Broken (The Charade Trilogy)

Chapter 16

Broken

It was the night of the dinner and fear was slowly creeping up on me. I'm not on best terms with my friends as of right now and when my parents ask me where my friends are I'm not going to point to Celine and Niall. But they're going to be ashamed if my only friend is Harry, especially because they don't know Harry attends this school.

I sat in front of a mirror, applying lipstick when Celine appeared in the reflection.

Her face looked atrocious and her tiny hands rested on her hips. I knew what she was about to say wasn't going to be good.

"What do you want Celine?" I alleged, tucking my lipstick inside my sparkly handbag. My lips rubbed smacked together and I fixed a fly away piece of hair.

Her head leisurely shook back and forth. "I don't want anything from you Skylar." She took a step closer. "Well I guess there is one thing. . ."

"What?" I demanded coldly.

"Stop pretending."

Her words rang inside my head over and over again.

Stop pretending.

I shook my head, my eyebrows furrowing. "I think you're telling that to the wrong person." I stood up and made my way closer to her. "I may have lied once or twice but I'm not pretending to be someone I'm not. I'm not pretending to love somebody either."

Before I could get past her she grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back in front of her. We stood close, looking into each other's eyes. "What do you know about pretending to love somebody?" She scolded.

"Obviously more than you know if I can tell that you're doing it!" My voice picked up volume.

She shoved me and I stumbled back.

Once I regained my balance I decided not to fight back.

"Just leave me alone." I said, out of breath. "I don't want to deal with this tonight. Not while my parents are here."

Celine bowed her head. "I'll try my best, princess." She turned her body and continued out the bathroom.

A couple more women piled into the bathroom and took a seat in front of the vanities provided for us.

Before exiting the busy bathroom, I took a quick glance at myself in the mirror and adjusted my dress that was crooked from Celine pushing me.

I stepped outside into the hall and smiled when I laid eyes on the sight of my parents chatting with my writing professor. They were all laughing, taking sips of their drinks here and there.

The chandeliers were made of crystal and hung elegantly from the ceiling above our heads.

A jazz band played quiet, soothing music as people found their seats.

I was taken out of my gaze by a tap on my bruised shoulder. I cringed and turned my head to find Niall.

My eyes rolled. "What do you want now?" I begged.

He looked down at his feet. "Our friendship back. . ." He wore a black suit with a purple shirt. His hair combed back nice and clean. "And for you to get a drink with me because I sure as hell need one right about now." He winked which made me smile.

I nodded my head. "I could use one too actually."

We both chuckled as our arms linked, walking to the bar.

"I'm sorry for everything I did to you Sky. I treated you like were nothing to me." I could tell how ashamed he was and it made me realize how nice of a man he has become. It must help that we had a rough past.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I sort of deserved it in the end."

He shook his head rapidly. "No you never deserved anything I said or did to you. It was just my anger and frustration taking over."

"Yeah, the anger and frustration that I caused." We stared into each other's eyes.

He took a sip of his drink. "All this time I wanted you to see that Harry was the bad guy and I was the prince, but I guess it's the other way around and I need to get used to that."

I thought silently to myself about his comment. It always did seem like he was trying to show me that Harry wasn't a good guy. He always was the cause of Harry's outbursts. Maybe Niall did that just so I could see Niall's the good one.

"But it doesn't have to be that way. There doesn't just have to be one good guy." I couldn't believe I was having this conversation.

He nodded. "But no matter what, Harry and I will never be on each others' good side."