"How did you not know she wasn't your real sister?" Jolene asked. We were now sitting in her office, because I had told her about what had happened.
"Phoebe told me that her sister had died, and we were inheriting her daughter."
"And you didn't ask any questions?" She asked skeptically.
"No." I said, feeling inferior. "To my knowledge, she'd never lied to me before, so I'd figured she hadn't been lying to me then."
"Even though she didn't look anything like you or Phoebe?"
"Nope. There are plenty of families that don't look anything alike, so I just guessed we weren't any different than any other families that didn't look alike."
"Alright. Thank you for the information, and if we find Phoebe, we'll contact Annabelle and Ace."
Just as quickly as our meeting had began, it ended.
Should I still go see Phoebe on the twenty-fourth? Or should I just tell Jolene about it? What if she killed me when I went to talk to her?
As I walked outside, I was enveloped in a giant hug.
"Oh, sweetie!" Annabelle exclaimed, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry that you had to live with that murderer for so long!"
The word murderer made my blood run cold, and I stiffened. Annabelle felt this and let me go, stepping backwards.
"Sorry. I know this whole experience must be overwhelming, and I'm certainly not helping"
"It's alright." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm your daughter, and daughters are supposed to hug their mother, right?"
She smiled at me, trying to hide her worry. She nodded, the tears still in her eyes. Ace put his arm around her, saying soothing words. Adonis, who had been silent this whole time, gave me a quick hug.
"I'm glad you weren't murdered." He said in a husky voice. I could tell he was trying to be manly, and laughed a little bit.
We went home and ate and watched a little TV, and went to bed. Things were normal. I had a family, who loved and cared about me. And even though they weren't sure, I loved and cared for them too.
The next week was pretty similar to my first day, the only change was that Lilly and Rebecca were quiet. That made me cautious and most of the time I was eying them warily.
"Would you like to go get a drink with me?" Bill asked, interrupting Luke's comment about school lunches.
I assumed he was talking to me, so I turned around to face him. Sure enough, he was staring at me, a smile on his face.
"Sure Bill." I said, standing up. Luke was staring daggers, and everybody was quiet. I noticed Bill just seemed to do that to people, with his intimidating nature. I hoped that I could set him straight of we were alone, and that maybe he wouldn't follow me any more.
He walked me over to the vending machine, his grip on my upper arm. He let my arm go to pull some quarters out of his pocket, and faced me.
"What type of soda do you like?" He asked, rolling the quarters in his palm.
"Mountain Dew." I paused. "Can I see those quarters really quick?"
He frowned, but opened up his hand and stretched it out to me. I grabbed them and turned them over, looking at the the designs on the back.
"Ooh, you got a Nevada quarter." I rubbed my thumb across the horses, surprised I had found it. Ot had been a few years since the last time I saw a Nevada quarter, and it had remained my favorite to this day.
"Do you like quarters?" He asked, still slightly confused.
"Yeah." I said, enthralled. There was also am Alaskan quarter, the one with the bear. "I used to collect them. Actually got up to all fifty states once."
"Then keep the ones you like. I have plenty more." I looked up at him and smiled, giving him back the rest of them. He bought a Mountain Dew and a Squirt, and handed the Mountain Dew to me.
"Wanna sit down with me?" He asked, running a hand through his hair. "By the tree? You know, where we first met."
"Why not?" I asked, glancing back at Luke. He was giving me these puppy dog eyes, and I really wanted to go sit with him instead. But, hopefully this would be the last time Bill bothered me.
We sat down, Bill taking a large drink of his soda. I followed suit, and he eyed me.
"So, I have to talk to you." He said, shifting his whole body towards me. I set down my soda and faced him completely. He smiled, seemingly pleased.
"See, you're a polite girl. Now days, girls are always disrespectful, judging somebody before they actually know somebody." His eyes went over to Luke's group, then back at me.
"I know they've said a lot of things about me, you're brother too. But you still talk to me, and you don't act like I'm a criminal. Why you hang out with those degenerates is beyond my knowledge. Something else I noticed is that even though everybody acts like I have the plague, Luke is a god around here. Nobody seems to care about what he did."
"What Luke did?" I was curious. Mrs. Moore, or Molly, had also implied Luke wasn't who he acted like.
"Yeah. With Jane Moore? He and Jane had a little 'fun', during one of his football games. He was the running back, and instead of doing his job, he messed around with Jane. And he and Jane didn't even stay together after their little fiasco, so it wasn't even meaningful."
"The only people who know if what they did was meaningful, are Luke and Jane themselves." Bill was going on and on about how rude and disrespectful people were, but he was acting that way.
"We're getting beside the point." His tone was now frosty, and I could tell he was getting frustrated with me. "What I'm trying to tell you, is be careful with who you associate with."
"I'll keep that in mind." I stood up, grabbing my soda. "Thanks for the drink and the quarter."
While walking back to the table, I felt his eyes boring into my back. I sat down next to Nick, and it seemed like he had just finished telling Luke something. Luke noticed my presence and spoke up.
"Do you mind leavin' Nick, Aurie, and I alone for a second?" He asked the rest of the table. They all looked a bit annoyed, but complied. Luke and Nick turned their focus to me.
"I heard about last week." Nick blurted out, sweating like a pig. I looked at Luke, to see he had a look of nervousness about him.
"How?" I tried to remember if they were at the library When my meltdown had occurred.
"My uncle, Pete, works at the police station, and he asked me to look out for you." Nick said, obviously embarrassed.
"And he told me." Luke cut in.
"I hope your not mad." Nick started biting his thumb.
"I'm not. Just try not to tell anybody else." Nick sighed in relief.
"I won't. I promise." I smiled, and I held out my pinkie.
