Hearts ✓

Twenty - Six 💕

My whole life I'd been thinking wrongly.

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Got ya.

That was the only response I had gotten in almost an hour of texting the girls. Normally, I would just put my phone down and wait for them to come along, but with Aubrey's chatty personality having a lack of response, now that was unlikely. I was beginning to think that something was up.

Lauren showed up at my door almost half an hour later after her text was sent apologizing for the delay, however, instead of taking up my offer of coming in, she suggested we get some fresh air and take a walk.

"So, what happened."

"Laur, I'm nervous." I stared into the distance, focusing on the raw beauty of the sky. "It's not even about winning anymore."

"I know," She sighs. "It's about if he loves you."

"Sometimes I wish if I can read somebody's mind, only to avoid the pain later on."

We were walking so fast that the breeze from the ocean had caught the loose hair hanging down our backs. Lauren twirled around playfully as the cool breeze touched her warm cheeks and made her dress move as if it was alive, and she swiped at the messy hair laughing as it masked her face.

Lauren went quiet, thinking about the events to come, after sucking in a deep breath, she threw her hands in the air in defeat, as if a sign of giving up. "Callie." she laughs at herself, her hand pinching the skin of her wrist to let out all her stress. "I know this is how we fought, except in reversed positions, but you have to listen to me."

"Okay, go on."

"Each and every one of us is special, but in the eyes of the boys, we are made of paper. We are made to be torn, we are tearable." The tears glistened in her eyes, she was still recovering from the mess created yet you could sense the undeniable passion written across her face. It was a look of determination. "So you shouldn't readily assume that you are special in his eyes if all he does is talk sweetly."

Lauren's face crumpled. She was the epitome strength. From losing her mother to cancer to only able to see her father one day a year because he was taken into war. Knowing that there was no guarantee she would see him ever again when he opened the door to leave, to having the one person in the world make you feel special and kept you going, to break your heart when the bet ended, she still kept fighting.

From the day Lauren fell into Will's arms, I had always seen her as weak, I had thought that my high hopes for her to change humanity in this school were forever broken, but when I look at her now, when I see the dark droopy eyebags covered with makeup or the tired creases along her forehead, her plastered smile, I see that she's the strongest person I know because although her life is still falling apart, she's doing everything she can to glue it back together.

Then I had realized, it was only because of Lauren that I had managed to last this far. It was probably only going to be because of Lauren that I would manage to piece myself together when this was all finished.

"I'm sorry." I sniffled as I hugged my best friend. "I am so sorry."

"Shh, Callie." She laughs through her tears. "Get the hell up, put a strong face on, and live your life."

Lauren is right. I'm still standing sheepishly next to her when I come across this. Crying your heart out won't add up to anything, it's no use. Your future is wrapped around your hands, the lives you can keep from tearing apart will pay off.

I was going to piece this together for Lauren, I owed it to her.

I paused. "Oh, and Lauren,"

"Yes?"

"Thank you." I smiled. "For literally everything."

Heading home was the easy part, for once, my mind was filled with thoughts, but yet, I felt free. My head didn't ache, and my forehead wasn't heating, I was relaxed, and only because I knew that no matter what happened, it wasn't the end of the world.

For the first time, I began to notice the little things I normally ignored.

My whole lifetime, I had been waiting for the dare or at least imagining how I would win it, I would always tell myself that I would win it because there was no way in hell I would lose. When I was chosen to be played, I told myself the same thing, but seeing myself now, I was certainly the opposite. But today, there was no dare, there was no player, there was just me and my best friend taking a relaxing walk, clearing our minds.

Joy tugged the corners of my lips as began to trudge up the stairs leading to my house. My rosy cheeks flared imminently as I whistled endlessly.

Although Taylor looks at me from the couch with an arched eyebrow silently asking what had caused my mood to rise in such a short period of time, I give her a relentless shrug and headed to my room.

I saw my whole world in a whole new light.

I had been living in a lie. All this time, I wasted my life worrying about the dare and spending endless hours concocting the perfect, foolproof plan of action, it had taken me a nearly decade to realize that you can't change anything, only hope for the best.

And you know that whatever happens, it's going to be okay.