A heap of tissues and a bucket of tears later, I finally get a grip on myself. I wipe the last traces of the waterworks, stand up and turn towards Bella again. She eyes me warily, undoubtedly expecting me to start bawling again.
But I'm not planning to do that anytime soon.
Attempting a feeble grin on my face, I take her hand and pull her her along. She raises her brows quizzically, "Where are you taking me now?"
"The kitchen."
"But I'm not hungry."
"Neither am I, but there's someone I want you to meet."
"Who?" Bella inquires, following me down the spiralling stairs again. It takes her a bit of effort to match my pace, and I slow down so that she can catch up. "You never mentioned about your friends before. I didn't even know you had any."
"Well, I was not as friendless as you think." I grumble, slightly peeved at the fact that she thinks I was a loner. It was partly true, but it's not something I want to be known. "Nellie was a good friend of mine. Is." I correct myself at the end.
To be honest, I'm just trying to distract my thoughts from wandering back to Mom and my moments to her. Its only a matter of time before I succumb to tears again. It's happened once, and I don't want it to happen again. Ever.
"Mhmm." Bella hums in agreement as we approach the door.
I push it open and enter, with Bella tagging along not far behind. The strong aroma of freshly baked cake and pudding invades my nostrils and I pause for a moment to inhale the goodness.
Boy, I had forgotten Nellie's cooking skills.
My thoughts are interrupted when a familiar voice speaks up. "I thought you'd come back here. Missed me?"
A grin climbs up my face when I find her standing before me, hands on her hips. A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips. In spite of the slight awkwardness, her posture is warm and welcoming. The awkwardness has obviously everything to do with the disappearing act I pulled two years ago.
"Of course I did!" In three strides, I envelop her in a warm embrace. "I thought about you a lot while I was away."
She hugs me back with equal enthusiasm. "That's good. I had the guillotine ready in case you had forgotten me."
I chuckle softly. "I missed your sarcasm."
"And I missed you." She mumbles, refusing to let go. "You look quite pretty now."
Pulling away, my grin morphs into a mischievous one."Are you telling me I didn't look pretty two years ago?"
"Well...." She pretends to ponder over, earning a shove from me.
"Don't you dare finish that line!"
"All right," she surrenders, "But you know, a little warning would have been nice."
She's referring to my sudden disappearance again, and the smile slides off my face. "I'm sorry Nellie, but his rejection was to painful to handle. I had to get away from him. Focus on myself."
"I get it." Nellie sympathizes, stroking my shoulder comfortingly. "No one is blaming you. At least not me." She adds after a thought.
I frown at the underlying meaning behind her words. "Who blamed me then?"
Nellie squirms uncomfortably. "Er.. no one. No one at all."
My suspicions change into certainty. "Who, Nellie?"
"Would you like to have some cake?" She asks me hurriedly, thrusting a plate of creamy goodness into my hands. "I baked them today and I know you love them."
I frown at her feeble attempt at changing the topic, but let it go.
"Are you trying to fatten me up, Nellie?" I ask instead, narrowing my eyes at her. "Just so you know, fatty Kiara still looks sexy."
Before Nellie can reply, Bella who was standing behind me, clears her throat subtly.
"Oh right." I mutter sheepishly giving her an apologetic look. "Bella, meet Nellie, my friend. And Nellie," I turn to the girl in the the apron now, "This is Bella, Ashton's sister."
Bella gives the girl a dazzling grin and steps up to shake her hand. "Hi, I've heard so much about you over the years. This one wouldn't shut up about you."
As the conversation proceeds, Nellie warms up to her quickly. Bella has a magnetic personality—down to earth and funny and wise, all at the same time.
"So how's everything going lately?" She asks casually. "From what I heard, the Dark Wolf Pack seems to going through some major internal crisis?"
Nellie only laughs, wiping her hands in her apron. "Kind of, yeah. Alpha Aden and his father have been been butting heads ever since he came to power."
This ass, what is he doing now?
