Chapter Twenty-Six – Bright's Reflections

Bright lay awake, staring at the ceiling. He didn't even bother to look at what time it was, he knew it was the early morning, and he wouldn't be surprised if the sun starting to rise.

He hadn't been able to sleep. All he could do was think, although most people would believe he didn't. Bright didn't mind their impressions, because he knew there was more to him than they would care to know. To them, he was Bright Abbott, good looking athlete but didn't possess more than two brain cells. To himself, he was Bright Abbott, trying to be a man but desperately wishing he was still a boy.

The past year had been a rollercoaster, and just when things seemed to be settling down, and he thought he was finally getting off the ride, he was thrown back on again the day that Ryan Bailey moved to Everwood. It wasn't one of those fun rollercoasters either, it was the one that looks exciting until you actually get on it, and it makes you sick. He called this rollercoaster "Change."

Bright knew that none of these changes affected him directly, aside from the fact he got his best friend back. Ephram Brown moving there affected Amy more than him. He was never really sure why he didn't like Ephram, although everyone would say because Ephram was "different" and Bright "saw him as a threat to Colin." He could say that the latter was true, but really, he was grateful for Ephram. Because Ephram helped Amy get through those months before and after the operation, and in ways that Bright knew he could have never helped her.

And now, he can't help her again. Amy's heart is being torn in two, one direction leading to the one she's loved her whole life and the other to someone who's stood by her through the hardest part of her life. He tried to imagine being in her position, but he knew it was useless. He could never know how she felt.

It was easy for him to say to her, "You have to let Ephram go" because he wasn't her. It was easy for him to tell her all the things that are so obviously clear and the things that she has to do, because he wasn't her. He didn't have the attachments, the feelings, and the thoughts that she possessed.

He owed it to Colin to tell him what's obviously going on, but he couldn't. He knew he had to let Colin realize it for himself. He knew that if he told Colin, he might blame either him or Ephram, and he was looking out for them both. Bright didn't know when he started to consider Ephram a friend, but it was something that had happened over time.

Ryan Bailey was causing a change, just like Ephram had when he moved here. But Bright didn't mind. Ryan was okay in his books, and he considered her to be a close friend. He knew he wouldn't have had as much fun as he did at Homecoming if it wasn't for her. She was attractive and sarcastic, just like Ephram. She had a vibrant energy, though, that made her intriguing. Bright probably would have been more attracted to her, if it wasn't for the fact that she was with Ephram.

He wasn't like Amy. He knew what he couldn't have.

Bright rolled over. Things had changed in Everwood and they were continuing to change. Unlike everyone else, though, he was willing to accept this change.