Fooling Ourselves

Prologue: How It Happened...

I was fifteen when it happened. My brother, being a year older than me, somehow felt he was wiser and that I wouldn't understand so he never really told me the details of the incident. I knew he should have talked to me about it because he was hurting, but being the obedient sister I am, I never pushed it. Jace never spoke about that day again. He only told me I was never to speak to him again. 

But I knew he was hurt, I mean, they were best friends and the fact that his name was banned from the house meant Jace took it to heart. Dylan Martin. Even the name gave me chills. I was never allowed to say it. I was prohibited from speaking or even looking in his direction. I remember the day my brother gave me my first warning. It was right after the fight.

"Dude slow down!" Dylan called after my brother who had stormed into the house interrupting my television show.

"Shut up!" Jace barked and ran upstairs to his room. I could hear him searching for something.

"What's going on?" it had been my first words uttered to Dylan because even though him and my brother were best friends since high school, I rarely interacted with him. He looked beyond shock to hear me speak too. His eyes had directly met mine for the first time ever and that was when I had first discovered the colour of them. They were a deep brown, almost appearing black. Even though that should have scared me, I was intrigued by it and for some reason I found it beautiful. He hadn't answered me for a while and we just stared at each other, lost in the moment, completely.

"Your brother is being a drama queen," he shrugged and finally replied to me.

"Don't talk to my sister. Don't even look at her!" Jace warned coming back down the stairs and pushed a box with some stuff, mostly game items and a couple shirts, into Dylan's chest causing him to stumble a little, "Leave!"

"Dude you're honestly being ridiculous," he said sounding annoyed.

"Those are all your stuff. You have them back. Now leave," Jace said in a dangerously low voice.

"Jace, you're being extra-"

"Get out of my house," Jace growled before attacking his best friend.

Before I knew it, Jace punched Dylan in the jaw and he fell on the ground but quickly got up and pushed Jace into the wall causing a picture frame to fall and smash. I finally jumped up, groaning in the process, and walked over to Dylan who was punching my brother in the face. I pushed him away from Jace and stood protectively in front of my brother.

"Get away from him! How dare you come into our house and fight my brother? I think you should leave," I told him and the shock and hurt look on his face almost broke my heart but he got up and wiped the blood from his mouth anyway.

"You know what? I don't need this," he stated cockily and walked out. My brother and I watched him slam the door on his way out.

"Stay away from him Skylar. I don't want you anywhere near him. He's bad news. Don't talk to him ever," my brother warned before climbing up the stairs leaving me confused. I decided to follow him after a couple of seconds and found him lying down on his bed staring at the ceiling.

"What was that about?" I asked leaning against the door way.

"I don't want to talk about it," he stated simply.

"I think you should," I encouraged him.

"Just leave it Skye," he told me.

"No! I want to know why I had to part a fight between you and your best friend."

"We're not best friends anymore. We will never be friends again. Dylan Martin is nothing better than the scum on the bottom of my shoes and you are to stay far away from him," he growled.

"But why?"

"Go away!" he shouted.

I thought it was best to leave him alone and talk later but I never got back to it and he never brought it up. Anytime we got close to talking about it, he would just warn me and walk away so eventually I gave up. 

I thought it would blow over and that they would make up but he held a grudge. They never spoke again and they indeed became enemies. They kept separate groups and rarely mixed friends. It was sad for me to watch but there was nothing I could do. Instead, I focused on school and worked hard until I eventually skipped a grade so I was in the same year group as my brother.

Being in the same year group as Jace only made him more protective of me so when I started getting love notes in my locker I didn't tell him because he would kill the poor guy. I didn't tell him either that Dylan would always stare at me during lunch or if we had similar classes, in the hall or after and before school and just every opportunity he got. I had eventually gotten used to it but I just prayed for his sake, he never spoke to me.