An Unspoken Rule

Malia's POV

Penelope's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“How did you hear about it?” No one ever speaks about her. It's like an unspoken rule,” she said in a low voice.

“I managed to get it out of your crush,” I replied, wiggling my eyebrows.

She promptly blushed. “Ronan?”

“Yeah. The one and only,” I said with a knowing smile.

“He must really like you a lot for him to have mentioned her existence to you,” she stated with a sad smile.

I rolled my eyes. “Penelope, Ronan is my friend. Friends do not hate each other. They like each other, just in case you didn't know,” I said with the patience of one explaining something complex to a little child.

She breathed in deeply. “Well, it doesn't even matter. It's not as though if he didn't like you the way I think he does, we'd ever have a chance together.”

I wanted to protest but thought better about it. It was only going to make her more upset.

“Did you ever see the baby?” I asked.

She gave me a look. “I was all but six years old at th