The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

203 Caught In the Act

Kathy’s words were like a bolt of lightning striking Emma and Rachel’s hearts. The green-eyed girl looked at the two of them with a serious look. Meanwhile, Poppy just watched her three friends in turn with a confused face.

“What exactly happened? Why do I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t know anything?” Poppy asked, tilting her head.

“They’re hiding something from us, Pops. I know that.” Kathy squinted her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, “Are you guys going to explain that now?” she raised an eyebrow, not taking her eyes off her two best friends.

Emma cleared her throat that feel desert dry, “The two of us.. um.. we are actually, working on a.. project?” she seemed to think.

“Well, must be a very interesting project, Emma. You guys even are eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. I don’t know what device you used to do that weird thing, but I could recognize the voices of the men in there. Maybe I’m being Mrs-know-it-all, but I think that the voices were nearly similar to the voices of Calvin, Ian, and Troy.”

“Kathy!” Rachel immediately reprimanded her in a whisper. “I’m sorry. But can you lower your voice? There’s a lot of people here.” the tall girl asked with a worried face, especially because Kathy had a voice that tended to be loud.

“Oh.. Even this also is a secret? I’m getting more and more curious,” Kathy said.

Poppy looked at Emma questioningly, “Is what Kathy said true, Emma? Are you two really hiding something from us?” she asked quietly.

Emma sighed as she glanced at Rachel who was also looking at her. Rachel seemed to be shrugging, confused about what to do with the questions. She didn’t know what Emma would do to avoid it again.

.....

“All right. I will explain it to you. But, that can’t be said here because there are a lot of people.” Emma said.

“Hm..” Kathy nodded. It seemed that what her two friends were hiding was quite serious and important. “Okay,” she replied and then continued, “Do you guys have time after ballet class? Can we gather at my house? It just so happens that my house is empty.”

Rachel looked at Emma whose face looked frustrated. Then she held the girl’s hand that was on her lap and she gave her a gentle smile.

Emma looked back at Rachel meaningfully and sighed as she nodded slowly, “Okay,”

“All right! Looks like we have to go to class now, girls. That damn witch will throw a tantrum if we’re even a second late.” Kathy said after glancing at her watch.

In the ballet classroom, they had their usual training. Well, of course with Ms Tania who was always cynical about the four girls because of the revenge she felt.

But for today’s class, it was obvious that Emma had a lot on her mind. The thoughts in her head were in a complete mess state. Emma never thought that such an incident could actually happen. And what’s worse, Kathy was the one who caught it.

Poppy looked at Emma who was contemplating herself alone in front of her locker. Then she returned her gaze to her two friends who were sitting on the floor with her. She looked at Kathy with a worried face, “Kathy. Weren’t you putting too much pressure on Emma? We are indeed friends. But that doesn’t mean we have to know each other’s secrets.”

Rachel who was also there nodded, “I think that’s right.”

But Kathy shook her head with a smile on her lips and arms crossed her chest, “Sorry, guys. But there’s something you really don’t know. I’ve suspected something strange about Emma for a long time.”

“You have?” Rachel’s eyebrows rose.

Kathy nodded, “Don’t you ever think that you’re the only one who knows what Emma has been doing, Rachel. Well, even though I can only guess, that doesn’t mean I’m completely blind.” she winked.

For Rachel, it didn’t matter if what she and Emma had been doing all this time would be found out by Kathy and Poppy. However, she knew that it was Emma who objected to it. Rachel tried to understand Emma’s fears about her identity being discovered by others. To Rachel, everyone’s fear was different. Because of that, she would remain silent and leave all decisions in Emma’s hands because this was all Emma’s secret.

“I do feel bad to you, guys. I can’t explain anything to you. This is a complicated situation because it has to do with Emma’s feelings.” Rachel said to Kathy and Poppy.

“You don’t have to feel guilty, Rachel. I understand your position. It’s not easy to share secrets with other people.” Poppy smiled at her. Then her face seemed like thinking, “But.. I never expect that Emma was such a mysterious person.”

“She is that mysterious, Pops. So, let’s see how it’ll go,” Kathy said.

