Make My Way

Chapter Twenty-Four

Stella's POV

Once we were all dry and had eaten lunch, people started to leave. One by one, my house emptied out until it was just Aria and I left. We sat down on the couch tiredly and I switched on the TV. We watched some Doctor Who and Supernatural, but neither of us were paying that much attention. We sat around lazily for most of the day. When the night came, that was when things got a little more, ah, interesting.

It was 11:30 PM and I was feeling half asleep and half like I could run a marathon, murder someone and make it look like a suicide, and survive a zombie apocalypse and feel just fine. I laid down and started humming to myself. I don't think I would have done what I did if Aria didn't say what she was about to.

"How far did you and Neil go then?" she asked.

"What? Nothing. That's what. He was just AWKWARD." She laughed and I threw a blanket over my face. When she stopped laughing, I pulled the blanket off and stared at the ceiling. I noticed her taking a picture out of the corner of my eye, but I just blinked at the ceiling again.

She typed something and then waited. She started laughing out loud and I sat up straight and looked her in the eye. "What?"

"I set a picture of you staring at the ceiling and send it to Blake and said, 'I think I broke her.' He responded by asking if you were dead but at the same time, Merrick texted me and said, 'Don't break Stella. That's my job,'" she explained.

I burst out laughing. "Really?"

"Yep. Wait- Stella, do you know what this means?"

I tilted my head. "No.... What?"

"Guys must co-author texts too! If Merrick read what I sent Blake, they were probably helping each other. Just like we help each other text guys sometimes!"

"Woah...." I faded off. A sudden thought came to my mind. What if Luca or some of his other friends have helped Neil text me before?

Aria and I kept texting Blake until midnight and then Blake started a group text with me, Aria, Merrick, and himself because apparently Merrick was leaving his house at midnight because he was going hunting in the morning. I was pretty tired probably cause I was up till like 5 the previous night so I basically just typed emojis cause I was to lazy to type real words.

I couldn't stop thinking about how awkward last night was. How awkward he was. How awkward I was. Why wouldn't he just hold me like he did that night at the dance. Why couldn't we be more like Aria and Blake? It seems like they're the same person. They move the same, they talk the same, they think the same. Why can't we have love at first sight like Willow and Liam? Neil and I are two star-crossed lovers. We will never be like them. Because we're not them and I don't want to be like them.

I sighed and rolled over. I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was in my own world. A world of dreams.

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That night, my dreams were filled with crazy, ridiculous things. At first I was in the hallway at school standing next to Neil. My vision wasn't clear, but it was definitely him. I felt it. Out of the blue, he turned to face me and awkwardly hugged me. Then he ran away.

The scene around me changed. I was in my parents bedroom. There was a faint ringing in my ears and I couldn't hear clearly. For a while, nothing happened. Then the furniture started moving. The couch Neil had slept on started moving towards me. I turned and ran out the door and into the hallway, closing the door behind me.

I was in a long, industrial hallway and Aurora was standing next to me. We started walking and all of a sudden, we were in a cartoon world. The hallway was a cartoon. We were cartoons. Cartoon chickens to be exact. For some reason, I was a guy chicken.

We were to 'apprehend' two pigs. One boy, one girl, both cartoon. Aura the chicken took a running start, and tackled the boy pig. I went over to the girl and, for some reason, I puffed out my feathered chest and she started swooning. Out of the courier of my eye, I saw Aurora struggling. I rammed my beak towards her face and kissed her to try to distract her.

The scene changed again. I was on an extremely high water slide sitting on what looked like a swan boat. Beside me, was Josh. He was wearing skis. I looked at him with a confused face and looked down at my own feet. I was wearing skis too. The waterslide started and all of a sudden, I wasn't in a water park, I was going down a mountain in a ski resort. As I moved down the hill, my vision faded to black.

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I walked into the school on Monday and went to the locker room to set my cheer bag down. I looked at myself in the full body mirror. I was wearing a pair of high-waisted maroon jeans and a black and white striped crop top. I paired with black combat boots.

I sighed, thinking about Neil. I wasn't mad at him. I certainly wasn't happy with him. I wasn't even completely sure I still liked him after that weekend. I shook my head, trying to get rid of any mention of him in my thoughts, to no avail.

I walked out of the crowded locker room. There was an away volleyball game this afternoon, so everyone was brining in their bags and situating themselves so that they could leave faster. Maybe I could just sit in the band room to clear my head.