Bitterly

Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Mom and Dad were so pissed I actually thought my mother was going to slap me. Her hand twitched at her side and her breathing got shallow as my father yelled at me. I was grounded even more now and they took away Homecoming. Homecoming? They had to be kidding. The first time in my three years of high school I was excited to go to a school dance because I'd had a date, a date that liked me but no, everything got complicated in a blink of an eye.

I'm double grounded now, and with no way of communicating with people because no one had gotten me a new phone. The Council, specifically Jocelyn, was on my ass about choosing an affinity. Not only were they forcing me to choose something in less than two weeks, but they were making me choose it to fight in a war I had nothing to do with. My mind was whirling with all these thoughts. For a moment I reflected on the things I'd remembered after Paul had erased my mind, but the images weren't sticking anymore. It was useless, I couldn't remember them without a trigger.

I was laying in my bed, staring at the ceiling on account of the fact that my father had taken my TV out of my room. The only entertainment I would have was reading, something I never really liked doing in the first place. At least there was a poster of Taylor Lautner from his Twilight days, that was always a nice thing to see.

I rolled over and tucking myself into my covers, feeling useless. Tears threatened to escape, but I held them in firmly. Crying was going to help no one. It would only serve to make me feel more pathetic than I already am. I was going to have to tell Paul to tell my sister and Gabriella that I couldn't go shopping tomorrow. Mary was going to be devastated, hell, I was devastated.

“Nova?” my brother called from my doorway as I reached over to turn off my bedside lamp. I hadn't even heard him open my door.

“What?” I asked dryly, not in the mood for his antics. The last thing I needed was him taunting me about my punishment. If he taunted me hard enough I had no doubt I was going to do something a little too angelic for his eyes and Paul would have to come erase his mind too.

“You look dead,” he commented casually. I actual smiled a little at his bluntness.

“Thanks.”

He was quiet for a moment before he came in more and closed the door behind him. I sat up to raised a brow. Somehow he thought it was okay for him to sit down at the end of my bed. I opened my mouth to protest, but he spoke first.

“You had this look on your face when you came home,” he started, scratching his red hair almost adorably. “I'd never seen you look like that, Nova.”

“Maybe it was the angle,” I shrugged, not understanding what my countenance had to do with anything.

“No,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “You're weird, we know that, but you've been off for a while now.”

“Off how?” I furrowed my brows.

“You,” he paused and his eyes flickered up at the ceiling before connecting with mine. “You used to hang out with Drew and Carson. Now you hang out with Paul, that intense guy and the brunette chick.”

“Fane and Holly,” I supplied.

“Whatever,” he waved me off. “You hang out with different people, and then that guy showed up that was going to beat up Dad.”

“Gabriel was not going to beat anyone up,” I chastised.

“You were borderline depressed for a week,” he continued. “And lately you've been ruder than normal, and angry, and now you come home late.”