Chapter 18 – Malorie – Holly Hayfield

Val was glad to accept Lilith as part of the team. Val made sure to pull out her student council nomination form and have Lilith sign it before she could change her mind. Val made me sign it as well. I didn’t mind, I had already committed to the cause. What I couldn’t figure out was why was the anti-social Lilith Meredith joining? Did she want this office space that much? Either way, her fate was sealed the moment she signed that paper.

Once we signed the forms Jay and Val left to go get lunch. That left me alone with Lilith. I began eating my lunch in relative peace for the first time since starting school. It came as a surprise to me that Lilith took the seat right next to me. It seemed like my plan to get closer to her after school actually worked, despite all the setbacks. We may have been sent to the vice principal’s office but at least the original plan worked out.

Lilith was flipping through pages of a book right beside me. It was an old yearbook. She flipped through it like a maniac. As tempted as I was to watch her I ignored it and continued eating my lunch. At least until she pushed my lunch tray away to make room for the yearbook.

“Look! Here! I found her!” Lilith said.

“You found who?” I asked as I pulled my lunch tray back.

She pointed at the person in the yearbook. The name beneath the photograph said ‘Malorie Noelle’.

“So you found the girl the girl whose name was on the board in the Discipline Hall? What about it?”

“It isn’t about her name. Get a good look at her.” She said.

I did as she asked just before she turned the page. She flipped through as wildly before. She almost tore the old pages of the old yearbook. It was odd to see Lilith so fired up like this. Ever since her encounter with the underground she has seemed like a different person. Lilith finally stopped turning pages when she found a picture of the Art and Theater club.

“This is the Art and Theater club.” She said.

“Yeah, I know. Ms. Sampson showed us the same image. What’s your point?”

She pointed out a specific girl in the image.

“What you don’t know is that while she was showing us she used her finger to hide this girl on the far left. Doesn’t she look familiar?”

“Let me guess, it’s Malorie.”

“Bingo. I think Malorie was the one we saw in that box. Her hair and height looks about the same. The skin color is way off but it’s been so long that’s to be expected.”

“Come on Lilith, that’s reaching pretty far.”

“This is a start! Don’t you want to know why she was trying to cover it up?”

“We already know why. If there was a corpse down there then it’d do massive damage to the school’s reputation. Don’t you want to prevent that?”

“I want to know the truth! I thought you did too… Was I wrong?”

“I…”

The truth was that what I wanted was irrelevant. There were lots of things that I wanted, starting with being free of this school. What I wanted even more than that was to be free of my past. For that reason I couldn’t help Lilith. Her heart was in a good place. Lilith, despite all her initial coldness, was a good person at heart. How would this good person feel about me if she knew the truth of my past?

“I think that this is too heavy an accusation to levy against the school with no proof.”

Lilith went completely silent, and stared at me with her mouth open. She closed the year book and looked down at its cover silently.

“She has something on you, doesn’t she?”

“Who…?”

“Ms. Sampson! That’s why you stayed behind yesterday, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lilith got up and walked around me. She stood at the edge of the table and slapped both her hands against it.

“I expect lies from Ms. Sampson! I didn’t expect them from you!”

I turned to face Lilith in aggravation.

“You’re right! She does have something on me! She has something on you too if you recall correctly.”

“None of that is important.”

I stood up.

“Are you sure about that? Ms. Sampson made things pretty clear. If we go back down there…”

“We won’t have to.” Lilith said.

“What?”

Lilith grinned and pointed down at the yearbook.

“Earlier I spent some time looking through every school record I could find about Malorie. I came up with this, and the address she lived at.”

“You’re out of control.”

“Think about it! If Malorie is alive and well then we’ve got nothing to worry about. There’s no conspiracy, and it was just a coincidence that Ms. Sampson covered her up. If I’m right about this though, then something is very suspicious is going on. If there is I want to know about it.”

“How do you know she still lives at that address?”

“I looked up the address online. Someone by the last name ‘Noelle’ is still living there. They can tell us about Malorie.”

“You’re just going to waltz up to their front door all by yourself and ask for Malorie?”

“No. Of course I wouldn’t do that alone. Don’t be silly.” She said. “We’re going to do it together.”

I had heard enough. I closed my eyes and shook my head in annoyance.

“I’m sorry Lilith. You’ll have to find someone else to play detective with.”

I started to pick up my lunch tray to leave. Lilith took me by the hand before I could.

“You said before that you wanted to be my friend, right? Isn’t hanging out on the weekends something that friends do?”

“You’re not asking me to be your friend though. You’re asking me to be your accomplice. If Ms. Sampson were to find out about…”

“She won’t! It’ll be just you and me. No one else has to know about this. We’re just going to confirm that we didn’t see Malorie in the underground yesterday. Will you come with me? Please…?”

This look in her eyes was something I had never seen from her before. She was begging me with those big brown eyes of hers. She was so desperate to learn about the fate of some stranger that she was willing to step outside of her bubble to reach out to me. That consideration made me rethink my position. As long as we didn’t get caught then I had nothing to worry about. Once we found out what happened to the real Malorie then we could set this all behind us.

“Fine, but we do this on one condition.” I said.

“Which is?”

“You have to stay true to your word just now. We won’t do this as accomplices. We’ll do it at friends. Sleepover at my place tonight and we’ll solve your mystery tomorrow.”

“N-no way, why can’t we just meet at some store or something?”

