Chapter 21: Lives Broken Open

Claire's POV:

"Okay, this is impossible. How am I supposed to apologize to that brat?!" Ann demands, stamping her foot.

"Come on Ann," I say reassuringly. "Maybe Lumina was just having a bad…day?"

"More like a bad lifestyle! That girl needs manners! I should've said something to her! I didn't say a word, so why do I need to apologize?!"

I sigh. "I just don't want tension between you guys. It's hard enough with all the stress from the incident with Jill, do you really want to be putting on an act now?!"

Ann pouts and crosses her arms. "I'll forgive her, but I'm not apologizing. She can sulk all she wants. This isn't even about me; this is about that silver-haired guy!"

"Hmm?" a voice sounds behind us. I jump. Popuri lets out a small shriek. Skye covers her mouth with one hand and smirks. "Since when did I become the eye of the earthquake?"

"The expression is eye of the storm," I say, rolling my eyes. "And that's rich Skye, like you don't spend your days dreaming of finding a crowd of girls talking about you."

He smirks again, and then runs a hand through his hair. "So what was that about my hair?"

"What's his name?" Ann asks, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Skye," he responds, smiling. "Phantom, Skye."

"Mysterious much?" Ann asks, giggling.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Was I the only girl in this school who could resist Skye's 'charm'?

Oh wait, Luna.

"Actually we were arguing about how you're the cause of all our problems. Lumina won't take a step out of her room and blames it all on Ann over here, when we ALL know the real reason," I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

Skye looks up from Ann's eyes and chuckles. "Your problem is that some girl who annoyed and insulted all of you is locked in her room?"

"You're not her roommate on the other side who's going to have a fit when she gets back!" Popuri says.

He furrows his brow. "Who's her roommate?"

"Luna," I respond. "And if Luna gets over here and tries to open a locked door, we're going to have a really messed up drama going on."

Skye shakes his head. "The things you girls get me into to…"

He knocks on the door, and suddenly Lumina is bawling at the top of her lungs.

Skye sighs. "Can someone open this door?"

I slap my forehead in mock inspiration. "By George he's got it! Of course, open the door!" I run up to the door and twist the handle. "What sorcery is this? Could the door be locked?! Is this the impediment that's been stopping us for the past 10 minutes?! Oh heavens-,"

"Okay, okay," Skye says, laughing. "Stupid question if you're thinking about it like that. I'm just saying, there's got to be a way to get into this room, we just have to find it."

"And how do you expect we do that?" Ann asks a hand on her hip.

"Easy," Skye says, pulling a pair of lock picks from his jeans.

"So, that's why he calls himself Phantom Skye," I say, and lean back on the wall.

Skye picks the door with ease, and the locks click out of place. He waltzes in, and the three of us scurry in behind him.

Luna's room is a mess.

Tissues are everywhere, and the desks are overturned. I wonder who's going to have to clean all this up.

But Lumina seems to be the messiest thing in the room.

Her hair is in a clumsy array and her face is lined with mascara tears. She's crumpled in a pile on the floor, and is staring right at Skye. She lets out some sort of choked, guttural noise and jumps to her feet to start running.

Skye catches her, and apparently knocks the wind out of her. "What are you running from?" he asks, his voice soft. "Me?"

She looks up at him, her eyes teary and sad. "Who do you think? You're the only one who knows enough about me to be able to break me."

Skye lets out a long sigh. He presses her in a tight hug. I feel like an intruder on this moment, and see Lumina shuddering and burying her head in Skye's shoulder.

"She's going to be okay Lumina," he whispers, so faint I know I shouldn't be hearing it. "You don't have to pretend to be your mother. You know she only wants what's best for you; she only wants to see her granddaughter, not the memory of her daughter. You're not anyone else, so it's silly to pretend."

She grips his arms and keeps crying. "Sebastian called. She's getting worse."

"Is that why you came to Paris?"

"I came to find a better doctor," she whispers. "Romana's willpower is the only thing keeping her alive, and I'm afraid that-."

"Afraid that what? That old bat is as stubborn as a mule. There's no way she's giving in to old age," Skye chuckles.

Romana?

