Moon Child

10. I'm Not Her

I woke with my headache gone. Someone was shaking me gently. My eyes opened in the dim room and adjusted to see Liam. He was sitting on the edge of the bed near me. My eyes spilled over with tears from the dream that I knew was reality. I sniffled as my body shook with silent sobs. I was too tired to have my guard up. Liam was instantly worried.

"Hey, it's okay. It was just a bad dream," he tried to console me. It only made me angrier because I knew it wasn't a dream. I shook my head.

"It wasn't a dream," I cried.

"What happened?" he asked as his hand moved to my shoulder to comfort me. I jerked away from him angrily. It was insulting that he was going to try to ignore me and comfort me at the same time.

"We know who she is, but no one else needs to know. Do nothing; just ignore her," I said quoting him. "And your mom does know, by the way. She called you an idiot, and rightfully so," I said, calming my tears slightly. He looked at me shocked.

"You saw all of that? Were you there? Did you follow me?" he questioned. I threw the covers off of me and stood carefully.

"I didn't follow you. I was sleeping. I guess I dreamt it," I tried to explain.

"How much of it did you see?" he had the audacity to ask. I narrowed my eyes at him as I crossed my arms.

"You know what, just take me home so Sophia can properly 'take care' of you... again," I ordered angrily.

"Dinner is literally in five minutes," he argued.

"Your plan to ignore me only works if I'm not around. Follow the plan, remember?" I snapped at him. I couldn't help it, I was hurt. I wanted to claw Sophia's eyes out, and I didn't even have claws yet.

"You promised you would stay for dinner," he said stubbornly.

"Yeah, well I don't make it a habit to stay where I'm not wanted," I countered. I sighed and ran a hand down my face. "Forget it, I'll walk home if I have to," I said, more muttering to myself as I went to gather my things. Liam's hand touched my back. I flinched away from him so fast, you would've thought his hand was on fire.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled at him as I spun to face him. There was fear written in my face. Liam took a beat before he took a step back.

"What happened to you?" he asked softly. I hated that he saw right through my fear. I didn't want to answer that question. Saying that 'my evil step-mother tortured me' was just too cliché and I didn't want his pity. He didn't deserve to know anyway. He didn't deserve to know anything about me.

"What's all the yelling about?" Luna Addie asked as she entered the room. She was now dressed in a peach blouse and a pair of black slacks; untouched by the cold. Her expression softened when she saw my face. "What did you do, Liam?" she asked accusingly.

"Why do you assume it's me?" he asked with a hint of a whine. She only gave him a knowing look as her arms crossed over her chest.

"Well, for one, you're not the one who's hurt, but you are an idiot," she said. Had I not been so devastated, I might have laughed.

"You really do know, don't you? Sophia said you did," Liam muttered to himself. Hearing him say her name made me flinch as I cast my eyes down to look at my feet. Luna Addie growled at Liam.

"She should have backed off the second she knew. You should have broken ties with her the second you knew," Luna Addie said disapprovingly.

"You liked her," Liam said confused.

"Because I thought she was a respectable girl. But if she was, she would've gotten out of the way the second you told her you found your mate. Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves," she chastised her son.