Some say getting out of The Friend Zone is hard. Well, try getting out of The Sister Zone.
Vanessa Hayes-Wong has been best friends with Oliver Morrison for five years, one month, and fourteen days. Just as she starts to realize her feelings for him...
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"Oh, Celia. I didn't know you were in there." I fake a sigh of relief. "Could you please call 911? It seems like your number one fan, BlueEyedCupid, has gone out of their mind."
She snickers, the malice in her cold eyes becoming clearer as she ignores me. Crouching behind Blake, she leans close to his ear and breathes, "Oh, my dear Blake. Do you actually believe what this filthy yellow peasant said?"
I slap a hand over my chest and gasp, feigning horror. Gotcha!
"W-what?" Blake's eyes widen in shocked incredulity as he turns his head to meet Celia's gaze.
"I never congratulated them," Celia says, venom dripping from her words. "Don't you see? Oliver and I belong together." There's bone-chilling madness in her eyes—the kind Norman Bates possesses in the original Psycho movies—as she trails her gaze to me. "She's standing in the way of true love. She must be punished."
"Y-you're . . . BlueEyedCupid?" Blake asks with a weak, shaky voice. The genuine heartbreak in his eyes makes me pity him a little.
"Of course, I am." Celia's tone is as cold as the graveyard air in the early morning, unsettling enough to prickle the hair on the back of my neck. "Now pick up the knife, Blake. Finish what you're supposed to do. Do it for your queen. You'll do it for me, won't you?"
My nerves shoot on high alert as Blake drags his gaze to the knife on the floor. His lips quiver in hesitation for a moment, but then he shakes his head heavily. "I can't. I'm sorry, my queen. I can't. It's not right."
A wave of relief sweeps through me. But it doesn't last long, for bloodthirsty madness begins to darken Celia's eyes.
"Ugh." She shoots Blake a bitch face and stands up. "I just have to do everything myself, don't I?"
As Celia sashays toward the knife, the years-old tiger-like instinct slumbering deep within me awakens at once. Without thinking, I grab her left ankle and yank her down. She tries to break her fall by catching the edge of the vanity, but her forehead strikes the countertop with a loud smack instead. "Ouch!"
Oops. I bite my lip hard, trying hard not to laugh.
Rubbing her bruised forehead, Celia growls over her shoulder at me. "You're going to pay for that."
Rage fills her eyes as she reaches for the knife a few feet away from her. On instinct, my hand shoots out to seize it first. My fingers are about to touch the pommel when an idea appears in my mind. It's a very dangerous one. But I figure I may be able to use this chance to expose her true self even more and get some answers.
Ollie is going to be furious at me for this.
In a split-second decision, I let Celia take the knife. As Celia spins around to face me with the knife in her right hand, Blake screeches in terror. He scrambles to his feet and bolts into the closest stall, locking himself in it.
