The Game of Hearts

25 // I Wanna See You Be Brave

Chapter 25 - I Wanna See You Be Brave

"Everybody's been there

Everybody's been stared down by the enemy

Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing

Bowed down to the mighty

Don't run

Stop holding your tongue"

I didn't sleep very well that night. I wasn't used to camping, and hearing the noises of the forest was not a very good thing for someone who had such a big imagination like me. But most of all, I couldn't stop thinking about Matthew's revelations about his past and his true personality.

Finally, and fortunately, the morning came and people started waking up. I was one of the firsts to go to one of the wooden houses and after taking a shower, getting dressed, and brushing my teeth, I got out of the bathroom and went to the kitchen to have breakfast. There were people here and there but none that I knew. I had left Ellie sleeping in the tent and Dylan was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey." I heard a hesitant voice behind me and turned on my heels to find Rayla staring attentively at me. She was one of the girls I shared the tent with, the one who was an expert on camping and had helped us setting the tent up.

"Hi." I greeted.

"I know this is going to sound strange, especially because we don't really know each other..." She continued. I noticed how her voice was low and cautious as if she was somehow afraid of me. I remembered how Dylan used to say that I intimidated people. I enjoyed that when it was applied to popular and mean people, but with this girl that seemed so shy and fragile, I didn't like it as much. "But you're Dylan's friend, right?"

"Yes." I said in a soft voice, but nonetheless narrowed my eyes, trying to understand what this girl wanted.

"Do you know what is going on between him and Ellie?" She asked bluntly, taking me aback, making me gasp, not only because I wasn't expecting this girl to ask me that kind of things in such a direct way, but also because of what she was referring to. I should have known by now, though, that I shouldn't have expectations on people. They could always suprise us. Besides, I shouldn't have been stunned: the truth was that Dylan and Ellie had been hanging out a lot lately.

"What do you mean?"

Rayla shrugged.

"Well, it's just that before Ellie, Dylan was always around you and I never had the courage to speak with him because I was kinda... hum... intimidated by you and I didn't know what you two exactly were." There we were. She had admitted. I intimidated her, though I had never really talked to her before. I wondered how many people in school would think about me that way. Did I scare them like popular people did? Why did I scare them, though? I wasn't mean like the others, I was simply secluded, and independent, but I didn't treat people wrong.

"We were – and are – best friends." I responded. I daunted Rayla, but Ellie didn't. That's why she only came to talk to me now.

"And then there was Janice and they had some kind of fling that made me start thinking Dylan was like all the other guys but then I realized he was only doing that to make you jealous and now he seems to be paying more attention to Ellie, and—"

"Wait, what?" I interrupted her, recalling Dylan and Janice before and during Lia's birthday party, some time ago. "Dylan did not make out with Janice to make me jealous! And he definitely isn't like the other guys!"