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From my spot on the bed, I glared at her. “I wish you hadn’t told me.”
“Well, so do I now!”
She let out a sigh of frustration, running her hands through her hair. I wanted so much to be angry with her. I was angry with her, but she was dealing with a lot too. Hearing some creep that she’d once slept with telling her he had planned to drug her was the stuff of nightmares, and having to keep it bottled up to save her relationship – and pride – had to be killing her.
The whole situation was one gigantic mess.
“Is he going to tell the police?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know? You’ve been inseparable since he got here, and I thought you told each other everything.”
I did not appreciate her sarcasm.
“Georgia, look at me!” I snapped. “I’m here, at home on my own, not at the hospital. What does that tell you?”
She flinched at my tone. “Well … I … I just thought-”
“What? That he’d be okay about lying for you? He’s not, and I don’t know if he’ll do it.”
“If you hadn’t told him, he wouldn’t have to lie!”
“You might be okay with keeping secrets from Elliott, but I didn’t want that with Jesse.”
Georgia’s cheeks flushed with rage and she yelled, “Do you think I like lying to him? Do you think that I wouldn’t take it back if I could? Izzy, that night with Leon is the worst thing I’ve ever done, and even the thought of it makes me want to throw up! But I don’t think I deserve to lose Elliott because of one drunken mistake.”
“Does Jesse deserve to lose everything because of your mistake?” I asked, softly.
She shook her head. “He doesn’t. And I’m sorry he got caught up in this. But I can’t risk losing Elliott for him.”
Georgia wasn’t usually selfish, and I knew it was because she was scared but her attitude towards Jesse annoyed me. Twenty-four hours ago, they were friends and she was as worried about him as I was when he collapsed. With her relationship on the line, it was a different story.
“Who would you risk it for?” I asked. “What if it had been me?”
From an angry glow, her face slowly paled as she considered the very real prospect that I could have been the one to take the spiked drink.
“Don’t say that.”
“I’m actually asking,” I told her. I sat up straight, staring at her but she lowered her gaze so I couldn’t see her eyes. That was all the answer I needed.
“Get out,” I said. “Get out of my room. Now.”
Her bottom lip trembled, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look at me before she walked out.
I threw myself backwards, my head thudding onto my pillow. Tears streamed down my face, sobs vibrating my body while I thought about everything that had happened.
I’d put my sister’s happiness ahead of my own, and she – albeit silently - admitted that she probably wouldn’t have done the same for me. Maybe in reality, she would have made a different choice, but just the fact that she didn’t immediately tell me she’d have been there for me made my stomach clench.
If she hadn’t been such an idiot and slept with Leon, none of this would have happened. He’d been getting away with following her home, making disgusting suggestions, and even backing her into corners whenever he had the chance. It was stupid of him to confess to spiking Jesse’s drink, but I suppose knowing Georgia would never tell the police for fear of her secret getting out had heightened his arrogance.
Isabelle Mills, you are ridiculous. Get up from this bed and do the right thing.
When I told Jesse that the right thing to do wasn’t obvious, I meant it. I had walked into his hospital room with the image of Georgia’s crying face, and the sound of her voice begging me not to tell anyone echoing in my ears. But then I saw him. I saw the state he was in, and his fears about his knee and I got confused all over again.
With neither of them around me, the haze began to clear. Screw saving Georgia’s relationship. As special as Elliott was, boyfriends could be replaced. Georgia could not. Maybe she would hate me for it, maybe my parents would be angry that I upset her, maybe Jesse would never forgive me for not backing him up from the start. But if reporting Leon was what it took to keep my sister safe, and to help Jesse, I had to do it.
It was a while before I calmed myself down enough to get up. It seemed like my body hadn’t stopped shaking for nearly twenty-four hours, and I pulled on an extra jumper to warm me up before heading to the bathroom to splash some water on my face.
