Breaking the story

A lucky escape

The flickering glow of the firepit was surrounded by fireflies and students in outdoors-y clothes. My shorts and sneakers left my legs uncovered and I shivered. Not the outfit I would've chosen for a treasure hunt at night. Nathan and Lucas stood beside me, as far from Jenny as possible.

"It's so weird, I don't feel anything for her right now," Lucas said, confused. His eyes darted from Jenny to Bloom.

"It's just the character," Nathan said smoothly. He still bothered me. He was far too relaxed about this whole situation. He smiled at me fondly as if he was actually enjoying himself.

"So what's our plan, Lucy Liu?" I asked Nathan, attempting to smile. Because we hadn't come up with anything useful so far.

"I think we should try and force a different dialogue. See if we can overcome our characters in a scene," he said confidently. Hmm. I wasn't sure that would work.

"But I've tried that before-"

"Then try a bit harder," he finished. I frowned. What was the point in trying something we've tried before? It seemed a bit pointless. Not to mention...the scene of Elijah kissing me flashed before my eyes. Ew.

"I can try," Lucas said doubtfully, watching Bloom. We lapsed into silence and I felt a rising panic that this was our only plan.

"But-" I started

"Come on, Bea. We can try something different next time," Nathan said, giving me a playful shove. Yeah, it's okay for you, I wanted to shout. He just had to walk around the forest with Jenny or whoever. I had to deal with...oh no, there he was.

Elijah was chatting with someone, his sparkly white teeth wolf like. He looked relaxed in a white t-shirt and shorts but I felt ill. As I was looking at him, something else caught my eye.

Tickets were littered in a bowl, folded in half. Our names were on the front and on the inside was our partner for the treasure hunt. A pen lay discarded beside the bowl. I could clearly see the ticket with my name lying at an angle, the firelight making the letters glow orange.

An idea began to form. A desperate hope.

"I'll be right back," I said, and made my way towards the bowl. I veered to the left to avoid Elijah's line of sight. Nathan muttered something but I didn't hear as I walked away.

I lightly plucked my name from the bowl and I was suddenly warmer. The letters glinted, mocking me. I grabbed the pen and without looking closely at the name printed on the inside I scribbled it out. But what other name could I write?

I needed to find out more about the city. About who I was. And Nathan was certainly never going to tell me. I jotted down Rowan's name.

Maybe this would work better than drawing in the book. But...should I change Rowan's ticket?

I hunted for it in the bowl and scribbled out the name inside his. I changed it to Beatrice. There. Perfect.

I heard my name and turned around, wondering who was searching for me. Nathan was approaching, his face set into a frown. Crap! He must've realised I was doing something. Just as he got to the table, the scene began.

WHOOSH!

"I wonder who we'll be with?" Jenny asked, her eyes too wide and a goldy glow surrounding her. I was dull as dishwater beside her, freezing in my shorts.

"Now, pick out your name from the bowl and see who you're partnered up with!" The teacher said in an overexcited voice. I wondered if he'd been drinking, because no one was that excited over a crummy treasure hunt.

Jenny wore a nervous smile as she took her name from the bowl and Lucas stared at her, his jaw clenched. I met his eyes and they were glazed. It seemed like character Lucas was firmly in control. I pushed against my next words but fake Beatrice wasn't going down easy. Which was funny because she was so weak the rest of the time.

"I hope it's someone we like," I said, little hearts floating around my face. Ewww. I glanced at Elijah, who was...talking to Grace? Wait, what? Maybe our tremendous love story was on the rocks. Hallelujah!

"Oh no!" Jenny said dramatically. An angry look came over her face as she whirled to glare at Lucas. So much drama. Written on her ticket was....surprise surprise ...Lucas!

Lucas flashed her a steely look and made his way over.

"I'm with you," he said rudely and Jenny huffed. I tried to push against fake Beatrice again but it was useless.

"Who are you with, Beatrice?" Jenny asked, avoiding speaking to Lucas. My nervousness and fake Beatrice's were aligned as we glanced down at the ticket. Would it still be Elijah? But as I opened the piece of paper, trembling, I saw a name scored out and Rowan written beneath it. And the name scored out....it was Nathan. I went cold with surprise even as the writing morphed suddenly and just became plain old Rowan. As if there had never been a change at all. As if it had always been him.

What the...I looked up, my lips opening to tell Jenny who I was with and Nathan stood before me. His eyes were accusing as he glowered down at his ticket. But it had been Elijah! How had it became Nathan? Had he tried to change it too? But....I remembered what he said before. That won't happen again. And it hadn't.

Elijah was partnered with Grace in the distance, a confused look on his face.

"I'm with Rowan," I said and even fake Beatrice faltered for a heartbeat. Because this wasn't right. Jenny blinked and sighed, as if we both had awful partners. She wasn't wrong.

A flash of red caught my eye and Rowan waltzed over, his sneer firmly intact.

"I suppose we're partners," he said stiffly and I shivered, knowing I'd somehow dodged a bullet. But joy was dancing through me too. I had changed something! Even if Nathan...had changed it first.

"Let's go, partner!" Fake Beatrice said, her cheesy smile making me think of the pizza I hadn't got to enjoy properly. Rowan stared at me and a part of me was hoping that the dark shadow thing in the forest would put me out of action for a while. I needed a break.

(This is just a short chapter because the next one is longer)