about him, then." I chirp up, trying to block out how weird this is. It's not working.

"Right, so I was going to the cinema alone because I really wanted to see the horror movie, The Conjuring 2. But no one wanted to go, so I just went alone. So Luke sits next to me-"

"Wait, who's Luke?"

"Mr.Clay."

"Ok, continue."

"He sits next to me and he gets scared at one bit so he grabs onto me. I didn't know who he was at all. This was before he came to our school, it was about one year ago." she sighs, happily. "I poured my drink on him because he grabbed me and I got scared," she laughs and goes on to talk about how he apologised and he asked her out on another movie night to make up for it. Basically, they had a thing going on for the whole summer of last year. Haley went back to school and there he was, her history teacher. He ended up giving out to her and vice versa. She never mentioned her age. But then they couldn't stay away from each other and now there in a student-teacher relationship.

"You know that's illegal." I truthfully say.

"I know." she lifts her hands to cover her face.

"I could call the police and get him arrested." I think out loud.

"Oh my god, don't, please don't." she panics.

"I wouldn't do that, chill."

Haley releases a sigh of relief.

"You do need to be more careful though, like no school smooching," I say pointing my finger at her.

"I will."

"Ugh, I don't think I could look at him the same way, knowing that he's dating my best friend."

Haley slaps my knee. "You're going to have to get over it."

I stay until I've finished my dinner, which was gorgeous. Georgia cooked lasagne with her homemade sauces. It was delicious. During dinner, we talked about random things and we had a nice catch-up. We also discussed Maddy's disappearance. It was the talk of the town. I still can't believe that she's gone and no one can find her. Hopefully, there's a search party going on that I can join. I want to help. I park my car and I enter my hallway. The living room lights are on. I go into the room and see my mam lounging on the sofa watching some cooking show. I join her and snuggle into her side.