"...Zoey, that's really you, isn't it?"
The guy staring in wide-eyed disbelief at Zoey like she was something out of a dream was tall and definitely the jock type. It was easy to tell that he was an all-muscle athlete even under the thick, loose hoodie he sported. The hood had been up and over his eyes as he approached the grassy lawn outside of the Starbucks, but when he spotted Zoey he hastily yanked it off to get a clearer look, making his blonde hair stick out at messy angles.
Zoey was looking equally as star-struck, but she somehow managed to clear her head faster than the boy did.
"Of course it's really me, Heath," she felt like she should be giving him a casual, friendly smile, but apparently her voice was the only thing of hers that she seemed to be able to work.
Heath's dumbfounded expression broke into a huge grin and he rushed forward, making a beeline for Zoey and picking her up to twirl her around in the air like she was a little girl.
"Zo! I've missed you, babe!" he cheered as Zoey clearly objected to her impromptu merry-go-round ride.
"Whoa! Heath, put me down! !" she yelled frantically as she was spun around.
With a laugh, he did as she said, setting her down gently before trapping her in a bear hug.
Aphrodite had been looking on with a kind of morbid curiosity when a strange tingly feeling told her that someone else was watching the scene unfold as well. She glanced over her shoulder and jumped a little as she saw Erin in the coffee shop behind her, practically sucker-fished to the window with one hand holding her macchiato and the other hand gesturing wildly at Shaunee to stop browsing the muffins and come check out what was going on outside.
Heath had let go of Zoey and stepped back to look at her like it had been years since they'd seen each other.
"Man, Zo! I knew you lived around here now but no way did I expect to run into you when I came here today!" he said excitedly.
"Heath, it's great to see you, but why are you here?" Zoey asked, still a little dazed.
"I've got a couple of buddies who live in Tulsa, remember? I'm visiting them while school's out for Thanksgiving break. How about you?"
"Um...pretty much the same thing, actually. I'm spending the day with my friends and my grandma," Zoey answered. Heath's face lit up.
"Grandma Redbird's here? That's awesome! I'd love to see her, I kinda missed going down to visit her with you all the time. Because when you moved...well, you know. No more road trips."
Zoey felt awkward watching Heath's expression fade into a forlorn frown; she knew the cause of it was because she had left Oklahoma City, and not because Heath had stopped being able to visit Grandma. Desperate to change the subject, she turned to Aphrodite.
"Heath, this is my friend—hell! !"
Zoey jumped too as she turned to find that Erin and Shaunee had materialized out of nowhere and were crowded on either side of Vision Girl so that they could have a front-row seat to what could potentially be good gossip.
"Hey Z, who's the stranger?" Shaunee asked eagerly.
"Yeah, don't let him be a stranger for long," the fair-haired Twin teased.
Zoey sighed.
"Heath, this is Erin Bates, Shaunee Cole, and Aphrodite LaFont. Guys, this is Heath Luck, my..." she hesitated.
"Boyfriend?" Heath suggested with a cocky grin.
"Boyfriend? ?" Shaunee repeated, her eyes lighting up excitedly. "Why Zoey, you never told us you had a boy toy waiting for you back in Oklahoma City."
"Yeah Z, why is that?" Aphrodite said, wearing a smile that appeared slightly amused to everyone else but told Zoey that she had better do some explaining fast before all hell broke loose.
"Because he's not my boyfriend, he's my ex-boyfriend," she said sternly, giving Heath a small scowl. He laughed, but his smile faltered a little.
The Twins ignored her comment and looked Heath up and down like he was a giant chocolate bar.
"So this is what a Zoey boyfriend looks like," Erin said, sounding like she wholeheartedly approved. "I always wondered what her type was. Looks like she has a thing for blondes."
Zoey and Aphrodite self-consciously cleared their throats at the same time.
"Anyway, uh...yeah. These are my friends, and this is Heath," the brunette said awkwardly, hoping that no one noticed how she and Vision Girl had turned a guilty shade of red.
"Zo and I go way back," Heath's smile returned and he slipped an arm around Zoey's shoulder. "We've been together since elementary school."
Zoey saw Aphrodite fix him with an evil glare and hastily shrugged out from under his arm to step away.
"He means we've known each other since elementary school, we didn't start dating until later," she hurriedly clarified.
"Yeah, but it's always been me and you, Zoey!" Heath said with a proud grin.
"Just you and Zoey, huh?" Aphrodite asked, taking a step towards Heath. "Funny, I didn't think she could be so close to someone she's never, ever bothered to mention before."
Heath was too thick to notice the dangerous glint in Vision Girl's eyes, and he just gave her a dopey grin.
"She's never mentioned me? Weird. Hey Zo, you didn't forget about me, did ya?" he joked, absentmindedly reaching out to put his arm around Zoey again.
"Heath, ex-boyfriend, remember?" she warned, stepping away from him once more.