“My mom has been worried about me. I want to show her that I’ve made at least one friend that I can have sleepovers with, just like I used to. You can help me with at least that much, right?”

“I haven’t slept over at anyone’s house since elementary school.”

“Whoa. That’s all the more reason to do this then. Trust me. You’ll have a good time. It’ll finally give us the chance we need to talk. I know almost nothing about you. If we’re going to go around investigating dead bodies then I at least want to know my partner. Don’t you?”

Lilith thought about it for a moment. She probably still had her reservations about stepping this far out of her bubble. The desperation on her face was obvious. She wanted to learn the truth. My invitation for her to meet my mother was a reasonable compromise. It was more than reasonable. My request was menial by comparison.

Sleepovers were a basic rite of passage for a high school girl. Lilith hadn’t even been to one as a high school student. She needed more than a friend at this point. She needed help. This experience would be good for both of us.

“I’m not going to do anything to hurt you Lilith. You know that right?” I said.

“I know.”

“Then why not give me a chance? I’ll make you a deal. If at any point you feel too uncomfortable then you can go home at any time.”

“What if I decide to go home after an hour?”

“Then that’s fine. I’ll be a little lonely, but that’s fine. I’ll still go with you to Malorie’s house. The most important thing is that my mother meets you. I want her to think that things are going well for me at school.”

“Okay. Fine, I’ll come over.”

“You won’t regret it. Let’s exchange contact information.”

“Okay. Also, Holly…”

“Yes?”

“Keep this secret just between us. No one else can know yet.”

Now that my plans with Lilith were set I could make a mental checkmark of a goal that I had for a while now. My mother was too suspicious of my school life for me to keep up the act. This would remove that suspicion. It also meant getting closer to Lilith. That wasn’t exactly on my list but it was a nice addition. Val was unpredictable. Jay still hated me. Lilith was the only person on the student council I felt comfortable with. Improving my relationship with her was going to be a new goal for this weekend.

During the remainder of the school day I tried to keep my head down. It was so close to the weekend that I didn’t want to risk getting on someone’s wrong side. Black Brittney’s girls had kept their distance ever since Angel and Sam. I hadn’t seen Sam all day. I didn’t know Sam’s number or schedule so remedying that was impossible. As for Naomi, she had stopped begging me to join her group for the time being. The silence from her was a blessing.

Afterschool I got a call from Angel. When I answered the call I could hardly hear her. The sounds of heavy wind and traffic were loud in the background.

“…Sorry… I’m going to be a little late…!” She shouted over the wind.

“It’s okay. I understand. I’ll wait inside the library.” I said.

“…Stay safe…! I’ll text you!” She shouted.

Since Candace still hadn’t returned to school I wasn’t worried about a repeat of what happened before. This extra time meant I could talk to Lilith some more. It’d also give me a chance to finish up the homework I had. While walking towards the library I used the chance to text my mother. I needed to let her know that I invited Lilith over.

When I went into the library I couldn’t find her. I went into the back office room and she wasn’t there either. It was strange. If she had gone home already then the library should’ve been locked. I thought that maybe she went to the bathroom. I pulled out my homework and started working. Things became stranger when Val walked into the library office room instead of Lilith.

“Did you miss me so much that you came to see me again?” Val asked.

“You weren’t the one I was expecting. I was expecting Lilith.”

“Oh? You’re trying to trade me up for someone else?”

Val walked over and took the seat beside me at the office table. She put her arm around me and looked down at my homework. I pushed her arm away.

“I don’t remember becoming a couple. How could I trade you up if we were never dating in the first place?”

Val grinned at me. This time when she put her arm around me she pulled me in close to her.

“You seemed to enjoy it when I kiss you. You didn’t put up much resistance.”

“That’s only because I froze up. I’m not used to someone kissing me out of the blue. If you’re really serious about how you feel about me then please respect my personal space. Besides, you have Jay, don’t you? Why do you want me?”

I pulled away from her again. This time she grabbed me by my arm with a tense grip. The look on her face was more serious than I expected. There was a moment of silence before she proceeded to do anything further. The silence was agonizing. I expected a slap to the face or punch in the side for my insolence. Instead, she loosened her grasp and let me go. She pulled away from me this time and nodded.

“I’m not used to this either.” Val said, “The only other person I ever liked the way I like you was a monster.”

I wanted to make a witty remark about how the girl must’ve been a true monster for Val to consider her a monster. The seriousness of Val’s tone made me reconsider that. This was the first real thing I had ever learned about her. I’d happily accept that over the mysterious enigma I usually dealt with. Maybe if I could learn more about her then we could actually have a normal friendship like I originally planned when I first met her.

I put my hand on her shoulder. This was uncharted ground for me.

“I’d like to start by getting to know you. I said something similar to Lilith earlier. We’re all going to be working on the student council for a whole year if we win. I’d like to know you as something more than a girl that bullied me for the past two weeks.”

Val tapped her fingers against the office table and looked away. She pulled out her smartphone and handed it to me.

“Put your number in here. We’ll talk sometime.” She said.

I took the cell phone and began to add myself to her contacts.

“I’m glad to hear you say that. That’s all I wanted from the beginning. When I met you on the first day of school I thought you’d make a good friend. It may have taken a while but we’ll finally be friends now.”

“Don’t get it confused.” Val said, “We’re not going to be friends. We’re going to be lovers.”