CHAPTER TEN | GETTING BY WITH FRIENDS
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who would believe the fantastic and terrible story of our survival?
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When Bella arrived at school on Thursday, especially early so that they could start to plan the spring homecoming dance, Liz was waiting for her with a wide smile and latte in hand.
"This is for you," Liz said, pulling Bella into a hug. "I also got you a chocolate donut from Krispy Kreme."
"Starbucks and Krispy Kreme?" Bella said, biting her lip. "You must want something from me."
"No," Liz disagreed, hooking her arm around Bella's. "You're my best friend. I can see when you're not having the best of times. I know a latte and donut isn't gonna fix your depression, but any tiny spark of happiness is worth something, right?"
Bella felt like she was going to cry. She stopped and all but tackled Liz into a giant, bone crushing hug.
"You're the best friend I could ever ask for. I love you so much, Liz."
"I love you too," Liz said with a small laugh. "Oh, also, my parents told me to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night."
"That'll be a lot of fun," Bella agreed, running a hand through her hair. "I take it your dad is back from his business trip?"
"Yeah," Liz sighed. "He makes a ton of money, which is great, but he's never home. You know? I miss him a lot when he's gone. But enough of this sappy crap. You need to control the homecoming planning committee. Betty's trying to make it Avengers themed."
"Oh, I love Captain America and Nike!" Bella said with a slight grin. "Favorite crime fighting couple. Total goals."
"What about Poltergeist and Spider-Man?" Liz said, arching an eyebrow.
"No," Bella said, making a displeased face.
She liked Peter, not Spider-Man. If she was going to be a couple with someone, it was going to be Peter. She and Peter had almost kissed, like, five times. Bella bit down on her lip.
"Whatever, let's just plan this dance. I gotta get my mind off this depression bout. Hopefully, I'll be back to normal soon. I only had one emotional breakdown yesterday compared to my average of three per day," Bella told Liz.
At lunch that day, Bella felt happiness seeping back into her body. For a day in March, it was surprisingly warm, so she and her friends were sitting outside on the front steps eating. It was a nice moment, very peaceful.
Abby was going on about her Sweet Sixteen that she was planning for her birthday next month.
"My parents rented out the ballroom at The Winthrop," Abby said, her red painted lips pulled into a huge grin. "It's gonna be so elegant. Everybody needs to dress nicely. It will also be invitational only."
"Abs, maybe take it down a notch on the whole rich-bitch thing, maybe?" Marissa suggested.
Arden giggled and gave Marissa a fist-bump. Arden and Marissa's legs were tangled together and they were sitting very close. Bella locked eyes with Marissa and raised her eyebrows. Marissa flushed.
"Oh, Mar, you know our darling Abigail can't help but smear her privilege in the faces of everyone else," Cara sighed. "She's like Glinda before she became friends with Elphaba."
"Shut up," Abby scowled, crossing her arms. "I'll take you off the guest list."
"Then I'll crash," Marissa fired back.
The blonde rolled her eyes before continuing.
"Obviously, you guys can bring dates, but let me know soon so I can make sure the table for us is big enough."
Arden grinned and leaned forward.
"You don't need to set an extra place for me or Rissa," Arden said, biting her lip.
"Ah!" Liz squealed. "Finally!"
Bella leaned over and punched Marissa lightly on the am and sent her a wink.
"Glad we won't have to deal with your unresolved sexual tension anymore," Abby said with a hard stare, but a slight smile on her lips.
Abby took life a little too seriously, Bella had realized over their four years of friendship. Abby was also the last one to join their group of friends. Bella, Liz, Arden, Cara, and Marissa had known each other since the first grade and had been best friends ever since. Abby moved to their school in the seventh grade, and Bella had been the one to bring her in. Bella figured that Abby always felt a little left out, which was why she guarded herself with bitchy comments and rude glares.
"Well, speaking of unresolved sexual tension," Cara said with a smirk. "Are you gonna invite your little boy-toy, Bells?"
"He's not my boy-toy," Bella muttered, her cheeks heating up.
"Oh, but you wish he was," Liz sing-songed.
"Peter Parker?" Abby said with a frown. "You can do better than him. He's a scrawny geek."