"Oops, sorry Zo. It's an old habit," he shrugged, with a smile that was boyish and playful. "Hey, since we're here, we should probably take the time to catch up, huh?"
Shaunee's eyes lit up.
"Then in that case, we'll leave you two to talk," the darker Twin said.
"Yeah, you two just stay here and have a nice long chat," Erin added.
The mischievous shine in the Twins' eyes said that they would no doubt be grilling Zoey like a cheese sandwich later for every single detail about Heath. Zoey, on the other hand, was not entirely sure about being left alone with him. She recognized the way he was acting around her, and knew exactly what he would want to talk about if he got the chance.
"Wait, guys, you don't have to—"
"No worries, Z!" Erin said cheerily. "You guys should talk! We'll get out of your way. C'mon Aphrodite, let's go hit the stores."
"Whoa, wait, what? ? Me? No no, I think I should stay here with Zoey," Vision Girl stammered, uncharacteristically flustered as Erin and Shaunee linked their arms through hers. She wasn't entirely sure about Zoey being left alone with Heath either.
"We always left you and Zoey by yourselves when you two had Blonde-Brunette Duet business to attend to, and now it's time for you to leave Zoey alone," Erin argued.
"So let's go girl, we've gotta shop and Z's gotta catch up with an old friend," Shaunee said, obviously playing matchmaker with her Twin as they practically dragged a protesting Aphrodite off in the direction of Saks.
"Guys, get back here!" Zoey called. But the Twins and their clairvoyant hostage were already off and running. Zoey made a mental note to scold the hell out of them later.
"Blonde-Brunette Duet?" Heath chuckled.
"...Yep, that's us," Zoey sighed, unable to believe she had just been thrown to the sharks. "Aphrodite and I are really close, so naturally my friends had to come up with a nickname for us."
"So she's like your Broken Arrow version of Kayla?" Heath asked.
"Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that..."
Except Kayla and I never made out on a daily basis.
"Interesting bunch," Heath laughed again.
"You have no idea...look, Heath, it really is good to see you, but—"
"Zoey, just give me a chance, okay? I've waited for a long time to be able to talk with you," Heath pleaded.
Zoey suddenly remembered how lonely she had been in Broken Arrow before school started up, and she frowned at Heath.
"Could've fooled me," she said a little harshly. "It's not like you bothered to call or text after I moved."
Heath's brown eyes looked away from Zoey for a slight instant to glance at the Starbucks behind them.
"Let's talk inside," he suggested, already striding forward to open the door for Zoey.
But the Power Freak didn't want to go inside. Going inside most likely meant sitting down and having a long, complicated talk, which is the last thing she wanted to deal with. She just wanted to take a little time to catch up with Heath and find out how things had been back in Oklahoma City, then hurry and say their goodbyes so she could go find her traitorous friends and no doubt highly suspicious girlfriend. But she had been standing out in the chilly air for a little too long, and she knew Heath well enough to realize that he wouldn't leave her alone unless she dealt with him then and there, so she grudgingly followed him inside.
Aside from the baristas, the place was empty. It was still a little early in the morning, so the majority of the populace hadn't quite made it to Utica Square for their daily caffeine fix yet. Heath picked out a lone table in the corner and they sat down.
"Want something to drink?" Heath offered.
"No...thanks, but if there's something you wanted to talk to me about, I really just want to hurry up and hear it. Oklahoma City is only two hours away, so we could always plan a weekend for us to hang out and talk about how we've been, but you've got friends to meet today and I'm here with my friends too, so I really don't want to take too long."
Surprisingly, Heath nodded in understanding. Zoey thought he would protest a quick goodbye after they had gone so long without seeing each other.
"It's so great to see you, Zo. I've really missed you."
"I missed you too," Zoey said the words, but she was startled to realize that they were really more of a reflex than a sincere statement. Yes, when her family first moved over the summer, her old life and friends in Oklahoma City were constantly in her thoughts. But ever since South Intermediate High started up and she had gotten thrown headfirst into a world of vampyres and evil during the first week of school, she had stopped thinking about her old life entirely, which included Heath.
"I guess you were upset that I didn't call you or anything after you moved, huh? Well, it was because...because I wasn't sure what to say," Heath continued. "You got all weird and distant before you had even left. I knew once you came to Broken Arrow we wouldn't get chances to be together as often, so I wanted to see you as much as I could before summer came, but you kept avoiding me. All I could think was that I had done something to piss you off."
Zoey remembered it well. That was when she had started to develop her affinity for the elements, and no way was she going to let herself be around Heath when there was a chance that she might accidentally split open the earth under his feet or set his pants on fire. It was that fact precisely that gave her the resolve to say what she needed to say to him.
"I'm a different person now, Heath. I was a different person before I even left, that's why I stopped hanging around you. Well, one of the reasons, anyway," she said.
"Are you talking about my drinking?" Heath asked. "Because I can stop that if you really want me to, all you have to do is say the word."
