Maybe

11: Threats and Third-Wheeling

PLOT TWIST TIME. ENJOY.

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Tori POV

I feel myself slipping into unconsciousness when the squeaky door opens, jolting me back into the real world. "Mum?"

"Tori," a slightly female voice says in a low tone. "It's Cassie."

I feel myself bristling. "What are you doing here?" A memory struggles to resurface in my brain.

"Relax," she says with a breathless laugh. "I won't hurt you."

"Relax, I won't hurt you," she said as she slipped into the room.

"But I might," I countered, cowering into my bed. "You can't be here."

"And yet I am," Liana said, amused. "It was a lot easier to slip through the guards than I thought."

"Liana, I'm highly infectious," I warned her. "You might get sick."

"I haven't seen you in six months, Tori," she said, hurt. "I'm your best friend." 

"You could look at me through the glass."

"No, Tori. I have to talk to you."

"Liana -" I tried to pull myself up, but then I lie back down as the room starts to spin. "Please -"

"I'm immune," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" The room kept spinning. I squeezed my eyes shut, further confused by her words. "Please don't talk in circles."

"I mean I'm immune. You can't infect me."

"How could you possibly know that?" I managed to get out. I felt vomit pooling at the back of my throat.

"My dad had what you had once. I didn't get sick," she said proudly. 

Then I vomited blood and passed out.

"You can't be here," I say shakily, much like I had when I was fourteen.

"That's funny. I recall you saying the same thing when we were in the ICU a few years ago." No, this couldn't be right. I was seeing Cassie, but she had a British accent instead of her normal American one. "And then you threw up on me."

"Liana?" I whisper.

"That's right," she says, smirking. "Did you know I was the only one who visited you? The only one who actually cared enough to visit you? And what do you reward me with? You vomited on me. And then, as if that weren't bad enough, your parents told the school that I was the one who made everyone bully you."

That was true, though. Liana had turned Ellie against me. And where Ellie turns, everyone else turns, too.

She continues, "So my family relocated. To Los Angeles. I changed my name, adopted the American accent, and started to act. It did wonders for me. And I found myself dating one-fifth of the hottest boyband in the world. And you took him from me."

Wrong. "You dumped him for your married co-star."

Even in the dark, I can see the tinge of red on her cheeks. "I will ruin you," she says shortly. Then she walks out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

--

"How are you feeling?" Niall asks me for about the tenth time since he got here. He switches the TV on and pats his lap, which I lay my head in.