Chapter 5: The Girl Who Knew Too Much
I didn't drive to Malik's house.
I drove to a gas station three miles away, parked beside an empty pump, and read Brianna's messages until my screen dimmed.
Aaliyah's cousin was twenty years old. I'd met her at birthday parties and family cookouts. She was usually the loudest person in any room, the kind of person who laughed before finishing her own jokes.
I'd never had a reason to distrust her.
That didn't mean I trusted her now.
I typed a reply.
What are you talking about?
The three dots appeared almost immediately.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, she sent:
Can we meet? I don't want to explain this over text.
I stared at the message.
Why should I trust you?
Her reply came quickly.
You shouldn't. But you deserve to know what happened.
I almost threw my phone onto the passenger seat.
Another person telling me what I deserved.
Another person deciding when I was allowed to know the truth.
I called her.
She answered on the second ring.
"Nico?""
"Talk.""
There was a pause.
"Are you alone?""
"Yes.""
"Is Aaliyah with you?""
"No.""
"Is Andre?""
"No, Brianna. I'm sitting in a gas station parking lot, and I'm about five seconds away from blocking everybody in your family. So talk.""
She exhaled.
"Okay. I know you think this is all about Andre.""
"Because he slept with my girlfriend.""
"I know.""
"Then what else could it possibly be about?""
She hesitated.
"The night he came over, Aaliyah had already been crying for hours.""
I looked through the windshield at a man filling his truck with gas.
"What does that have to do with anything?""
"She'd been upset about something that happened earlier that day.""
"What happened?""
"I don't know all the details.""
I laughed.
"Of course you don't.""
"Nico, listen. I'm not trying to make excuses for her. What she did was wrong. But there's something she was afraid to tell you before Andre came over.""
I closed my eyes.
"Why does everybody know something I don't?""
"Because Aaliyah made me promise not to tell you.""
"And you agreed?""
"At first, yes.""
I tightened my grip on the phone.
"What was it?""
Brianna went quiet.
Then she said, "She thought you were going to break up with her.""
I almost laughed.
"That's it?""
"No. She thought you were going to break up with her because she believed you'd been talking to another girl.""
My anger faltered.
"What?""
"She saw messages on your phone.""
"What messages?""
"She said there was a girl named Kiara. She thought you were flirting with her.""
I stared at the dashboard.
Kiara.
A girl from my economics class who'd asked me for help with an assignment. We'd exchanged a handful of messages about homework and a group project.
Aaliyah knew about her. I'd shown her the conversation myself when she'd asked who kept messaging me during dinner one night.
There had been nothing romantic about it.
"That's ridiculous," I said.
"I know.""
"You know?""
"She showed me the messages. They didn't look like cheating to me, either.""
I sat back.
"So she thought I was cheating, and instead of asking me about it, she slept with my brother?""
"I'm not defending what she did.""
"It sounds like you are.""
"I'm telling you what she told me.""
I looked out at the road.
A car pulled into the gas station, its tires crunching over loose gravel. The driver got out, glanced at me, then walked toward the convenience store.
For a moment, I envied him.
He had somewhere to go. Something ordinary to do.
I was sitting in a parking lot, trying to figure out how the two people I trusted most had managed to turn my life into a maze.
"What else?"" I asked.
Brianna hesitated again.
"She also said she was afraid Andre would tell you something about himself.""
I frowned.
"What does that mean?""
"I don't know.""
"You're telling me she was afraid of my brother, but she slept with him?""
"I didn't say she was afraid of Andre.""
"Then what did you say?""
"I said she was afraid of what he might tell you.""
I pressed my fingers against my forehead.
"You're making this worse.""
"I know.""
"Then why call me?""
"Because after she told me she was pregnant, she said something that scared me.""
"What?""
Brianna took a shaky breath.
"She said, 'If Nico finds out what Andre knows, he'll never forgive any of us.''"
I felt a chill run down my back.
"What does Andre know?""
"I don't know, Nico. That's why I'm calling you.""
I nearly ended the call.
Instead, I asked, "Can you come to the park by Jefferson Elementary? The one near the basketball courts?""
"Yes.""
"Twenty minutes.""
"I'll be there.""
I hung up.
For the next fifteen minutes, I drove without turning on the radio. I passed the shopping center where Aaliyah and I had shared our first milkshake. I passed the bus stop where she'd kissed me goodbye before my first day at the car wash.
Every familiar place felt like evidence from a life that no longer belonged to me.
When I arrived at the park, Brianna was already waiting beside a picnic table.
She wore a white T-shirt, denim shorts, and a pair of sunglasses pushed into her hair. She stood as soon as she saw me.
"Nico.""
"Don't hug me.""
She lowered her arms.
"Okay.""
I sat on the bench across from her.
"Start from the beginning.""
Brianna folded her hands.
"Aaliyah called me that night. The night Andre came over.""
I stared at her.
"You were there?""
"No. She called me before he arrived.""
"What did she say?""
"She was crying. She said she thought you'd been lying to her about Kiara. She said she felt stupid for trusting you.""
"Did she tell you she'd asked me about it?""
