THE PAINFUL TRUTH

Chapter Twenty Nine- Making Links

Storm's POV

I didn't know where to begin. Yes, let me confirm it! Storm Jackson is lost for words. I had been planning what I would say to Stella if I was lucky enough to get the chance to talk to her but all the words, phrases and sentences had left my mind. Stella was getting impatient as she waited for me to start talking.

Might as well skip to the point before she gets tired and leaves!

"Emma wasn't the person who wrote that post," I blurt out.

Judging from Stella's reaction, she wasn't expecting me to start this conversation like this. A look of bewilderment passes over her face but is replaced with frustration. She startles me when she stands up from the bench.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Clearly, Storm, you haven't thought this through. Contact me when you decide that you're no longer wasting my time. Until then, see ya!"

As Stella spoke, there is no warmth in her tone: just hostility. It made me even more nervous.

"Please, Stella! I promise I'm not wasting your time," I plead.

"You telling me why you think that Emma 'didn't' post that tweet about me is wasting my time."

"I don't think that Emma wasn't behind that post. I know she wasn't!" I declare.

"Who was it, then? A ghost?" Stella remarks sarcastically.

My throat suddenly becomes as dry as the Sahara Desert as I mumble," River."

For a moment, Stella freezes like a statue. When it looks like she's recovered from her shock, she chuckles drily.

"You actually had me there, Storm! For a minute there I had actually believed your sick prank," Stella snarls.

I have had enough of this girl! She has every right to have a problem with me but I am not asking her to forgive me(even though I really want her to); I'm providing her with the truth she deserves.

"I'm awful, I know. Sorry, I made a mistake. I'm terrible. Hopeless. Worthless. Selfish. I try to change but every time I do, a sign from the universe reminds me that no matter how hard I try, I will never be a good person," I cry out.

Silence. The only noise that can be heard is Stella's foster siblings playing in the background: I forgot that they're in the park as well as Kate and Harry.

"You are a good person, Storm. You may have not been there for me since the post but you are here, now," Stella whispers.

"I'm sorry, Stella! I ignored the signs! I should have stopped her," I apologise, my voice shaking.

I start telling Stella about how I had found out about River being the culprit behind the Twitter post.

"River had gone Christmas shopping but had forgotten her phone at home. I started looking on her phone for family photos to put on the front of a Christmas card."

Flashback

I decide to call River so that I can ask her for some photos(I know I can just wait for her to come home but that will be just wasting time - I haven't even bought any presents yet!). I open my 'Phone' app, tap on my sister's name and click on the phone icon to call her.

I almost fall off the sofa when River's phone, which I've just realised is on the other sofa, starts to ring.

She may be smart but she is forgetful!

I get up from the sofa I'm currently seated on to go and retrieve my older sister's phone.

River never allows me to look on her phone but it's not like she's going to mind. I'm just looking for photos to send myself!