Royals

Chapter 9

The sky was a deep blue and was freckled with white dots.

It was stunning.

Joey and I lay on a blanket, starring up at the night sky, unable to take our eyes away from such a beautiful sight. I was afraid that if I looked away, the incredible view would cease to exist. Luckily for me, even after I blinked, it was still there every time.

"Tell me a secret," Joey whispered almost inaudibly.

I stiffened. "You first."

"This doesn't count?" he whined, teasing me. "Alright, I've already had my first kiss, and it wasn't with Lillia."

I almost choked on the air, "What? Why didn't you tell us? Who was it with? When? Was it special?" I couldn't stop the flow of questions that spurred from my lips.

"Woah, slow down," he laughed. He looked up at the stars and took a deep breath, "I didn't tell you guys because I don't want it to count. It was at a random party, I was drunk out of my mind, and it was for a dare. I don't even remember who it was with."

"How do you know it wasn't with Lillia?"

"I remember walking outside of the room and seeing her. I felt extremely guilty at the time. I still do," he pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "I can't tell her, and neither can you. Promise?"

"I promise."

He let out a sigh and we stared at the stars for a while before I broke the silence. "My secret is that I'm a terrible person." I could feel myself starting to get shaky, and I longed for a swig of alcohol to numb me of my pain.

He eyed me carefully, "You're supposed to tell me something I don't know."

"Shut up," I laughed. I cleared my throat and began my explanation with a question. "Do you know why Penelope and I aren't friends anymore?"

"Because she's a bad influence on you. I'm assuming it's about that stuff she pulls at parties."

"You see, Penelope and I have been friends for a long time. She used to always be the one to comfort me when I was dealing with my mom being gone and everything. I know you guys thought we only talked at parties," I turned my head so that I was facing the sky, unable to see his reaction. "Well, that's not really how it was. After parties, we would sneak out and meet each other. We were always pulling pranks. We were...cruel."

I could feel Joey's eyes burning into the side of my face, so I continued, "We were so terrible. We had these, um, 'friends'. Except we called them our 'minions'," I whispered, wincing at our nickname as a shiver ran through my body. "God, Joey, we were awful. We made them do such bad things. We would bully them into doing whatever we wanted. And then, one night, we did just that, but it went really wrong. Joey, we ruined that girl's life." I could feel my tears threatening to spill over, so I blinked rapidly to erase them.

He replied in a soft, hushed tone, "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

I didn't trust my voice, but I answered him anyways, "I do. Eventually. But not right now; I'm not ready." My voice broke and my tears fell. I sat up and rapidly wiped my cheeks, trying to erase the visible marks of my internal wounds.

Joey sat up as well, and snatched my hands away from my cheeks. He kissed the tip of my nose, and constricted me from wiping away the waterfall being released from my eyes.

I broke into a series of sobs and he hugged me close to him. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for anyone to get hurt," I cried in between sobs. I was saying it more for myself than him, and he understood. He just stroked my hair and whispered reassuring words in my ear.