CHAPTER EIGHT

     WHEN KATE RODRIGUEZ FIRST MET Venus Wilson she was only thirteen. It was when Mrs. Singh had put everyone in pairs and forced them to work together by putting aside their differences to win. When Kate and Venus won the prize that day they realized that they were very alike and became best friends since.

When it was Kate's quinceanera Venus was the one who planned it along with her family. It was Venus who created a PowerPoint for everyone in their freshmen year class to educate themselves about what they had just been invited to. Wherever Kate was, Venus was right beside her, never in the back nor in front. Their friendship was built on mutual equality, the best part of it. Venus never made Kate feel like she was less than, despite her less than humble familial background, she never reminded Kate that she was just the daughter of two immigrants who barely made it into the lower middle class bracket.

At the end of the day, it was Venus and Kate. Jorge and Maria Rodriguez had once claimed that the two were going to grow old together because they refused to spend time away from one another. Though all four of them didn't see the storm that was already brewing right in front of their eyes. A storm that had eyes the color of tidal waves, and hair the color of night. A storm that managed to rip friend from a friend without a second thought. A storm that went by the name of Tyler Meyers.

"It's easy to see why people get married because if there are girls like you out in the world men would be crazy enough not to act now!"

"You sound like a terrible ad the TV plays after three in the morning."

It was sophomore year and Tyler and Kate had been together for three months already. He was her first boyfriend and she already knew she was in love. Kate had even started to go to church after hearing how passionate Tyler was about his Lord and Saviour. She just wanted to make him happy... and in order to do that she stopped wearing short skirts, she stopped talking loudly, and she stopped eating a lot. So when she found out that he was talking to Venus behind her back she was hurt although, Tyler didn't know that. She wanted to keep him happy so she suppressed her emotions and labeled it as jealousy. "Jealousy" grew day after day when she would see the way he laughed at Venus' jokes, how he would thank Venus for coming to his games, and how he would tell Venus how beautiful she was when Kate wanted — needed to hear it the most at that time.

"Venus looks so beautiful in that sundress it really brings out her blue eyes and blonde hair, and her skin looks so soft I don't know how she doesn't have a boyfriend yet. I mean just look at her!"

"Venus isn't the type to date, I know how she is. Her in a relationship is the cause of way too many heartbreaks."

     Silly Tyler hadn't even realized what he had done to Kate when he would chastise her for every bite she took that was too big in his eyes. She had dropped two sizes for him and he never noticed, not once did he notice her. It was always about Venus to him. Kate wondered when he was going to leave her for Venus but hoped that day never came.

It did help that Venus knew that Tyler liked her a little more than a friend and maybe that was why she would laugh off his compliments and always bring new arm candy when Kate would be forced into inviting her on their date nights. Kate didn't realize how she had started to despise the thought of having to be in the same room as Venus and Tyler until it was too late.

"Do you really think you should be eating all that! I mean I know your family — I mean, in Bruinville we... eat smaller portions."

"Oh... right."

     Perhaps the two didn't know that she was there the night of the playoffs hockey game, despite the cold she was fighting. She knew that this night meant the world to Tyler and she had to be there. She searched for him in the locker rooms, in the offices, even in the gym until she was finally out of breath. Kate had realized it was better to just return to the bleachers and wait until after the game to meet him. She took exactly fourteen and a half steps before she halted. She watched as the two exchanged giggles and sweet nothings whilst they held each other so close. At first, it was as if her body was experiencing the calm before the storm. Then her skin started to burn from the inside out. Despite it being minus twenty-two degrees celsius outside, her body was scorching and she couldn't manage to cool down.

"I know you'll do great Tyler."

"Why is that?"

"Well that's a simple question, it's obvious, I'm your lucky charm! I mean look whenever I come to your games, you always end up scoring the winning goal!"

Funny thing was that they didn't win that night. Every time the opposing team scored a point against the Bruinville Sabers she let out a dry chuckle. 5-0.

There was a simple solution to the problem ahead of her, walk away. Although her feet remained planted on the ground, watching the two in secrecy. Then, their lips touched... and she knew she had had enough. What Kate didn't know was whether she was mad at Tyler for cheating on her or at Venus for lying to her every day she would ask if the two had any feelings for each other.

"I don't know if what we are is right, but all I know is I feel like myself around you."

     The following day Tyler broke up with Kate, and then the next week Venus and Tyler had started dating without even having the decency to ask Kate if she was okay. Venus being the amazing best friend she was didn't even acknowledge the fact that maybe just maybe Kate was hurting under the fake smile of hers. It didn't help when Venus started sharing intimate details about her relationship with Tyler. Their relationship with one another was light and day compared to the one Kate and Tyler shared — with Venus it was "you're perfect the way you are, babe," and with Kate, it was always "can't you try to not do that."

Can't you try not to do that, can't you try not to eat so much? Can't you try to not act weird, can't you try to hide that accent?

So many 'can't yous' had poisoned Kate's mind she had forgotten what she could do. She had never felt so lost in her life. The one person she could ever express her deepest feelings to was the one who had twisted the knife that was stabbed into her back by Tyler.

"Kate it's my six month anniversary with Tyler tomorrow and I'm throwing a party you have to be there!"

     It was obvious what Kate did to Venus was an act of bottled up emotions she never expressed. What was she supposed to do when Raj told her that he had found those pictures in the drawer of a man who was definitely not Tyler? What was she supposed to do when she knew that she would never do that to Tyler? All that hatred towards the two was unbearable, her soul was rotting away and what she did was the only logical thing she could think of to save herself.

"This is what happens to girls who fuck their best friend's boyfriend!"