Zoey rolled her eyes.
"So you are still drinking," she said, giving him a disappointed frown. "Heath, I said the word a long time ago and it never stopped you before. Contrary to what you may have heard, being drunk and wasted five days out of the week is not an attractive quality."
"Hey, can you totally blame me? I'm a teenager, we all do dumb stuff like this at some point."
"I never did," Zoey said sternly.
"...Well, you've always been way smarter than me," Heath flashed a big, childish grin for a few seconds before his smile faded and his face turned completely serious. "Okay, so if I quit it with the alcohol and drugs, and if we start trying to meet up more often and spend more time with each other...do you think there's a chance we could get back together?"
Zoey had a feeling from the beginning that he was going to ask her that, but it still came as a shock when she heard it for herself.
"Whoa, Heath, what are you talking about? ? No, there's no way we can get back together," she was caught off guard at how easily her answer came.
She and Heath had known each other since third grade, and over the years Zoey had cycled through being his friend, his girlfriend, the girl who was irritated by his stubborn and hardheaded ways, his friend again, the girl who didn't want to see him until he straightened up and got his act together, his girlfriend again, and then back through the entire circle over and over. Their history was long and complex, and despite the fact that they had been together for years, both romantically and unromantically, Zoey realized that she just wasn't interested in him that way anymore.
Heath had gone from serious to crestfallen at Zoey's response.
"Zo, why? You don't have another boyfriend, do you?"
"...No, I don't," she muttered, technically telling the truth. "But that doesn't mean you can go for months without saying a word to me and then just show up out of nowhere expecting us to click back into place like nothing's changed."
"But nothing has changed! I'm sorry I haven't talked to you, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about you. You're still my Zoey."
"No, I'm not," she said firmly. "At least, not in the way you want me to be. I told you I'm different now. I'm not the same Zoey you've always known, and I'm not so sure that I can fit into your life anymore. And if you think that I'm the kind of person who's spent these last few months sitting by my phone and waiting for you to call and decide that you want me back, then maybe I don't want to fit into your life."
Heath raised his hands, like he was surrendering before Zoey had a chance to get really pissed off and go on the offensive.
"Whoa, hey, I didn't mean anything like that," he quickly said.
Zoey sighed.
"I'm sorry, Heath," she apologized. "But we were over long before I ever moved to Broken Arrow. You say you can change, but the fact of the matter is that we're both different people now, and our lives are on different paths. I was your friend long before I was ever your girlfriend, so we can still go back to being friends again. But don't expect me to pretend that everything is just like the way it used to be and start dating you again."
Heath's face looked like that of a sad little puppy's, and before Zoey had a chance to react he was reaching across the table and taking her hand in his own.
"Will you at least think about it, Zo? We can go back to the way things used to be, if you just give us a chance. It's been you and me for years, babe, and that's never gonna change."
Zoey fought the urge to roll her eyes at him, she had forgotten how hardheaded Heath could be.
"Well, don't you two look nice and cozy?"
Zoey practically jumped out of her shoes as Aphrodite's voice came from behind her chair, and she looked over her shoulder to see Vision Girl's cold, calculating eyes taking in the scene before her.
"Oh, Aphrodite! Hi! How long have you been...um, I mean, I didn't realize you were here," Zoey nervously stammered, quickly yanking her hand out of Heath's and standing up from her chair.
"Sorry to interrupt," the blonde said dryly, scowling at Zoey.
"Uh, it's all good," Heath said timidly, finally noticing the scary harshness of Aphrodite's expression. "We were just having a quick talk. You know, catching up and everything."
"Conversation's over," Aphrodite snapped, turning her scowl on Heath. "Zoey has plans with us, not with you. You want to talk with her, do it on your own time."
Zoey hastily stepped in before the blonde could get a chance to rip Heath to shreds.
"She's right, Heath," the brunette said gently. "I'm here with my friends and you're here to meet up with friends of your own. We really shouldn't break our plans with them right now, there's plenty of time for us to hang out later and catch up."
"...Oh, okay. So you want me to call you sometime, then?" he asked.
"Yeah, you do that. C'mon Zoey, let's go," without giving either of them a chance to say another word, Aphrodite took Zoey's hand and pulled her away from the table, leading her out of the store and back into the chilly air outside.
Zoey patiently let Aphrodite guide her along the grassy lawns of the square until the Starbucks (and Heath) were a good distance away before she dared to brave Vision Girl's wrath.
"Okay Aphrodite, you can let go of me now," Zoey said as she dragged the blonde to a stop and pulled her hand away. "What are you even doing back here? I thought you were being held hostage at Saks?"
"I was, but I managed to distract Shaunee and Erin with a Fendi purse so I could sneak away and come find you. Do you know how hard it is for me to voluntarily leave the store without buying a single thing? How hard it is to walk in and then walk back out after only a few minutes? I don't think I've ever done that before in my entire life. But nooo, I have to leave the high-priced fashion behind so I can ditch the Dorkamese Twins and make sure that Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Goofy doesn't go running off with my girlfriend! !"
