We Are Stars | OLD DRAFT

Chapter Eighteen: Here We Are

Her words hit me like a clash of lightning, and I feel the burns painting new scars on my body. It's difficult to even incorporate what she just said. "What do you mean, he's gone?" I ask, my voice crashing mid-sentence.

Maxi catches my nervousness and uses it to her advantage. "Oh, save it. You wanted him out of your life from the second you met." She seems to be enjoying this. Every single second of it. She enjoys seeing me this way; desperate and in pain. I can see it in her eyes, the anger and strife toward me. I'm not sure what I ever did to deserve her bitchy personality, but whatever is was, she has now taken it to a whole new level. "Looks like your wish came true."

I grapple against the desire to unleash my deepest anger on her, though I try to remain as calm as I can. "Can you please just tell me where he is? It's important that I see him," I tell her calmly.

She replies with a wicked smile and laugh. "Don't you get it? He doesn't want to see you."

"Damnit, Maxi, just tell me!"

That signature, villainous grin finally dissipates, and Maxi's face finally reads vanquishment before she lets out a breath. Despite this, she takes a few seconds to answer my question. "Why do you want to find him so much? I mean, from what I've heard about you, you hate his entire existence."

I shake my head in disagreement. "I don't hate him. We had a falling out, that's it. Yes, okay, I didn't particularly like him when we first met but... things have changed now. And now I really need to fix things."

"Oh, yeah? What exactly changed?" I open my mouth as if I'm about to answer but I shut myself down. Trying to counteract the awkward moment of silence between us is like trying to tame a wild stallion; it can't be tamed. It's only wild. And in a matter of moments, Maxi picks up on this, and her eyes reflect realization. "So that's it. You're hot for Silas."

"That's not true," I reply through grinding teeth.

"Sure it is."  she moves in closer to me. "If you admit it, I might consider telling you where he is."

"Please. You wouldn't tell me either way."

Maxi crosses her arms and leans her hip to the side, then comes a shrug. "Maybe, maybe not." She doesn't look as angry as she did a few moments ago. In fact, there's now a coldness written on her face that's too frozen to disintegrate. There's just something about Maxi that just reads strange to me, like the fact that she hates my guts and all my other internal organs that I can't even name off of the top of my head. Her red-painted lips perk up and she licks her upper lip, those peculiar eyes drifting off to the side. "Look, if I knew where he was, I would-," she cuts off and then smiles. "No. No, not even then would I tell you. But what I will tell you is that he didn't tell any of us where he was going."

A slight furrow edges itself into my brow. "Really? He didn't even give some clue as to where he was going?"

"Nope. Not a thing."

I cling on to her answer and study every portion of it, not finding a bit of worry or surprise. "Well you don't seem so worried about him," I point out.

"Silas is a big boy, Rowen. He can take care of himself," Maxi exclaims a little more loudly. "On that note, I am a bit shocked that he didn't tell you. I was under the impression that you two were close."

Suddenly, our conversation is interrupted by the sound of Maxi's name. Both of us look to the direction the sound came from, and the source of the sound is heading straight for us.

Felix approaches us with a laptop under his arm, a bit out of breath. "Max, what the hell is the hold up? We all agreed that we were gonna meet at Foster's right after school."