glitched | ✔️

t e n

Chelsie POV

The bus ride was stuffy, and loud.

There was a four year old behind me, wailing the whole time and kicking the back of the seat.

I tried to tune him out and listen to music but it was next to impossible.

Suffice to say, I was overjoyed when I finally hopped off the bus in front of TLC.

The coffee shop was small, yet obviously high end. The interior was decorated in a calming, woodsy way.

I sat down at a booth next to the window and ordered to lemonade iced teas with a mint leaf on top and a lemon slice on the rim- just like how Amara and I always ordered them.

They had just been set on the table when the door jangled loudly and a hurricane whooshed in.

A hurricane named Amara Mercy.

"Oh God! It's you! It's really freaking you!" Amara squealed, pulling me off the bench and crushing me in her arms.

"Can't breath," I wheezed out, hugging her back.

"Oh, sorry." She sheepishly released me, and her eyes zeroed in on the tea.

"Beautiful."
She slid into the booth and took a sip of the tea, closing her eyes and sighing deeply.
"I needed that."

I watched her with amusement. "Bus ride that bad, hm?"

She laughed. "Yeah but no. I took a taxi. The guy was young, and kept hitting on me the whole way here."

I raised an eyebrow. "Usually you like guys flirting with you. Actually- usually you flirt back."

She shrugged, glancing out the window.
"I don't know. Things have been different lately."

I took a sip of my tea.
"So? Spill it."

She gave me a confused look. "What?"

"You know, why is Pe—Tyler at your school?"

Amara wrinkled her nose.
"Oh. I got sent to the principal's office a few times, and detention more than a few times. Liberty for the Bounded decided I needed a babysitter."
She scowled. "As if."

I tried to hold back my giggles and keep a straight face. But it was just so... her.

"Well I wouldn't be complaining. You can't deny he's hot," I pointed out.

Amara made a comically disgusted face. "Ew. No. He's just Pete. Ty-ty. Ew."

I laughed.
"You'll never guess about this one guy at my school. He's about as disgusting as Peter is good looking— and he is always flirting with me!"
I went on to tell her about Gabriel, than talked about Olivia and even Theo.

Than Amara began to talk about her school. I watched her, not even really listening to her words.
She was so alive, so animated.
How could anyone ever want to hurt her and take her away from this world?
I was lucky to know her.

"Chelsie? Something wrong?"

I startled, coming back to reality.
"Oh yeah. Everything fine. Just... zoning out."

She smiled, looking relived and started chattering about how much she hated the colors orange and blue together when a tinkling sound directed my attention towards the door.

My eyes clashed with a pair of dark green ones.
Peter had found us.

Amara POV