Chapter 8- Life's Annoying
Tom and Amelia began to speak to each other on a daily basis, and the two formed a close friendship. They were both outcasts in their own rights, and Tom and Amelia quickly became comfortable expressing their feelings to one another.
Of course, this newfound closeness did not go unnoticed by Cecilia. Sure, she still talked with Zion, but Tom couldn't help but notice a change in her since he began his friendship with Amelia. Cecilia had become quiet and reserved, quite like she was after the baby incident. Her brightness after first connecting with Zion was short-lived; now she rarely even smirked. Tom still ate lunch with Cecelia every day, but the meals were usually filled with silence. Tom became disturbed by this new, dark girl, and he expressed this to Amelia.
"Well, why do you suppose she's like this?" Amelia asked after Tom finished speaking.
They were sitting in the same abandoned classroom in which they first met, and Amelia was idly drawing shapes on a dusty desk. The golden mirror still sat in the corner, giving the room a faint glow, but neither Tom nor Amelia looked into it anymore. It brought on the feelings of desire too strongly, and they both couldn't handle it.
"I have no idea," Tom shrugged. "The only reason I can think of is that Cecelia's jealous of you."
Amelia laughed. "That's complete rubbish. She has no reason to be jealous of me. Cecelia's beautiful, and I'm just..." she trailed off, limply motioning to herself.
Tom grimaced. "It's not your looks I reckon she's jealous of. It's our friendship."
"Now that's even more ridiculous! You're just as a good a friend to her as you are to me."
"I'm not talking to her much anymore," Tom quietly admitted. "She's become so distant that I don't even know what to say to her now."
"If she's that distant, you should question her about it," Amelia suggested. "She probably needs a friend to talk to about whatever's bugging her."
"Cecelia's got Zion," Tom muttered bitterly.
"She needs you, Tom. You're the only one that can truly understand her."
"And what if she says that she's mad that we're becoming close friends? What am I supposed to say then?" Tom stood up from the desk he was sitting at and began to pace around the room. He was annoyed that he was the one who had to deal with Cecelia. Wasn't that Zion's job now?
"I doubt that's the reason she's like this, but if it is, then perhaps we should stop being friends," Amelia whispered, tracing a large circle on the dusty desk.
Tom stood still, shocked over what she was saying. "Why would you even suggest that?" he asked angrily, frowning. "I'm not going to stop being friends with you just because Cecelia doesn't like it. She's still friends with Zion even though I don't like it. Besides, I'm allowed to be friends with whoever I want. Unless…" Tom paused. "Do you not want to be friends with me anymore?"
Amelia cast a conflicted glance at the door. "Of course I want to remain friends with you, Tom," she began slowly, "but I know how much Cecelia means to you. I don't want to be the reason you're friendship is destroyed."
"Well, you know if you don't want to be my friend, you can just say so. My feelings won't be hurt, you know. I'm not a baby who can't deal with losing someone. I've lost plenty of people before and you'd just be a name on a long list," Tom began to rant.
"Come off it, would you?" Amelia shouted exasperatedly. "I just told you that I wanted to be friends with you, and I meant it." She sighed. "Look, you're not even positive that that's the reason Cecelia's been acting oddly. Have you ever considered that she may still not be over the whole baby thing?"
Tom shook his head. "No, she's definitely past that. She said Zion had helped her move on. You saw her that day. She couldn't have looked happier."
"Girls are experts at hiding their true feelings," Amelia murmured, getting up walking slowly around the room. "You know, I've always loved the name Bellatrix…"
Tom groaned. "Can you please stay on topic? There's no way Cecelia's upset over the baby thing, so try to give me a more logical answer."
"That's another thing. If Zion made her so happy , why isn't he making her happy now? There's definitely something wrong there."
"No, I'm still sure of the fact that it's our friendship that's been bothering her. She would've said something to me if it were anything else."
Amelia sighed. "Well, the only way you're going to find out is if you ask her." Suddenly the lunch bell chimed. "Ah," Amelia said, staring at Tom with an odd gleam in her eye, "Perfect timing. You can go and ask Cecelia right now."
"Um, I don't know if I want to do it so soon," Tom stuttered as Amelia pulled him out of the classroom, and hurried him down the hall.
