GLASS NERVE | alex rider

Eight.

If Lilith were real, Bella might actually feel bad for her.

Bella reluctantly changed into Lilith-type clothes, pulling on a pair of dark washed jean that hung off her legs like loose bags, a black t-shirt covered in bleach stains overtop another black long sleeve, and she messed with her hair a little bit to make it look like she just got up.

Lilith would be jet lagged, still tired from her flight, and would've slept in till Stellenbosch showed up. She didn't wake up early like Bella did to make her own breakfast, she'd survive off a cigarette and an apple. Her clothes were the ones she wore the day before, having fell asleep in them when she got in.

As for Bella, James "sent" her out of the house to a friends so she wouldn't have to deal with the interview. As much as Stellenbosch knew, the twins did not get along.

Bella was adjusting the ring stabbed through her nose when she heard the front door open.

It's go time.

"Lily!" James yelled in such a sweet voice she almost felt like gagging. "Come down! Madame Stellenbosch is here!"

That's right. Lilith refers to people as Madame because she just spent 2 years in an institution in France. Bella and Lilith speak French. They both took ballet but only one continued. It made sense for her to say Madame over miss.

Bella wasn't excited to be trapped as Lilith for the on coming weeks but she was prepared. She spent a lot of her childhood learning how to perfect the art of disguise. She was so good at it, in fact, she often found herself completely becoming her disguise.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Lilith growled as she stomped down the stairs. "I'm not like Bella, you can't just shorten my name because you want to."

Madame Stellenbosch was an interesting individual. She was tall and lanky, dressed in a black jacket and pencil skirt. She carried herself in a way that was meant to intimidate, but to Bella it didn't make her bat an eye. Her hair was dark and cut short. She held onto her purse tightly. She must've read that Lilith was a bit of a kleptomaniac.

"Lilith." The woman addressed her and Bella looked to her with an extremely unimpressed look. "May we sit?"

"Sure. I'm not stopping you." She collapsed onto one of their couches, kicking her feet up on the coffee table in front of her. Bella tended to rest her feet on the edge of the table but never on top of it, Lilith though, wouldn't care for respecting James' things. "So, you're here to take me to your rehabilitation school, thinking you're gonna fix me better than any institution I've ever been to in my entire life?"

"Not think, I know we will."

Bella scoffed. "I'm sure you read about all the places I've been. I've seen over 20 different psychologist, been on every med possible, and it hasn't changed me." She leaned forward, staring the woman down. Unlike a major of the kids she interviewed, her front wasn't fake, she truly was angry, she was telling the truth. "Your stupid school isn't going to do anything. I can't be changed."

"Don't have such little faith, Lilith." Stellenbosch watched her diligently, searching for any sign of fear or intimidation. It seemed she didn't fear anything. "Your father tells me he finally took us up on our offer to let you stay with us because you attacked your sister."