𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 42.

    𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 away from the Chateau.

    The whole ride home, my vision was foggy and my cheeks were puffed and wet, making it hard for me to even see where I was going. But it wasn't the fact that the tears were clogging my eyesight, it was the matter of leaving my friends behind me. I had told them about my parents. I had spilled my biggest secret. I had told them that I had been lying the whole time, but yet, I was still the one running away, not them.

    Kiara and Pope seemed fine— even ecstatic— when it clicked in their minds. They were happy, which was unexpected, to say the least. What was expected, had happened with John B. There was no excuse that I could think of that validated my reasoning to be mad at him. He had every right to be upset with me, and so I tried to stop the tears from flowing on the bike ride home, but they just wouldn't go away. I didn't know if we were broken up. I didn't know if the next step of the project was going to be put on hold, or if they were going to go on without me.

    In all honesty, as I drove home, I began to think if it was best they continued. They were the ones that needed the money, anyways. But it hurt more than ever, to think about never hanging out with them again. It hurt to think of possibly never playing the ukulele with Kie anymore, no longer hearing Pope's sarcastic complaints or hear him talk about something factual to put us in place, and it hurt to imagine never joking around with Jj anymore. I didn't want to lose John B either, but he seemed fine with loosing me.

    When I stepped off the bike in front of my grandparents' home, the sun beginning to set over the water, I didn't even bother to wipe my eyes. I sniffled as I stepped up the stairs. Two heads rose up as I approached the door. My fingers were slightly shaking as I wrapped them around the door handle, immediately pushing it open and causing a loud creak to break the silence in the house.

    "Hey, bug," Caroline greeted, as usual, her voice soft and sweet. "You're home." She slowly stood up from the couch.

    I was looking down to avoid their eyes, using my feet to slide off my shoes.

     When she stepped towards me, I could see her face drop. "Oh my— what's wrong sweetie," her voice immediately shifted to a concern, her hand grabbing onto the side of my arm. They had never seen me walk in crying.

    "Nothing." I mumbled, quietly. As Daryl stood up and looked at me with narrowed eyebrows, I wiggled away from Caroline's hands and whisked past her.

    "Charlotte, honey, did something happen?" Caroline was calling after me, her voice really worried, but I didn't look back.

I could hear her steps following me on the wooden floors, but before she could catch up, I stepped into my bedroom and shut the door. She halted outside of it, not barging in.

    The tears automatically piled up at the brims of my eyes when I sat down on my bed, my silent cries carefully low so they wouldn't hear. I couldn't help but sniffle, though.

As the house then grew quiet, I just knew that the both of them were exchanging concerned looks outside my door, Caroline's hand probably covering over her mouth.

"What do you think happened," I heard Daryl quietly whisper, after long moments of silence throughout the home. I could tell that they were in the kitchen, standing right at the beginning of the hallway.

"I don't know," Caroline whispered back, her tone of voice sad. "Oh my goodness."

Daryl suddenly scoffed, "I swear to god— if it's that Routledge kid, I'm going to—"