Zoey couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud.
"Why Aphrodite, is this jealousy I'm seeing?" she teased.
"Jealousy? Because of that football playing jock? Not likely. I don't get jealous of other people, Zoey. Other people get jealous of me."
"How'd you know he plays football?"
Aphrodite rolled her eyes.
"What do you think I am, a nun? Before a certain superpowered freak showed up and turned my dating life upside down, I'd been with my fair share of athletes. I can spot each kind a mile away. Now if it's alright with you, I'd like to get back to my shopping."
She stormed off in the direction of Saks Fifth Avenue with Zoey hurrying behind her, trying to keep up.
"No one said you had to come after me, you know," Power Freak said smugly. "I could've handled Heath by myself."
"Yeah, from where I was standing it looked like you were handling it just fine," Aphrodite muttered.
Zoey smiled and reached down to hold Aphrodite's hand, lacing her fingers through Vision Girl's.
"You don't have to worry about Heath, you know," Zoey said softly. "Yes, we've known each other for years and we've dated on and off, but I'm your girl now, and I want to keep it that way."
She was hoping to bring a small smile out of the disgruntled Aphrodite, but no such thing came, and the girl remained silent. Soon enough, the store came looming into view, and the Power Duo made their way up the front steps.
"See? We're here, everything's fine. You can go shop now," Zoey said as she let go of Aphrodite's hand. "That is, assuming they even let a non-socialite like me in the door. The only thing I could afford to buy from this place would be a piece of dust floating in the air."
"Please, I'm like royalty here. Any friend of mine is a friend of theirs," Aphrodite led the way inside.
"Holy crap!" Zoey's jaw dropped at the dazzling interior, she had never actually been inside one of the stores before. Aphrodite shook her head disapprovingly.
"Zoey, you practically live at my house. You should be used to luxury by now."
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?"
They started walking, apparently making their way back to wherever Aphrodite had left the Twins. Zoey made sure to stick close to the blonde, feeling very awkward and out of place.
"So why have you never told me about Heath?" Vision Girl suddenly asked, catching Zoey off guard.
"Well...because there was really nothing to tell," Power Freak said with a shrug, trying to seem nonchalant. "I mean, you've never told me about any of your old boyfriends."
"Because I've never had a relationship that's lasted more than a few months, you and Heath have been together for years," Aphrodite retorted.
Zoey took the time to pick out her words carefully, feeling like this conversation could lead to dangerously thin ice if she said the wrong thing.
"It's true that I've known him for a while, and I told you, we dated on and off. But he got into alcohol and drugs and basically turned into an idiot that I didn't want to be around anymore. Then my power over the elements came and I started avoiding him even more, and then I moved here, so...Heath just stopped being an issue a long time ago."
"He obviously still likes you," Aphrodite said warily.
"Yeah, well, Heath's always been a little thick-headed. I guess the fact that I stopped speaking to him a month before I even moved away didn't tip him off that things were over. He's a good guy, but I stopped liking him that way when he started trading school and football for Bud Light," Zoey said disdainfully.
"Ugh, cheap peasant beer," Aphrodite disapproved. "So what exactly did I walk in on when you and the king of bad taste were getting all touchy-feely back there?"
Zoey glanced down at the floor, avoiding the blonde's harsh gaze out of embarrassment.
"Alright, you got me...he asked me about getting back together," she admitted. "Like I said, he's always been kind of slow on the uptake. Even when we were little, he liked me way before I ever liked him, and as far as he's concerned I'm the only girl for him. But I'm really just not interested in Heath that way anymore."
"So you turned him down?"
Zoey looked up at Aphrodite with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Duh, Vision Girl. Kinda already taken."
"And you told him about us?"
Now Zoey was really caught off guard.
"...No, why would I do that?" she asked.
Aphrodite slowed to a stop and frowned at the other half of the Blonde-Brunette Duet.
"Why wouldn't you? Didn't he ask if you were seeing someone else?"
"He asked if I had a boyfriend, which I technically don't..."
"Z, if he's as stubborn as you say he is, do you really think he's going to back off that easily? I seem to remember that you didn't exactly let things go when I told you that we shouldn't get together," Aphrodite reminded her. "The guy is clueless enough to show up months later and automatically ask to start dating again? Do you honestly expect a simple 'no' without any explanation to work on him? Now Heath is just going to think that he has to work hard and put on his best act to win you over."
"But I told you that I don't like him that way anymore, Aphrodite."
"So?!" Vision Girl said tensely. "That doesn't mean I want to see him drooling all over you like some moronic lapdog!"
"Whoa, Aphrodite, chill," Zoey said hurriedly. "He's just visiting Utica Square to spend a little time with some friends, it's not like he's moving to Broken Arrow to shower me in candy and throw roses at my feet all day. What's the big deal?"
