"This is what she had become."
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Cleopatra Banks' last week in the small town of New Chelsea is nothing like she would have imagined it, but nothing could have prepared her for the stinging betrayal she's faced with and suddenly the prospect of...
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Mom still hasn't told me about Isabella.
It irritated me that even after our heart to heart she still felt the need to keep it away from me but then I changed my mind.
I wasn't being fair on her. How many things have I kept hidden from her? How many things am I still keeping from her? She doesn't know that the stories I tell her about school are only half-truths and she also doesn't know about the rumors that have been circulating about me on Facebook.
She doesn't know that I'm no longer friends with Shanice and Nigel.
She doesn't know that my sister didn't die that day and she lived seventeen years.
Because I don't want her to worry. She does too much of that and if I have my own valid reason for concealing information then maybe she also does. The seriousness of losing one's child is far deeper than petty teenage squabbles and I am okay with that. She doesn't have to relive that experience if she's not yet ready.
Coming to this understanding was a long and painful process but it was necessary. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you meet with someone on common ground and simply talk things out.
It is for this very reason that I'm waiting for Ethan under his beloved tree on a cool Thursday lunch break while everyone goes about their day.
We haven't spoken since that Sunday morning he came over to give me flowers -which mom still hasn't stopped torturing me about mind you. I don't even know how she managed to figure it out but she won't buy my story of how it all happened which in essence was the truth.
"I'm a mom, I know all things," were the exact words she told me with a mischievous little mom wink.
I thought he and I would start hanging out together after Saturday but that was not the case at all. He's been making excuses and finding random reasons to dodge me ever since and it's left me feeling off.
In essence, having Ethan around -albeit we've only known each other for a short while gave me hope again. It gave me hope that not everyone is ill-intent and maybe, just maybe, he could use my company as much I could use his no matter how weird and awkward things tend to get between us.
It could also have a lot to do with my loneliness. After severing ties with Shanice and Nigel and having Lexi going MIA I have been feeling quite lonely and after taking everything Ethan mentioned about Isabella into consideration I figured that befriending anyone else in this school is certainly not an option.
They're all vying for my blood.
Would it hurt if we just got to know each other a little better? Maybe we can even become good friends in the end or acquaintances if that doesn't work.
"What are you doing here?" his low, soft disembodied voice sounds from behind me what feels like eons later.
My lips slightly tug at the corners upon hearing his voice, glad that he doesn't sound angry in the slightest. I spin around so we're face to face and I give him what I hope is a warm smile and not a forced baring of teeth.