Since when did Skye come from Forget-Me-Not-Valley?

Lumina sniffles. "Promise?"

Skye nods, his green eyes flashing. "A beautiful maiden shouldn't let such raw emotions cloud her beauty."

Lumina blushes, then wipes the tears from her eyes. "What are you saying that for, aren't you and Jill a thing?"

Skye blinks, his reaction unchanging. Calm, cool, collected; this was the Skye I knew, the Skye before Jill Suzumiya came along. Was this not him? I'd never known Skye to calm a girl he'd gone after, I'd known him for running away like a coward, or stealing things in moonlight. Had Jill really changed him? If so, was he aware of this change? Or was he playing at a new standpoint no one would see coming?

"I'm not attached to anything, Lumina, you know that," Skye says, running a hand through his silver soft hair.

"Of course," Lumina says, laughing. "The Phantom Skye holds the power of his cold heart in both hands."

Skye smirks. "Are you certain my heart hasn't warmed at all?"

Lumina nods, wiping her mascara tears from her face. "If it had, you wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. You'd force it to go cold once again."

Skye rolls his eyes at that. "I do believe I'm in control of my own heart thank you very much."

Lumina laughs. "That just proves you aren't. For your information, Mr. Cold Heart, it's virtually impossible to control a heart."

"Perhaps for you," Skye says, his green eyes sparkling, "but the Phantom is capable of many things, beautiful."

She smirks. "Yea, yea." Lumina bites the inside of her cheek in an attempt to control her blush, but she can't. It's painted on her face in bright letters. She's still hoping that he'll warm his heart…to her. "Go back to your broken duckling."

"Who?" Skye asks, shaking the hair out of his eyes.

I lean back onto the wall, interested. Will Skye repeat what happened the last time? Is he that stupid?

"Jill," Lumina responds, raising an eyebrow. "Forgotten about your charity case already?"

"Lumina, Lumina, you know me, I'm not one to forsake my freedom to take care of sick things."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask him, suddenly enraged. "What's wrong with you? Are all guys like that? Do they just not care about what girls feel? Do all guys operate the way you do? Care for one until the other gets hurt, and then fly back to the other? What logic is that?!"

Skye gives me a look of distaste. "I'm not hurting Jill by being nice to Lumina. And I'm not hurting Lumina by being nice to Jill. Being nice to people doesn't mean I'm hurting others from neglect."

"You don't understand do you?! It's not about being nice, because you're not just being nice to them! You're leading them on you jerk! I thought you had a lot more class than that. Or are you really just a dirty, typical thief?"

Skye never gets angry, but I half expected him to be as soon the words left my mouth. Lumina gripped his hand in hers. "I think you should go."

"You know maybe I should go talk to Jill. I think she'd be just peachy to know about you and your flirtation problem," I spit out. I leave the room in a huff, slamming the door behind me. Ann and Popuri run out and try to calm me down.

"Come on Jill, he's always been like that, what's the big deal about him being like that now?" Popuri asks, struggling to keep up with my brisk pace.

"What's wrong is that he still thinks he's just some smooth talking hottie, when he's really just a big jerk! Maybe guys should realize that they can't play with you like that! Maybe then we wouldn't have so many romantic tragedies that they have to sit through at the movies! Why complain when they're the ones who cause it? It's so…so…."

"Uhm, Claire?"

Kai.

Oh perfect.

"What?!" I yell, pushing past him. "Of course you have to be over here as soon as I start ranting about useless, cold-hearted boys."

He shoots me a questioning look. As I turn around to keep walking, I walk headfirst into Vaughn.

"What do you two want?!" I demand.

"Calm down Claire, people are staring, and you hate it when people stare at you," Vaughn says.

"I can't!" I say angrily.

Vaughn rolls his eyes. "Is she always like this?" he asks Kai.

"How should I know?" he asks. Kai tugs at my arm and pulls me into his dormitory along with Vaughn, Ann and Popuri.

I scowl at them and turn to the door. Kai folds his arms against his chest and stands with his back to the door, blocking my passage.

"What's wrong Claire?" Vaughn asks. "I've never seen you this angry!"

