STARGIRL

49. Reveal

Arabella found herself watching him from the safety of her bedroom. The teen was observing him through the window that faced the backyard. The lights in her room were off and her fingers were holding the horizontal blinds apart.

She noticed that to open the shed door, he had pulled out a set of keys from his front pockets. Watching him carefully she made a small mental note of what locks were touched and which ones weren't she would have to write it down before forgetting.

There was a sudden knock at her bedroom door that made her jump and drop the blinds, she cleared her throat and pulled the curtains over the window.

Running a hand through her hair, she walked to the door to open it.

Kate was standing opposite of her with a plate of food in her hand.

Kate's kind and warm smile was suddenly on display, "Since you didn't eat dinner earlier, I thought maybe you know, you'd just want to eat some now."

Arabella shook her head and declined the offer politely, "I'm just not hungry, I'm sorry Kate."

Kate looked dejected.

"Can we talk?" She asked her foster daughter who took a step back from the door, Kate walked in and placed the plate of food on Arabella's dresser. She noticed the books sprawled on the bed.

"Those books look old," She randomly said as Arabella closed the door behind her.

"They're first edition replica's from the library," Arabella said lying through her teeth.

Kate took a seat on the edge of the bed as Arabella leaned back on the door with her arms crossed over her chest.

Swiftly placing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, Kate began to slowly shake her head.

"I honestly just want to know how school went for you Bella," She blatantly said, "I know it isn't easy and it's not going to be easy at all but-"

Arabella refrained from rolling her eyes, "Kate, I'm fine."

The teenager hated whenever people took a genuine interest in her. It was such a foreign feeling that she often preferred to ignore it. It would always end up in a let down anyways.

"It's just I know how cruel those kids are to you and..." Kate paused, "Am I a bad person for convincing you to go back?"

Arabella scoffed, "Kate, no one can convince me to do something I don't want to do," Arabella exhaled, "That being said, no you aren't a bad person not in my book at least."

Kate slightly nodded her head, "Bella, are you sure you're okay there? We can always just have you take your GED."

Arabella shook her head, "I made a promise to someone and to myself so I can't."

Kate remained silent, she didn't want to delve further into that unless Arabella wanted to clarify it for her.

She got up from the edge of the bed and approached Arabella who stood at her height, only a bit taller.

Placing her hands on Arabella's dainty shoulders, Kate took a deep breath and stared at her intensely.

"You can talk to me about anything Arabella, I think-"

"Thanks Kate," Arabella interrupted her, it was hard to look her in the eye as well, to destroy another woman without even having wanted to was something Arabella didn't like to do but truth be told, she had already done it more than once in her short life.

-

     The first time Arabella was taken away from her mother, she was 5 years-old.