Fake It 'Til You Make It

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I was awoken at three in the morning. At least, that's what my clock said. I inched my bleary eyes open, staring at the door to my room as a fist continued to pound against it. In response, I groaned, pulling my lone blanket up and over my head. It was too hot for more than one anyways, despite the AC.

"Ada! Wake the heck up!"

"She probably thinks you're here to murder her or something," Shell chided his brother.

I grinned, tossing the covers off of me. In a flash, I opened my door to find the brothers clad in pajamas, standing next to two of my three siblings mirroring the image.

"Midnight swimming time?"

Carl grinned back. "It sure is!"

I quietly closed the door behind me, smiling as the boys walk ahead and Vienna feel into step beside me. Now that I was fully away, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I recalled my day with Melanie. The day left me worn but happy. Exhausted but satisfied that I sort of had a mother. And, as we walked towards the stairs, I spared a glance in the direction of Lydia's room. If only her siblings knew, I thought. If only they knew she wasn't as cold hearted as she seemed, and that she was attempting to break Drew using not violence, but something smarter. Something more evil, you could even say. As I began descending the stairs, I knew he deserved it.

Vienna smiled at me, fully alert for someone awoken at three in the morning. Then, I noticed the bags under her eyes and realized she hadn't been sleeping at all. She noticed my stare and looked away.

"I haven't been sleeping too much," she admitted.

"Does it still- haunt you?" I tried to choose my words carefully as Carson swung open the door, inviting in the humid air. It seemed to always be humid and warm in Richbrooke despite the upcoming fall.

Vienna shook her head, her dyed streak of hair catching the light of the full moon. She gently closed the door to the mansion, and we began our trek to the ocean. It was after we had left the property that she answered my question. "Sometimes. But, not really. So much school work. And, I've never been the most sound sleeper."

She was strong, I had to tell myself. And, she really was, but that didn't stop me from worrying about her. It must've been traumatic for her, what Drew attempted to do. But, she still held her head high, still smiled and laughed like the Vienna before the incident. Even with Lydia's plan, I didn't feel a need to constantly bring up the past anymore. Any of it. If my trip to the mall with Melanie had proven anything to me, it was that the present mattered, and I needed to move away from the past. Hopefully. Things were getting better. I was surrounded by people who actually cared about me.

The boys chatted ahead, almost like they were making up for lost time. Vienna sparked up a random conversation about food, and it kept both of our minds on happy things. Soon enough, the sand and water sparkled across the desolate road. We swiftly ran across, and I didn't have any shoes to toss off so I ran straight for the water. I collided with it before anyone else, and it felt cooler than last time but also warm and comforting. I smiled, leaning back into the salty waves as I turned to watch my friends rush towards me.

Once again, Carl shouted, "Last one in is paying for breakfast!" Shell collided with the waves a split second before Carson, then Vienna, and then a very unlucky Carl. He grumbled about the unfairness of it all and then widened his eyes, digging into the pockets of his shorts. He pulled out a soaked leather wallet and chucked it as far as he can onto the sand. Then, he muttered some words that children shouldn't know and traveled further into the crashing waves. The ocean wasn't very calm tonight. In fact, it seemed a little shaken up by the rain we were expected to receive soon. As in, within less than twenty-four hours. The rain didn't bother me much, so it doesn't scare me. Neither did the waves.