"Maybe you should talk to you Phantom thief cohort, I'm sure he'd give you a much better response," I spit.

"What did he do, come on to you? He tries that with everyone, there's no point in getting worked up over him," Vaughn tries.

"No, he did not come onto me, mostly because I'm impervious to his 'charms' or whatever. He was himself, he acts the way all guys act, so whatever. Maybe I should just swear off of them."

"Boys?" Ann asks.

"You mean you're going to-," Kai begins.

"No," I snap. "I just mean it's better if I'm single until I can meet a guy who's mature enough to not play girls like all of you do."

Vaughn clears his throat. "Me?"

"Yes you!"

"Since when were we all Phantom Skye?" Kai asks. "This is such a stupid debate Claire, come on. All guys can't be the same. Skye has his own issues and deals with them his own way. It's not fair to judge us all by own guy. Plus, you can't blame guys if the only ones you surround yourself with are jerks."

That's right, as much as it angers me. There had to be good guys in the world, like my dad. And it wasn't fair to Skye for me to judge him on how he dealt with his problems. As much as I despised his flirtatious ways, there was a reason for them. He wasn't a thief for fun, which was for sure. But he'd never confided in anyone as to what happened to him, and I suppose that was why we all brushed it off. We either looked at him like he was a kicked puppy, or a flirtatious guy with sticky fingers. Who was Skye really?

Someone with a really crappy past, just like you.

I stare up at Kai, my eyes wide.

"You can't judge all girls either. Everyone has a past, so it's best to just leave it at that. If people share their past with you, it means they trust you. You can't judge someone for being careful. You might be angry at first, wondering why they don't disclose their true feelings with you, but you get over it," Kai says, and stares directly into my blue eyes. "You get over it because you love the person with everything they've done, everything they've been, everything they will be. You leave their past in the past so you can get on with the life you've created with them."

I stare at the floorboards beneath my feet. "Vaughn, Ann, Popuri…could you give me a minute?"

They leave the room silently, leaving Kai sitting right in front of me.

"I," I begin, but I can't fathom what I'm supposed to say next. "I'm sorry."

Kai laughs humourlessly. "For what? It was your life after all, I was just peering into it for two months."

"Kai," I say, my hands shaking. "I…I was wrong. Farming was my father's life. I was ashamed that I couldn't do it as well as he could, that farming hadn't brought me any closer to him. It was frustruating. After years of failure I just gave up. It was time to move on. It was time to get an education. But everyone in the valley told me that I had to stay. So we reached a compromise that I'd come every summer. I still held onto the feeble hope that somehow I'd get back to him, that my dad could be proud of who I'd become. Then, you just got caught up in my past and all my problems, but you were like a dream, a fansty that I could only dream of. You made me so happy, all the time. Then…then I realized that I'd come to the farm for my dad and instead, I'd spent all of my time with you. I thought that I'd failed him, that I'd lost him forever. I blamed you, and myself. I was so stupid, so selfish, that I'd forgotten about my own father because I fell for you. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I blamed you, I'm sorry I couldn't take responsibility for who I am and who I've been." I start crying then, silently os he can't hear me.

I drop to my knees and feel the tears fall on my callused hands. I will my long hair to hide my face as I sit in the middle of the room, crying in front of a boy I'd hurt far too many times.

Warm arms pull me into an embrace. I rest my head on his shoulder and pour our my tears.

"Why don't you hate me?" I ask him, my voice betraying me.

"Because," he says, pressing me tighter against his chest. "I fell in love with you because of who you are. Who you were shaped who you are today. So I fell in love with every part of you, even the part that pushed me away. I was also tied to a promise that I made on a beach, with a blonde farmer girl, that if I managed to find her away from the farm, it meant we were destined to be together again."

I look up at him. "You mean…you still…"

Kai leans down, and in a moment, all the events of the past summer flood back to me as he eliminates the space between us and presses his mouth against mine.

"But we have right now. Right now, we can be infinite. And…we'll see each other again ok? And then we have to stay together. It'll be a sign. When we see each other apart from the summer, it means we're destined for something!"

I smile as I break away from him, remembering my own words on that fateful day on the beach, the day that bound us together through the last stormy days of summer.