"Nothing," Aphrodite said with a scowl, storming on ahead. Zoey quickly followed after and fell into step beside her.
"...Okay, now I know it's something. Why are you suddenly mad at me?" Zoey asked worriedly.
"I said forget it."
"No, tell me what I did wrong!"
"It's what you didn't do!" Aphrodite snapped, refusing to look at Zoey.
"What I didn't...you mean not telling Heath about you and I? He doesn't need to know that."
"Exactly," Aphrodite muttered darkly. "You can have Kalona and Heath and who knows how many other people fawning all over you in front of everyone, but when it comes to mentioning who you're actually with, no way in hell is that happening."
Zoey was completely taken aback. They had never really made the conscious decision to keep their relationship a secret, it had just sort of accidentally happened. But neither of them had had any complaints about it before, so what was with the sudden change of heart for Aphrodite?
"Don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?" Zoey cautiously asked.
"It's not my fault that you have the ability to drive me so damn crazy all the time," Aphrodite's tone was less harsh now, but she was still irritated.
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"
Vision Girl stopped walking again and finally turned to face Zoey.
"Because Kalona is sitting in his dirt bed thinking he's in love with you and trying to get into your head so he can prove it, then ex-boyfriend shows up and doesn't even try to sugarcoat the fact that he's still into you, then to top it all off, Thing 1 and Thing 2 go sticking their noses into everyone's business and thinking that they should try to set you up with Heath again!" Aphrodite said angrily. "And meanwhile, I have to stand off to the side playing dumb and acting like seeing two guys chasing after my girlfriend doesn't bother me!"
Zoey knew the blonde had a point, she understood why not having anyone know about them would get more and more frustrating for Aphrodite. She wanted to tell Vision Girl that she really didn't need to be so worried, that Kalona and Heath would be dealt with and things between them would go back to normal, but it was suddenly like her mouth was running independently of her brain. It was like someone else had taken control of her, and instead of being kind and comforting like she genuinely wanted to, she went on the offensive.
"Now you know how I feel about you and Erik," the brunette said coldly.
Aphrodite's jaw dropped as if Zoey had just slapped her.
"...What the hell does Erik have to do with anything?" she asked quietly, briefly sounding more astounded than pissed.
"Don't act like you haven't noticed, we all have. Since the very moment we met him he's been looking at you and giving you those flirty supermodel smiles of his. You haven't done anything to turn him down, either," Zoey explained.
Vision Girl couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"We just met him two weeks ago, and in that time we've only seen him twice! Oh, and in case you didn't get the memo, he's also a vampyre!" she said. "Newsflash, that whole creature of the night thing isn't as much of a turn-on as Hollywood likes to pretend it is! You're getting your panties in a bunch because he looks at me? ? That just means he has eyes, Zoey!"
"Then why are you so uptight about Heath and Kalona?"
"Because Kalona is a fucking demon and Heath is doing more than just looking!"
"Heath and I have a really long history, Aphrodite," Power Freak said firmly.
"So that makes it okay for you to ignore how I feel and let him throw himself all over you?"
"That's a total exaggeration, he was just being a typical guy."
"Oh, okay then. So why don't I just do my best impression of Venus and go throw myself all over Erik? That's a typical girl thing too, so you can't get mad at me for that," Aphrodite said sweetly, with a fake smile on her face. Zoey rolled her eyes.
"Is this gonna be our thing now? Arguing over stupid stuff every other week?" she asked. "We haven't fought like this since the days when we first met and we hated each other, yet it seems like that's all we've been doing lately."
Aphrodite was now fully wearing her infamous Hag from Hell smile.
"How could we have been arguing about stupid things all this time, Z? Heath just got here today."
Zoey's eyes flared with anger.
"Hey, you don't get to talk about him like that!" she yelled.
Aphrodite's smile didn't falter. She leaned in close to Zoey, with a gleam in her eyes that would have been utterly seductive in any other situation but this one.
"Tell you what, Zoey," she started, her voice low and alluring. "Why don't you figure out what exactly it is you want out of this relationship and then come talk to me when you have a clue. Whether you want us to keep sneaking around like I'm some terrible secret you have to hide, or whether you want to keep me on the sidelines as an emergency backup while you juggle a boyfriend or two, I don't care. Just make up your mind and then come find me. Because I'm done feeling like the girl who's not good enough for you to tell anyone about."
Zoey's eyes widened at her words.
"Wait...that's not really how you feel, is it?" she asked gently.
Aphrodite's vicious smile slowly faded, and her expression softened by the tiniest fraction.
