CHANCE | ✔

17| Callista

Republishing because the chapter has been extended. If you've already read it, scroll down to the end for the added scene. 

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. My finals got over two weeks ago and I've spent my entire summer vacation on Netflix until now :) 

Quick side note: Previously the plot was like Marcel and Alexander had like a crazy ass rivalry, but I've changed the plot to something like — Marcel dislikes Alexander for *reasons*, but Alexander didn't have any idea of it until a month before *that night*. When Chance moved in next door, Marcel told Callista to stay away for *reasons*, she mentioned this to Chance, Chance was like well okay whatever, doesn't ask his parents for context, assumed they hated the Huxleys as well. 

There's a slight edit in Chapter 16's flashback (relating to this change in plot), so you can check it out if you want. 

And I have a few questions for you guys: 

Do you want chapter titles instead of the POVs? 

Do you want me to add some flashbacks at the beginning of the previous and upcoming chapters so that you can get more insight into their lives before *that night*?  

Thanks and have a wonderful read <3 

It is a lot easier to be angry at someone than it is to tell them that you are hurt. 
— Tom Gates 

Temerate 
(v.) to break a bond or a binding promise 

Tuesday — September 5, 2023  

I'm out of breath by the time I reach my house. 

I shoulder my way through the front door, wiping my tears with a dust-covered hand that irritates the skin with an itch. 

There's something wrong with me. There's something inherently wrong with me and I know it. 

The sand and dust from my boots leave smears across the tiles as I bite back my cries and grit my teeth, heading up the stairs toward my bedroom where I'll drown in sorrow. 

I don't even look where I'm going. I force my feet to walk the distance to my room. 

I can't breathe, can't believe what just happened. 

I wrap my arms around myself and drop my head, my hair curtaining the view as I walk. 

I didn't know it was possible to hurt so much. 

I can't fight — can't fight — not when I don't know what I'm fighting anymore. His hatred for me; his deviant, inexplicable desire for my body; my desire to let him devastate me; or for the threads of the tapestry of our past that he ripped to pieces — I don't know. 

I don't even know if I'm fighting at all. 

I crash into a wall. 

"Fucking—" I curse and stumble back, blinking away my haste, and look up. 

Marcel Huxley stares down at me in confoundment as he grabs my arm to steady me. 

And to have thought the day couldn't get any worse. 

"I—" My ragged breaths catch in my throat. "I'm— I'm sorry."  

I pull away in horror, my heart still clenching painfully in the aftermath of Chance's actions and my body still trembling from his touch.