The Devil In Disguise

CHAPTER 12: Tragic Pasts

As soon as I reached the table, about fifteen pairs of eyes darted to me and filled with either pity or caution, like they thought they had to walk on eggshells around me. Avoiding looking at any of them, I tried to sit down — but in vain, as I was enveloped by two pairs of arms before I could even try.

I immediately knew that these arms belonged to Corina and Grace — and suddenly I felt like crying again. The embrace broke off and I turned round to face them, my lip trembling indistinguishably looking at the expressions on their faces. It was strange; I'd only known them for a very short while but I already loved them.

I felt a pang in my chest. What if he found out that they were my best friends? Would he come after them to hurt me as well?

"Y-you're okay, right?" Grace asked, her eyebrows furrowed in genuine concern, a soft hand gripping my arm lightly.

"I'm fine," I replied, not wanting them to worry. But I knew that they saw through my lies.

"No you're not," Corina stated. My eyes met hers and I felt a crippling wave of affection as I saw the strong, determined expression on her face but the increased brightness of her eyes, like they were glazed with tears.

"No," I said, my voice cracking as my own tears rose to the surface. "No, I'm not."

I couldn't cry in front of everyone. I wouldn't cry in front of everyone.

I tried desperately to calm myself down but the tears already started slipping down my face like a bowling ball down an alley.

"Let's go to the toilets," Grace said, struggling to keep her own emotions at bay, seeing me cry. "Then no one else can see you cry."

I gave her a watery smile and as we walked away, I thanked the heavens for these two girls. That cliché rule where all the popular girls were bitches was bullshit in this case; these popular girls were the best ones and they deserved all the popularity they could get.

I felt eyes on me. I knew it would be Xander; although Corina, Grace and I left discreetly, nothing escaped that boy's observance. I didn't look back, though; I didn't want anyone to see me like this. Especially Xander. He'd already saved me once, now if he saw me crying over it he'd think I was even worse than a damsel in distress.

Entering the toilets in the Science block, we talked. And talked and talked till the bell rang. At many points I wished I could tell them my real name, who I really was and what has happened to me. My real story.

But I didn't; no one could know. No one. Especially not my best friends; they were in the most danger and wasn't about to put them in more. So I kept my mouth shut on that topic but I talked about every other topic, and by the end, they knew almost everything about me. Save a few chunks. And I knew everything about them:

Corina used to be a very happy, normal, teenage girl. Her parents were happily married and she had an amazing relationship with her younger sister and two older brothers. And then everything changed when she caught her father cheating on her mother with some woman from work. In tears, she immediately told her mother — but then everything fell apart. Her parents got a divorce and because Corina and her sister were both minors, they had to go with a parent. Her two older brothers didn't live in the house anymore so it didn't change much in their every day life, so their situation wasn't the worst. However, their mother had to take Corina's sister because she was ten and needed a good parent to bring her up. Corina, on the other hand, was independent, so she had to go with her father. It was the best decision for the future and all, but it still sucked, having to live with the very dad you caught in bed with another woman.

Grace, on the other hand, had an even worse story. Her mother died giving twins during child birth, and let's just say — Grace was the only one who survived. Her twin was a stillborn and her mother passed shortly after finding out; all Grace had ever seen of her mother was in pictures. Her father looked after her and he was "one of the best parents you could find," as she said with evident love. He always told her that she looked like her mother, and was soft and kind like her too, so Grace prided herself on it and never let her anger or sadness get the better of her. She always saw the positive side of situations and told herself that she always should; at least so that her mother's radiant personality could live on.

It was funny; we were all so different yet so similar. Corina and Grace didn't know that of course; they thought I came from a normal family, had a normal life, moved here because of my dad's work — if they knew the real reasons, they'd realise that all three of us had tragic pasts.

A/N
What do you think of Corina and Grace's pasts? What do you think will happen when they find out about Karissa's?

Remember to VOTE and COMMENT!!
— deainlustris