"Lately, yeah," Vision Girl answered quietly. "Guys who got a chance to go out with me in the past would always brag about it to the whole school like they had won the lottery or something. I'm not saying you need to break into the local news station and broadcast it all over the town, but it'd be nice to stop having to jump away from each other whenever one of the Nerd Herd suddenly comes walking in on us. It'd be nice for me to stop introducing you as 'my friend Zoey' and start introducing you as 'my girlfriend Zoey'. I don't think of you as some trophy to show off to everyone, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to let them know that I'm capable of caring about someone other than myself. You're proof that everyone was wrong about me, that I'm not just some selfish, slutty brat who would never be good for anything. And I just...I don't know, I just want people to see that I turned out differently than they thought I would."
There was a painful tugging at Zoey's heart as she realized that she wanted all of that too. She wanted to stop having to look around to make sure that no one was near before she let herself relax around Aphrodite, and she too wanted to quit telling people that she and Aphrodite were just good friends so no one would think twice about how close they were. She wanted to be able to show the world the Aphrodite she really knew, the girl with a rough, rocky exterior who was really so much more than that on the inside. She wanted all of that, but there was an agonizing ache inside of Zoey as she realized that there was still a part of her that wouldn't let her have it.
"I...I'm sorry, Aphrodite, but I don't know if I'm ready for that yet," she said ashamedly.
The forlorn frown on Aphrodite's face turned into a hateful glare, and her icy blue eyes fixed harshly on Zoey.
"Fine. I see how it is. You can care about me when no one's looking, but when everyone else is around I go back to being nothing but the snobby rich girl who was forced to stick around with you and your geeky friends to help save the world," the blonde said coldly.
"Aphrodite, no! That's not the reason I'm still unsure about this! Is all of this really just because of Heath? ?"
"No, this is because Heath made me realize that maybe you're not as proud to be with me as I am to be with you. The only logic I can see here is that the world still thinks of me as the Hag from Hell, and you're worried that if people knew you were dating such a hateful bitch then it would ruin your reputation as a perfect little goody two-shoes. I've got serious flaws, Zoey, but I'm better around you. You know that. And if other people knew that, then maybe I could finally be able to stop listening to all the crap they have to say about me. I act like having my parents, and my friends, and even random people I pass in the hallways at school constantly looking down on me all the time doesn't bother me, but the truth is that it does," Aphrodite said stiffly. "I'm sorry I never talked to you about this sooner, but I'm tired of being in a part-time relationship. I'll admit, being all secretive and cautious was kind of fun in the beginning, but now it's just making me feel like I'm only your girlfriend when it's convenient for you. So if you need me, I'll be shopping. When you decide that it's okay for people to finally know that we were insane enough to fall for each other, then you'll know where to find me. But until you get your shit together, I don't want to hear from you."
With that, she turned and walked off, leaving a dumbstruck and speechless Zoey behind.
"And you can sleep at your own house tonight. Say hi to Kalona for me."
"Okay, now, I'm definitely not saying I miss her or anything, but where the hell is Aphrodite?" Erin wondered.
The Nerd Herd was in their library hangout on a Thursday morning, chilling in their usual chairs and sofas as they waited for first period to start.
"She's totally been AWOL since our trip to Tulsa," Shaunee said.
Zoey, who was sitting in a lone armchair with her face buried in her World History textbook to make it seem like she was preoccupied, finally looked up as she felt four pairs of eyes staring intensely at her.
"...What?" she played innocent.
"You're the Aphrodite Whisperer, Z. Where's our little blonde psychic been all week?" Erin asked.
Zoey shrugged, going back to her book.
"Darned if I know," she said, trying to sound as uninterested as she could. "It's not my job to keep tabs on her."
Damien raised an eyebrow.
"But you have algebra with her. Don't you talk to her during class? I mean, if she wants to hang out on her own then that's no problem, but we still need her around to deal with Neferet," he explained. "We decided not to visit the House of Night when we were in Tulsa this past weekend, but if we ever go back—"
"We don't need Aphrodite with us to visit the House of Night," Zoey glanced up at Damien from over the top of her textbook. "In fact, that's the last thing we need. In order for Neferet to release Kalona, she needs both of us at that oak tree on the school grounds, which means that both Aphrodite and I being there at the same time is a very bad idea. If one of us goes, then the other should be as far away from the school as possible."
Stevie Rae had been studying Zoey curiously, watching her every move and reaction.
"So what did y'all have a fight about?" the curly-haired blonde asked simply. Zoey lowered her book once more and turned her full attention on her best friend.
"What? Who?" she continued to act clueless and uninformed, even though it didn't seem to be fooling Stevie Rae for an instant.
"You and Aphrodite. What was the fight over?" the country girl asked again.
"Ah, you and Aphrodite had a fight? That explains it, she was acting weird the entire way home from Utica Square," Damien nodded to himself.
"We didn't have a fight," Zoey muttered.
"Yeah, it does make sense," Shaunee ignored her and spoke right to Damien. "It's easy to find something to fight about with the hag."
"We didn't have a fight!" Zoey repeated.
"But it's weird for Aphrodite to pull off the silent treatment, when someone tangles with her she usually skips the quiet act and goes straight for full-on revenge," Erin mused.
