the folklore love triangle → aurora's version

Augustine was never one for illicit affairs, she dreamed of a fairytale romance, of the ones depicted in the books that consumed her. For years she had visited the same house in the same beach town, and for years the same boy would be next door. He wouldn't take a glance at her, and they went their own ways, but this year seemed to be different, when he invited her over and she became intoxicated by him. Little did she know the twisted romance James was pulling her in, and how August, the person and the month, would slip away forgotten in a moment of time.

Never would she have imagined James, the seemingly popular athlete, would find interest in her, a quiet girl whose time was spent with her nose buried in a book, far away from the spotlight. Yet he glanced over at her with one smile and the rest became something straight out of a romance novel, a blur of sun kissed skin and dimpled smiles, and Augustine was left eagerly waiting for James's next call.

"Meet me behind the mall," he'd whisper conspiratorially, and she'd drop everything at once, cancel all her plans, and drive over with a smile.

Whispers of are you sure and tender moments passing in a haze, the pair fleetingly holding onto the moments before they'd be forced to leave the beach town and return to their different schools.

Augustine didn't quite realize she was just an illicit affair to James, no to her, at that moment, she was there living for the hope of it all. But it was all too perfect, too much like a love story, and while Augustine was having the time of her life, Betty felt hers shattering around her like broken glass.

Betty was ready for her senior year of high school to start. In fact she was incredibly excited, especially for the back to school party she was throwing at the end of the week. But most important to her was seeing James who she hadn't seen all summer. Betty and James were the perfect couple, the it couple at their school. But to Betty it was more than being a cheerleader and athlete or popularity, James would whisper and tell her she was his favorite and she would feel special. Because to Betty, she wasn't perfect or a natural, all she could do was try and James made her feel like she was.

But with the words Inez told her, she felt like she was bleeding. The gossip's words seemed to haunt her as she shakily got off the bus and approached the school, echoing in her head, James was spotted with another girl that summer.

It's funny how neither of them ever saw the warning signs that he was destroying them because he seemed so perfect. Augustine was broken and angry, angry that she had let herself believe that someone so perfect could swoop into her life and shatter her heart in the matter of weeks. Betty was smart-far smarter than people thought-incredibly perceptive and cunning. They say when you are young you know nothing, but she knew one thing, that James would come running back to her because without her, his status would take a hit and he was even more dependent on her than she was on him. But if he thought he could chase two girls and not lose the one, he'd be very mistaken.

Still it stung and broke her heart as she blinked back tears staring at the homeroom that held so many fond memories of her and her high school sweetheart. Because for so long James was her home, and now she could go anywhere she wanted, just not home. So squaring her shoulders, she walked down the hall to the office requesting a new one.

He walked up to her in the hallway with a crooked smile that only angered her further.

"I won't make assumptions about why you switched your homeroom but I think it's because of me," he finally said after withering under her fierce glare, the smile long gone from his face.

She walked past him with one final furtive glance, but he knew his answer was a yes. And James watched her go, the vintage tee neatly tucked into a pair of jeans, the high heeled boots clicking on the cobblestone of the hallway.

The last thing Betty needed after her awful week was James showing up to her party trying to make some grand statement, but she knew it was inevitable.

"What are you doing here," she snapped, an eyebrow raised elegantly and a sharp look in her eyes.

"I'm only seventeen I don't know anything," he began, pausing when she scoffed.

"If you crashed my party to restate the fact that you're stupid, then it was a complete waste of both our times."

"Let me finish, please," he paused, smiling when she reluctantly nodded. "But I know I miss you. I know I spent nights sleeping next to her, but dreaming of you. I know that I shouldn't have freaked out and bolted at that party last month when the music was blaring and your favorite song was playing and I saw you dancing with him from the other side of the room. I wasn't thinking but I hate the crowds, you know that. I miss you Betty, more than anything in the world I know that."

Her blonde hair was swaying slightly in the breeze, and she was dressed in a large cardigan that was practically swallowing her petite frame, but all James could do was stare into her piercing eyes that slowly softened. And perhaps they would call her a mad woman for what she did next, but she smiled and reached out a hand to James. In that moment, the world was drowned out, because they were simply enchanted by each other, confident they had found the one.

Because there was always an invisible string tying James to Betty, and Augustine just happened to be collateral damage as the two found their ending with each other. And as James left the party, with Betty this time, August was struggling, but she inevitably found herself again and realized that back then they were growing and changing for the better, and finally wanting wasn't enough, finding herself and creating her own happiness was, and she was at peace with that fact.