Chapter 40 : The Happening
I stared down at my phone impatiently. I was waiting; waiting for the familiar ding signalling a new text, but...
Nothing.
He was ignoring me. It was plainly obvious now.
Zachary Stanley wasn't talking to me and I had no idea why.
Was it me? Did I do something to make him hate me? I couldn't remember doing anything that would give him a reason to be upset with me unless...
Alastair?
I scoffed. Of course not. He wouldn't have said anything.
Maybe, as much as I detested the idea, the only reason we were friends in the first place was because of our mutual connection to Brianna. It made sense, didn't it? Ever since she had left Zac had made less and less of an effort to talk to me.
Perhaps I was jumping the gun, looking at it from the wrong angle, over-thinking it, but if that did turn out to be the case, the reason he was distancing himself from me, then I supposed I didn't have the right to act so surprised. From the beginning it had always been Zac and Bri. Only those two. Wherever one went, the other followed. Okay, maybe that rule only applied to Zac. Brianna never seemed to care what he did. If he got annoying, she simply ignored him and continued with her everyday life.
They were neighbours and childhood friends. The complete compatible duo. And I, well... I sort of just wedged myself between the two. Their busy, dramatic lives were a distraction to my own. I didn't have the time to think about there being no mom or dad waiting for me back home whenever I was with them, and for that I was grateful. So considering all that I guess there was no real reason for Zac to stick by me if there was no added bonus of Brianna.
It'd been months since she left. I started to think she might never be coming back. It sounded like it too; that day she disappeared with a lost look in her brown eyes.
The thought hurt. A lot, actually, when I thought of Zac distancing himself because Brianna was no longer in the equation, and might not ever be again. Because it wasn't just one friend that I lost, but both. I really trusted him. But as the lack of replied texts would suggest, as well as those awkward encounters at school whenever we'd bump into each other, Zac didn't want anything to do with me. Not now anyway.
What if he had found out about us? I panicked, suddenly sitting up straight. The fountain behind me sprayed a mist of cool water across the back of my head. What if he was just staying away because he was scared he'd get sucked dry?
I scoffed again. Doubtful, Nikki. Very doubtful.
"Anyway," I huffed, flicking the texts over to another contact and shivering at the goosebumps popping up along my arms. I snuggled into my furry jacket. "Hasn't her shift finished already...?"
According to the forecast the weather was supposed to be heating up. But if anything, I was only feeling the cold more. Alastair was right when he called me thin the other night; I could feel the wind blow right through me. That's why I was doused with layers of clothing as I waited outside the shopping centre, which, although was undercover was still not out of the wind's path.
I tapped my phones screen absently as my mind began to wander. Ever since Alastair had commented on my weight I began to notice all sorts of changes about myself. And not only physically. I realised how unsatisfying human food was becoming to me. It was blander and didn't seem to give me all the nutrition I needed like before. I was growing thinner, weaker, and if I was right, the substance my body was truely craving was the one I kept refusing.
Reeling in my thoughts, I began to type a new text when a light tap on my shoulder made me jump. I craned my head back, blue gaze falling on a pair of emerald green eyes.
"Sorry. The boss kept me back," Chloe said in a rush, rounding the cement ledge to sit beside me. "Been waiting long?"
I took in her short brown hair cut just above her shoulders. It had a soft wave to it, and the dark brown colour had a reddish hue in the sunlight. Pulling myself to my feet I gave her a smile. "A little. I'm pretty sure my toes are icicles by now but that's okay."
She clapped her hands together. "Sorry! You should have just waited inside then. Why didn't you?"
"Well..." I peeked over my shoulder at the bustling shopping centre. There are too many witnesses if something were to go wrong, was what I really wanted to say but instead settled with, "I just didn't think I'd be waiting that long."
She laughed and shook her head, grabbing my hand and carrying the both of us away from the shops. With our arms linked a feeling of nostalgia settled over me.
It might have hurt to loose the friends I thought would always surround me but I guessed that was just how life went. And there was nothing stopping me from liking Chloe. She was fun, had been since the first day I met her. She had a bubbly air about her and always smiled, and I really liked her for that.
