The Girl Next Door

Chapter 33

BAY VIEW HIGH - PARKING LOT - DAY
Beyoncé waits in her car. Rhonda appears, heading toward her car. Beyoncé scrambles out.

Beyoncé : Ms. Salizar!
Rhonda turns to see Beyoncé approaching fast. Her face registers panic. She picks up her pace.

Beyoncé : Please wait.

RHONDA: I can't help you.

Beyoncé: You know something. I saw the look on your face when you saw that photo.

RHONDA: I don't know anything.
Beyoncé grabs her by the arm.

Beyoncé: She's trying to hurt me. And my
family. I need your help. Please.
Beyoncé and Rhonda huddle in a secluded spot at the outskirts of a soccer field. Players scrimmage in the distant background.

RHONDA: She had an affair with her. When she tried to break it off, she threatened ... all kinds of things.

Beyoncé :Oh my God ...

RHONDA: You have to understand, Mrs.
Knowles. Kehlani was a good person. She was just naive. And very lonely.

Beyoncé: What about her boyfriend?

RHONDA: Alex treated her like shit -- made her feel completely worthless. Y/n saw how vulnerable she was, how much she needed to be loved.

Beyoncé: And she took advantage.

RHONDA: She knew every button to push. And She could be quite the charmer. But something tells me you already know that.
Beyoncé lowers her eyes, ashamed.

RHONDA: As big a creep as Alex was, I never believed he killed her. He wasn't the kind to do something like that.

Beyoncé: What are you saying? He was set up?

RHONDA:
Kehlani would tell me things about
Y/n. How jealous she was of Alex. How desperate she became when she tried to end it. I didn't think much about it. But then, after Kehlani's murder, I happened see to something in Y/n's file. Something I wasn't supposed to see.

Beyoncé : Tell me.

RHONDA: Y/n's mother hanged herself when he was eleven.

Beyoncé : No ...

Rhonda: And that's not the worst of it.
She had been molesting her since she was a little girl . Apparently she couldn't live with herself anymore.
Rhonda holds Beyoncé's shocked gaze.

RHONDA: I'm no child psychologist, Mrs.
Knowles. But I'd guess trauma like that makes for one pretty fucked up kid.