Breaking the story

More stupid ominous warnings

"Sometimes I feel as if this is the first time I've seen the stars," I said, exhausted from looking for Jenny. The garden was lovely, with fairy lights woven through hedges and trees.

"They're always there," Rowan replied, as if I was stupid.

"Well, everything is crazy in this comic book so maybe they aren't."

"What?"

"It's so annoying that almost no one remembers anything," I said, sighing.

"Maybe there's something wrong with you," he said and my jaw tightened.

"I thought you were being polite."

"That's me being polite about it," he replied.

"There must be something wrong with you if you're related to Bloom," I snapped and he laughed.

"Bloom is..." He shook his head as if he couldn't remember.

"Can't you remember? You know, since she's your sister and everything."

Maybe I could trigger something and help him realise...but he would still be as insufferable as ever. That would be ironic: if the only other person I could wake up would be him. Not Iris or Jenny or someone decent but this poor excuse for a character.

"No," he said, sounding uncertain. Come on, come on...

"It doesn't matter." He blinked and his cold expression was back.

"You should try and remember," I said helpfully. He rolled his eyes and went to say something but I felt a strange tingling on the back of my neck. And then...

WHOOSH!

I was walking to a corner of the garden we hadn't explored, my face set in an expression of worry. I could feel my lips thinning and a headache was pounding at my temples. Fake Beatrice was anxious and her feelings were infecting me.

"Jenny!" I shouted, my eyes scanning the area. I shivered and my dress was cool against my skin. "Jenny!"

No one was with me. I was completely alone.

And then I turned a corner.

Nathan and Jenny were standing, faces close, lips almost touching. They both looked very emotional. He held both her hands in his and she looked stupefied with wonder and a touch of fright. A faint radiance surrounded them and the lights in the garden created a corona of light around them.

Someone stopped beside me and I glanced sideways to see Lucas.

Oh no.

Some drama was about to go down.

He stared at them in disbelief, rage crossing his face. They didn't notice for a moment and other people started to gather around Lucas, witnessing the scene.

Jenny finally noticed him and I couldn't move or speak.

"Lucas!" She shouted and dropped Nathan's hands as if they were on fire. He blinked and whirled around to face his rival.

"Having fun, are you?" Lucas yelled and Elijah stopped beside me, looking worried. Bloom and her cohorts arrived, glowering at Jenny and making comments.

"She's leading them both on...so easy....how could she hurt Lucas..."

"No, I- nothing's going on," Jenny said in a pleading tone. She made her way towards Lucas but he backed away from her.

"You're done," he snarled at Nathan, who was looking pale. "You're out. You're not friends with us anymore."

"Come on, Lucas-" Elijah started, but Lucas didn't let him finish.

"No," Lucas interrupted. "He's out. Or do you want to be friends with him after this?"

Elijah said nothing and it seemed the world's hottest boy group was breaking up. Woe to me. But even as I pretended to be blasé about the whole thing, the atmosphere was getting to me. The sense of something breaking felt deeper than just this; I could nearly taste Jenny's anguish and my own emotions were in turmoil.

"And you." Lucas glared at Jenny. "You're not worth my time."

As per usual, a tear trickled down Jenny's face and my main thought was that this girl could not catch a break. Without another word, Lucas took Bloom's arm and stormed away with her. Rowan cast a cold look over the group and sauntered off, as if we were all beneath him. And then the scene was over and I felt the tell-tale tingling that would spirit me away somewhere else. Hopefully to my house and some warm blankets.

I was sitting outside on a bench, my mind far away as Iris and Grace rehashed the hottest gossip.

"She's using both of them," Iris said, shaking her head.

"At least Lucas isn't falling for it," Grace commented, her neon hair less headache inducing outside. Lucas had been hanging out with Bloom and it seemed the business deal would be back on. Jenny and Nathan were in disgrace and some horrible remarks were thrown Jenny's way, along with random pieces of rubbish and some awful bullying the teachers seemed to ignore.

"Have you ever wanted to get away from here?" I asked suddenly, knowing I wouldn't get a sensible answer.

"Like, on holiday?" Grace asked and I blinked. She'd responded like a normal person. She looked quite animated today, her eyes staring into mine.

"Yeah," I said and Iris went to open her mouth, no doubt to prattle on about Lucas, but Grace got there first.

"I always wanted to go to South America," Grace said and I perked up. Hurray! A conversation that wasn't about boys!

"Why?" I asked, trying not to break the spell.

"Because of the all the animals in the rainforest." Grace smiled and so did I.

"I'd go for all the hot boys," Iris interjected and I laughed. Of course she would. But for a moment we were all laughing together and it was about something different.

"What's going on?" A voice interrupted and I felt the urge to pull my hair out. No! Don't destroy it! But Nathan's stupid voice broke the spell.

"You must be really sad, Nathan," Iris said and Grace nodded, making some comment about Lucas. And we were back to square one.

"Hey, Bea, could we have a chat?" He asked and I sighed. I guess I couldn't be angry at him forever. But he would tell me everything. Or I would trick it out of him.

"Fine."

Iris and Grace faded into the distance as we went for a walk down the path. He didn't say anything for a moment and ran a hand through his hair. If he thought the hot boy move would shut me up he had another thing coming.

"Well?" I snapped, my patience wearing thin. This place was getting to me and Nathan held the answers. What did I really know about him?

"Bea, I really don't know everything," he said, his mouth turned down. As I inhaled, ready to unleash the depths of hell upon him, he spoke.

"But...we've done this before. I recognise certain people and I-I think there's another book somewhere. But you have to be careful." Another book! Gods, as long as I wasn't an extra with a cheesy grin again.

"Why?"

"Sometimes remembering isn't a good thing."

And...we were back to ominous warnings. Nathan had that dangerous edge again, as if a katana was going to fly into his hand. It was all very Bruce Lee.

"Are you sure you're not on re-run?" I asked, my anger fading away. Could he not tell me more?

"What?" His confused look made me chuckle and he smiled. We were back to being friends again, in a sense. But I knew he wouldn't just tell me what was going on. Keep your friends close, Bea....with a friendly sigh, I launched into another joke about his hot boy tragedy. Keep your enemies closer.

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