The Switching Arrangement

Chapter 24

"Uh,"

I'm at an honest lost for words. The question that came out of Luna's mouth falters all the expectations from my mind and replaced them with confusion and shock.

How the hell did she found out?

I mean, it's not exactly a secret because I'm not actively trying to hide it. It's just that; people don't know. I don't talk about it, Garrett doesn't talk about it and we don't plan on ever addressing it.

Possibly not ever.

"Hunter! Say something!" Luna finally shouts, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Her lips are twisted into a knot, which I identify now as her way of showing that she's mad. I suppose it will look a bit cute if she does it, but unfortunately, it doesn't work well with my face.

"Uh, how did..." I clear my throat. "I mean, wh-who told you?"

Luna lets out an aggravated sigh before scrunching her eyebrows.

"Poppy. She used to live in the same neighborhood as you and apparently her family know yours?" she explains.
What? She did?

For some reason, I can't think of a proper respond for that and my brain is still processing everything she said.

So Poppy used to live in my neighborhood and used to enter the same drawing competitions as me when we were kids?

How come I've never knew any of this before?

Man, you're not very good at crushing on people, Hunter.

"And she said," Luna continues after not getting a reply from me. "She knows what your mom did. Whatever that means."

I flinch at the sound of that phrase. That part of my brain suddenly ticks and as if on cue, I can feel my chest slowly tightening. Exactly like how it usually does.

"Your mom."

My mom- what she did.

That deep voice of mine sounded careful and tentative coming from Luna. She wants to know. She's been curious about my personal life ever since I've mention my sister, Fionna.

Well, unfortunately, I don't want to talk about it.

"Does that matter?" I ask, finding it hard to stay collected. The sudden rush of blood to my face is heating me up and if I'm not careful, I might just snap at Luna from the mere thought of my family.

She bites her lips at the question. The look of anger is slowing draining off her face. "I mean, yeah," she mutters. "It kinda does since I'm you now. And I can't just waddle around as Hunter not knowing anything about your life. That's just trouble."

Lies. She just wants to know. She's just driven by her curiosity.

Slowly, I run a hand through the soft black waves on my head with my eyes closed shut. "I'm not comfortable talking about it, okay?"

"Then, wha-what about Garrett? What if he suddenly starts talking to me about it? What about your little sister? Am I not supposed to act like you in front of her? I mean, I-I can't. Not if I'm clueless about what happened! And plus-"

"FUCKING SHUT UP, LUNA!" I roar at her before falling back into the seat. I can tell that she flinched at my sudden outburst, but I don't care. I just want to close my eyes and not hear anything from her, at least just for a minute.