Learning to be Strong Alone // Jeraphina Fanfiction

Chapter XX: Nobody Likes You, Arlo

"She was
everything real
in a world of
make-believe."

...............

Seraphina's POV

I always knew I was in the right while discussing this situation—I hated to be, but that doesn't change what I had thought.

It had been a few days—weeks maybe—since that conversation had been spoken. Here I sat on the roof—unbothered and peaceful with my lonesome, my mind merely drifting far away as I glared at the early morning sky.

I wasn't angered by anything that had been said, per se—of course, Arlo, being the absolute twit he was pushed my mood away from happy...

Sighing quietly, my head lowered to rest gently on my knees—still leaving me to stare wistfully at the clouds. Still thinking.

But I wasn't mad; it was expected—as I had said all so many times to that egotistical prick with the utterly empty brain that seemed to lay in his mop of blond hair.

...

So, maybe I am a little mad- at him only, though. Claire's done nothing wrong; she was merely there to explain what Arlo couldn't. Doubt she even had a choice in the matter.

And why would I be mad at Remi? Or Elaine? Remi's been an absolute sweetheart, and I'd say the only reason why Arlo waited for me that night would be because Elaine convinced him.

It's always Arlo.

As I contemplated my thoughts that fell in and out through my mind, the door to the roof clicked open, swinging cautiously to the side and thudding against the wall. Remi had come up to talk—facial expressions showing her conflicting feelings of whatever she had come to discuss.

My brow twitched as she slowly ambled toward me. "What bad news have you come to tell me now?" I asked rather emptily, straightening out my neck and back, draping a hand to the side of my hunched body. "Arlo?"

I didn't even need to expand on my sentence; Arlo in himself is a bad omen I have come to learn.

Remi's pink hair swayed to the side as she tilted her head and fiddled with her pale fingers; she didn't look sad or upset, relatively discomfort really.

"It's nothing overly important," she spoke, wandering over and pointing beside me. "May I sit?" she quietly asked. I nodded.

With her now sitting next to me in the somewhat sheltered sitting area, she began to speak once more.

"This won't affect you personally, but I felt you should know—being that you were included in some of what we did a while back," Remi said, brows furrowing and lips pouting as she thought. "Maybe we didn't tell you; I'm not sure."

I casually hugged my thinly-covered arms around the legs that lay bundled to my sitting figure. A few seconds of silence had passed us; I wasn't sure if she was still going to tell me.

"Arlo's Aunt—who I've heard is the lead on..." she stopped momentarily, "...who works in the Authorities," she began once more, "is coming to visit Wellston later today. He said she was visiting and I could tag along to ask about my brother."