There's Only You ✔

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

My heart dropped into a bottomless pit.

Under Kayden's arms was another girl. A supermodel. I'd seen her around school before. She was in my History class. Her name was Angela Morgan and she was one of the prettiest girls in school.

Her brunette hair reached her breasts, her round, blue eyes were scanning the house and her red acrylic nails were digging into Kayden's arm. Angela's black dress clung to her slim curves and showed off her tanned and long legs.

I felt like a loser compared to her. There was no question why Kayden picked her over me. A cheerleader. A future in modeling. I could never stand a chance.

"Bella Price? From kindergarten?" Angela gasped into her hands and her eyes widened a smidge when she saw me sitting on the couch. We'd known her since the early years in elementary school. Sometimes, I would see her at the playground during recess stealing glances at our group.

Maybe she wanted to join us, but was too shy to approach. If that were the case, I understood the struggle of making new friends. I wore my best fake smile, for her sake, but it was taking everything in me to not cry right then and there.

"It's so good to see you! And happy birthday! Ooh! Do we have a cake?" She eagerly asked Zach who was already rummaging in the fridge and pulling out a large cake with our names spelled out in purple and blue frosting. His parents knew that I would kill for chocolate so they got us a chocolate cake big enough to last us for the rest of the month.

"My parents picked this up from Costco before they left for work. We wouldn't want it to go to waste, would we?"

Sympathy touched Olive's eyes as she looked at me and her teeth were clenched in guilt. She had nothing to feel guilty about.

If anything, I should feel stupid for having these strong feelings for someone as handsome and kind as Kayden. I had to get the hell out of there.

"I'm really tired. I think I'm just gonna walk home."

Disappointment flooded Zach's features, his lips forming a frown. We never spent a birthday apart. One year, when we were turning nine, I caught a cold and I refused to celebrate because I didn't want to get him or anyone in his family sick.

He didn't care. We spent the following week home with sore throats and phlegm clogging our noses. The good thing was that we had a valid reason to stay home from school. "I thought we were all gonna spend the night here. At least let everyone sing us happy birthday and blow out the candles with me. It wouldn't be the same without my birthday twin, Belles."

A pang of guilt flared in my chest. Here I was debating on staying to let my best friends sing happy birthday when the answer should've been obvious. And because my crush found someone new. Besides, it wouldn't be the same if I celebrated my birthday without my birthday twin. Even with my sunken heart, I planned to fake it. For Zach's sake.

"Okay, fine!"

Angela cheered loudly and, with a spring in her step, she skipped toward Zach to light the candles for him. It surprised me how excited she was to see us considering we haven't spoken in years. I didn't know if she was slightly drunk or if she was actually happy to see her classmates since elementary school.