Kate should have just drowned in her emotions. No one knew at Centennial Secondary School what storm was about to hit them. Even Kate didn't expect this one. However, this storm grew from Tyler and morphed into a beautiful blonde girl, with the bluest eyes in the world — the most destructive storm there was... Venus Wilson and this storm didn't leave any person unharmed.

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     There are some things that humans — as loving and caring as they can be — love to hear about and it's the death of an old foe. It's like music to their ears knowing the person they hated is finally dead — at least to some. Luckily for Kate Rodriguez, she was among the minority who was celebrating Venus' death. It was as if someone had lifted a tonne of bricks from her shoulders and released her into the free. Kate knew those pictures of hers were forever online, and she didn't care. The bitch she called her best friend at one point in her life was dead. Sure there were some people wallowing, some shedding crocodile tears, but not her.

This was the happiest day of her life.

"Why won't you do anything? Oh my God, I don't know if there's a pulse!" Lily cried out.

It was music to her ears hearing the simple sentence: "Venus Wilson, daughter of business tycoon Malia Wilson found dead after her body was recovered from the swimming pool." How ironic that it took them more than twenty-four hours to find her dead in the pool? No one cared enough for Venus to check up on her? How pathetic must her soul have felt when she watched a maid discover her body? — Not even her boyfriend had the decency to drop by the next day to see if she was alright.

Kate snickered at the thought, as quiet as possible. Her parents were talking on the phone down the hall and even the slightest of noise would alarm them. Of course, after what Venus had done with her life Kate was under house arrest at all times. Funny isn't it, the one night that she was allowed to go out — to babysit her little brother while he went door to door asking for candy — was the night she was able to witness the murder of the woman who murdered her merely a year ago.

I must be sick.

The first thought that had surfaced in her subconscious as she made her way back to the house she had dropped her brother at.

I must be crazy.

It didn't take a psychologist for her to know that. She just needed to know why she felt good after watching someone die. She needed answers, didn't everyone? Kate would've just been okay with leaving Venus there to be found by someone else, maybe her boyfriend, but of course, she wasn't the only one who had come there to take their revenge. Venus had accumulated a list of foes over the years with the help of Kate and Raj. The only thing Kate found herself wondering about that night was who the hell the girl under the bed was and why she had to drag everyone in that room into a mess too big for them to clean up.

Even the thought of Lily sent signals warning her that she was going to experience a migraine. She had never met anyone that dull in her life, anyone that has access to the internet must have watched at least one crime show, hell even an episode and by the end know that the last thing a person should not do is get their fingerprints over any of the evidence.

"We need to get rid of the fingerprints."

"I didn't know, I was just trying to help her come back! I didn't know, oh my God I'm going to jail, I'm going to jail, I'm going —"

"I'm going to fucking dig two graves if she doesn't fucking shut the fuck up!"

     But how could she blame a girl who watched the life drain out of someone? A person she could so easily have saved? — There! There it was, the feeling of her stomach churning, her heart weighing down her body, they were back... her emotions, her feelings, they were back. Something she had to suppress even when she was there that night helping hide Venus' body. Kate Rodriguez was back but why did it feel like she was slowly rotting away? As if she was the girl that had just been buried six feet under this morning?

"Stop it," she caught herself muttering.

Stop it. Stop feeling guilty. Stop feeling sorry. Stop it.

Everything is easier said than done.

"How about you try this Kate, after one hit you'll feel everything and nothing... it's a power trip!"

When a stranger offers candy, do not take but go tell Daddy.

"I don't know my parents..."

Dandy is candy, but not from strangers.

"Come on Kate look at me, Venus motherfucking Wilson is doing it, how bad can it be?"

Candy from strangers brings great dangers.

"I mean as long as no one finds out..."

Silly Kate.

     Maybe if she had said no that day none of this would have happened. If only tomorrow was yesterday, she could change her whole life, but that wasn't how life worked. There were no do-overs, no replays. One mistake, and game over.

"Game over," Kate whispered, as she imitated the sound of a gun going off on her forehead.

"—Mija?"

The door creaked open leaving Kate frozen in her spot. The only part of her body that turned towards her frail mother was her head who held up her phone, while the other hand cupped the speaker of it. Ever since Venus had made sure that her parents knew about her 'pictures' her father had taken her phone privileges away. Only recently was she allowed to use her phone under adult supervision, and now that her father was in Mexico visiting family the sympathy in her mother's heart had led to no boundaries over her.

The woman who had given her first breath to her was the same woman who managed to give her second breath of life when she found Kate with one too many pills in her hands two and half months ago. The two dared not to speak about what had occurred that night, a silent agreement made by the two. Never had Kate been so grateful to have a mother like hers.

"It's for you," she finished.

"Thank you, Mama," Kate whispered and grabbed the phone gracefully from her mother's hand.

Just before she put the phone up to her ear, she sent her mother a knowing look. Her mother stood there for a moment, then vanished at the sound of her little brother crying. All she wanted to do was tell her mother that she would be okay, that she wasn't broken. But the two already knew those were comforting lies. Kate couldn't lie to her best friend.

"Hello?" The voice echoed out of the phone. Kate fixed her attention back to the phone, closed the door, quiet enough for her mother not to realize, and put the phone to her ear. Her shallow breathing was enough of an indication that she was listening, "it's Lily,"

Just before she could stop herself she let out a snarky laugh. Of course, it was Lily. First, it was Venus and now it was her. It was as if Kate could never get a break from the drama. Her life was becoming a telenovela and she hated being on the other side of the audience.

"What did you do now?" Just when the question slipped out her little brother came running into the room, with no pants on, followed by her mother. She let out a grunt and rolled her eyes. "I'll meet you in the basement, and bring everyone so we can get our story straight." She whispered as she watched her mother let out a fit of giggles running after her little boy, "— Mateo!" She joined in with her mother as the two latched onto the only source of happiness for them.