Scarred Beauty [Completed]

Chapter Thirty

Olivia Hernandez

I had driven home after eating dinner with Cody and his mom Cherry. When I got back home, I spotted Felicity, Jen, and Kevin sitting down at the dining room. I stopped when I heard they were having a conversation. From what I heard, Jen was crying a little bit, and both Kevin and Felicity felt frustrated and worried about what had happened earlier tonight.

"We can't," Jen said, wiping her tears with her sweater.

Kevin hugged her and looked at Felicity, "She's right. How are we going to get them to talk to each other again? The house'll have quite a bit of tension with the two ignoring each other."

Felicity sighed deeply, putting a hand to her forehead. "What to do..?" She asked herself aloud.

"We could ask her father," Kevin suggested.

Jen shook her head. "No. Just because we know her father doesn't mean we should use him to help us. This is our fault, and we have to fix it."

"I'd rather you not."

Their heads snapped towards my direction as I walked towards the staircase. Felicity mumbled quietly, "Thank goodness she's alright."

I looked at them, seeing the trouble I've done to them. Their expressions are strung loose. I sighed and gave them a small, warm smile, "Thanks anyways... You all care for me a lot, don't you?"

Then, I disappeared up the stairs. I'll just take a warm shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow, I can try to talk to Alex, if he'll let me. We could be friends again. I sighed heavily once more and thought, sure. Alex wouldn't just let his guard down so easily. Especially since the both of us hadn't had any major talks in two years. I was 17 years old now, and so was he. I had to act more mature about such a trivial matter.

Someone opened a door, and Alex came out of his room. I looked up suddenly and saw him, his blue eyes glowing in the dark hallway. We both paused in our steps and just stared for a while. I broke it off quickly, wanting to go to sleep as soon as possible.

"It's nice to see you again.." I whispered quietly. I looked up at him and gave him a small smile, feeling a familiar light blush on my face, "Glad to have you back, Alex. It's been too long, don't you think..?" I didn't let him respond, my hands clasping behind my back as I added in softly, "Welcome back home.."

He looked at me, as if not believing the words that had come out of my mouth. I gave him a small weary wave and walked off before he could say anything to me. I entered my room and slammed my door shut.

I couldn't count on hope anymore.

~~~

The next day, I had gotten ready for school. I was fitted into black jeggings and a white clear top, a tank top underneath. I had gotten interested in jewelry lately because of Jen, and for it, had a few bracelets on my wrists. On my feet were simple black and white converse. I began walking down the stairs with my blue backpack sling over my shoulder. A few keychains were dangling on the zippers, rattling behind me. As I trampled downstairs, I saw Felicity and Alex in the kitchen.

"Good morning!" I cheered brightly, skipping over to the kitchen.

Felicity smiled, "Good morning, Olivia!"

Alex mumbled quietly, "Morning."

"Something must have made you smile that brightly today," Felicity replied, drying her hands with a towel, "So tell us, what's the occasion?"

I shrugged and grabbed a granola bar from the pantry. "I'm just feeling a little better after the basketball team's loss."

She nodded, though she had a dark look on her face, "I still think one of the team members on the opposing team put that banana peel there. Proof or not, my gut is telling me."

"We'll never know," I said in a joking tone. "Well, I'll be going to school now!" I exclaimed, walking backwards out the front door.

Felicity raised her eyebrow, "This early?"

"Promised Cody I'd play a small round of basketball with him this morning," I explained, grabbing the handle of the front door. "I'll ask Cody to give me a lift. Bye!"

I skipped out the door and took out my phone, biting into my granola bar. Though he was my best guy friend, Felicity made both Alex and me promise to keep our brain-secret into the family only. It was to protect us from any other problems we might have. Just as I was about to text Cody, I sensed a presence watching me from behind. I put my phone away and pretended that I was waiting for Cody to pull up. I heard his footsteps walk over.

Quickly, I grabbed the arm that tried to grab my shoulder and turned around, kicking Cody's gut. He held onto his stomach, groaning in pain, and I kicked his knee cap, making him let out a pained squeak. I let go of him right after I had pulled on his arm until his muscles felt sore.

"You'll need a thousand more years to get up to my level," I brushed off onto him. "Let's go."

We walked towards his car (well, Cody limped), and he drove us to school. While we did, I helped him with his project, which was a presentation about what he felt strongly about the most, which was fake relationships. Gee, I wonder who the inspiration behind it was. I helped him rehearse as we drove to school, and soon, he memorized it all. We soon reached the gym and grabbed a court, playing a round of basketball.

What surprised me was when the doors opened, and both Alex and Bri walked in. Bri was surprisingly not clinging onto Alex's arm, and they both looked relieved, as if getting over something. They walked over to us, and Bri waved brightly.

"Good morning, you guys!" She exclaimed happily.

Cody had stopped her from saying anything any further, "Why do you look like you finally got over a broken acrylic nail?"

She glared and crossed her arms, "How rude!"

"We broke up," Alex replied, clarifying Bri's answer.

My eyes widened. Why so abruptly?? I looked between the two, and finally realized something. This relationship, it was never actually real. With a sigh, I held the ball in my hands. My cheeks puffed out as I complained, "Why so soon? I really wanted to tease the both of you!"

Cody sighed and patted my shoulder in understanding, "Well, it's okay that they crushed our dreams. We still have Jen and Kevin to make fun of."

"Oh shut up!"

"I have an idea!" I exclaimed quickly, averting Bri and Cody's gazes to me instead of each other. Alex's eyes landed on me, and I threw the basketball in the air, catching it in my hand and looking at them with a grin, "Let's play basketball! Girls versus boys!"

"Why do I have to pair up with him?!" Both Alex and Cody questioned, pointing at the other.

Cody glared at him, "Shut up, pretty boy! You're one to talk."

Alex crossed his arms defiantly. "Oh, like I wanted to pair up with you, moron," he replied, his eyes venomous towards Cody.

Both Bri and I looked at each other with questionable looks, and we laughed at their childishness. I swear, they are much more of a child than... well, a child. I shrugged to Bri and smiled lightly.

I turned to the guys, "So are we playing or not?"

"I agree," Bri said, her hands clasped, "Make up your mind, you guys."

They looked at us like we were crazy, and Alex sighed reluctantly, rolling his eyes. Cody crossed his arms, pretty much defiant.

"Fine," they both hesitantly answered.