Fifth Destiny // Ever After High as Fifth Harmony Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Four: But I Lied

I still did not feel like I'd said the wrong thing. Blake was here and with him here I was safe. It would be okay.

"Yes, you do. Do you have any idea why you feel this way?"

"Austin dated my friend," my eyes didn't waver to Lizzie, though I knew she nodded in confirmation at this. "He kissed another one of my friends while dating her." I saw Cerise, next to me, stick her tongue out to display her distaste. "I saw him kiss another girl one night, and that same night he told me that he liked me."

The therapist nodded, and seemed to be taking note of all this on a clipboard. "Four girls," she confirmed, sounding terribly unimpressed.

"One Austin," I said, my voice nearly cracking as I tried to keep in all my emotions.

"Now Blake," said the therapist, finally taking the attention away from me. I sighed in relief, almost letting a pent-up overwhelmed sob slip out. Not here, not now. "You are good friends with Austin. Has he always been this way?"

Austin studied Blake intently, and Blake paid him no attention. "He's always been this way with girls, but it was never really his intention. He hasn't always been this way around me. Things are changing."

"Do you agree with him?" She asked Austin.

His eyes narrowed at me in silent scrutinization, and I tried to shrink down in my chair. "Things were different then. Things have changed."

"Because of Wonderland," said the therapist.

"What?"

"Because of-"

Something in him shifted. He looked older, harder, crueler. "Yes. Because of Wonderland."

It was not because of Wonderland.

"What?" Blake demanded. I wondered how much of Austin's past he'd even told his 'best friend'. I guess I shouldn't have even been judging, as Poppy had been my best friend before things had changed for us, though even that situation couldn't really compare to this one.

Austin darkened. "Wonderland, where I am to be the king." His eyebrow lifted, and he let a bit more amusement show.

The therapist scrambled to copy something down on her clipboard.

Lizzie startled. "You are the king of nothing," she spat. She glared at him like a card in a new pack with no printing on it; to her he was a useless nuisance and a waste of her time. She glared like her determined stare would be enough to decapitate him, and I imagined her laughing satisfactorily as his head rolled to her feet. I shuddered.

"What is going on?" Blake asked. When neither the therapist, Austin, or any of my friends spoke up, his eyes met mine. My heart was beating in double time and I had to squeeze my fingers together to keep my balance. He wore disappointment, confusion, and helplessness. It did not suit him. It sent a fissure through my heart.

I wanted to help, but the truth was, I didn't know either. What was the real reason Austin was using Wonderland as his cover story? He gave no indication, and though I sensed Lizzie and Kitty both had an idea of what he was talking about, I did not.

"I think I'll go back," said Austin. It was rather announcement-like, phrased like a suggestion or consideration but packed with all the determination and venom of a stinging revelation.

Lizzie's arms were pressed to her chest, and she sat up straighter in her seat. "You'll do no such thing," she insisted. "You will not set foot anywhere near my lands and my people as long as I live."

He could not respond to a statement like that, but as the therapist shifted her full attention to her notes, his resentful stare on Lizzie was enough to freeze my breath in my throat. It challenged her as she shot back with her own. I could not have handled it. The air was charged with hatred though nobody said a word.

"I can't believe you two dated,"  Daring murmured.

"He's such a godmother-damned piece of -" Cerise muttered, but Apple sushed her before she could say anything else she'd regret.

"You won't be coming to Wonderland," Lizzie said, "and you'll be staying the hex away from my band," Lizzie commanded like a true agitated Queen would.

"I'd listen to her," Blake mumbled.

Austin looked at him as he said it, and soon the maniac had left him and he looked the same as the friend who drove me to that party a while back. I knew he was not the same. He could not be the same.

"I'll keep him out of Wonderland," Blake promised Lizzie, promised me. I wondered how he was going to do it. Not more than ten minutes ago, the boys had been unwilling to admit they were even friends.

"Alright, shall we move onto a different topic?" The therapist announced.

How convenient that she didn't pay us any attention while the real drama was going down.

"Austin, did you have feelings for Holly?" Blake blurted, like he couldn't keep it bottled inside himself anymore. It sounded like it had been a long time, and I related more than I probably should've.

Austin smiled. I didn't know who he was smiling at, perhaps no one in particular. That was all the confirmation needed. "Newsflash," he said anyway, adding another grin.

I felt like I could faint in my chair. The color drained from Blake's face.

"I see," said the therapist.

"But you've got a girlfriend," said Blake.

"You said it yourself before, I've always been this way." Austin's smirk made me want to punch him, though I knew that even if I did I'd injure myself more than I'd hurt him.

Daring cleared his throat. "Romantic," he commented.

It sent Sparrow into a fit of hysterical laughter, and Duchess's face reddened as she tried her hardest to suppress her own laughter. She failed, then joined in her boyfriend and Daring's glee.

The therapist shook her head at Austin. He and Blake were dismissed. The group moved onto the next issue, but I remained in this one, replaying it over and over and over in my head.