The Sun and the Moon

➸ Chapter Five: Discoveries

Allie

I take a deep breath as Bree and I turn the other direction. I sneak one last look over my shoulder at Carter and Will, only to find that Will's looking at me too. I tear my gaze away from him and face forward again. A silence settles between Bree and me. For some reason, she seems to hate Will. And not just the obligatory you-hurt-my-best-friend-now-I-hate-you feeling. No, this was deeper. Like he had broken her heart instead of mine. I let the thought go, Bree is a friendly person and extroverted, but she never tells you anything she doesn't want to. Her family, her friends, all good. But who she meets with until late at night, firmly off-limits. And asking what causes the dark circles under her eyes made her shut you out completely. So, I stopped asking.

Bree is an enigma. She is energetic and fun to be around, always cheerful with a larger than life personality. But sometimes I'd look over at her and spot cracks in her armour. Like the way that her smile would falter and her eyes would be dark, ringed in a dangerous mix of anger and sorrow.

"Why the hell is he back?"

I immediately know who she is talking about. Who else would she refer to as 'he', with a tone like that?

"I'm angry too, furious even. But I can't change what happened and I just...I'm glad he's back."

I lapse back into silence, a little surprised at the sincerity of my own words.

"Of course you're glad," Bree mutters under her breath.

What the heck does she mean by that? So, there was no other choice, but to break one of my cardinal rules when dealing with Bree.

"Okay, what's going on?"

"Whenever he's back," There she goes again with the 'he' dipped in venom. "You're so wrapped up in him that you never think about how it affects the people around you."

By the end of her tirade, she's practically screaming.

"Tell me how it affects 'the people around me'. Please, let me into your life for the first time, ever." I'm yelling back.

Bree and I have never done this. Perhaps that's why we're both reacting like this. We've kept everything bottled up inside, pushed it down for another day. And I guess today's that day.

"I can't-I just..." She splutters, at a loss for words for probably the first time ever.

"Why do you always do this? You shut me out and refuse to let anyone in."

"Oh, poor, helpless Allie. Always looking to blame other people."

"At least I let people in."

"Doesn't mean they stick around for long, does it?" Her lips curl into a sneer and her cruel words drip from her lips like poison. "Have you figured it out yet? People leave you because you're not worth sticking around for."

Her voice is soft, deadly soft, but her words tear through my skin like she's been sharpening them for years.

I step away from her, she doesn't look like my best friend. Not like the girl that I've grown up with. This girl's face is contorted in fury, her fists clench by her side.

As a tear slips down my face, she softens. Her entire body deflating and her face losing its horrifying expression.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." She trails off as I continue to look at her with a shocked expression.

"I'm...I'm going to go." I toss the statement over my shoulder as I hurry away from her. Replaying her words over and over again like a broken record. People leave you because you're not worth sticking around for.