Celestial Heartbeat (Book One) COMPLETE

Chapter Twenty Five - Uncertainty

                    ~Evie~

“Why should I care what ‘x’ is?” Vi groaned, tossing another Algebra II textbook halfway across my room.

“You might not care, but I care that that textbook you just threw cost me fifty dollars. I want to sell it in a couple years time.” I grumbled, hopping off of my bed to retrieve the book.

“Fifty dollars?” Vi asked incredulously. “Why would you waste your money on that?”

“Because Vi. Some of us don’t have best friends who we scrounge off of. Someone has to buy the textbook.”

“Oh.” Vi laughed sheepishly. “Well, you know I love you, right Evie?”

“Uh-huh.” I muttered, picking up the book and flicking through the pages to find what page we were up to. In usual Vi fashion, she was leaving studying for one of our big tests to a couple of nights before. Also in usual Vi fashion, she was being less than co-operative in my efforts to actually help her out.

I passed by my phone on my way back to my bed but there were still no new messages. It’d been three days since I’d heard from Ren. It was starting to make me nervous. Even an obnoxious reply was better than no reply. I hadn’t talked to Chris since three days ago either, so no news could come from him either.

“You waiting on a message?” Vi asked curiously, eyeing me looking at my phone.

“Not really.” I sighed and walked back to my bed, sitting myself next to you. “Come on, just do a few more questions. You’re not as bad at this as you think.”

“I am plenty bad. Being bad is what I’m good at. Don’t take that away from me.” Vi reluctantly pulled the textbook from my hands and into her lap. She rested her head in her hand and scanned the words with a bored expression.

“Just try it. You aren’t going to get any better sitting here and you’re not going to get any worse by trying. You have nothing to lose.”

“Except maybe my sanity.” Vi scoffed.

“Don’t worry about it. Your sanity can come and go.” I smirked.

“Hah. Hah. Hah.” she gave a very forced, exaggerated laugh.

“Look, I’ll go restock our snack supply while you do a couple more equations.”

“Right.” Vi shuffled her hand around the empty snack packets on my bed, compiling them into a small stack and handing them over to me. “Bring more chocolate.”

“Okay.” I laughed, taking the rubbish from her.

I jogged down the stairs and into the kitchen, putting the empty packets in the trash before scanning the pantry for any more junk food that Vi and me were yet to demolish. It was looking pretty barren, but I managed to find one block of chocolate stowed away in the back. I took it out and laid it on the bench, before resting for a moment. Vi would need a little more time to complete the equations and I needed a second to calm myself.

I pulled up my sleeve and took in the two dark marks on my arm. The new one wasn’t much to look at. It was a small circle with a few mystical looking symbols that looked like they might belong to some ancient language that I didn’t have a hope of understanding. Looking at the mark gave me a little piece of relief. It meant that my charms were still in place, so even if Ren had disappeared I would know if any harm came to him. If something really had happened, I would have another new mark on me.

I wasn’t going to be left in the dark this time. I wouldn’t spend the next ten years wondering why he left and whether he was still alive.

This is different. I reminded myself. Ren wasn’t my father. He had no obligation to me. He had every reason to leave. But the sense of abandonment still couldn’t be shook now that he had stopped communication altogether.