"No.""
"Because she didn't.""
Brianna nodded.
"I know that now.""
I leaned forward.
"Did she tell you Andre was coming over?""
"She said she needed someone to talk to. I told her to call you.""
"What did she say?""
Brianna looked down.
"She said she couldn't talk to you because you were the problem.""
The words landed like a slap.
I stared at her.
"I was the problem?""
"That's how she felt at the time.""
"Because I helped a girl with homework?""
"I know it doesn't make sense.""
I stood and paced to the edge of the basketball court.
A group of middle school boys were shooting hoops at the far end. One missed a shot, and his friends laughed. The sound carried across the park, bright and carefree.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I turned back.
"What happened after she called you?""
"She called me again the next morning.""
"And?""
"She said she'd made a mistake.""
I waited.
"She told me she'd kissed Andre, but she didn't tell me they'd slept together. I thought she'd stopped before anything serious happened.""
I shook my head.
"So you knew they were involved, too.""
"I knew she'd crossed a line. I didn't know how far she'd gone.""
"And you kept it secret.""
Brianna's eyes filled.
"Yes.""
I looked away.
She reached into her bag and took out her phone.
"There's something else.""
I almost laughed.
"Of course there is.""
She turned the screen toward me.
It was a screenshot of a conversation between her and Aaliyah from the morning after the night in June.
Brianna had written:
You need to tell Nico the truth before this gets worse.
Aaliyah had replied:
I can't. Not yet.
Then, several minutes later:
Andre says we need to wait.
I stared at those words.
We need to wait.
Not I need to tell Nico.
Not I need to fix what I did.
We.
As if Aaliyah and Andre had become a team while I was still believing I was her boyfriend and his brother.
I handed the phone back.
"Did you tell my mother about this?""
"No.""
"Did she know?""
"Not from me.""
I studied Brianna's face.
She looked genuinely ashamed, but shame didn't undo anything.
"Why are you telling me now?""
She wiped beneath one eye.
"Because yesterday, Aaliyah called me and asked me to help her prepare for what happens if the baby is yours.""
I froze.
"What does that mean?""
"She wanted to know whether you'd stay with her.""
I stared at Brianna.
"She wanted you to find out if I'd stay with her?""
"She was scared.""
"Everybody keeps saying that like fear makes betrayal disappear.""
"It doesn't.""
"Then why didn't she just tell me the truth?""
Brianna's voice cracked.
"Because she loves you, Nico.""
I shook my head.
"Maybe she loves the idea of me. Maybe she loves having somebody who shows up for her. But love isn't supposed to require this much lying.""
Brianna looked down.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she said something that made me sit back down.
"There's one reason I think you need to talk to Andre again.""
I closed my eyes.
"What now?""
"Because I think he knows why Aaliyah was so afraid of losing you.""
I opened my eyes.
"She was afraid because she cheated.""
"No. I think it started before that.""
Brianna took her phone from her bag again.
She scrolled through several messages, then stopped at one dated three days before Andre came home.
Aaliyah had written:
If he tells Nico what happened last year, everything will be over.
I stared at the screen.
Last year.
I looked up at Brianna.
"What happened last year?""
She shook her head.
"I don't know. She never told me.""
I took a screenshot of the message and stood.
"Then I'm going to ask Andre.""
Brianna caught my sleeve.
"Wait.""
I looked at her hand until she released it.
"What?""
She swallowed.
"If you ask him, don't let him turn this into another argument about Aaliyah. Whatever happened last year, he was involved in it, too.""
I drove away with that sentence following me like a warning.
By the time I reached home, the sun had begun to sink behind the houses.
My mother was in the kitchen, standing beside the stove with a pot of rice simmering on the burner. She looked up when I entered.
"Where have you been?""
"Finding out how many people have been lying to me.""
She turned off the burner.
"Nico, please.""
I held up my phone.
"What's this?""
She looked at the screenshot.
Her face went pale.
I stepped closer.
"What happened last year?""
Mom gripped the edge of the counter.
For a long time, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, "Who showed you that?""
"Aaliyah's cousin.""
Mom shut her eyes.
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
"You know what it means.""
She opened her eyes again.
"Yes.""
I swallowed.
"Then tell me.""
She looked toward the hallway, as if checking whether anyone else was home.
Then she turned back to me.
"Last year," she said slowly, "Andre came to me because he thought he'd gotten a girl pregnant.""
I stared at her.
"What?""
"He was twenty-one. He was frightened. He said the girl had told him she might be pregnant, but he wasn't sure.""
I felt cold all over.
"What happened to her?""
Mom's eyes filled.
"She never had a baby.""
I struggled to understand.
"Then why is everybody acting like it's some huge secret?""
Mom reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
"Because," she whispered, "the girl wasn't Aaliyah.""
I stopped breathing.
Mom looked straight at me.
"The girl was someone you knew, Nico. Someone Andre swore he'd never been involved with.""
I stared at her.
"Who?""
My mother didn't answer.
Then a car door slammed outside.
We both turned toward the window.
May you like
Andre had come back.
And this time, he wasn't alone.
