Popularity War: Book 2

Awkward Friend Request

Popularity War

Book 2

Chapter 4

Eva felt defeated as she packed her meager belongings. All of her fears have come to pass and there was nothing she could do except press forward hoping for some miracle. They did happen…right? She sighed at the thought. No, it was hopeless; the King was in control and all that was left for her to do was to finish playing out the game he had started.

A knock at the door disrupted her thoughts. She paused to look at the elegant piece of wood until a second knock could be heard. “Who is it?” No one answered back. Setting down the clothes she had in her hands, she went to open the door.

“Eva, darling, how wonderful to see you!” Cassandra charmed. One could tell she was mocking the poor girl by her sneer and snobby demeanor.

Eva swallowed, hard. She thought Cassandra was part of her past, not present, until a disturbing revelation came forward. “It was you!” Cassandra was the one who fed the King the information about Eva and Eragon’s relationship.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Are you really going to bring that up because I had hoped that we could become friends again” She pushed past Eva to enter the room. When the door was closed, she continued. “May I help you pack?” Without an answer, she picked up the clothes Eva had set down and began folding them.

Eva watched Cassandra for a while, the two of them silent, until she could not hold her composure. “What do you want from me?”

Cassandra did not flinch at the noise as she continued folding. “I already told you. Wouldn’t it be nice to have things go back to the way they were?”

“Yes, it would, back to when you left me alone and I lived with Eragon.”

“No, that is not what I meant.” Cassandra said, softly.

“I know what you meant. I simply do not agree with you. Why do you want to be my friend again anyways? Oh, I know, so you have the power to mock me whenever you want.” Eva scowled.

Cassandra stopped folding to look at her former friend. “Eva, darling, I mock you even when we are not friends. No, that is not why I want to be your friend again.”

“Then why do you want to be my friend?” Eva asked, sarcastically.

Cassandra was quiet for a moment before she began. “No one likes me in Carvahall. When you became poor, I thought I had my chance to become very popular, and I was…for a while. But then things changed. The girls began to make excuses not to see me and it hurt, so I eventually moved here to get away from them. I have not made any friends here either, until I saw you and hoped that maybe I could make amends.”

Her tone sounded very sincere, which astounded Eva. Was Cassandra really getting a conscience?

“So, how about it? Be my friend again?”

Nope. Cassandra still did not know how to make friends even when she felt lonely. “I’m sorry Cassandra, but you and I are done. I cannot be your friend again.” Cassandra’s face contorted into anger, but a knock at the door interrupted them. “Come in.”

Richard poked his head in the room. “How’s the packing coming?” Before Eva could respond to her uncle, Cassandra dismissed herself. “Did I come at a bad time?”

“No, you came at the right time actually. You saved me from having to be nice to my enemy.”

Richard raised an eyebrow, but decided not to broach further upon the subject.  “Well, as long as you are ready to leave tomorrow morning.”

“I will be.” Eva smiled.

~*~

“So where are we going?” Eragon asked.

“Teirm. I have an old friend who lives there that may be able to help us.” Brom announced with a wide smile upon his face. 

                After being pursued by the Ra’zac, Eragon had found a bottle lying on the ground. He had found seither oil. When used correctly, the oil is a preservative, mainly used by jewelers to preserve pearls; yet when a blood sacrifice and ill words spoken over the oil, it becomes acidic and can eat away flesh without harming anything else. The contents had been used on Garrow, killing him.

                Eragon relished in the idea of finding the Ra’zac. His thirst for revenge had come into full swing after finding the oil. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go to Teirm!”