ADALYN

34. Web of Hypocrisy

Adalyn's Point of View
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All things considered, Mason and I were able to get past that awkward stage of talking. I didn't plan to stay after dropping off his assignments or seeing him if I'm being candid. It would be an awful move on my part if I don't show up after telling Veronica that I would visit him.

As soon as he invited me into his home I walked in willingly.

Believe me when I say that I didn't want to give him the cold shoulder. During the last three days, my life has been filled with endless ruminations. I spent most of my day locked in my room just reflecting and thinking of all the ways things could get much worse if anyone were to find out where I'd been and with who.

Mom and Damien if I'm being specific.

They arrived two days after me, including my stepsisters.

Just like it's been for a few weeks now, I was pretty much ignored.

France seemed to give everyone a big change. Whether it was behavior or appearance-based. For starters, mom's belly was a lot bigger than the last time I saw it which could only mean that the twins were on their way. She looked very exhausted too.

Peyton seemed...perkier? She normally wasn't this lively. And get this... she didn't say any catty comment when I passed her by the stairs this morning. There isn't much I could say about her other than that.

It's been months since Damien last beat me. I was still hurting from it and avoided him as much as I could. Not leaving my room, unless necessary, is one example. Sometimes I even offered to help Elena close up just to stay longer at work.

Even though it was just him and me in the house, he didn't pay attention to me. But the fact that he was below the same roof as I scared me. What if he did it again? I didn't want to go through it again. It only made me wonder what other evil-minded ideas were going through his head.

As for Brittany, she was still the same unkind and impudent person as always. I didn't see much of her these days. Good thing, of course. Similar to her sister though, she'd been acting strange. She snuck out the first night of being back. Not sure who it was. All I know was that a red car picked her up and drove off immediately. Like I've been doing recently, I didn't think about it too much. It's her life after all.

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Concentrating back on Mason, I was incredibly thankful to see that he was on his own two feet again.

Needless to say, he was on crutches.

His recovery was surprisingly fast but wasn't allowed to walk long distances without someone keeping an eye on him.

Despite everything, he was well and that's what mattered.

"I thought you weren't coming."

We'd been sitting at the kitchen table for the last hour. It amazed me how he was competent to keep a calm completion when he was anything but.

I felt like a huge a*shole for slightly believing what Claire said. No, they weren't back together and he most definitely wasn't expecting her to show up either. I was a little confused as to how she found out about him in the first place. But then again, it's Claire we're talking about. She has ears where she isn't supposed to.

Although his cuts were secure and clean, Veronica still took him to the hospital to make sure there wasn't any serious damage going on. He's okay by the looks of it. Thank goodness for that. I know he would've been sad if he couldn't play football anymore.

I acted as if I was completely unaware of what he was referring to. "Why'd you think that?"

He gave me a thoughtful expression. "You know why."