Insincere Veneer

|Chapter 16|

Thank you, everyone, for bearing with me and reading this story! Much love from me to all of you! ❤️

Dedicated to rawdaroro ;)

Happy Reading! =)

|Chapter 16|

I spent the whole week doing nothing but coming back home after school and lying on my bed, thinking about everything that's been happening lately.

I've failed to prove the lie that I'm not a kind, weak loser multiple times, and I always tried to keep up my fake facade, afterwards. I realized that I've been doing the same old thing after making all my stupid mistakes.

Running away.

I ran away in my old school. I ran away after being bombarded with Eleanor's questions. I ran away after saving Chloe, the girl that was being bullied. I ran away after having a deep conversation with Justin. I never faced my problems. I never fixed my mistakes the correct way. I never contemplated my actions before doing them. I just cowardly ran away every single freaking time.

It's so unfair. I wish I could just be who I am without people judging me. Without people hating my guts and bullying the hell out of me. What's so wrong with me, anyways? Is it really because I don't have a perfect figure like everybody else? Is it really because my interests are different from theirs?

"Elizabeth! Eleanor's here to see you!" Mom's voice interrupted the thoughts that constantly haunted me everywhere I went.

Did she just say Eleanor?

"Liz!" Mom yelled yet again.

No, no, no!

I jumped out of bed and nervously shuffled on my feet, trying to think of anything I could do to avoid seing Eleanor.

What does she want, now?

I bit my lower lip ever so forcefully that I could taste my own blood. My breathing was shallow and a thin layer of sweat appeared on my forehead. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on breathing and staying calm.

It's okay, just breathe. It's just Eleanor.

"Hey, hey, girl!" she entered my room in a loud, happy greeting that almost made my heart stop beating. I got so startled that I literally jumped in my place.

"H-Hey," I croaked less enthusiastically.

"Get dressed, we're going to the carnival!" She clapped her hands in excitement. I envied her for being so chirpy and jovial all the time.

"To the what?" I asked, confused.

"The carnival!"

"Um... no we're not," I retorted. I walked towards her and gently pushed her out of my room. "You're going straight back home."

She stopped in her tracks and turned around, an evil grin resembling a cheshire cat made its way towards her face.

I'm not going to lie, it scared me.

"Actually, if I were in your place, I'd just get dressed and come with me. I mean, you don't want the news of you wearing a fairy costume spreading around the school, do you?" she asked me slowly, quietly, and deadly.

My eyes widened in shock. Her threat set my heart racing once again as I imagined everyone laughing at me. I would be bullied around for the rest of my senior year. I would be the school's joke. Not a surprise there.

I swallowed the lump in my throat before saying, "It's not so nice to blackmail people."

Eleanor started laughing loudly, and when she sobered up, she told me, "Well, I'm not the one who started it, am I?"

The memory of her surprise visit hurt me. I'd threatened to ruin her life if she told anyone about what she saw, and the pain that filled her eyes haunted my dreams. It made me feel guilty, and I barely ever felt that way.

I nodded my head slowly, agreeing to go with her. She smiled in victory and shooed me into my room to get dressed. She walked to my wardrobe and her hand wandered around the endless racks of black clothing, until her fingers found one of the few colorful outfits I own.

"I like this. It's different from the depressing black you constantly wear." I shook my head as a silent 'no' and took out simple black jeans and a dark brown shirt to wear on this hot Summer day. She frowned at my choice of clothing, but I shrugged it off and changed in my bathroom.

My reflection in the mirror could be described in one word: awful. My face looked so pale and tired and I could see that my chubby cheeks have slightly disappeared. This was due to the light, almost nonexistent meals I had everyday. I've lost my appetite this week.

After applying some makeup to make my face look a bit more lively, and wearing my dark colored clothes, I walked out of the bathroom to see Eleanor sitting on my bed, talking to Sophia.

"Yes!" Sophia squealed in delight. I smiled at the sight.

My sister's adorable.

"Lizzy, we're going to the carnival!" Sophia ran to my side and hugged my legs. I heard Eleanor sigh in awe and so did I. I knelt down to Sophia's height and brushed her hair out of her face. I grinned at her beauty and nodded at her statement.

She grabbed my hand and ran to Eleanor's side to grab hers as well. She then started running out my bedroom door, dragging us with her as she giggled in excitement. We all trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Mom! We're going to the carnival!" Sophia started jumping, her hands still intertwined with ours.

"That's great, honey! You girls take care, okay?" Mom grinned at us and turned around to continue cooking lunch.

Mom basically lives in the kitchen.

We left our house and entered Eleanor's car before driving to our destination, the carnival. Sophia and Eleanor were already singing along to the music blaring out of the radio. I, however, was staring out of the window, asking myself a question I really don't know the answer to.

Which is worse?

Eleanor telling everyone about everything she saw when she came over last time?

Or Eleanor and I hanging out at the carnival, possibly bonding?