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Chapter 21: Operation: Bring Bells Back

Chapter 21: Operation: Bring Bells Back

"Troy, please-"

"I think it's best you leave," Troy cuts me off, a detached look on his face, one that he has never given me before -- in fact, I don't remember him ever being this angry. 

"I'm going to slam the door shut in your face now," he tells me ahead of time.

Even when he's furious, I can't take him seriously.

"Troy," I protest, trying to talk him out of it, "don't-"

He slams the door shut anyway. 

I glance at the closed door for a second or two longer before deciding that it's best to turn my back on the situation and move on.

"So that went well," Jay states sarcastically as I approach him. He knows that it went, in fact, quite the opposite.

According to him, he couldn't sleep last night. He feels sympathetic towards my situation, hence forcing me to come here this morning. He wants us to work things out because he knows how much her friendship affects me. 

"She will barely even look at me, forget talk to me," I inform him, grumpy without my friend. I'm tired of losing people.

"She'll get over it," he reassures me and crosses his arms over his chest as he leans against his car. "And if she doesn't, then she's stupid." I turn my head away to smile, touched by his concern. He sees and raises an eyebrow at me. "And that look?"

"Oh, nothing," I reply, distracted, quickly changing the subject. I don't actually want to be here right now and Jay knows it. "So, its weekend and we should do something fun because I don't know about you, but I'm bored out of my skull."

Maybe I can still get out of this if I play my cards right.

"Aqueela," he says flatly, "you gotta face this. Trust me, running from your problems get you nowhere. Fix up the second you realize that you've messed up."

"I can't," I say helplessly.

He gives me a push, "The Aqueela I met in that store three months ago was feisty and determined. What happened to that girl? The Aqueela I knew then would have marched right back up to that front porch, knocked on that door until her knuckles bled and then barged right in anyway."

Our agreement was only for a month. He's lasted longer than I thought he would. He's still here, and he knows me well.

I give a lighthearted smile, agreeing with him. "True."

"You're giving up on your friend way too easily," he tells me, knowing how close we are.

The more he continues to lecture me, the more I zone out, and the more I zone out, the more it becomes clear to me that Jay is wrong -- I'm still me and I'm still right here. Nothing has changed.

So, well he continues on in his lengthy rant, I, being ever so polite, shove him out of my way and march right back up to the front porch. I begin to ring the buzzer and knock repetitively on the door until Troy has no option but to open the door again. 

"New visitor!" he slams open the door wide in excitement, just missing my face in the process. He turns back to call upstairs, "Mommy," he purposely says as if to annoy her, "I think the circus is here!"

I cough. "Not quite."

His face drops when he sees that it's still me. "Would you quit ringing the bell? You know that Bells doesn't like bells. She gets jealous. Now beat it, bug-face," he says, highly irritated that I haven't listened to him.