Insincere Veneer

|Chapter 14|

Why, hello there! Look who updated a day early? Haha, I will be pretty busy tomorrow so I decided to update today, instead.

Dedicated to Sherylmol ! ;)

My reads and votes are increasing each day and I can't be thankful enough! I love you all. ❤️

Happy reading! =)

|Chapter 14|

"Wake up in the mornin' feelin' like P-Diddy. Grab my glasses I'm out the door I'm gonna hit the city. Before I leave brush ma teeth-"

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" I hit the alarm clock right next to me multiple times, trying to turn the torturing machine off before I get a killer headache.

"Cause when I leave for the night I ain't comin' back. I'm talkin' pedicure on my toes toes trying on all our clothes clothes-"

That's it.

Raising my hand with all my energy, I slapped the alarm clock, causing it to slip, fall, and break into a million unmendable pieces. I smiled in victory, however, it didn't last, as per usual. That's because: one, my alarm clock just shattered, which means I'll have to buy a new one with my pocket money. And two, it's a freaking school day.

Shoot.

I ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower, brush my teeth, and comb my long, annoying hair. That being done, I quickly applied dark make up and got dressed into black jeggings, a dark brown shirt, and a black cardigan. I wore my black, high heeled boots and styled my hair into a messy side braid before grabbing my school bag and phone and trudging down the stairs.

Weird, is everyone still sleeping?

I took out my phone to check the time and my jaw dropped in utter shock.

7:20 AM

Saturday, September 23

What am I doing up so early on a Saturday morning?

It's a freaking weekend! Darn that stupid alarm clock!

What am I supposed to do now, all dressed up? Should I go out? Maybe I should, but where to? Definitely not to the park or any mall; it's too risky. Maybe I should just walk and explore?

Yep, I'm doing just that. I could use a little me time.

I grabbed a paper from a notebook on our kitchen counter and a pen from my school bag. Quickly and messily, I wrote a note saying I'm out and will be back before lunch. After I stuck the paper on our fridge, I grabbed an apple and went out the front door to wherever my feet took me.

I munched on my apple and looked at the almost empty street before me. I could see the park at a short distance and tiny figures of people playing there. I kept walking slowly, observing everything around me. Philadelphia is absolutely beautiful and exquisite. The nature, the streets, and weather make me feel like I'm home where I belong. The people here aren't so bad, either. Nevertheless, I don't think I can ever be able to trust anyone ever again. Not after the betrayal I felt from the closest person to me. Not after being bullied almost all my life.

I'm probably never going to get over everything that happened to me.

I wish I could read people's minds. Then, I would know whether they genuinely care, or not. I've been ignoring Eleanor ever since the day she came over, uninvited. Ever since I threatened to ruin her life if she spoke a word about what she saw in my house. The hurt that filled her eyes at the blackmail almost fooled me. The concern she showed when I first came over to her house and when we were playing tea party with Sophia had me thinking if it was actually real. If she actually cared, or if she was just faking it all like everyone else does.

I don't think I'll ever be able to differenciate between authenticity and insincerity. I was once able to trust some people. I once believed that some people in this world are actually good and that there's hope in humanity. That one day, bullies will stop bullying and terrorists will stop torturing.

I was wrong.

All my hopes and visions went crashing down right in front of me, that day. Everything good I saw in her eyes disappeared and transformed into endless holes of evil and cruelness. It was not something I expected from her and I hated seeing her change. But that's what happens. It's either people change, or were always that way, but hid it and put up a fake mask to cover their true self up.

I'm the latter, except in my case, I cover my kindness with a rude, dark facade.

Because my kindness is unfortunately taken forgranted. It's my kindness that makes me a sore loser.

It makes me weak.

I found myself in the middle of a forest, surrounded by tall, green trees. I continued walking foreward, smiling at the squirels and rabbits bouncing around and the sweet, musical tweets of the birds flying above the trees. I gasped when I saw the view in front of me. My legs stopped moving and my jaw dropped at the beautiful lake before me. The water from the cascade I was facing from a distance was splashing on the surface of the lake, drawing beautiful pictures on it as if it was an art piece. The lake was surrounded by big rocks slightly covered in green moss. Dragonflies, bees, and birds with virant colors were flying around, probably enjoying the gorgeous, vivid view as much as I do.

I sat on a big rock near the lake and closed my eyes, inhaling the fresh oxygen and smelling the sweet aroma that surrounded me. The place was drop dead gorgeous. I could definitely get used to it.

The world is a beautiful place, really. I wish the human kind would use it carefully. I wish we would stop polluting the water, air, and land and start helping them instead. I wish we would conserve more. We aren't the only creatures that live on planet Earth, afterall. Animals and plants of all breeds and kinds also live here, and it's definitely not fair for them.

Earth is our only home, and if we keep destroying it this way, we'll have nowhere else to go.

"I see you've invaded my thinking place, eh?" a voice interrupted my thoughts.

My eyes shut close and my heart started beating at an intense rate, suddenly. I turned around, sitting on the rock the direction opposite to the lake and my eyes fluttered open. My mouth formed an 'o' shape as I saw the person standing before me. I groaned internally as my stomach made a thousand knots.

So much for me time.