Saint Ambrose Academy: Unlikelies

17

ENZO

I'm such an asshole. Lia was asking me about Nova because she was worried about how anxious she seemed in classes and some new bruises that she caught a glimpse of when visiting Nova during her dance training, I had to lie to her which only upset her, but truthfully even if I could tell Lia that Nova and I were friends, I can't give her any answers because she has so many walls up all of the time. She never seems happy, what I used to dismiss as rude/snobby behavior I recognize now as anxiety and fear, and it is constant at school. She seems like an entirely different person when she's away from the school, I used to think she was the opposite of me that I was drawn to her because she was unabashedly herself, others be damned. But I've come to realize that what I really felt drawn to was the fact she's not so different from me, and that just makes me angry. She comes to school wearing a mask, fulfilling a role, her reasons differ from mine, and her outlook on life as a whole is widely contrast to my own, but both of us were just trying to survive. The thing is, she maintains that mask even with friends, its evident she's in trouble, and when Lia asked about her I felt as useless as I was with my sister like I was just doomed to watch her deteriorate till she loses to her demons. I needed to feel numb after that, I needed to feel pain, to quiet the storm swirling in my mind, I didn't expect anyone but least of all Nova, to come after me at school.

What is with this girl and catching me red handed anyways?

I ended up snapping at her and scaring her into talking about more than she felt comfortable. It is not how I wanted her to open up to me to go. However, it did cause me to notice some inconsistencies within the things I know. Everything she's said about her parents feels contradictory, sometimes it seems like she has perfect parents, but then others she talks about them as if they didn't care about her. I hate that I intimidate her, I wish I knew what was happening to her. I decide to take a risk and ask that freshman she hangs out with, she's at his house almost every weekend. Christmas break is coming, and I just feel terrified that something will happen when I'm gone, that she won't be here, so I need to start getting answers; I can't find out when its already too late like it was for Amelia.

After she explained how hard it was for her to feel safe in opening up with others, she told me a little more about her family, and a lot about dance, and how it was the only constant in her life. After she left to go back to her dorm I headed back into the school, with the intention of finding Kai and came face to face with Cassia Russo instead.

"Hey Enzo," she gives me a wicked smile that I'm sure Angel would consider charming but I just find fake and tiring.

"What's up Cassia, did you need me for something?"

"Actually yes, I came here to try to give you advice on how to get back with Lia, but imagine my surprise to see you with Nova instead. Is there a story there?" She seems to be honestly looking out for her friend, but I'm already feeling the anxiety alarms go off in my head as I realize the secret between Nova and I is in danger of being revealed, and we're totally at the mercy of Cassia.

"No story, we just needed to discuss class president stuff, with winter break coming there will be some students unable to go home and the presidents wanted to put something together for them to feel less alone during the holidays." It wasn't a total lie, it had been an idea Nova had brought up to me, but essentially it was a lie to say that the other class presidents were involved.

" Interesting, I didn't know official business took place out behind the dumpsters, is Matteo hiding back there too?" She didn't believe the lie.

"What do you want Cassia?" I was growing impatient with this game.

"Like I said I came out here for Lia's sake, but if you have something going on with Nova, I think theres some information you should know, I don't want you to get hurt." She's baiting me, but I want to know what she knows about Nova.