"You know you want to do it, Tom," Amelia simply stated as they walked down the Hall, and Tom stopped his whining. In reality, he was quite anxious to figure out what was wrong with Cecelia, and he knew asking her would be the only way to find out. The problem was, how would he approach the subject without making it sound too evasive? He contemplated ways all the way down to the Great Hall.
What if she really did say she was jealous? Would Tom have the guts to end his friendship with Amelia? Or even harder, his friendship with Cecelia?
Before he knew it, Amelia and he were in the Great Hall, and Amelia was bidding him goodbye. "Tell me how it goes," she whispered to him before striding over to the Ravenclaw table.
Tom walked over to his and Cecelia's spot at the Hufflepuff table, still comtemplating how to approach Cecelia on the subject of her misery.
She entered the Hall moments later, and barely glanced at Tom as she sat down opposite him at the table. The dark circles under her eyes were more pronounced than ever. Her golden hair was ratty and knotted, and she was paler than the Bloody Baron. Tom couldn't help but stare guiltily at her; he knew he was the cause of this new her. Amelia's words rang out in his mind: "You're just as good a friend to her as you are to me."
Well, that was a total lie, and Tom was exaggerating when he said "he didn't talk to her much now." In fact, he basically ignored her during classes, but even the teachers did nowadays. This newfound darkness around Cecelia made most people stay away. Yet, they still ate lunch together every day, and Tom couldn't really understand why. He never talked to her at the lunch table now, either. Maybe Amelia is right, Tom thought. Maybe this is still about the baby. He was a fool to think that Zion could have been a comfort to her.
"You're not over the baby, are you?" Tom blurted out before he realized what he was doing.
Cecelia looked up sharply, shocked to hear Tom speaking to her. Her blue eyes became curious, while still being watery with sadness. She ineffectively tried to tame her wild mane of blonde hair. Clearing her throat, she said quietly, "Oh, of course not. I'm, um, over that now." It seemed as if she was trying to avoid Tom's piercing gaze.
"It's Amelia and I, then. You're jealous of our friendship. Not that I can blame you," he muttered guiltily, "I've been treating you like dung lately."
Cecelia shook her head quickly. "Why should I be jealous of you two? I'm happy that you're making new friends."
"Then why are you acting this way?" Tom asked angrily. "I hate the person you've become!"
Cecelia looked immensely tired. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You won't tell your best friend what's wrong?" Tom asked, slightly hurt.
She let out a weak laugh. "A best friend who hasn't spoken to me in days."
"Then you are jealous!" Tom exclaimed.
"Why would I be jealous that you were hanging out with the least popular, most freakish girl in our year?" Cecelia asked quietly.
Tom's nerves exploded. "Don't talk about Amelia that way. You don't even know her. How did I ever become friends with someone like you? Of course," Tom continued loudly, "I become friends with the person who has more issues than Nearly Headless Nick."
"As if you don't have your own boatload of troubles, Tom!" Cecelia shouted. "You need to stop pretending that you're going to live the perfect life. I know you wanted that baby. I know how much you day-dreamed about having the perfect family. It was always written on your face. Well, Tom, it's never going to happen. When you killed that baby, your dreams of perfect went right with it."
"Oh, so you're saying I'm responsible for killing the baby?" Tom seethed. "I'll remind you, Cecelia, that you asked for it to be killed." Tom stared at her as she sat in silence. He was feeling unexplainable hatred towards here, and even more so, he was shocked he could feel this way towards Cecelia. "You know what?" he muttered to her, gathering his things on the table, "I'm leaving." He turned swiftly and began to walk away.
"You always come back, " Cecelia whispered softly, staring at Tom with her now piercing blue eyes. "You're never gone for long."
"It'll be different this time," Tom whispered back bitterly and walked away, not bothering to turn back to see Cecelia's reaction.
Author's Note: It's been….a while, to say the least. I have nooo excuses once so ever. Stuff happens, you know? Well, I'm back, and I thank all you readers who stayed with me even after this unannounced hiatus. I'm doing something different now, and for those who review this chapter, I'll send them some a little info about the future of all our friends in this story. =D Again, thanks to everyone, and I apologize again about the long break. =(