Chapter 5
(Summer's Point of View)
I flopped down on Deanna's neon orange bed, cradling my soda in my hand, careful not to spill it on her poka-dot carpet. "That movie," I exclaimed. "Was the best I've ever seen!"
Deanna laughed as she flopped down next to me. "You say that about every movie you ever see!" She said with a grin, and grinned back at her. "Nuh-uh. Remember that one horror movie, with the guy and the girl and the dog?"
Deanna looked at me. "Oh... but that one was awful." She exclaimed. "It doesn't count." And I laughed. Only Deanna would know what I was talking about with that little information and description. It was good to have my best-friend back, thank goodness for Starbucks and chick-flicks.
"Alright, alright," I soothed, with a smirk, "It doesn't count... you sore loser!" Deanna sat up straight, with a glare at me she said, "Take that back."
"Never." I hissed grabbing a pillow and tossing it at her. She shrieked and grabbed the closest pillow to her and threw that at me. I ducked, and rolled off the bed. Hearing the springs creak under Deanna's weight, I tried to remain as quiet as possible, as I snatched a pillow off the floor.
Crawling under the bed, I dragged the pillow along with me. "Got you!" I heard Deanna cry, the bed squeak with her sudden movement, then confused silence as she asked, "Summer? Where'd you go?"
I crawled around to the other side of the bed, coming out from under it, took the pillow and raised it above my head. I was about to drop it straight down on her when my eyes flickered to the digital clock on her bedside table, and I shrieked in horror.
Deanna flipped around onto her back and tossed the pillow at me. "Gottacha!" She cried out with a smug grin that faded to a frown when she saw my horrified expression. "What?"
"The time!" I cried, dropping the pillow and quickly grabbing for my stuff and shoving it back into my bag, locating things around the room. "I have to go!" Deanna continued to frown at me as I struggled with my shoes.
"Why?" Deanna asked suddenly, and I stopped tugging at the shoe and looked at her. "Remember what today is? Dinner with Max's parents?" I said slowly, as if this whole thing were obvious.
Which it was.
Deanna's frown grew even deeper. "You're gonna go?" She asked, kicking her legs over the side of the bed, then standing up placing her feet on the ground. I just looked at her like she had two heads as she towered over my floppy shoe and me. "Of course I'm going to go," I told her, "you understand just as well as I do, I don't have a choice."
"No." Deanna said with a shake of her head, "I don't understand as well as you do, I understand better." Not in the mood for this, I continued to pull on my shoe. "How so?" I asked through gritted teeth, as I tried to shove my foot into the top of the footwear.
"Because I say you do have a choice." My foot finally slid in with a little whoosh, and I grinned, almost feeling like applauding myself when Deanna asked, "Are you even listening?"
"Uh, yeah." I said as I stood up looking for my bag, which Deanna lifted up from beside her bed with one hand. I grinned as I reached for it, my mouth parted with the beginning of a 'Thank you' when Deanna yanked it away from my outstretched fingers. "Hey!" I cried out.
"You want this?" She asked, shaking the bag by its straps with her hand. I nodded, and she glared at me, "Then LISTEN to me Summer." I let out a little sigh, and turned my eyes to her in a sign that I was listening.
"You have a choice Summer." Deanna said, again. I had heard her say it the first time, and just declined to answer. I didn't have a choice, and if she didn't get that by now, she never would.
"Deanna..." I said, my eyes dragging over to the clock, "I have to go." I brought my eyes back for a longing stare at my bag, which Deanna still wouldn't give back to me. "You don't have to." She said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Yes," I tried to explain, as gently as I could, "I do. I don't have a choice, Max's parents are coming tonight."
"So if they weren't coming, you wouldn't go?" Deanna snapped, her eyes glittering with unmasked furry. I blinked. I had never seen Deanna so mad, and I decided to choose my words carefully.
"Well no..."
"Exactly!" Deanna cried, and I flinched. Obviously, I hadn't chosen my words carefully. "Deanna," I softly trying calm her, "it's OK."
"No it's not okay!" Deanna shrieked. "You know it yourself, you have a choice, and you're... you're..." she looked up at the ceiling as though the answers might be spelled out there for only her to see, and maybe it was, for when she lowered her head the fire was gone and in a whisper she said, "You're making the wrong one."