“Ah.. Emma is coming,” Poppy said when she saw Emma had finished her business with the locker and was now walking towards them with a tote bag hanging on her shoulder.

“Sorry to keep you guys waiting so long. I was looking for my lost underwear,” Emma said as she reached her three best friends.

Poppy shook her head, “It’s ok, Emma.”

“Have you found the underwear yet? I have a spare one if you want to borrow it.” Kathy went to unzip her GYM bag.

Poppy chuckled, “But Kathy.. it’s.. a bit...”

“No need, Katy. I just happened to find it. It turned out was tucked in the folds of my clothes.” Emma chuckled.

After showering and changing clothes, according to the plan, the girls immediately went to Kathy’s house, which was reportedly empty.

“Since my whole family is away for the past two days, I’m the only one left in this house. So, enjoy yourselves,” Kathy said as she threw her bag on the sofa and went straight to the fridge.

Poppy glanced at a shelf that had a small sign with the words ‘Bag Rack’. It looked like it was made by Kathy’s mother, and Poppy understood why she had to give the shelf a name. “Girls, give me your bags. I’ll keep them there,” she said to Emma and Rachel who were already sitting on the sofa. Her hand pointed towards the shelf.

“Oh.. Thanks, Poppy.” Emma said as she handed her bag, followed by Rachel.

While placing all the bags, including Kathy’s, onto the shelf, Poppy could only shake her head, “She’s such a messy girl.”

Kathy came back with four glasses and a large bottle of two litres of orange juice that her mother had prepared for her in the refrigerator, a large bowl of potato chips and a bowl of caramel popcorn, “Okay, now can you explain what you need to explain, Emma..”

“Are we going to hear an explanation or watch a movie, actually?” Poppy muttered as she looked at the snacks on the table.

“All right..” Emma cleared her throat as she straightened her back from the backrest, “Rachel and I have been spying on Calvin, Troy and the others. Coincidentally, they were joining forces to make chaos. And we’re trying to prevent that from happening.”

“What kind of chaos that you mean, Emma?” Kathy asked.

“Eum.. It was chaos involving one of my other friends. Because of that, I tried to prevent it from happening.” Emma continued.

“Hm.. Looks like you’re still trying to cover it up, Emma. Maybe I should talk to you first about my suspicions since you asked me to investigate something about Donny. Are you dealing with that kind of group again, Emma? Groups like Hell Gate?” Kathy asked.

Emma frowned, “H-how do you know?”

“Hell Gate?” Poppy also spoke. “Wait, girls. What is going on here exactly?” The names of Hell Gate and Donny were a nightmare to her. She suffered from severe trauma that made her cry every night. In fact, she had almost attempted suicide because she failed to get rid of the terrible incident she had experienced when she was trapped in that savage group. No one knew the effects of the trauma, not even her own mother.

“Poppy..” Emma looked at her with a guilty face.

Meanwhile, Rachel could only silently watch because, at the time of the incident with Hell Gate, she had not been friends with them.

“I’m sorry, Pops. We didn’t mean to hide this from you. But what happened was, due to an unplanned incident, we accidentally uncovered Donny’s identity and discovered that you were being toyed with by him. But since Emma and I were just ordinary girls, we could do nothing but try to persuade you to stay away from such a jerk. Since we couldn’t protect you with our power, we thought to keep you from getting caught up again with a dangerous guy like him.” Kathy explained.

“That’s true, Poppy. We didn’t dare to ask you directly for fear that you would feel embarrassed and pressured by what happened, because we understood that it was very hard to tell others about what you’ve been through.” Emma added.

Slowly, Poppy’s face was looking down. She couldn’t hold back her tears when she heard it all.

“Poppy.. We really are sorry. Please don’t get us wrong,” Emma said again slowly.

“Pops, it’s really not what you think. Geez.. Why did it turn out like this?” Kathy scratched her head. She wanted to make Emma talk in the first place but it was Poppy who started to cry now.

Poppy shook her head as she continued to wipe her tears away, “No.. Sorry.. I’m not mad at you guys. I’m just.. shocked. I was shocked to hear this news. It’s maybe because of my trauma.”