"For crying out loud, Aphrodite and I did not get into a fight!" Zoey yelled, ignoring the positively evil looks the librarians at the front desk were giving her. "Now if we're done with the third degree, I have to get my history notes out of my locker before class starts."
She snapped her textbook shut and stood up from her chair.
"Wait up Z, I'll go with you," Stevie Rae stood up too, slinging her backpack over her shoulders.
"That's alright Stevie Rae, you don't have to," Zoey tried her best to calm herself down and seem like less of a crazy person as the rest of the Nerd Herd stared at her incredulously.
"Nah, you reminded me that I forgot my homework. So let's go, the bell's about to ring."
She led the way out of the library, and Zoey followed after her. The hallways were practically empty, save for a few students who were trying to beat the first period rush and make it to class early. The pair walked on in silence for a while.
"...Fighting always sucks when it's with a friend," Stevie Rae suddenly said, glancing at Zoey and giving her a warm smile. "It's okay, you don't need to lie to me. I can tell you and Vision Girl aren't on speaking terms at the moment."
Zoey sighed, knowing that it was pointless to try and keep things from her best friend but still trying to seem unfazed.
"You know Aphrodite, it's easy to butt heads with her," she said quietly.
"No offense, but you can both be a little hardheaded," Stevie Rae said. "Which means that if you want to end the freeze-out then one of you is gonna have to apologize, and I can give you pretty good odds that it won't be Aphrodite."
They had reached Zoey's locker, and with another sigh she started fiddling with the combination lock.
"I'm not sure if an apology will cut it, Stevie Rae," she admitted forlornly. "I'm not even sure if she'll stay around me long enough to listen to an apology."
The locker door opened and Stevie Rae watched Zoey shove various books and papers out of the way to search for her notebook.
"...Hey, Z, remember when I wasn't feelin' too hot a little while ago? Remember my little mini-freakout in the cafeteria and the way Aphrodite came after me?"
"Yeah, why?" Zoey kept her eyes trained on the mess in her locker.
"She followed after me because she wanted to make sure I was okay so you wouldn't have to worry about me," Stevie Rae explained. "She said she had watched you be under enough stress, and she didn't want to see you deal with any more."
Zoey slowly turned to meet Stevie Rae's eyes.
"...She really said that to you?" the brunette asked.
"Yep. You wanna know what else she told me? She told me that you mean a lot to her, and that you're her closest friend. Now, me and the others have known Aphrodite a little longer than you have, and she's never, ever said anything like that before. Unless she was talking about herself, that is. And I was watching the look in her eyes when she said it, too. She really values your friendship. I think that if Aphrodite will listen to an apology from anyone, it'll be you."
Zoey desperately wanted to believe in her best friend's words, but there was still a nagging voice in her mind that made her uncertain.
"...I'm still not sure, Stevie Rae," Zoey said despondently. "I messed up pretty badly. You're right, I'm important to Aphrodite, but I screwed things up and made her think that she wasn't important to me."
Stevie Rae gave a cheery grin.
"Then I guess you're gonna have to prove her wrong, huh?"
She managed to make a small smile slowly spread across Zoey's face.
"...Yeah, I guess I do. But she probably still needs a little space right now," Zoey said as she shut her locker door.
"Well, I don't know about our resident fortune teller, but if it were me I wouldn't want space, no matter how mad I was," Stevie Rae shrugged. "If someone wanted to apologize to me, I'd rather have them just come up and do it instead of leaving me alone and making me think they were off somewhere not caring."
Zoey was about to respond, but the bell rang just then.
"Oh, great. My notebook wasn't in my locker, which means I probably left it in my car."
She groaned, realizing that she couldn't make the trek to her Bug and then back to World History without being tardy.
"C'mon, we'll be late together," the country girl read the expression on Zoey's face and bounded off like a happy Golden Retriever.
Unlike the halls, the parking lot was completely deserted, with everyone bustling around inside the building to get to their first period classes. Zoey reached her car and unlocked it, thoroughly searching through the front seats, backseats, and even the trunk, but still her elusive history notebook was nowhere to be found.
"Well, that's just wonderful," Power Freak grumbled, slamming the trunk shut. "It must be at home."
She let out another irritated groan.
"...I'm sorry, Zoey."
Zoey turned around and was startled to see that Stevie Rae's blue eyes were shining with an intense sadness, and the cheerful expression she had been wearing just a short while ago had suddenly changed into a terrible, pained frown.
"Um...it's just my notes, Stevie Rae. It's really not that big of a deal," the brunette was utterly confused by her best friend's weird reaction. Stevie Rae slowly shook her head from side to side.
"No, I'm not sorry about that. I'm sorry about this."
With lightning speed, she lifted her hand, and the asphalt under Zoey's feet began to violently tremble and shake. She struggled to keep her balance.
"Stevie Rae! ! What the hell are you—! !"
