Torn Tethers • Edward Cullen [2] [S.U]

[8]

I don't know if you remember this, but we go to the same school, so you're going to have to talk to me eventually.

Saturday 21:34 pm

(3) Missed Calls from Bells

Just pick up the phone Colton, I'm going crazy over here.

Saturday 12:36 am

Please, Colton. I just want to know what's going on.

Saturday 12:40 am

I'll see you on Monday.

Sunday 10:08 am

If she was being completely honest, Colton wasn't exactly sure what Bella expected to come out of her persistent badgering to get in contact with her. What else did she need to know after Jacob made it extremely clear that they could no longer be friends and how loud did Colton need to scream that she wasn't going to reply after the fourth day in a row of Bella constantly calling her.

Colton had never wanted to hurt Bella like this because she could only imagine what it felt like to have one of her best friends sever all ties and for the other one to be completely unresponsive. It was cruel, but up until now, it had been the only way. Now, Colton was back at school and to avoid Bella she would have to cut classes, which she couldn't afford to do anymore. Truthfully, the thing Colton was the least sure about was how she was ever going to reconcile with Bella if she had to continue to keep Jacob's secret.

"Hey."

Even though she had all but been able to feel Bella's natural aura of discomfort radiating from behind her locker door, Colton still jumped out of her skin when she closed the metal door to see her best friend's face. Bella looked exceptionally worse than the last time that Colton had seen her at the movies where she had actually looked happy, now she had all but reverted back to her zombie form.

"Hi," Colton returned stiffly as she rolled her shoulders and awkwardly fidgeted with the strap of her bag. "How are you?"

Bella's milky brown eyes stared up at her with their usual mixture of confusion and doubt, "What's going on Cole? Why is Jacob saying we can't be friends? Why are you not talking to me?"

"I was sick." She stated and yet again moved the strap higher on her shoulder, gaze shifting so that she was no longer having to stare at those hurt doe eyes. "Jacob gave me mono."

A cold bark of a laugh slipped dryly from Bella's chapped lips, "Yeah. He looked so sick when I came over and saw him running around in the rain, half-naked."

"He got better before I did," Colton said plainly, her teeth scraping against each other as she attempted to keep her restraint.

"Just because you were sick didn't mean you have to completely ignore me. I had a pretty good idea what I did to push Jacob away, but you, I have no idea and it's driving me insane!"

Colton had to take a breath. There was too much pent up inside of her that threatened to burst out at any moment. Too much that had gone unsaid that sat on her lips. But she swallowed and regained herself, allowing her faithful mask of indifference to shield her friend from the storm that raged within her. "I'm sorry Bella that I've been AWOL but really, it was just because I was sick and I've had a thought of things going on right now."

"Like what?" Bella pressed, now having to all but jog to keep up with Colton who was all but speed walking in the way of her next class. "What's going on Cole? We tell each other everything and now, I feel like I'm missing something. And it doesn't make sense because I keep racking my brain for why this is happening and I keep on coming up short. And if you would just tell me what I did wrong then I could fix it, I could help."

Suddenly, Colton was spinning around so that she was face to face with her friend whose desperation was growing with every passing moment. "Bella. Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that whatever's gone wrong with us, will ever be fixed. You know as well as I do that neither of us will ever be the same which makes it impossible for our friendship to be either."

Colton had never meant for anything so harsh to ever escape her mouth when it came to her best friend, who was currently looking as though Colton had shot her, but there was nothing she could do now to swallow back the words. Especially as milky browns began to water and Bella's grip on her binder tightened tenfold as she suppressed the tears. "What are you saying, Colton?"

What was Colton saying? She knew where this conversation was going and she either had the choice to either reconcile here and allow Bella back into her life like she was dying to do, or tear tethers once and for all and successfully cut herself off from everything she never deserved.

So with scissors in hand, Colton succeeding in severing ever tie she ever had as her mouth twisted into a bitter smile that made her lips ache at its insincerity. "I'm saying that like how they're never coming back, neither are we." 

I really don't like how this story is going but really it's all I can do at this point. Thanks for 1.08k it means a lot.