glitched | ✔️

n i n e t e e n

Chelsie POV

The Christmas Dance had been great.
Actually, it had been amazing.

Theo and I goofed around quite a bit of the time, and at one point we even got the DJ to play the My Little Pony theme song.
It was glorious.

And now I was officially dating Theo.

Still don't know how that happened.

I sat on a couch at Olivia's house, playing video games.
And winning.
"Hey, you're the one who wanted to play. It's not my fault I'm so great at this game."

Olivia glared. "Actually, you said 'I'm so bad at this game, let's play something else, blah blah blah,'"
I tapped the side of my nose and laughed evilly. "Reverse psychology."

"Yeah, whatever." Olivia set her controller down and left the room, claiming she was going to go make popcorn.

I chuckled, mostly because I knew she wasn't really mad.
I don't know if I had ever seen Olivia actually mad. Ever.

I pulled my legs up onto the couch and opened my cellphone, checking to see if Theo had read my messages yet.
He hadn't.
With a sigh, I opened Instalife and scrolled through.
Nothing interesting.

Having nothing else to do I decided to do something I hadn't done in awhile now.
Check Amara's insta.
I typed her name and opened her account. Oddly enough she had only posted one thing in the last two weeks. It was a page full of writing.

Brow creasing, I opened the post.

Hey everyone!
I'm aware I haven't posted anything in ages- but what can I say?
I was in a freak car accident that placed me in a coma for some time.
I would like to take a moment to mention a causality of the crash; Miss Wendy, who was unable to be saved.
I didn't know her but she was a living person, and if we stop valuing life than we've stopped truly living.
Anyway- to get to the point- I am unable to be on screens until my concussion heals and snuck on here to bring you the news.
Peace out,
Vickie

I dropped my cellphone.
My best friend had almost died.
And I wasn't there for her...
Why did everything have to be like this?
All messed up.

I sighed, picking up my phone.
Olivia came in the room with a big bowl of popcorn.
"Hey Liv, did you hear of the freak car accident over by District Two-Eleven?"

She nodded.
"Yeah, it was all over the news. Both of the cars were totaled and the wall they rammed into had to be repaired. A woman died... Wanda or Wendy or something like that. Last I heard there was another girl on the verge of death, Vickie was her name I think. I don't know if she ended up getting better."

How did I miss all of this?

"Well, she woke up from her coma and is doing okay." I said, faking a nonchalant shrug, as if my whole insides weren't in turmoil.

•••

A week later and Amara still hadn't posted anything.
I scowled at my phone and tossed it onto the bed, heading down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Why didn't you tell me anything about Amara?" I snapped angrily at Yulia as I glared at Bolt, and he glared back at me.

"I didn't want to worry you too much until they knew that she was going to make it."

"She's my best friend! You can't just not tell me these things!"

Yulia sighed.
"What good would it have done to tell you? You'll get to see her again in two months.  I think things would be better for you if you tried to push her out of your mind- at least for now. She's alive and that's all that matters."

"Well she was almost dead and I wasn't there for her!"

Bolt actually rolled his eyes at me.
I glared harder at the bulldog.

"Can we please stop talking about this? There's nothing I can do. Spaghetti will be ready in about twenty minutes- go call Theo or something."

I forced myself to relax.
Getting worked up about it wasn't helping anybody.

"Okay, fine." I said softly.

When I was in my room I stared at all the photos on the wall.
Me with Olivia.
Yulia and I.
Me and Theo.

But no Amara.
Liberty for the Bounded had ripped her out of my life, leaving only a gaping hole.

I flopped onto my bed, staring listlessly at the ceiling.
I needed to forget about Amara.
At least, for two months.

I closed my eyes, breathed deeply, and brought up every memory I had of her.
I recalled them all with fondness, than, like a cellphone, pressed the delete button.

I opened my eyes and took a deep, shaky breath, before turning around and walking confidently to my desk.
I took out my homework and a pencil and got to work; thinking only of the problems in front of me.

•••

Sorry for the short chapter today!
Since it's the weekend and I have the 'writer's itch' right now I might update again. We'll see. :)