Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in like five years, but here is chapter 2! Thank you for reading chapter 1 and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. :)
Just a heads up, each chapter follows a different character and their thoughts. This chapter follows Joy after CH1 events. And Chapter 3 will also be up soon, so look out for that. :)))
And you should leave a review!
As soon as Joy shoved the door open to escape, she fell to her knees, hitting the floor with a loud clatter.
She sat there for a while, blubbering. She couldn't believe Fabian. They had broken up. He broken up with her. If she wasn't in the room, who knows what they would've done...
Her heart ached. All she wanted was Fabian to like her. Look at her the way he looked at Nina. Kiss her the way he kissed Nina.
Joy wheezed, her breaths shaky and her nose clogged. She rubbed her palms against her eyes, wiped her nose, and looked for the thing she tripped on. Lying next to her foot was a book. And not some paperback Twilight book, an old one. With a dark leather cover that contained scuffs and wrinkles. She couldn't see a title on the front, so she flipped to the first page, and there it was in a reflective gold: THE GAME OF SENET.
Senet? She furrowed her brow. What was that? Some sort of sport or board game? Like fencing or Mancala?
She grabbed the book and journeyed down the hall to her room. Mara was in there, so she stood in front of the door for a few seconds, composing herself. With an exhale, she entered, stopping Mara in mid-sentence. Mara redirected her smile from the computer to Joy.
"Hey, Joy!"
Joy gave her a weak smile and a nod. She brought the book to her chest and hugged it tightly.
"Mick's on, want to say hi?" Mara continued, oblivious to Joy's inner battle to stop the current of tears from escaping. She was a dam. She could stay strong.
When Joy didn't answer, Mara tried again, her smile fading into concern. "Joy, are you okay?"
Don't think about it, Joy told herself. Don't think about Fabian and Nina and the fact he will never love you—crack.
A whimper escaped Joy and a tear rolled down her cheek. She shut her eyes in an effort to stop the rest of the waterfall. She heard Mara tell Mick that she would call him later and then the slam of a laptop. Joy squeezed the book harder. She heard footsteps shuffle toward her and then felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Joy," Mara said softly. "You can tell me what's wrong."
Joy's breaths began to quicken and she felt the current pounding, wanting to flow freely.
And then all at once, the dam fell apart.
Joy let out a long whine as she sank to her feet. She exploded into tears before her butt even touched the ground.
She felt arms embrace her as she wailed, "IT'S FABIAN. I CAN'T GET OVER HIM AND HE WAS KISSING NINA AND HE'LL NEVER LOVE ME BUT I LOVE HIM SO MUCH."
Joy's stomach hammered against the Senet book she was holding so tightly. Right now, it was the only thing that couldn't hurt her.
"Shh..." Mara said as she rubbed Joy's shoulder. "It'll be okay."
"No it won't! It'll never be okay if Nina's here!"
"This isn't Nina's fault, Joy."
That made Joy explode inside. OF COURSE IT WAS NINA'S FAULT. EVERYTHING WAS NINA'S FAULT.
"I know what you're thinking Joy," Mara said. "But it really isn't her fault. It's Fabian's. He likes her on his own account."
Joy wanted to push Mara away from her, but she was too busy breaking inside. She just wanted to cry to Patricia but she was on a stupid date with her stupid boyfriend. Patricia wouldn't have said stupid things like that. She would've been a better help.
Mara continued talking and Joy continued sobbing, but Joy had tuned Mara's words out. Joy never let go of the book. By the time her nose cleared up, she grew even more attached to it. The smell of old pages and leather mixed with some strangely familiar fresh, foresty scent. Joy couldn't get enough of it.
