She was the girl who was afraid of love. Terrified of it. It isn't permanent, she believed, it leaves you and it leaves you broken.
He was the boy who desperately needed it. Love--the only thing that could've rooted him to this world.
Ophelia and...
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“I'm going to Nora's for a sleepover,” I announced over dinner a few days later.
I didn't usually go over Nora's for sleepovers. The last sleepover we both had together, that I could remember, was when we were kids. When I hadn't pushed my only potential best friend away from me, and when she hadn’t left me for the school’s stereotypical popularity.
It had been Tara, surprisingly, who suggested a sleepover. Steph agreed to it right after since it was a great way for us to come up with ideas for the fundraising art festival. Nora didn't mind either since she loved sleepovers. So I agreed too. A great way for some distraction.
Besides, I had a feeling Nora wouldn’t have let me off the hook so easily if I refused the idea of a sleepover. She was already suspecting, I think, especially after our little talk in the library. I didn't think it was a big deal that I was having trouble falling asleep for the past month. Or at least I was trying not to make it a big deal. But if I told Nora, I knew she'd make it a big deal.
I was fine, wasn't I?
“A sleepover?” Dad spoke up, raising a brow in question, right when Mum placed the salad dish on the table.
“You haven't had a sleepover in ages,” Mum added.
Our family dinners were one thing that I think I looked forward to ever since I was a kid. Mainly because everyone was here. Mum, Dad, Helen, Mason, and I. A lively atmosphere in our cosy little home. Warm spicy smells wafted from the kitchen as Mum brought out the dishes. The usual banter between Mason, Helen and I. It was a time where we all were together. Like a perfect family.
Not Luce though, I reminded myself. Luce wasn’t here.
Perhaps that was another one of the reasons I didn’t feel as happy as I did during these family dinners. Tiny little reasons. Luce wasn’t here like she used to be. Mum and Dad didn’t love each other anymore. I was having nightmares about my dead boyfriend. Mason came crying into my bed almost every night now when he heard Mum and Dad fighting downstairs. Helen was turning into an even bitchier sister, spending hours outside, doing God knows what, even when she had her semester starting in a few weeks. Dad was getting even busier in his work. Mum and I were growing apart too. I didn’t give her my morning hugs anymore. She didn’t come up to my room every night to check up on me either. Everything was falling apart. I was falling apart.
So much was wrong, yet everyone acted like it was all fine.
Fake. We were pretending.
“She would if she had friends.” That was Helen.
“I have friends.” I passed her a glare. “That's why I'm going to a sleepover, Helen.”
Mason snickered and got a whack on the back of his head by none other than you-know-who.