"Oh, it's nothing wrong." Nellie adds hastily, watching the expression on my face sour. "He had the Omega quarters refurnished with all the facilities a regular member has. He even granted us permission to train along with the rest of the pack an hour a day if we wish. In fact, he personally oversees the training because he suspects his Beta is still his father's puppet."
"Right." I roll my eyes. "I can totally imagine that misogynistic shithead doing good for anyone beneath him."
Nellie blinks. "Misogynistic? If anything, it was his father who was misogynistic not him." She pauses uncertainly. "Look, I can't say much about his personal life because he keeps himself isolated most of the time, but I do know professionally he's doing his best to grant us equal rights. That's more than I could have dreamed of before he became the Alpha. I know I called him shithead years ago, but that was when I thought he was pathetic and didn't give a rats ass about us."
"You must think I'm crazy. But you see these muscles?" She flexes and I see her slim tanned arms peeking through. Her face brightens as she talks about the matter she's passionate about. "I'm doing regular weightlifting to increase my strength and I even run three miles to build my stamina. The other Omegas aren't as receptive to change because they're still think Jason was right about omegas being restricted to domestic duties only, so Alpha Aden is having a hard time encouraging them to learn self defence."
Bella and I shoot each other silent looks.
We had gotten news that the training of the Dark Wolves was more rigorous than ever, but we hadn't been informed their Omegas were permitted as well.
Looks like Aden had taken a leaf out of Ashton's book after all.
"Never mind all that though," Nellie laughs weakly. "That's all old Dark Wolf drama. A lot of it is still the same. Jason has always been a piece of shit ill-treating people below him and Aden just has a hard time changing old mentalities. But I'm glad I can train!"
I watch as a faint blush colours her cheeks.
Bella snaps her fingers, "Freaking Selene, you have a crush!"
On Aden? I stiffen on instinct.
"Not Aden." She swats me off, clearly having heard me through the mind-link. "She has a crush on someone she's training with. It's so obvious."
The blush turns deeper. Way deeper.
"Just drop it, okay?" She mumbles, hiding her face between her hands. "It's no one in particular. It's just—just that warriors usually tend to workout shirtless and that kind of motivates me to go there everyday? Ah shit, I do care about exercise though! I do!" She cringes when she catches the expression on our faces.
"Uh huh."
"Fuck y'all. Warriors are my type and I have hormones. There, now everyone knows my darkest secret!"
Bella bursts into laughter and I follow soon after. Before either of us can form a coherent response to this bizarre outburst, we hear footsteps approaching us.
I freeze, my laughter dying midway.
My world suddenly topples over in a whole different direction as the strong smell of Chanel wafts up my nose and shuts down my senses.
"Hey Nellie!" A overly girlish voice interrupts our conversation.
Nellie's face drops. "Yes?"
"Did you make the medicine I had asked you to this morning? And hey-" she pauses for a moment, "Who are these new people?"
Spinning on my heel, I turn to face her. All traces of the previous humour vanish from my face as I meet a pair of blue eyes which widen considerably at the sight of me.
You'd think all these years, would have reduced the clawing fear, the hate for her; that after all this time, I would have become indifferent and cold.
Unfortunately, you couldn't have been more wrong. This werewolf who stands before me right now, inspires such hatred in me, that would even shock the most bitterest person in the world.
"Kiara Evergreen, is this you!?"
Yes it's me, alright, and you are currently that one person who is right on top of my hit list.
"Yes, Nicole Sanders. This is me, Kiara. In the flesh."
The girl continues to blink in disbelief. "Oh."
The silence that follows is thick with tension and awkwardness. Nellie's eyes rivet between the two of us apprehensively. Bella has an confused look on her face.
"You never told me you had Nicole Sanders as your friend." Bella breaks the ice between us, cocking her head from side to side. Whether she's being sarcastic or not, I cannot determine.
"She's not my friend." I say almost as soon as Nicole replies, "Kiara's not my friend."
"Oh."
The smile doesn't reach my eyes. "Long time no see."
"Er.. yeah."
I raise my eyebrows at her daring her to go on. But she doesn't.
"You look happy." I remark casually, "You must have enjoyed snatching things that aren't yours."