There was a thunderous crack, and the ground split open, dropping Zoey down into darkness. She fell for a good eight feet before landing with a painful crash onto a cold, hard floor. The impact utterly knocked the wind out of her and she landed awkwardly on her arm in a way that shot tremendous pain all the way up and down the right side of her body. She waited until the pain that wracked her from head to toe subsided from a sharp stabbing to a slightly less sharp stabbing, and with a groan she used her good left arm to slowly push herself up into a more or less sitting position. The stars cleared from her eyes in time for her to see Stevie Rae dropping down into the room with her, landing nimbly on her feet as if the height was no trouble at all.
Enough daylight filtered down from the gaping hole above them for Zoey to tell that they were in the school's basement. Through the throbbing headache she was now sporting, Zoey was able to remember that the basement sat directly below the parking lot and had lain abandoned and unused all school year.
"Looks like this is my lucky day," when Zoey's eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room, she saw a terrible, wicked smile stretched across Stevie Rae's face, and her head was tilted to the side like a predator listening for its prey. "I was expecting to have a long wait ahead of me to get you alone, but you couldn't have picked a better time to make Aphrodite pissed at you. Honestly, you and that girl are so annoyingly inseparable. Getting you away from the gang is one thing, but getting you away from Vision Girl is an entirely different story."
Zoey was in shock, staring up at her best friend with a terrible chill taking her over.
"...Stevie Rae, w-what are you talking about? Why are you doing this? ?"
"When I'm finished with you, I'll close up this nifty little hole in the ground and go back to our friends. By the way, wasn't that cool? I just willed the earth to open up and it did exactly what I asked it to, that's pretty dang awesome of me if I do say so myself. Anyway, I'll tell everyone that we parted ways at your locker and then you came out to your car by yourself. They'll believe that. And when you don't come back, they'll start to get worried, of course. They'll try to search for you, but they won't find you. And Aphrodite..." Stevie Rae laughed, and the cold sound was horribly out of place coming from her. "Well, Aphrodite's too busy not giving a shit about you to wonder where you are. You'll be stuck down here, and no one will find you unless I decide to let them."
Zoey's instincts were screaming at her to get up and fight, screaming that she was in serious danger and needed to defend herself, but she couldn't. She was still in too much pain to move, and the sight of Stevie Rae's menacing smile was paralyzing her as well. The curly-haired blonde lifted her hand once more, and it glowed with a reddish-orange light.
"Stevie Rae, this is me, it's Zoey. I'm your best friend! Tell me what's happened to you! Why are you acting like this and attacking me? ?" she couldn't keep the panic out of her voice.
She knew she should be pushing past her pain and fighting like a maniac, refusing to be beaten down like this, but how could she? This was Stevie Rae, the sweet girl who had happily greeted Zoey on the first day of school and had been by her side ever since. Zoey couldn't fight her.
"Hey, listen to me," the brunette said firmly, wincing a little as her body continued to ache all over. "Something is wrong, this isn't who you really are. Something's happened to you to make you act like this, and if you just try to remember what then maybe I can help you."
"Ha! Help from you? You're the one who needs help, Z," Stevie Rae sneered, starting to walk towards Zoey. "In case you haven't noticed, you're the one lying in agony on the ground, not me. And by the way, I'd get that arm checked out later if I were you. I doubt it's broken, but hey, it still looks pretty messed up."
"Please, Stevie Rae, just stop! !" Zoey pleaded desperately as the girl came closer. She scrambled backwards, trying vainly to get away. Her fear had now completely taken control of her, overriding the voice that was telling her to defend herself and leaving her able to do nothing but back away in terror as Stevie Rae and the frightening power she controlled drew nearer and nearer. "This isn't you! You don't want to do this!"
"Sorry Z, it's gotta be done. You need to be out of the running for a little while. I'd say that this'll hurt me more than it'll hurt you, but that's probably a lie," Stevie Rae laughed at herself. Then, with no warning, she shot the strange light encompassing her hand at Zoey, and it took her over in an instant.
Zoey felt like she was screaming, but she couldn't hear herself. All of her senses seemed to have been cut off and she was alone in a terrible, fathomless void where the only thing that registered was an immense, white-hot burning feeling that was spreading through every single molecule of her body. Stevie Rae and the world outside had disappeared, and Zoey was left alone to writhe in anguish as she felt like she was being set on fire from the inside out. The flames were so terrible, so intense, that all she could do was cry out in silent desperation for it to end. In that moment it didn't matter to her if it was the pain or her own life, she just wanted one of them to hurry up and be done with so she could escape the inferno of Stevie Rae's power. Then, with an excruciating slowness, her vision began to dim, and then everything went black. She collapsed onto her side, unmoving and unresponsive.
"Oh shoot, I forgot to tell you, Zoey..."
Stevie Rae looked over her best friend, wearing a bemused smile and seeming to be rather pleased with her work.
"...Neferet says hello."