V.O.I.C.E

.Chapter Twenty Four.

Chapter Twenty Four                              Carter

“Hey Carter! There’s a Halloween party at my place on the first. You in?” asked a guy I recognized from the stage program, I think his name was Patrick. I was waiting for everybody by the car, school having finished a few minutes ago and I had been out first.

“You do realize that it isn’t a Halloween party if it’s the day afterwards right,” I teased him.

“It’s still going to be a Halloween party. Everybody has to wear and mask and get all dressed up,” he replied.

“Wouldn’t miss it, man. See you then,” I replied.

“Bring that cute sister of yours with you,” he said as he walked away, missing the look of rage that I was sure crossed my features before I could mask it.

Sister. She was really going to be my step sister. I had no way of avoiding it come February. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t see Vic was standing in front of me until she bent down and waved her hand right in front of my face.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked as she continued to look at me for a minute then sat down beside me on the grass.

“Nothing. I was worried. You were just sitting there with this blank stare and you didn’t even seem to notice I was trying to get your attention,” she said.

“Yeah, I didn’t even realize you were there, to be honest. A lot on my mind,” I told her.

“Is it about your dad and Eva’s mum getting married?” she asked me. I could tell she wasn’t trying to pry.

“Kinda,” I confessed.

“What else could you be staring off into space and thinking about… oh, I know, that you have told Eva you love her many times now, that you kissed her and that she loves you back,” Vic listed.

I just stared at her with my mouth hanging open for a second before I came back to my senses and said, “How did you- did Eva tell you?” I said and before I could stop myself I was saying, “She doesn’t love me she said I’m a brother to her.”

“And you believed her?” she asked.

“Yeah. I don’t see why she would lie to me, and even if she did love me it’s like you said. Our parents are getting married. I think she hates me, I woke up this morning and found out that she had already gotten a ride in with Owen” I said sadly.

“Carter, you didn’t know Eva before her dad died. I moved here a few years after it happened and she and her mom were still so broken over it. She will do anything to make her mum happy, Carter, even if it means giving up her love for you. And trust me: she does love you,” she said as I noticed Eva and Owen coming out of the school followed by Vic. Eva was listening to whatever Owen was saying with a  happy smile on her face. Seemed like she loved him, not me.