MALIK HAD STILL BEEN in his room. Alexa had just gotten out of the shower and they had been sitting across from one another in complete silence. Malik was unsure of how to start this conversation, but he knew that Alexa was waiting for him to say the first word.
"Lexa, I'm so sorry." Malik blurts out. "Look, I know it doesn't mean much, but I am sorry for my part in the...accident."
"It wasn't an accident, Mal. And you know it." Alexa replies, shaking her head.
"Why would you say that?"
Alexa breathes in shakily. "Earlier, I couldn't remember anything, but when I was in the shower, pieces started coming back. I have an excuse to not remember, what's yours?"
"I do remember. It was... It was storming, and-and it was raining, and-and the road was slick."
"And?"
Malik breathes in deeply before he gets the courage to speak again. "And I took the turn too fast. The one you're always yelling at me about."
"But that's not why I'm dead, Mal, and you know it."
"Alexa, no. I love you." Malik reaches to grab her hand. "I would never hurt you."
Lexa nods. "I know that. But if I'm gonna sit here in your fancy new school with that nice headmaster who cares about you and helps you be your best hybrid self, then you're gonna admit what you did."
"I didn't do anything."
"Why'd you take that turn too fast?"
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do, Mal. Tell me—"
"— I didn't mean to—"
"—But you did. You blamed it on the storm, but think, think about what you did. Think about why."
Malik's heartbeat begins picking up. "I don't know."
"Yes, you do, Mal, you're lying.—You're lying..."
"I don't know!" Malik growls loudly, his eyes glow yellow: startling Alexa. He doesn't say a word, he just walks out of the room. Slamming the door on his way out.
