The Innocent ↝ ÉLITE ¹

FIVE

CHAPTER FIVE
Cupid

MARINA AND SAMUEL stood on the bridge, talking about their plans to finish their project. The latter turned around so his back was now leaning against the railing.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course." Marina nodded.

"What's going on with your brother and Arlo? I know they used to be friends, but it seems like something is going on. They don't say much to each other, but there's a lot of looking– like they're communicating telepathically."

Marina laughed. "So you've noticed, huh?"

"Is there more to what she said? Did they date or something?" Samuel wondered, thinking about how someone as nice as Arlo could ever date someone like Guzmán.

"No, no. Nothing like that." Marina shook her head.

"Then, what?"

The girl sighed before she mirrored his body position, folding her arms over her chest. "You see, Arlo not only used to be friends with Guzmán, but with the others as well. Things changed though once a game of truth or dare got really out of hand when we were 12."

"What happened?" Samuel asked.

"We were all at Arlo's house and her younger sister, Isabela, wanted to play and she was maybe 7 or 8 at the time. Arlo wouldn't let her play because you know, when you have friends over you don't want your younger siblings playing with you. Anyways, Arlo said she was too young and weak to handle it. Then Lu dared Arlo to jump from one table to another out on the patio and since the tables weren't very stable and made of glass, it wasn't a good idea. Luckily, Arlo was fine. But Izzy wasn't. She saw Arlo do the dare and she tried to prove just how tough she was so she could join us and when she jumped, she slipped and hit her head on the table."

"Oh my god."

"She was knocked out, her forehead bleeding. Luckily in the end, it wasn't a deep enough cut to cause severe damage, just a few stitches, but we didn't know that at the time. She did end up in hospital for a few days because of the concussion. Though I don't think Arlo has been able to forget the sight of her sister like that. Fortunately, Izzy doesn't even remember much, but Arlo's always blamed herself for what happened. I mean seeing your 8 year old sister, thinking she was dead when you're 12, isn't something you can brush off. That's sort of when she realised with her parents always travelling, she needed to be the one to look out for her Izzy and Diego– to be a good role model and she stopped doing the things the others would."

"What does that have to do with Guzmán?"

"I'm getting there." Marina chuckled. "Everyone got annoyed with her because they said she had gotten boring. Well not everyone, with the exclusion of myself and Ander. Guzmán, being one of her closest friends at the time, basically turned sides against her and told her he didn't wanna hang out with her anymore if she continued being boring. And that's basically where it started. I mean, I know Arlo hasn't held a grudge over anyone because of that. We were 12, but it's pretty much where her friendship ended with everyone. I mean, they'll still talk to each other, but you can already tell how different they've all grown up in the last four years. And sometimes, you just outgrow people. It was when Arlo and Guzmán stopped being friends that he started to get irritating because instead of being under her influence, he gravitated towards Lu."

"Wow. I don't even know what to say."

"Me either." Her smile then dropped as her eyebrows knitted together. "I think he misses her though."