How to Break Her Heart

step 3: deceive her

At eight years old, she stands by her sister's death bed and listens to her last words: "I wish you had never been born, Soren, I wish you had never-"

-

The news spreads like wildfire throughout the school. The "power couple" has split - Oliver Michaels and Wilona Gessit are no longer together.

"They ate it up like the starved animals they are,"  Wilona had said, patting herself on the back for a job well done. "Now you do your part Oliver."

He surprises himself with the desire to do exactly just that. He doesn't give it time for the news to settle. The next day during lunch, he pulls up a chair and sits next to a startled Soren Easley.

Oliver gives her a charming smile, and asks (a little late) if it's okay to sit at the table. She puts away her drawing notebook as he unwraps his sandwich.

"Um," Soren starts, her eyes darting around the cafeteria to find many curious gazes directed at them, "is this really okay?"

He glances at her as he munches on his lunch. "What do you mean?"

She locks eyes with the girl who Oliver was supposed to be with and then quickly looks away. An uncomfortable heat creeps up her neck. "Aren't you supposed to be with... uh, aren't you supposed to sit with your friends?"

"You're not my friend?" he asks her genuinely.

Soren hesitates. Oliver swallows over the unexpected lump that formed over his throat.

"Yeah," she says slowly, "but... what I mean is... Wilona is probably unhappy seeing you sit next to me," she finally blurts out.

He shrugs and feigns a sad look, looking down at his feet. "We broke up."

Her beautiful cocoa eyes widens. "Oh," is the only thing she says.

They stay silent for a few moments before the silence is broken by the sound of tearing paper. He looks up only to see Soren's blinding grin and an arm extended towards him. In her hand was a blank sheet of paper. She wiggles it towards him until he takes it.

"Turn it over," Soren softly says, after he looks at the paper with confusion for a good two seconds.

A little embarrassed, he flips it over. 

He does a double take. Then starts to laugh.

He laughs, and laughs, and laughs. It's the hardest he's ever laughed in a long, long time. Soren joins him. They laugh together a little more before he folds the drawing carefully and places it in his wallet, alongside the first drawing she gave him two weeks ago.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Soren quietly inquires after sobering up.

Oliver pretends to think about it.

"Nah," he says. She looks a little skeptical of his answer so he distracts her with another bright smile. "Really. I'll be fine."

She lets it go but Oliver knows she's not convinced just yet. He decides to try harder.

They eat their lunch and he teases her for her chipmunk cheeks when she takes a large bite of her own chicken sandwich. He asks her how Linda is doing, what classes are the hardest for her, and more random things. It went on like that the whole lunch period.

Then for a couple days. Then for a couple more weeks.

She starts opening up to him, and he finds himself happy to be by her side when they walk to class every day together.

The days all start to blur when Soren is around. Her warm cinnamon and jasmine scent overtakes his senses. Her smile blinds him. Her touch, even the most innocent ones, like when she put her hand on his forehead that one day that he started feeling sick, paralyzes him. He starts to want to touch her hair, or hug her randomly after she does something cute.

He almost forgets why he is doing this in the first place, until he sees Wilona standing by his locker. It's been a month since the "breakup."

They talk when no one is around.

"Well?" Wilona starts.

Oliver sighs. "Why am I doing this again?"

"Don't tell me you're backing out?" Wilona stares hard at him. He avoids her gaze.

Suddenly she grabs his shirt and pulls him into a hard kiss. They're still close when she pulls back and whispers, "Don't forget who your real girlfriend is, Ollie."

She pushes him away before continuing, "You're going to prove that Sorin Easley is not the happy-go-freaking-lucky girl she's fooling everybody into thinking she is."

Hearing this makes Oliver mad. "I'm not your pawn, Wilona." He begins to really reflect on her goal and finds that it doesn't even make any sense. "Why do you even want to know? What's the point?"

"That's for me to know and for you to stay ignorant about."

"And if you're right?" His voice raises. Soren was so nice, so soft, so innocent. "And if she does break? If she does become depressed, angry, or whatever your twisted mind wants her to turn into?" Wilona cackles at this.

Oliver breathes hard. "What then?"

"Then I'll consider her human."

Silence. Then, "I'm breaking up with you," Oliver whispers.

Immediately, as if she's expecting it, Wilona smirks. "You really think it's that easy? Easley must really be messing with your head, huh?"

He clenches his fists. "You really piss me off, Wilona."

She cackles again, then snaps, "Fine. Break up with me. For real. I actually don't care. I won't do anything so long as you keep up your end of your deal - to break Easley, make her fall for you."

"And if I don't?"

"Then consider your secret out."

He stares at her. "You're kidding. Blackmail?"

"Do it, and do it in the next 30 days. Or everyone will know that you're not really Oliver Michaels."

x

my delusional mind actually thought up a reason as to why Wilona is doing all this.

huh.

comments and votes are appreciated! ;)

-zayna