Red Hood Forest

Chapter 9

"Got it! Let's get started!" Lily said, entering the room with a sitting Bella at the vanity, carrying small scissors. She ran to Bella and started snipping away.

"Lily. Thanks for helping me out. Your were a wonderful friend, and I want us to be that close again."

Lily blushed a bit, still snipping away messy strands of hair. "Well, I must be honest. I'd like that too. By the way, before that class, you wanted to show me something, didn't you? It was secret, and it still can be secret. It was something that was on my mind."

Bella hesitated for a moment, thinking if she should still tell her friend.

"Done," Lily exclaimed," how'd I do?"

Bella's hair was now level, at an even short- medium height. "It's great. And... I guess you should know. I'm keeping your secret from Wendy, so it's only fair if I show you my secret."

Bella turned around in the chair. Lily sat on the bed that was only about three feet away from the vanity. She watched as Bella reached her fingers for her eyes. Bella pinched the first contact off her left eye, closing it afterward. Lily could see that the contact was a blue iris in it, the exact color of Bella's eyes. Bella pinched the other contact off the right eye, closing that one too. Bella kept her eyes closed, until Lily spoke about five seconds later.

"Bella? You alright?" She asked.

"I'm just nervous. I don't want you to be scared like everyone else who's seen me like this was." "Don't worry. Show me."

Bella took a huge breath in, slowly blowing out. She opened her eyes.

Lily could see clearly that Bella's eyes weren't the nice blue color she knew her eyes to be for a long time. Instead, the irises were red, with a tiny of yellow in them.

"Woah."

"I know," Bella said," my eyes have always been this color. My mom's eyes were the same, but without yellow. People were scared of my eyes, so I've worn contacts for a very long time. I was told to never take them off, except for sleep."

"Honestly. All I can say if that your eyes, your real eyes... they pretty cool. I've never seen anything like it, and it's just mesmerizing to look at."

Bella eyes widened with glee. "Oh thank you, Lily! Thank you," Bella then stood to leave," I should go. I need to talk to Sasha about some stuff. See you in the morning!" Bella waves bye and left.

"Bye!" Lily yelled back. She smiled upon her bed, happy that she was able to reconnect with Bella. She smiled, until feeling a strange feeling in her chest.

"Again?"

***
George continued to put away his clothes, still thinking if he made the right decision on coming.

Did I do this right? I'm going against my parents for the first time. Maybe I should focus on studying most of the night.

"George!"

George jumped, turned, and saw Sarah standing in the doorway. "We need to talk," she said, arms crossed in a serious tone," it's about school."

"It's vacation. You shouldn't think about it. Now leave me to peace tonight. You should be in your bedroom with Sasha."

"It's actually something Sasha told me," she walked deeper into the room," you see, she may not be the brightest person, but she had a weird way of knowing time. And what she told me, is that you were in the school before the bus for the trip had left. You choose not to go. Why is that, Georgie?"

"Don't call me that! And listen, you don't need to know my personal business. Besides, I'm two years older than you, so you can't boss me around. Not you, not my parents..."

"What? Why your parents. I didn't even-"

Sarah stopped and realized her words. She then smiled a grinch-like smiles.

"Oh I see." "No-" "Your parents never gave you permission to come here. I know you family. Everyone in school knows your family. Hell, everyone in town knows your family! They hate the idea of a vacation! You ran away, didn't you?!"

"Shut up, Sarah," George said, pushing Sarah out the room forcefully," your tired, and you don't know what your saying. I'm smart, so I know better. Goodnight!!" And just like that, George slammed the door behind Sarah, her turning around at the last second.

"Come on, George! Don't slam me out like you do Dave!"

George opened the door slightly. "What are you talking about. I don't-"

"Don't deny it anymore George," Sarah said, quieter," You shut him out more often now. I see you two, and you nearly hang out privately, you don't about your feelings to each other. It gets depressing after a while."

"You stalker." "No. I'm his friend. I'm also Sasha's twin, so it's easy to get to places unnoticed. George, you need to talk about this to Dave. If your parents are being unreasonable, you have to talk to them. Or Dave. Or even a school counselor. But don't cut your best friend out of your life, just because your parents don't like him." "And what about you?" "Huh?"

George opened the door fully, seeing Sarah's confused, but curious face.

"You think I don't see it," he started," The way you push yourself to make sure Sasha doesn't cut again. Yeah, I remember that. It was a dark time for us. For her. Ever since that day, you make sure she's not like that ever again. Making her happy. You can't do that to yourself, pushing yourself. You have a life, and you can't center it around Sasha."

"George, you don't get it. I don't think it was a one time thing. I... I found another razor in our closet, in her personal box. So shouldn't that give me a reason to worry so much!? I'm the older twin, so-" "so what? You may be older, but you're still twins. Born on the same day."

Sarah looked to her side, so many thoughts running through her head. "I don't know. I'd rather not think about this. It's... hard."

George placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder, with a consoling look on his face. "I realize that. Just... sleep on it. We can talk about it after vacation. Maybe I'll reconsider my fate as well."

Without a word, Sarah took George's hand off of her shoulder, and walked off to her bedroom. George look at her, like she was miles away, a worried look planted on his face.