Spy School AU Love Trouble 💔

XVI

Erica's POV

Fire Breathing Duckies 🐥🔥

Erica: u won't guess what my dad just told me-

Ben: What is it?!!

Mike: u're coming back to our school, right??

Erica: ...no he said he is going to- well he is

Zoe: tell us, erica!

Mike: just say itttt

Erica: he said we are going to get a fish.

Ben: That's it?

Mike: how about ur school?

Erica: ya that's all sry

I groaned and threw my phone onto my bed, hard. I should've just told them, but they were so disappointed when I told them that I was going to be going to a different school, how would they take this news?

Instead, I told them that I was getting a fish! (Which was true.) But, it wasn't the thing I really wanted to say,  I would have to tell them eventually. I just couldn't bring myself to. I could barely believe it myself.

Mom was fighting with Dylan downstairs. Their voices echoed around the house, it felt like the day where Mom and Dad had divorced. 

It was a long time ago. I was 6.  They fought with each other for most of the night. I heard screams and sobs. I couldn't make out what they were saying though. I just curled up in a ball and cried myself to sleep. 

Later that night I woke up. I gave up on sleeping. Dad came into my room a few minutes later and kissed me goodnight, I pretended to be asleep. Mom stood in the doorway, her arms crossed. Her face was tear blotched. 

The divorce papers came in the next day. That was when I decided I did not want to have to feel what Mom was going through. When I had become older, I stopped talking to boys. Limited my friend group. And barely let anyone see who I really was. That was until I met Ben, of course. He broke all the rules I had about boys. Don't let them in your room. Broken. Don't eat with them. Broken. Don't ever, ever fall in love with one. Broken, for sure.

The next few days I kept to myself. I was sad, angry, and most of all- confused.

Ben's POV

I was hanging out at Zoe's house with Mike, we were discussing about Erica's weird behaviour recently.

"She has been sorta.. depressed lately?"  Zoe said.

"Yeah, I noticed it too. She's not online as often as she was before." I said.

"I feel like she was going to tell us something else, that day when she texted us about what her step-dad told her," said Mike.

"Me too," Zoe and I said in unison.

The next day, I went to Erica's house. Dylan let me in. He looked tired.

"Hello, Ben. Erica is upstairs." He said

I went upstairs and knocked on her door. She didn't open it, so I let myself in. 

Her room looked messy for some reason. She's usually pretty neat, so it struck me as odd. On her desk, lay open, was her diary. I never knew she even kept one. She didn't really seem like the type. I couldn't help myself. I read the page it was open on. It looked as though she was crying when she wrote it, as the page had teardrop stains on it. I scanned through the page quickly, hoping to find the reason she was acting so weird lately.

Dylan told me that we were moving. I hate him so much now. I yelled at him and tried to convince him that we shouldn't move, but nothing worked. I want to tell Ben and Zoe and Mike, but I don't know how to say it. They have not told me, but I can tell they are planning something to convince my dad to let me change schools. They were pretty sad when I told them we would be in different schools, but now I'm moving, which is a billion times worse. It would be manageable if I was moving somewhere close so they could easily visit me. But no. I'm moving so far away. My mom is against it but I don't know what to do. I really hope she doesn't get another divorce. There is one thing though, that strikes me as odd is that my dad is always talking about how much he loves his job. How much he loves the town. So, why is he moving? We were very wealthy thanks to him. His job made a good amount of money. So why do we have to move? And why the farthest place from here. I'm so confused but I will get to the bottom of this. There is something fishy going on, and I won't stop until I find what it is.

I was surprised. I knew something was up but this- this was too much. I closed the diary and sat on her bed. After a minute she came in a determined look on her face. She saw me and jumped. 

"Oh, hi Ben. When did you come?"

"Just now."

She looked around the room avoiding my eyes. She glanced at her desk where the dairy was sitting. That's when I knew I made a huge mistake. I closed the diary! It was open when I came in. I hoped Erica would not notice. But, of course, she did. Her eyes narrowed.

"Ben! Did you read my diary?"