I let out a sigh. "Deanna," I said quietly, my eyes downcast. "I've made a lot of wrong choices... what's one more going to hurt?"
"It's already hurting you." Deanna said softly, and I looked up at her questioningly. She looked at me, and with a sigh of her own, said at regular volume, "Ten bucks says when you walk out of here, you're going to walk like a prisoner who's heading to their death."
I glowered at her, "Am not." Not now. I'd make sure to have an extra skip in my step, just for her to see. I didn't know she'd had noticed that kind of thing, I had to be more careful.
"Not now that I've told you." Deanna spat back, plopping the bag down on the bed, she crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm not doing this to be mean," she said, gesturing at the bag with a quick head jerk, "I'm doing this because I'm worried about you."
Her voice grew soft as she said, "Summer, the only thing I can think of that's worse than losing you, is seeing you lose yourself."
"I am not losing myself!" I cried out, and Deanna yelled back, "Yes you are! When did ever fight over stupid things like this, before you started dating Max? WHEN?"
I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. My mind was blank. When had we last fought like this? When had we started to fight like this? When I started dating Max and only then.
"Max," Deanna continued, "brings out the worst in you. He brings out the worst in me with a slight brush of the shoulders and you've had to breathe in that toxic air of his for YEARS! And look what it's done to you! You lost Molly as a friend, you have a short temper and... and... you're not happy anymore."
That last part made me look up at her. "I'm happy!" I tried to console her, but the words came out sounding fake and forced, which was exactly what they were.
Deanna shook her head with a faint smile. "Summer, I'm not your best friend for nothing. The smiles you give your family, the kids at school, even me... they're all fake. But..." Deanna trailed off softly, her head twisting around, as she looked out the window behind her, behind the headboard of her bed.
"But what?" I asked, and it seemed like forever before Deanna finally turned her head back around and looked at me with serious eyes. "You're not going to like this, because you were never one to take chances but... this is good for you, so I need you to at least consider it."
"OK." I would consider it; I owed Deanna that much with all I put her through. She swallowed nervously, before she parted her lips and said, "Summer, accept Will's offer, please."
"What?" I said, taken back for a moment about how she knew about starbucks. "Do what he said at lunch, break up with Max, and go out with him." I blinked. Oh, lunch.
"Please Summer, do it. I think the reason Max hates Will so much, is because he knows, like everyone, that... that smile you gave Will, it was real! He makes you happy for some unknown reason, when so little does. Go out with him. I miss my best friend." Deanna babbled on, and I could feel tears prick my eyes.
Is that what Max had driven me to? Deanna to? Asking me to go out with another player for the only chance of my happiness? I hated him, and one day Max would pay. He would.
But not today.
"I'll think about it... but seriously Deanna I have to go." I said pointing at the bag. Deanna uncrossed her arms, and gingerly passed it to me. As I stood up and walked towards the door, Deanna called out after me, "Summer?"
"Yeah?"
"Did anything I just said to you have any affect at all?" Her voice sounded so desperate, and it was then that I realized I was lucky to have a friend like her who cared so much.
I turned around, my hand resting on the cold metal doorknob as I turned to her, "Only time will tell..." I trailed off, twisting the doorknob, pulling the door open so I could step outside.
"Oh and Summer," Deanna called after me, and I turned around once more, "Yeah?"
She hesitated, and then her voice came strong and clear, "I didn't call him Mr. Right, to be funny or by coincidence. I didn't say that, to cheer you up. I meant it Summer. So don't be stupid and let him get away ok?"
I stood frozen for a moment, my head felt like it was pounding, I couldn't think straight, and maybe that was why I quietly whispered, "I won't."
It was quiet enough, that Deanna could only ask, "What?" But I didn't answer her; I just walked out the door, head held high, into the battlefield of relationships and high school, with a skip in my step just for her to see.
<End of Chapter 5>
No chapter 5.5 because nothing I have to say from either of their POVS is important to the plot, thus I would be babbling. Anyways, there's more coming hopefully soon, because this chapter was supposed to be longer, but then I thought I'd just cut it off here because that's a better ending.
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Faerie_Writer