chasing damnation ✔

-forty-two-

A V E R Y

I was not about to let my nerves about the gala and potentially life-threatening mission after spoil my mood, seeing as I was with Clara, trying to help her find a dress for her school disco.

Key word here being trying.

'What is wrong with you?' she shrieked, when I held up a navy blue dress that would go up to just before her knees. 'Are you deliberately trying to make me look like a nun, or what?'

'Christ, okay, calm down,' I grumbled, discarding the dress and flopping back to sit on her bed. According to both her and Maddie, my fashion sense was terrible.

Nice to know.

Clara looked over at me, her eyebrows drawn together in frustration. She clicked her fingers in front of my face and I blinked at her, trying to remember whether I was that confident and full of attitude when I was her age.

I didn't think so.

'Can you get up and help me?' she whined, tying her hair up in a frustrated manner. 'If you don't, I'll tell Sienna about your boyfriend.' The look on her face was smug and victorious, seeing as she'd thought I'd finally break and help her.

Ha. No chance. Avery Ellen Green did not take well to being blackmailed.

At all.

I narrowed my eyes at her, proud that I looked as if I wasn't bothered on the outside - a complete opposite to my raging heartbeat and the blush that was rising from my chest.

'Now what do you know about my so-called boyfriend, Clara?' I said coolly, raising an eyebrow at her.

My sister folded arms and I was shocked that she looked a little intimidating. Just a little, though.

'I know that you're not meant to be with him for some reason, and I also know that you really, really like him.'

'And how did you find all of this out?'

She shrugged. 'I heard you and Maddie talking in your room a few days ago.'

I chuckled, not taking the situation seriously. 'You heard or you eavesdropped?' I asked, trying to keep a straight face.

Clara pursed her lips. It made her look like an old woman. 'Eavesdropped. I definitely eavesdropped.'

I let out the laugh I'd been holding in and my sister looked at me in confusion before her features relaxed and she began to giggle too.

'I don't even know why we're laughing,' she gasped, her red face and constipated expression making me wheeze with laughter.

It took me a full five minutes to calm down, and then I went back to the matter at hand. 'You're right about some stuff, Clara, but I'll tell you some of the stuff you didn't figure out.' My sister settled down onto the bed beside me, all thoughts of the school dance forgotten as she waited intently to hear the story. 'I really liked this boy, see, and we hit it off pretty easily. And for various reasons, he was wrong for me, though I didn't figure that one out until later. Anyway, I really liked him, and things were kind of getting serious, but I had to stop whatever were doing because my safety was important.'

Clara was silent for a bit, and then she spoke up, her voice strong and assured. 'I won't tell Sienna, by the way. I was only teasing. And if you really like this boy, why not just be with him?'

'It's complicated, Clara, and I told you in confidence, so don't go around telling the girls okay? It's not exactly my favourite topic to talk about.'

She nodded, already moving to pick up another dress and hold it up to herself to inspect in the mirror.

I loved her, but she really did have a short attention span.