"Pinkie swear?" I said, my grin growing larger. Nick laughed.
"I see Sarah has rubbed off on you." He remarked, intertwining our pinkies. Thankfully, it wasn't one of those moments where our hands touched and I realized I had been in love with Nick all along. I mean, having a crush on Nick and Luke would be a real mess.
Gym came along, and Rebecca and Lilly still kept quiet. Fantastic. They kept staring at me, studying my every move. I was scared. I had no idea what they were planning, but they were planning something.
"Today we will be running the mile!" Mrs. Moore announced. Most of the class groaned and whined, many whispering about pretending to be sick. "Luckily for you, it will be the partner mile. I have decided that since this period has the best grade average, you can pick your partners. Be aware of your privilege."
Everybody was scrambling to find a partner, most people going for the most athletic kids. Clementine found her way to me, a smile on her face.
"Found a partner yet?" She asked, her hands on her hips.
"Nope." I admitted, hoping she didn't either.
"Good." She grabbed my wrist. "'Cause I don't either."
"What about Bonnie?" I asked, wondering if she was absent.
"She wanted to be paired up with Mike." She replied, rolling her eyes. She jerked her head over to them, and I could see them talking. Even though I couldn't hear the context, they were obviously flirting.
"Young love." Clementine sighed mockingly. She then turned serious. "Speaking of love, how are things going?"
"What do you mean?"
"Who do you like more? Luke or Carver?"
"Definitely Luke. I don't even like Bill, and I might have a crush on Luke."
"Good." She said, satisfied. "Now I can reassure Adonis."
"What?" I exclaimed. "You can't do that! What if he decides to tell Luke?"
"Then Luke will ask you out." She shrugged. "I can tell he likes you, he's just scared after what happened with Jane. She kind of broke his heart."
So it wasn't meaningless. Not to Luke anyway.
"Luke doesn't like me." I sighed.
"Whatever." Clem said, rolling her eyes.
Clem ran the first lap, running faster than everybody. The only person even close was Luke, who was a few feet behind her. She slapped my arm and I started running, as fast as I could. Unfortunately I had forgotten to put my hair up, so it was flying everywhere.
I knew I was still ahead of everybody, but I didn't know how ahead. I was too focused on not tripping to do anything else.
I finished the lap, and Clem looked surprised, but quickly took my place. I sat down to catch my breath, and was joined by a heaving Nick.
"You're fast." He complimented, a small smile on his face. "Luke and I are usually way ahead of everybody at this point."
"Clem beat Luke." I pointed out, trying to shift the glory off of myself.
"Clem's faster than a bat out of hell, but Clem and I are pretty even when when it comes to running, and you beat me by a long shot." He took a drink of his water bottle and offered some to me. I graciously took it, seeing Clem about to cross the finish line.
"I gotta go." I said standing up. "I'd get ready if I were you."
He stood up, setting his water bottle on the bench. "I'm born ready. Hopefully I can at least catch up to you this time."
Clem passed and I ran. After a few seconds I looked back and saw Nick a few feet behind me. I slowed a little, just enough for him to catch up to me.
"We run as fast as we can in three?" I asked, having to gasp my words. He nodded.
"Three." He exclaimed. His voice wasn't much better.
"Two." I said, readying my legs.
"One!" We both shouted, and I ran, faster than ever. I was ahead of Nick by about a fEw feet, but began losing some of my speed. Soon Nick was only a foot behind me, his endurance better than mine. By the time we were to the finish line, he was just barely behind me.
Both Clem and Luke ran, but Clem was obviously faster. Luke was catching up though, and I figured with his sport history, his endurance must be better than Clem and I's together. Nick grabbed his water bottle and almost drank it all, leaving two drinks worth. He handed the bottle to me, and stretched. I finished it off, feeling a bit guilty.
When Clem and Luke made their way back around, Luke was slightly beating Clementine. She looked worn out, and I was glad this was her last lap. I looked over at Nick, who was looking at me in determination.
They passed the finish line and we sprinted. I was beating Nick for a while, but eventually he caught up to me. It was going to be very close, and I wanted to win. Contrary to popular belief, I was very competitive.
Then I spotted the finish line, and I saw Nick gain some space. I then parted with all forms of thought, and did the most idiotic thing I'd ever done when running a mile. I leaped.
I actually passed the finish line before Nick, but regretted the decision when I hit the ground. I scraped almost the whole left side of me, tearing a lot of skin on my upper leg and arm.
Hearing others coming toward me, I weakly stood up and made my way to the grass. He girls all backed away screaming, but the boys and Mrs. Moore all ran forward to help me.
"What were you thinking?" Mrs. Moore asked incredulously.
"I wanted to win?" I joked.
Luke looked at me, but when he saw my arm, he paled. I frowned and looked down at it. There was a giant mess a blood, skin, and asphalt.
"It's so vivid." I said, lightly touching my arm. The deep red color transferred to my fingers, and I studied the blood. I was fascinated, but I also didn't feel right.
"Someone take her to the office!" I vaguely heard Mrs. Moore say. All I could focus on was the blood. I felt myself being picked up, and quickly looked over to see who had done it. It was Luke, and he looked terrified. He started running, despite all of the running he just did, his endurance was strong alright.
My eyes went back to the blood, and I started to feel dizzy. The world turned fuzzy around the edges, slowly turning black. The last thing I could see before passing out was the bright red of my blood, the black asphalt trying to block it out of my sight.
Carver or Luke... Not a very trying question, I know. other than questions that don't need to be asked, how was it? Sorry about the time skip, I just thought it was the smallest amount of time I could go without making everything seem extremely , I've been on a Malcolm in the Middle marathon kick lately, and I'm almost done! Does anyone have any other show suggestions like it? Please favorite, follow, or review!
-Love Bella