ওIT'S been two weeks and three days since heathers party. and bella was completely alone facing her ceiling like she had been the whole time.
she locked herself in her room and shut herself out from the rest of the world. no social media, she didn't go to school, talk to her parents, or leave her room.
sebastian has tried to talk to her, but she ignored him and her parents were in and out of meetings to know she wasn't around.
of course, the triplets, her best friends, baylen, heck even chad tried to call her but she didn't answer. they even tried to stop by but she never let them in.
she just spent her days ordering doordash, watching netflix, sleeping, and repeat.
she didn't miss anyone in the outside world or anything. she did at first when chris had to leave the next morning, begging him to stay but he didn't.
she understood though, to some degree, he had a family that cared about him. where he was, or what he was doing.
and this made bella start to cry again. that her parents weren't even around to see how hurt and how much that night damaged her. and honestly, it scared her.
she didn't know if she was ever going to be able to move on if things would go back to 'normal.' because she felt different and that meant that everything else around her was different.
bella forced herself out of bed as she took her first shower in weeks.
she ran her fingers through her hair as the hot water ran over her.
she got out and changed into her black juicy couture pajama.
she threw a claw clip in her hair and walked over to the door, hesitating to twist the knob as she turned it slowly. she peeked out into the hallway to see if sebastian was out there.
the coast seemed clear as she took a deep breath as she walked out of her room.
she hated the thought of leaving her room for even a second. but her being alone with her thoughts, and not speaking was making her feel worse. so she decided on a little fresh air.
she walked downstairs towards the back door, walking into the backyard. she walked over to sebastians house to see that he wasn't there and she was relieved.
she walked back into the house and locked the door as she walked past the living room to see the triplets, alahna, madi, and baylen sitting in the living room. surrounded by dozens of gift baskets and teddy bears.
"what are you guys doing here? how did you get in?" she looked at them confused.
"sebastian let us in before he left." baylen started. "well he's been letting us in here for the past two weeks." madi finished.
"we've been coming here every day after school, waiting for you to come out of your room." matt told. "why?" she furrowed her eyebrows.
"because we care about you bella." chris said. she just looked at them, not knowing what to say. and she hated herself for what came next but she couldn't help it.
she started crying. "hey, hey, it's okay." chris ran over to her, holding her.
"i don't know what to do anymore." she cried. "it's okay bells, we're here for you." nick joined in a group hug with the others.
"you don't need me to tell you this, but what heather said to you will never be okay." matt started. "and we all talked about it and as much as we want you to feel better, we can't understand how you feel." baylen added.
"but we just wanted to let you know we'll always be here for you." nick rubbed her arm. "and if it makes you feel better, madi punched heather in the face after you ran out." alahna said.
"you did what!" bella got out of chris's embrace. "yup, right in her face." madi laughed as everyone did as well.
"yeah, it was great and everyone was like 'oooh.' bam racist gone down." alahna acted out the events.
"no one at school likes heather, even one tree hill tea page talked against heather for what she said." madi told her.
"thanks for coming over guys, i love you guys." bella smiled. "we love you too," they said in sync.
"are your parents home?" alahna trod lightly. "no. they haven't been home in God knows how long. i'm pretty sure they don't even know what's going on." bella whispered.
matt and nick looked between each other confused, not knowing about bella's home life. "my parents aren't ever around." bella looked at the twins.
"long story short, i'm more of a poster child for when mom and dad need me to look good for their jobs. other than that, i'm not their daughter," she admitted.
"so you've been here by yourself for weeks now?" matt asked. "more like years..." bella trailed. "that must've been so lonely." nick looked at her.
"it was at first but chad used to come around most of the time when madi and alahna couldn't. and things felt a little less lonely." bella whispered.
"i know it's stupid, but it hurt to see chad cheat on me. sure we were arranged to be together, but he said that he loved me." bella spoke softly.
"i'm sorry arranged?" nick ruined the sad moment causing us all to laugh. "see there's that smile!" he side-hugged bella.
"yeah. my parents arranged for chad and i to get married when we graduate high school." she spoke. "that's real? i thought chad was joking when he told me that." baylen widened his eyes.
"at eighteen is crazy." chris scoffed. "spell eighteen." nick rolled his eyes. "spell eighteen." chris mocked him. "guys!" alahna looked at them.
"it's okay lana, their banter makes me feel better." bella smiled. "banter. bro sounds straight out of a dictionary." matt joked causing everyone to laugh.
"leave me alone. i'm just a girl." bella fake cried. "alright, who wanna make ice cream sundays?" madi asked as she stood up. "me!" bella clapped happily as everyone ran into the kitchen.
