Tangled Fate

A REPLACEMENT TO THEM

CLARA'S POV

"Wait a minute, did you say his name is Carl? Why does that sound familiar?” I pondered to myself, trying to recall.

Before I could delve deeper into my thoughts, Mia's voice broke the silence.

"He isn't yours," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Why? He seems interested in me,” the other girl replied.

A hint of confusion comes through my mind on who they were talking about.

"That's because he wants you to take care of me. He's been looking out for both of us,” Mia explained, and I continued to gaze at them, trying to process her words.

"I understand,” the other girl finally said as she walked away. Mia turned to me, a reassuring smile on her face. 

"Don't mind her. She'll calm down later.” 

"Okay," I replied, accepting her words.

"Can I have your number?" she asked suddenly.

I looked at her for a moment, contemplating her request. 

"Okay, sure," I finally agreed, and shared my number with Mia, my newfound friend, before she departed.

A few minutes later, Anna came up to me. She was sporting one of her new outfits. 

"Clara, how does this look?" she asked.

"It’s beautiful," I complimented her, giving her a thumbs-up. I yawned, feeling tired. “Can we go now?”

To my dismay, Anna shook her head and gave me a pleading look. 

"Not yet... let me try on one more outfit.”

After a few moments of looking at her pout, I nodded. 

"Argh..." I sighed, feeling weary from the hours of shopping we had already done.

“Yay!” Anna yelled, running off to the dressing room while I flopped down on a couch. 

Several hours later...

"I can't believe we actually spent three hours shopping," I remarked after we had gotten home. 

"I'm sorry," Anna apologized, sounding and looking genuinely remorseful. “Are you okay?”

I simply stared at her.

"No. My legs are hurting from waiting for so long," I redirected the conversation. I didn’t want to burden her since she always worries about me.

"Why don't you let me massage them?" she offered.

I shook my head frantically, a fearful look crossing my face. Her massages hurt!

"No thanks. I'd rather not go shopping with you again," I replied, massaging my tired legs.

Anna giggled and playfully shoved me, making me fall over. I got up with a scowl as she continued to giggle and walk. 

"I know you will. What are best friends for?" she teased, a hint of playfulness in her voice.

My stomach grumbled and I went into the kitchen. 

"Let me prepare some food," I said, getting up to head to the kitchen.

"Okay. That sounds good," Anna replied.

After a few minutes, I finished cooking some pancakes for us. I brought two plates full of the pancakes, dripping with sticky, sweet maple syrup to the living room and placed them on the coffee table. I also prepared some tea and put it in cups before bringing that into the room as well.