"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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There was a boy. His name was Charlie.
Charlie and Ethan had been best friends since they were in pre-school. They did everything together. Charlie's grandparents had a small farm—that was where Ethan first learned about ducks. They loved feeding the ducks and did a whole bunch of stuff together. Later on they would both partake in wrestling and join the math team.
Whilst Ethan was a quite child –not shy, just quiet and reserved—Charlie had been the more talkative and adventurous one, the mischievous one with all the tricks.
Although a bit naughty, Charlie was loved by all and he loved all. He befriended strangers and helped everyone and often, although reluctantly, he'd make Ethan do whatever he did. Ethan never really saw the point of it all.
Ethan was comfortable, with one best friend and his family, he counted himself as content. He loved that he was safe and comfortable and at peace.
But then high school came and his peace was disturbed. High school was where they met Isabella. She was pretty and popular and played sports and everyone knew her. Ethan could swear the first time Charlie laid eyes on her, his heart cut a hole through his chest and sprinted across the classroom to land squarely in her lap.
Charlie loved Isabella.
Ethan didn't understand this. There were lots of girls who were pretty and popular and played sport who everyone knew and why he had to go for the spoilt little brat with the world's worst temper, Ethan could never understand. Charlie did everything possible to get the girl to notice him.
The problem didn't start with Charlie's feelings for Isabella. It started when Isabella finally noticed him and reciprocated those feelings. Love turned Charlie into something he was not.
He started to act funny. He started to dress funny, did things he would never have done prior to the knowledge of Isabella's existence.
Ethan knew that Charlie was changing and he had stayed awfully the same. He hated Isabella for it.
They drifted apart.
Such things happen when you no longer have anything in common with childhood friends.
Last year, just before school started Charlie had approached Ethan and in an attempt to mend broken bridges and reconnect, had suggested that they all go for a road trip—him, Charlie, Jack and Charlie's older brother Nate.
Jack couldn't make it. He had fallen ill. It would only be Ethan, his best friend and Nate.
Nate was the designated driver. Both Ethan and Charlie called shotgun. They would play a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine the winner and overall occupant of the front passenger seat.
