New Life

Chapter 22

The door opened and the first person I saw appear was Thomas and he looked at me surprised, "you look beautiful" he said smiling before stepping aside. And then I saw Cyrus and he looked cute wearing a suit and tie, "hey" I said giving him a hug. "Hey beautiful" he said and I giggled, "Sorry to say but there here too" he said and my smile faded but then returned.

"That's fine they'll be no problem" I said and Cyrus smiled before holding my hand, "let's go" he said before the three of us made our way downstairs. We got downstairs and I immediately averted my eyes and looked away because I couldn't' stand the sight of the two of them. "Come on" I heard Cyrus whisper in my ear as we walked towards the Livingroom, I forced a smile and pretended to ignore their presence even though I had to talk to them but I had Cyrus to keep me sane.

"Oh sweetheart you look beautiful" I heard James step mum say and I just smiled in response "thank you" I said smiling at her. I looked at Ava and I could tell James step mum gave me a better compliment then she gave Ava, "You look beautiful" I heard James say to Ava and I scoffed and snickered. I looked up at Cyrus and he obviously heard James say that she was beautiful to Ava and he shook his head and laughed a little.

"You look even better" he whispered and I chuckled before taking a seat on the couch next to Cyrus and across from Thomas and Melody. "Elizabeth sweetie, can you just do up the salads?" asked Mum looking over at me with a smile. I nodded and stood up before looking over at Cyrus waving my hand for him to come along. We got into the kitchen and I went ahead to get the ingredients from the fridge, while Cyrus got out three bowls along with 3 sets of salad servers.

"Cyrus there should be one pre-made Greek salad, one creaser salad and one garden salad" I said and he nodded. We soon got the salads down and bought them into the dining room and set the bowls on the table. I was setting the Garden salad on the table when I felt Cyrus wrap his arms around my waist, I looked behind me and he showed me a goofy looking smile. "Stop" I said with no seriousness at all in my voice and he laughed brushing my fringe aside.

We soon finished up the salads and went to put them on the dining room table, "oh Elizabeth darling how about you and James, Ava and Cyrus to the games room I think that would be nice" I heard my mum say and I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry" said Cyrus as he walked towards me, we soon went to get Ava and James before going into the games room.

We got to the games room and sat on the couches and awkward silence fell on us. Well this was just great, I sat on the blue couch next to Cyrus while James and Ava sat across from us on the red couch. I felt uncomfortable even though we both had like people with us but honestly of all people Ava really why?, "so" she said trying to break the silence but it didn't work. I soon felt a surge of sudden anxiety come up and it felt terrible. I tapped Cyrus on the shoulder and I could feel myself struggling to breath, he looked over at me and nodded. I soon felt myself start shaking and breaking into a cold sweat. I went into the bathroom leaving Cyrus in the room with Ava and James, I closed the door behind me but didn't lock it. I turned on the cold water from the sink and started dabbing it around my face, I felt myself slowly clam down as I tried to focus on my breathing.

There was soon a knock at the door "come in" I called out and the door opened, "hey you okay?" I heard Melody ask with Thomas trailing behind her. She came to sit next to me, I nodded but really I wasn't okay. "Lovely are you okay?" I heard someone ask, I looked over Melody's shoulder to see my mum and James step mum walk into the room.

I nodded and Mum came to sit in front of me as she took the towel out of my hands and dabbed it on my forehead. "Can you please tell us what's wrong?" asked Mum nicely, "I had a panic attack and I just feel uncomfortable around Ava and James" I said and they gave me a wired look. "What happened sweetie?" asked James step mum, "well Ava was the one who decided to push me around and she never got into trouble for it" I said and I watched their expressions change form wired to concerned.

"Okay well do you want to stay away from her and if you want after dinner you can go upstairs with Melody, Thomas and Cyrus" suggested mum and I nodded at the idea. I could tell by the look on James's stepmother's face that she was so disappointed in his actions.

Sometime later we were eating dinner and I was sitting across from Melody and Thomas, I had Cyrus sitting next to me while Ava and James sat near my parents. "Elizabeth dear so how's your studies been?" asked Ellie who was James's step mum. "Okay I guess" I said as I reached for my glass.

I looked up for a second and saw Ava giving James an earful but he didn't look like he was listening, I then caught a quick glance and he looked up at me. I gave a quick smile before looking back down at my food and he did the same, before Ava noticed because she'd probably kill me.

Later after dinner I went upstairs into the other Livingroom and grabbed my guitar and Cyrus sat on the couch across from me. "What songs can you play?" he asked me, I thought for a second before an idea came to my head. "Circles by Pierce the Veil" I said and he nodded and I began to strum a few chords as I sang along, "Listen, Do you hear my heart beat thump over the monitors?. You pretend to close your eyes, don't breathe in. Pieces of candy and leaks of light, Paint the floor 'round me. Then without hesitating"

Cyrus soon joined in and sang the next couple of verses with me

"You took my hand and then we both started running, both started running, there's no place to go. Another bullet and we both started running, both started running too."

We sang the rest of the song together and then finished it off, "you were amazing" he said and I just smiled. "Can you sing one?" I asked handing him my guitar and he nodded in agreement, he placed the guitar into a comfortable position before thinking of a song to play. "Okay I got one" he said before he began strumming and singing along to the tune, "All of my life I built this armor, and every disguise I ever wore. Ashes and dust, I made an island. Facing the end, I said, "What for?". Sometimes it's a battle, At times it's a war.

But you're never defenseless, sometimes we all lose strength. Please don't lose your faith" he sang before I joined him in singing the chorus.

"After our time has passed, we're like light through stained glass. We go on and on and on, In the end we're never gone." we both sang before going on with the rest of the song, we soon finished and I heard clapping that sounded like I was coming from the door. I looked over to see James and Ava standing at the door and I looked back at Cyrus with sadness because I honestly couldn't stand Ava. He nodded and set the guitar down before grabbing his phone to text Melody or Thomas, I was hoping they'd just leave and get the message. It wasn't until I heard a familiar voice call out from down the hall, "James and Ava where are you?" and I recognized the voice to belong to Ellie.

I smirked even though they couldn't see and I listened to their footsteps as they walked away. I soon heard something along the lines of Ellie pulling James aside and telling Ava to kindly go away even though I could sense that she just wanted to yell at her because of the tone in her voice. Not the smartest thing to do but Cyrus and I decided to sit against the door and listen to their conversation which could be classed as rude but not if they don't know about it. The last thing we heard was Ellie being brutally honest by saying she didn't approve of Ava and I wouldn't blame her.