Intertwined and Unexpected

Chapter 6: Chloe

"See?" Amberlynn said, laughing, as our feet crunched the fallen autumn leaves on the sidewalk on the way back from the mall.  "I told you you could trust me. Now you can look awesome!"

I have to admit, the night had been better than sitting at home. But Amberlynn was right: we can't really be friends yet-- there are too many things left from the past. So, resisting licking my newly make-uped lips, I took a deep breath, and started to take the brick wall that stood between us-- one brick at a time:

"Amberlynn, if I can 'trust' you, then why did you knock down the Porta-Potty?" I carefully watched Amberlynn's expression turn from confident and cheery to nervous and unsure.

"Come ON Chloe, why'd you have to do that?" Amberlynn wined, "tonight was going great until you had to bring that up!" I stopped walking, and turned to face her. She kept her eyes on the tree across the street, the firehydrant to her left, the house down the block--anything besides me.

"Just answer the question," I demanded, my voice leaving no room for argument.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked, and in her eyes I knew she wanted me to drop it, forget about it, never bring it up, or never ask about it again. I disobeyed her pleading look and replied:

"Are you kidding? You push me over, you humilate me, you pretend it never happened, you prank me, you continue to insult me, and then you just leave me to assume you're some kind of crazy person who does terrible things just to hurt people! Yes, I want to know why!" The tables seem to have turned. Now it's Amberlynn, scared and unsure, and me, riled up and confident.

"Ok, just you have to remember... that was years ago. I was... different then. Young. Careless. All my friends thought of me as their leader, ok? I couldn't be beat by some loner girl who i didn't know!" Amberlynn's voice shook as she exclaimed that, her voice starting to rise.

"Amberlynn. Seriously. If you don't stop putting it off and tell me why right now, so help me, i will walk out now and never look back. Just tell me," my voice was hard, and I was at the end of my line here. Amberlynn's eyelids fluttered down and she twiddled her thumbs, trying to stall. Then, in a small, shakey  voice, she admitted it finally:

"I did it for... Henry."

Did I hear her right? No, I couldn't have. There is no way she would humilate someone that bad, just for some boy. Some boy that I never had even talked to. Some boy that I just happened to mention was cute. Some boy who now looks down on me: pities me because I was the girl that got humilated. Some boy... some boy who Amberlynn wanted. Amberlynn thought I was a threat to Henry. That I might win Henry over her. Amberlynn wasn't confident that she could beat me for a race to Henry's heart.

I paused, my face a look of pure shock.

"What? WHAT?" My voice reached a screeching volume as I shook myself out of my daze, and I could feel my face getting red. Amberlynn winced, but seem to prepare for whatever may come next.

"You seriously thought that it was worth HUMILATING me at the beginning of the school year, the beginning of a new year, for some boy? Did you know," I began, my voice ice-cold and clipped, "that I had just moved here? That I was still getting over my parent's divorce, that I thought, crazily, that maybe things would be better, getting a fresh start? I had made some friends, I even let myself check out some guys, and what do I get for that? Some over-confident, self-centered girl pushing me over in a Porta-Potty!" My face was turned in a look of disgust as I watch Amberlynn recoil, looking scared. "I was so stupid to ever think that any place with you near it might be nice and take my mind off my family issues. I can't believe you, Amberlynn. Congraulations. You've ruined any friendship that could've happened between us. I hope you're happy," I stomped off, leaving her in the darkness.