She blanches at my implication. "Kiara, I-"
"Don't bother denying it." I cut her off. "You two deserve each other."
Bitterness and anger rolls off me in giant waves. It doesn't matter that I'm a Luna now. The second I come here, I'm reminded why I would never amount to anything.
This place. These people—I have nightmares about them.
Stella might've become Luna, but Aden still saw the need to whore around on the side.
"It's not like that."
"Like I said. Don't bother."
"No, I'm with—"
That's when I finally lose it."Don't you dare say his name in front of me!" I snarl at her, my eyes flashing and nostrils flaring. "Don't fucking mention him through your filthy mouth!"
"Kiara!" Nellie and Bella gasp simultaneously at my loud voice, and to my immense satisfaction I see Nicole has lost her composure too.
She gulps visibly and takes a step backward, intimidated by me. "I'm sorry."
I snort skeptically. "Don't say things you don't mean, Nicole. Politeness doesn't suit you."
Years. For years, this girl treated me like scum. Like dirt under her shoe.
She bullied me, turned everyone against me and made my life miserable. It's because of her that I have to work so hard on my self-confidence.
Aden's pack broke me in every possible way, but now, looking at her...
Tears well up her eyes. Her lips quiver. Clearly, she wasn't used to people standing up to her. But then, she's a fool to expect anything else from me.
I take in her appearance as I inch closer. She, on the other hand, turns paler and paler with each passing moment.
Her face seems a bit bloated and puffed up. There's a slight flush in her cheeks and glow in her eyes. She isn't wearing much make up anymore and seems to have grown out of her fashionably scanty clothing.
I was beaten for my choice of dresses. Mocked in public for being me.
She was adored for it.
Aden might have never raised his hand against me, but he was too much of a coward to stop his father and his girlfriend while they took turns making my life miserable.
"Let her go, Kiara." Nellie tells me softly, her fingers tug at my hand, restraining me when I turn back towards her in surprise. "You wouldn't want to upset her; not this time."
Scorned. Humiliated. The old memories resurface the longer she stands in front of me.
"Why not!?" I snap, "Changed sides now, have you?"
She narrows her eyes at me, annoyed. "You're stupid if you think I've forgotten what she did to you. And just so you remember in the future, I was always on your side."
My eyes once again travel back to my potential victim as she lurks indecisively in the corner. Her eyes snap back and forth between Nellie and me and she stiffens when she finds me staring back.
"Well, what are you here for?" I question, folding my arms across my chest.
"For medicine." She replies. She casts Nellie a sidelong glance who hands her the bottle she asked for without a fuss.
"What's that for?" I ask when Nicole finally leaves the room.
Gone are the days, when she catwalked through the school corridors in her deathtrap Louboutins. Right now, I wouldn't be able to differentiate between her and a pumpkin in Hello Kitty slippers.
Unable to look away, I watch with curiosity at the new version of Nicole Sanders retreat the kitchen as quick as her legs permit.
Nellie shoots me an odd look before resuming her work. "Can you stop glaring at her? The last thing I want is to clear up the cranky mess she makes."
"Whoa," I ask in surprise, "She cries now? I always thought it was the other way round."
"Girl, you have no idea."
Bella who is currently sitting on top of the table, and chewing on a cupcake snorts as she looks at Nellie. "Tell me about it. She can be so dense at times."
Why do I have a feeling I'm missing something here?
Nellie shakes her head at me. "You still haven't understood. Why on earth do you think I'm being nice to her when I actually want to feed her flesh to the vultures?"
"Er.." I muse, "May be you are a genuinely nice person?"
She facepalms and looks over at Bella for help. I'm actually peeved to realize that the two have bonded so quickly over something that is totally beyond my knowledge.
"It's as clear as day."
I growl at the pair of them in annoyance. Honestly, their taunts are getting on my nerves. "Just spit it out already."
Bella just chuckles and continues to eat the cupcake. Nellie on the other hand looks like I am a giraffe who just escaped the zoo.
"Kiara, my dumb little sweetheart, Nicole Sanders is pregnant."
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Edited: 29/3/21