"So what are we doing?" I asked, following her along the sidewalk in a part of the neighbourhood I hardly visited. "In your text this morning you said you needed my help with something...?"
Chloe bit her bottom lip and nodded. "Yeah. So I moved here not too long ago, maybe four months ago now? Something like that. Anyway, I didn't know anyone, my dad got offered a job so he took it and the next thing I knew we had moved from the city to this tiny place."
"I can actually see you as a city chick," I cut in with a laugh.
Chloe had chipmunk cheeks and whenever she'd smile her freckled cheeks would bulge cutely. "I had to leave all my friends behind," she continued, "it hurt, and ugh, talk about the frustration of signing into a new school only to find out they don't cater for half the courses I took in the city! Something about not having the resources... I dunno."
"Yeah," I agreed. "My English class is the biggest its ever been and it only has 19 students this year, and it was actually my best friend Brianna who got the lowest..." I trailed off when I realised what I was saying.
"Now see? That's just unheard of where I come from," Chloe said. "Anyway, I was really happy when you and Zac came into the store that day. You're pretty cool, Nik, and — oh my god, I didn't even notice your hair! You dyed it fully black!"
I glanced down at my shoulders, confused for a second as to her sudden outburst before rolling my eyes. "No, no. It's not completely black," I said and tugged my hair out of the collar of my jacket where I'd stuffed it down my back from curious onlookers.
"Oh." She said and inclined her head to the side. "I'm so confused. Why dye the top and not the bottom?"
"I, uh, thought it would look cool this way?"
She stared at me for a longest time before shrugging. "Whatever. I guess it's cool if you can pull it off."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Saying I don't look good with it?"
She pulled her arm from mine and held her hands up in surrender. "No, not at all! I just meant you, erm, I mean —"
I sputtered out a laugh. "Calm down, Chloe, it's fine. I was only jo..." the mobile in my hand dinged, drawing my attention to the screen and the text that'd popped up on it, "...king."
Saturday 1:19 pm
Zac
Sorry, busy.
I frowned down at his message before another one came through.
Saturday 1:20 pm
Zac
But have fun and say hi for me.
I wasn't surprised Zac's answer was a no for meeting up today. But at least he bothered to respond at all, Nikki.
"What's wrong?"
I switched off my phone and returned my blue gaze to Chloe's, giving her a tight smile. "Zac says hi."
She smiled cutely. "Aww, how cute."
"I was hoping he would come along today but he couldn't make it."
Chloe squeezed my arm. "Thanks, but you can stop trying to put us together. I kind of took it as a no when he ran away last time."
I breathed through my teeth. "Yeah... He's a bit messed up over another girl."
"She must be something to get him to look her way."
I nodded. "She was."
"Right, gotcha."
The awkwardness settled back in. "Sorry, it's, uh, it's his childhood friend actually."
"Oh." Chloe said. "But by the sounds of it they're not a couple." It wasn't a question but I could tell she was expecting some sort of answer.
"She... got upset when he kissed her a while back," I said after some time.
Chloe stopped dead in her tracks. "A kiss?!" She screeched. "She's upset over one lousy kiss?!"
"Yep. All this, because of one lousy kiss."
But I knew it wasn't.
Brianna's always been in denial about her feelings, unsure as to whether Zac loved her the same way she did. And that insecurity stemmed from the fact she was immortal and Zac being, well, indefinitely mortal. She didn't want to be selfish and ask Zac to stay by her side forever, because deep down she knew he would agree in a heartbeat, just like her mother did for her father. And that meant Zac watching the only people he'd ever cared about die of old age while he lived on.
Myself included. Brianna couldn't wait five more seconds before running off overseas to let me explain about her altered memories and everything she thought I was to be a misconception. She thought I was human, and that I would one day leave her just like Zac. That single kiss shattered the perfect world she thought she would always have and for Bri, that was too much to bare.
She was a runner. She would run as fast and hard as her legs would carry her as long as it meant she didn't have to face the real issue. And she would probably always be that way.
"Are you sure she likes him back?" Chloe pressed.
