Playing with Fire

e p i s o d e | t w e n t y - f o u r (pt. 1)

I stand abruptly from my desk, pushing my chair behind me. A thousand needles pierce my heart when I see Val's expression of betrayal. I had no idea that she'd be able to express so much hurt on her face, but the look she's giving me right now is enough to pierce my soul. She visibly swallows, her lip trembling.

"Val," I say in a hushed voice. "Val, I'm so sorry."

She shakes her head and takes a step away from me. "I trusted you. You knew for all this time that I'd liked Hawthorne, and ..."

"Valentine," Kai says, standing. "This doesn't concern you."

Her eyes flash towards him in disbelief. "It doesn't concern me? Then how does it concern you? You're the one who had been so against me walking out of Rowan's room that you overreacted and broke ties with him."

"That wasn't because of you," Kai says icily. "I had other reasons."

Valentine stares at him incredulously. "Other reasons, huh? So, you kept secrets from me, too." She turns her eyes on me again. "Anna, I thought we were closest. It's not so much that you decided to be with him, as much as it is that you didn't tell me anything." The sadness in her eyes is almost unbearable. I feel like I would have felt much better had she just been angry with me. But no, she's purely sad. "We're sisters," she says, her voice breaking. "I thought we trusted one another."

"Val," I trail off, erasing the excuses from my head. "I have nothing to say, except that I'm sorry."

Kai walks over to the door and puts his hands on her shoulders. "Val, I think you need a minute to calm down. You can get the full story later, okay? You're just shocked right now."

Valentine just continues staring at me for a while, before allowing Kai to push her out of the doorway. I feel my soul crumble into pieces when she disappears from sight. I had held off too long. She should have been the first one I told. She deserved to know.

But I'd waited.

I instantly grab my phone and call Rowan. It may be counterintuitive to what I should do in this situation, but I have to tell him. I feel as though everything in my life is crashing down in a flurry of confusion.

"Anna?" he answers, his voice surprised by my call.

"Rowan," I say hastily, my hands nearly shaking as I hold the phone. My words come out in a rushed mess. "She found out. Val found out about us. I don't know what to do."

There's a brief moment of silence, before he says calmly, "Okay, Anna. Just calm down. She's your sister, isn't she? She'll get over this." He waits for a second for me to compose myself. "You wanted her to know," he reminds me gently. "I don't know how it happened, but I'm assuming that it was a mistake. But you just have to talk to her face-to-face now. It's the only way to solve this."

I nod at his words. That's right; the only way to convince Valentine that I was going to tell her all along is to confront her. I can't just ignore this, and at the same time I can't just keep apologizing. What she deserves is an explanation.

But the moment I leave my room to find her, Kai stops me. "Val needs some time to herself right now," he informs me quietly. "I'm sure she'll get over it, but she's really upset right now."

"When should I talk to her?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "Just give her a day to herself. The closer you are, the more time it takes to heal."

I bite my lip and retreat back to my own room. I've lost my family once before. I don't want to lose them again.

School starts, but there's an aura of depression covering the entire grade. Kids have started giving me strange looks again, after hearing the news about Kane White's escape, and I feel that same lack of belonging that I had known before meeting Rowan. He and I don't even interact in school often, considering that the news hasn't been leaked yet. We'd better keep it that way.

Furthermore, Kai and Milana have broken up after only a week, and Milana continues to be furious about it. Let's just say that she proceeded to test Val at a bad time, and ended up with a bloody nose afterwards. Valentine was suspended for a day.

And she won't speak to me.

I've tried approaching her on numerous occasions, but she constantly either walks away from me or just answers in one or two words. She avoids eye contact with me, and Benji has started taking her home instead of Kai and me.

To make matters worse, at the end of the day when the week comes to an end, Principal Eyre calls Rowan and me into her office again and lets out a long sigh in front of us. I know where this is going.

"Ms. Silver. Mr. Hawthorne. I understand that you put in a lot of effort into this program, but it seems as though it has had no benefit towards the students' grades or performance in class." She shakes her head, removing her glasses from her face. "Now, I understand that it's not your fault. They simply have no motivation. But I would just like to tell you that the program is officially over. You may return to your usual schedule."

I guess we're not getting that recommendation to Eastbrook University.

I turn to face Rowan once we leave her office, suddenly feeling in need of something positive. "Can I come over today?" I ask him.

He blinks at me in surprise. "You mean right now?"

I nod, suddenly deflating at his shocked attitude. "I mean, if it's a bad time, then –"

He shakes his head, and then tosses something at me. When I catch it in my hands, I realize that it's a key. "Ask Sawyer to take you there first. I have a brief meeting with my history teacher, but I'll be right there."

I stare at the key in my hand before smiling at him. "Roger that."