'You made me open up to you, I want you to open up to me too.' Victoria said.
She reached out for Alicia's hand and took it. I did not want to be a party to what Vitoria was planning.
She was blackmailing Alicia emotionally.
'I told you already, I couldn't. I was in school when he got his sentence.' Alicia lied.
She was home throughout Nate's court hearing and she even went with mum to the court on the day he got sentenced.
'You were there.' Victoria was hell bent on knowing why Alicia kept mute about what Nate did to her.
'How did you know it happened? It was barely nine weeks before his arrest.' Alicia took her hands from Victoria's.
I could only stare at the both of them talking back at each other.
'Nothing gets past me and your brother talks. A lot.' Victoria blinked rapidly.
'I think we'll be on our way. It was nice talking with you Victoria.' Alicia stood up and signaled to me to follow her.
'You can not keep running Al. You just can not.' Victoria got up too and walked to the door.
'Bye.' I said. I was happy it was over.
'Take care. Especially you Al, take care of yourself.' Victoria turned the knob of the door but stood there, watching us.
'My name is Alicia, and thanks.' Alicia walked away and shouted, 'bye!' over her shoulder.
The nightmare was finally over. I knew it was almost inevitable to experience awkward moments like this if I went to visit every girl on our list.
I wanted to end the journey at Victoria's but the guilt I felt earlier choked me again so I made a resolve to see it through to the end.
'Nate talks about his victims?' Alicia asked me once we got out of Victoria's gate.
There was so much anger in her voice. She sounded ready to strangle Nate at any opportunity she got.
'Who could he talk about them to? He definitely feared getting caught.' I wanted her to forget the issue.
It was bad enough that someone outside our family knew. Nate was a very shallow thinker.
He did not worry about what his actions might do, he only wanted to live in the moment and that was costing a lot from all the people he claimed to love.
'Desmond.' She looked at me. Her eyes were teary and her lips quivered.
'That is just a possibility. Let's just go home. Nate does not deserve us.' I was saying words but they had no meaning or relevance to the situation. I just wanted her to get her mind off Nate.
Victoria was not to blame anyway, we also talked to her about him.
'Will you go with me to see Nate next week?' She stopped in her tracks and turned to me.
'Yes, I will.' I wanted to talk to Nate. I wanted to see things from his point of view.
Nothing could justify his actions but I wanted to know what drove him to cheat on his girlfriend and what pushed him to enjoy rape more than consensual sex.
'Let's go home.' She pulled my wrist and we headed for the bus park.
Mum was home when we got there. She looked very furious.
I knew we were in the wrong because we switched off both our phones just so we did not get disturbed while we were with Victoria.
'I called and called! I was worried. I expect more from you, Alicia.' Her voice was raised. She was shouting.
'We are sorry. It wasn't intentional mum. We just happened to forget our phones were off.' She lied.
We agreed to put our phones off on our way to Victoria's. In fact, it was Alicia's idea and I bought it.
'I was worried sick and you know I get scared all the time.' Mum's voice was low now. She had been genuinely worried.
The last time I heard mum yell at Alicia was when she came home from college without informing her first.
I thought it was weird but mum thought it was a big deal.
We did not tell her where we went or what we did and she did not ask.
The journey had just begun for Alicia and I but we could tell the road ahead was a very bumpy one.
The few days after we visited Victoria were sort of weird.
Alicia kept making excuses just to avoid going to any person's house. I knew she was sad about the whole last minute revelation that went on but it was time for her to accept reality.
It was obvious from what Victoria said that many more people knew about it.
Victoria had asked her question from a point of complete certainty with no atom of doubt whatsoever and because of how sudden it was, Alicia could not deny it.
The day we were supposed to visit Nate was just around the corner. I was very nervous and my chest tightened at the very thought. Alicia always talked about it.
Oftentimes, she came to my room to 'practice' what she was going to say to him when she saw him.
I was confused as to why she even bothered to rehearse what to tell Nate because she was bound to get emotional and she would definitely forget all she had practiced.
My life was not any easier. I was so caught up in Nate's business I had totally forgotten about prom.
It was something my friend, Lily, and I looked forward to and I just could not miss it because my crush asked me to be his date.
He paid attention to very little details nobody really cared about.
He complimented my clover necklace and did not stop talking about how he got his daughter the exact same thing for her birthday last year, up until Alicia and I left.
The dress I picked after so much back and forth on style and color was a blue tulle beaded long sleeved high slit prom dress. I really loved the dress.
After leaving the dressmaker's shop, Alicia said she wanted to go to see Mauve.
They seemed pretty close the last time we bumped into her and I was sure Alicia just wanted to talk about what Victoria had told her.