A Pair of Stars

Stars like Neptune and Jupiter.

Two months have past after the Jam and Roller Fire, things continue to not be what they seem. Luna, Ambar and Matteo are now bonded by their lies, and by the lies they continue to uncover. A chapter in which people get locked in closets, and secrets are uncovered, and a date is finally archived.

When Luna woke up the next morning she could already feel Sharon's hateful eyes burning into her skin. Within the mansion every breath she took was monitored by either Rey or Ms. Benson herself. For the first time she noticed how much they pried into her family's business and even into her private life. She hated it, and wondered if this was what Ambar felt every day of her life.

Feeling watched amplified her worries both in regards to the burning of the rink, and the consequences that came from knowing the truth. She was Sol Benson.

Luna's conscience had always been straight with her, she felt guilty when she did bad things and overall she had never done anything big enough to make her guilt weigh as much as it did now. Even with the endless hours she obsessively put into trying to put the pieces together, it did nothing to comfort her. Luna was paranoid.

She knew they must be able to see right through her and see the truth. She was an imposter both at the rink and within the mansion. She was hiding behind curtains destined to burn and flicker.

You broke it, you fix it. Matteo had told Ambar and sure enough Ambar was at least trying. Together with the rest of the team they had made several online fundraisers and managed to pay for the roof to be fixed. The next open music would raise money to buy some last minute materials to fix the rink itself. Soon all the material things would be fixed. So why did she feel so empty?

Luna stopped talking to Simon and Nina as much, pretending it was because she was dating Matteo. Luna missed them, but if she stayed with them more often the truth would slip out, and she couldn't afford that.

Matteo was less jumpy now, but worried nevertheless. He dove into the work like she did, but also was better at remembering to take brakes and pull her away from the mess of it all and breathe. He was more angry with Ambar and Luna than anything else. Luna knew he would never say it out loud but Matteo was surprised that Luna had been the one to protect Ambar and drag them into this mess. The drive he saved with the camera tapes on wasn't functioning yet, it must have been damaged at some point. According to Ambar he had a week before she stole it and burned it in a fire.

And maybe Luna defending Ambar scared Matteo, he already had one close friend always on the verge of jumping off the rails, he didn't need too. But his anger was short lived and after a week and a half the tension between them had died and they could continue to try to fix their new relationship in peace. Or as much peace as possible.

The guilt of holding back the truth about Luna's past from Matteo the other hand never faded.

To the public Ambar acted as if nothing had happened. She retold the story again and again, always keeping it consistent. No one doubted her. The inspectors claimed that the fire had been started at the same time Ambar had started to call Matteo. That gave them enough alibi.

It spooked Luna that the police were so sure the fire started during the phone call, but between everything it was the least of her worries. Ambar kept her word, and somehow she and the whole roller team got along just enough to almost be done fixing the rink.

Nina had even asked Luna if the reason she and Ambar had "met eye to eye" was due to the fire. This was mostly because there had been no big arguments or passive aggressive comments between the two of them since the "accident". Luna mostly stayed silent but told her the honest truth. "Maybe we are starting to see a bit more eye to eye, but to really get along is going to take decades."