I nodded. "I've never been more sure about something. She just doesn't like to admit things."
The conversation fell away shortly after that and we swapped to talking about her earlier life in the city. I'd never been anywhere else except here. My life began in this small town and I was perfectly content with it remaining this way until the day I died... which, when I thought about, may need to be reconsidered. Spending ten thousands years in the same place sounded a little claustrophobic.
With Chloe's endless chatter, the walk didn't take that long. In no time she was holding open the door to her double story home and leading me quickly up the stairs to her enormous room after an embarrassing attempt to introduce me to her mother who we found hanging half off the sofa in the living room snoring away.
As it turns out she needed help with some paperwork to enrol in a extra curricular course outside of school. I was glad to help, and she more than relieved when I knew what to do to fill in the documents.
The time passed quickly. Before I knew it the light was beginning to fade from the sky. Alastair hadn't made a single surprise entrance the whole time I'd been with Chloe either, which I was extremely grateful for.
So I might have snuck out of the house this morning without telling him my plans because he would have stopped me and yes, okay, I was aware it was a dangerous decision considering my mental state these last couple of weeks but I'd been feeling great lately, full of energy and not a single dizzy spell, and there was no chance I would ever hurt Chloe. Plus, I needed some fresh air and what better excuse to leave when someone was actually calling for me?
It wasn't technically a whole lie though. I had left him a note. That had to account for something, right? I would of texted him, if he bothered to get a phone.
That reminded me, I should really teach him the importance of technology nowadays. Introduce him to eBooks maybe.
"Okay, so now you just have to attach and a reference and you're done!" I said in triumph, lounging back on her pillows as we sat butterfly-legged on her king's sized bed. I'd removed my furry jacket, left sitting in a comfortable blue floral dress and black leggings. A small heater sat a few meters off blowing hot air across us.
On one side of the room a small brown leather sofa sat, a glass coffee table in front and a gorgeous painting behind, and to the other side glass doors led off to a small but quaint balcony with railings that looked like they were hand crafted. Forget the walk in wardrobe, Chloe had a beautiful oakwood vanity with mirrors to capture every angle of her beauty and matched her bed frame and side tables to a T. On the wall opposite of us a 55' smart TV was mounted on the wall, fake pot plants nestled on the cabinet below for aesthetic pleasure.
Safe to say her family was well established. Why she bothered to work in retail, or at all, I failed to understand, and I didn't bother to ask.
"Do you think a principal's recommendation letter will do?" She asked.
I resisted the urge to groan. Sweet, pretty and incredibly smart. How perfect could one person be? I never got any letters home, maybe one or two for misconduct when Brianna and I would spend all class gossiping instead of paying attention in history but that's as good as it got. And I didn't strive to get too many of those either.
"A principal's reference is probably the best you could get," I scoffed.
She grinned sheepishly. "Oh." She began to rifle through the stack of papers spread unceremoniously between us. It ruined the exemplary state of the rest of her room. "Ugh, where is it?" she mumbled to herself in agitation, sitting up properly and flicking through the mess.
"Wait, is that it?" I said, jumping in and snatching the papers back as she did the same. Next thing I knew, Chloe was letting out a shrill yelp and withdrawing her hand. "What?"
She was clutching her hand tightly to her chest. "You cut me!" She exclaimed, her voice laced with incredible laugher. Slowly she peeled her hand open to inspect the paper cut, the palm of her left hand washed in bright red. "Okay, it's really bleeding," she chuckled nervously, gripping her hand again.
"I'm so sorry!" I gushed, jumping out of bed and searching her room for a box of tissues.
"There's a cloth in the bathroom," she said quickly, crawling off the bed awkwardly as she tried not to spill any blood on her white sheets or plush carpet. "It's fine, I'll get it."
"No, I will." I raced off into the bathroom before she had a chance to, returning with a soft washcloth. I went to throw it at her in panic, I really did, but at the last second I...
Froze.
A/N: HEY GUYS! Long time no... update? I wonder whose fault that is hahha..ha...
I have another chapter ready to go guys. Double update or nah????
Published 9/4/18