The Heartthrob Won't Leave

Chapter Fifty-Three (New Chapters)

She woke up the next day with a text blinking across her phone screen. She leaned over, rubbing eyes and looking at the device.

Stella - My parents gave me the cabin for the weekend! Party!!

She found a smile falling over her features, hopefully this would make Stella feel better after the slump she appeared to be in recently. She had to admit, her best friend hadn't been who she used to be the last few months, it was obvious. They had met so long ago, at six years old.

The young girl with the drabby clothes, the dirty glasses, getting bullied in the school yard by the other kids.

"You look like a rat! Like you rolled in the dirt!" one called, she didn't remember his face. They surrounded her like predators, backing her into a corner against the wall of the building, blocking any exit she could muster. All she could do was cower away, pressed against the bricks wishing to put as much space between her and them as she could. Like sharks in the ocean, circling her like carnivores. They yelled things, insults and hate. They hadn't even known who she was, it was her first day. Her way to learning the pecking order had been brutal. Then there was the image of young Stella, pushing between them, standing in front of Blake. Leaning down against the ground, crouched against the wall, looking up at the back of this girl, forcing her hands out like nailed to a cross. The sun placed a warm glow upon her, a halo of light and that girl, she looked like an angel sent from heaven. She hadn't even remembered what Stella said to those kids, but it was only moments before they backed away, angrily sputtering because their sadistic fun had ended. The girl turned, a smile on her features, leaning over to extend a hand. Blake just remembered staring at that hand, barely able to contain herself before she took it, a friendship formed that would last forever.

Nothing mattered to Blake more than Stella's happiness, she would do anything to make Stella happy. Because Stella made her happy. She was quick to pack her bags, begging Karl to go until he finally relented, setting her free. For some reason, she felt that weekend would be memorable.

When the honking outside echoed, she got up from the love seat, peering out the window with a smile across her features. She hurried into her sandals, nearly forgetting to shut the front door before she ran out, yanking her bag bouncing over her shoulder along with her. Jace was quick to follow, telling her to slow down. She was excited, she was happy. Sometimes she had dreamed just of being a normal teenager, doing those things that normal teenagers did like hanging out with their friends, having fun. It had been the first time she had gone anywhere. She struggled into the cab of the truck, holding her bag against her chest and doing up her seatbelt, leaning over to press a kiss onto Lucian's cheek and hand over the rest between them to grip his hand.

"Please keep the car PG-13!" Jace exclaimed from the backseat. Blake just found her eyes rolling, watching as they pulled out onto the road.

"As long as you give the same courtesy after we pick up Mikayla" Lucian retorted

"We don't have to worry about that" Blake responded to Lucian, patting his shoulder as he drove "Mikayla wouldn't let him anywhere near her without a dose of pepper spray in his eyes" Jace grumbled in the backseat, slumping back into a sulk to her amusement. He knew she was right. Mikayla hurried from her house to the truck when they pulled up, forcibly pushing Jace over to the other side of the backseat and spraying down where he sat on with aerosolized disinfectant before sitting down herself, shutting the door.

"This is our line!" Mikayla claimed to Jace as the car pulled out into the road, pointing at the one she had just made with flimsy scotch tape on the leather seat between them "You cross this line, even a toe or a finger, I'll fucking spray you and you know it!" She held up the spray can for good measure.