"Abby, we're all geeks here. This is a school for people who excel in science," Arden said slowly, as if she were talking to a child.
Bella looked down at her hands, expecting them to still be covered in Uncle Ben's blood. The sound of the gunshot ricocheted through her brain, and she could hear Peter's sobs as he knelt over his uncle.
"I don't know," Bella muttered.
"Oh, come on!" Cara prodded. "You've told me all the time about how close you guys have come to kissing!"
Bella shut her eyes, feelings of guilt racking through her bones. She felt tears pool in her eyes, but she squeezed her eyelids tighter so that no tears would fall.
"Guys," Liz said in a quiet voice. "Come on, Bells."
Liz grabbed Bella by the hand and led her around the corner behind the building.
"Bells, what's up?" Liz asked. "Really. You can tell me anything, you know that."
"I can't do this anymore," Bella confessed, feeling her lips begin to tremble.
"Bella, you can't do what?" Liz asked, looking terrified.
In that moment, Bella made a decision that might have been terribly risky, but it was something she needed to do. If she was going to keep everything up, she needed her best friend. Bella grabbed Liz and teleported them to the top of the roof.
"Oh my God," Liz exclaimed, stumbling backwards. "How—how'd you do that?"
"I'm Poltergeist," Bella said.
As the words tumbled past her lips, she let out a loud laugh. It felt so good to say out loud, to tell someone. It was like a great weight was taken from her chest.
"And it's my fault that Peter's uncle is dead."
Liz stepped forward and hugged Bella once more.
"It is not your fault," Liz said. "This is crazy and unbelievable and I need you to tell me everything tonight, but I can say that with complete and total certainty. Peter's uncle dying was not your fault. You are not the one that pulled the trigger. That guy is in prison because of you. You can't let your survivor's guilt control your life, Bells."
Liz pulled away from the hug and looked Bella directly in the eyes.
"We're fifteen, Bells. You have these crazy powers, but you're fifteen. We're kids. We're not meant to be soldiers or warriors or heroes. You are a hero, but that doesn't mean you're not still a stupid kid in high school."
"I'm so scared, Liz," Bella confessed. "What if the next person that dies is you or Cara or Abby or Arden or Marissa or Peter or Alex? I can't let any more people die, Liz!"
Bella let out a loud groan and sat down, her back against the tall ledge along the roof. She gripped her hair at its roots and held her breath. Her therapist once said that in the moment of a panic attack, the best thing to do was to ground oneself.
Feel the weight of your body on the ground. Ground yourself. The world isn't spinning. You aren't dying. You are in control of yourself.
After a few minutes, Bella calmed down enough to look up at Liz.
"I'm okay," Bella said, noting to worried expression on Liz's face. "I'm fine."
Liz didn't look like she believed Bella, but she didn't argue. Without a word, Bella grabbed Liz and teleported them back to the ground.
"You were right." Bella told Liz at the end of the school day as they walked together to Bella's locker.
"What was I right about?" Liz asked, glancing up from her phone.
"That I can't let guilt control my life," Bella said, watching Peter open his locker next to hers. She bit her lip and turned to Liz. "I'll see you later tonight? I promise I'll explain everything."
"Okay, yeah," Liz nodded. "Bye, Bells."
Taking a deep breath, Bella pushed back her shoulders and walked towards her locker. As she got her jacket and necessary books out, she heard Peter and Ned mumbled something about Star Wars.
"You got this, Parsons," Bella whispered before shutting her locker loudly.
Both Peter and Ned jumped.
"Oh, hey, Bella," Peter said, smiling.
"Hi," Bella said, biting down on her bottom lip. "I actually wanted to ask you something, Peter."
"Yeah? What's up?"
"Are you free Saturday? There's this really cool exhibit on Pompeii opening at the Museum of Natural History and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."
Peter grinned and nodded. "Y-yeah, that would—would be awesome."
"Cool," Bella said. "It's a date."
As she turned and walked away, she could hear Ned yelling 'Dude!' at Peter. She giggled to herself and smiled widely.
Things were certainly looking up.
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the reference to captain america and wonder woman has to do with my story "echoes" which is a steve rogers fic. you should read it!
i'm not the biggest fan of this chapter, but it took me a long ass time to write so
-bleuseys