The Garden of Eden || Canis Canem Edit / Bully [ #WATTYS2018 ]

Chapter Forty-One: Partner in Crime

Cry, cry, cry. Whine. Fight a little, add some arguing, hell, even a bit more crying. Sprinkle in a couple of panic attacks with a dash of trauma and the concluded recipe? An out of character Eden Milenko. What had she been reduced to? What had Bullworth Academy done to her? She had never given the idea much thought until now, in light of recent events. 

Trickling water. It was a sound that calmed her, cooled her down. Once she closed her eyes, she could see where she was meant to be. At home, in her backyard, the faint smell of home-cooked hamburgers lingering in the air. Eden would be sitting beside the koi pond, feeding the fish. Her dad, standing unwavering at the extravagant BBQ set he poured hundreds into. Mother, sitting quietly beside her petunias, her vegan diet incapable of even smelling anything meat-related.

'Dad glanced over his shoulder, an unreadable expression on his lips. He was smiling, but he wasn't happy. Unhappy lines etched deeply into his face.

'You'll enjoy yourself. There's going to be kids your age there.'

'Really?' I jumped up, excitement bursting within me like tiny little fireworks.

'Don't even get your hopes up, Eden.' Mother came stalking out onto the grass, nose scrunched up.

'Why?' She sent me a mean look. 'I mean, I understand.'

'Good, you know better than to fraternize with your father's clients.'

'I'm not doing deals with teenagers, am I, Alyssa?' Dad cut in, glowering at his wife.

She snapped her head to face him. 'Enough with the jokes. The last thing Eden needs is to hang around some snot-nosed brats. Children her age are like sponges dear, she's already becoming such a handful.'

A handful?

'Alyssa...' Dad sighed, returning to the sizzling meat. 'She won't have any social skills if you keep this up. She's already homeschooled for Christ's sake...'

"Hey, princess?"

A sarcastic voice called out to Eden.

"Ugh, were you even listening?"

Eden blinked away the memories. She wasn't back at home, she was at her new home. Bullworth Academy.

"Yes Mandy, I was. You were talking about Ted." Running her fingers through her frazzled locks, she let out a sigh.

"Right, so, yeah, as I was saying, I'm totally clueless!"

"No surprise there," She muttered to herself, standing up from the cold bench. "Have you tried actually talking to Ted and expressing how you feel?"

The head cheerleader let out an exasperated groan, the noise bouncing off the bathroom tiles. "You don't get it, I can't! He's always too busy with practice, or Damon, or Kirby, or literally anything and everything over than me!"

"And that is rather neglectful of your feelings, isn't it?" 

"O-obviously..." Mandy murmured, the grumble barely heard above the running water.

"This shouldn't be a shock, but you should be one of his main priorities if he loves you like he says he does. Furthermore, if I were in your position, your only best option would be to talk to him. Force him to listen to you. Every relationship is built on proper communication, it's needed. Without it, what's left? Nothing. All that remains are two hollow shells with the unused capacity to love." Eden looked with a stern glare at the shower door, that hid Mandy from her view.

'Two hollow shells, huh?' Eden's mind couldn't help but flicker back to her parents. They were very much like that.

"I..." The head cheerleader's mouth was agape, her slim fingers tangled in soapy locks of hair. "You know what, you're right. Kinda."