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|Chapter 13|

   "Elizabeth! You didn't tell me you had a gorgeous friend called Eleanor!" Mom exclaimed, smiling widely at Eleanor.

Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot!

What should I do? What should I do?!

Act quickly, you idiot. You're staring at Eleanor like she's an alien, my conscience mocked me.

   One thing I hate about my conscience is that she's always right. She's just this annoying, inner voice in me that only mocks me and proves me wrong and stupid every freaking time.

"Oh, hey, Eleanor!" I slowly make my way towards my lovely guest. With gritted teeth, I extended a hand for her to shake and said, "It's great seeing you here!"

   Eleanor, however, decided to ignore my hand and envelope me in a tight embrace, which gave me the opportunity to rudely yet quietly ask her, "What the freak are you doing here?"

"We haven't worked on our assignment in a while, so I thought I'd come over," Eleanor told me with a smile.

"Well, kids, I'll leave you to it!" Mom chirped before entering the kitchen.

   I pointed to the living room before heading there, Eleanor following behind me. The moment my feet felt the soft carpet beneath me, I took a sharp turn and faced the devil behind me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, huh?" I whispered/shouted at her. Eleanor's eyebrows rose as her arms folded across her chest.

"What are you wearing, huh?" she said, chuckling.

Oh my God, I forgot I'm wearing a freaking fairy costume!

"Shut up. Don't change the subject," I fired at her.

"I told you, I'm here to work on the assignment we've been given. We've only worked on it once until now. We still haven't analyzed and written how Bary reacts to things and bla bla bla," she explained.

"You have to leave now. I'll come over tomorrow and we can work on it," I said after sighing in frustration. My fingers drew circles on my temple as I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down.

"Really? What will your mom say, now that you're going to kick me out of your house?" She evilly smirked at me.

She's awfully right.

   If Eleanor leaves this minute, Mom will be confused for why she did. She'll start asking many questions, now that she thinks Eleanor is my friend.

Oh, dear.

   Eleanor's not welcomed here, at least not by me. It's my private life that she's invading. The way I act in front of my family is way different than the way I act in front of everyone else. She can't know that. She can't see the real me. The person hiding behind the mask I'm putting on.

   You're wearing a freaking pink tutu on. Not to mention the wand you're currently holding and your pink ballerina shoes. Don't you think you've already hinted that you aren't really a dark, mysterious person? My conscience taunted me yet again.

"Fine, follow me," I said, groaning and making my way up the stairs.

   I entered Sophia's room as Eleanor followed in tow.

"Hey, Soph. Eleanor came over and we're going to work on our assignment," I slowly said, still embarrassed from what I'm wearing.

"No! Let Eleanor play with us! Please?" she asked, extending the 'please'. I groaned in agony.

This is so not my day.

"I'm so-"

"Sure! We can play for a few minutes," Eleanor interrupted me.

"Actually, we've got only an hour to work because Eleanor has to go back home early," I said through gritted teeth.

"No, it's fine. I can stay longer."

"No, you can't."

"In fact, I can."

"You can not."

"Can."

"Not."

"Stop!" Sophia yelled at both of us, her hands crossed in front of her chest as she frowned. "You're acting like babies! If Eleanor says she can, then she can."

   I was taken aback by Sophia's sudden outburst. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped at her maturity. Last time I checked, she was four.

"O-okay," I replied, still shocked. Eleanor looked at me, smirking evilly, probably because she won the argument.

Unfortunately.

Great, now I have to play tea party with Sophia and Eleanor.

Looks like your fake facade is slowly breaking, my conscience taunted.

Oh, shut up.

"Great. Now, let's sit down." Sophia pointed at her tiny seats. We sat down in silence and I started imagining how horrible my senior year is going to be.

   Eleanor will go to school tomorrow and tell all her friends how lame and not intimidating I actually am. How much of a softy I am near my sister. How silly I looked in a fairy costume. Her friends will tell their friends, and their friends will tell their other friends, and soon, the whole school's population will get to know the real me; a loser. They're going to bully me. My nightmares will relive once again.

   After I thought everything was going perfectly fine, things are starting to go downhill.

Again.

"Lizzy, are you okay?" Sophia asked me, her eyes filled with concern and her eyebrows scrunched. Slowly, I nodded. Eleanor stared at me, looking just like Sophia.

Concerned.

Is she, really?

I shook my head furiously, determined to shake off that stupid thought of my mind.

Nobody cares.

∞

   "So, we're practically done for today, I guess," Eleanor said, switching off my laptop. I nodded in agreement, not uttering one word. "Hey, are you alright?"

   My eyes looked through hers, checking if the sincerity evident in her voice was shown in her dark, brown eyes. Indeed, her eyes were congested with concern, just like they were during the tea party.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Why what?" she asked me, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Why do you care? Why do your eyes keep showing concern even though you obviously don't care?"

"Of course I care. I'm genuinely concerned."

"No, you aren't. Why would you be?" I looked down at my hands, avoiding her stare.

"Because you're my friend," she answered me. I flinched at the word, as if it punched me in the face with so much force that my face deformed.

Friends.

   Friends never stay. People pretend that they're your friend when they actually don't even care. They use you. They leave you when you need them most. They lie to you. They betray you.

Just like she did.

   I stood up from my bed and stepped away, trying to be as far away from her as possible. As if the distance I maintain away from her will make her take her words back. As if it will make me forget her admitted friendship we never had.

"No, I'm not." My head shook at an impossible speed. My eyes shut closed as I swallowed the lump in my throat. My palms got very clammy and my mouth was suddenly very dry. I opened my eyes and looked at Eleanor. This time, her eyes were filled with hurt.

"I'm sor-" Don't apologize! "It's true. We aren't friends," I corrected my previous words.

"I'd like us to be, though," Eleanor said softly, as if my fragile self was going to shatter into a million petty pieces if she spoke any louder.

"N-No." I cleared my throat. "No, you don't."

"Listen, I'm sorry, okay?" My eyes widened and my head snapped up as I looked at her in confusion.

Why is she sorry?

"Last time you came over, I was being an utter idiot. I was supposed to respect you and your privacy, but instead, I bombarded you with questions you weren't ready to answer. It was very, very stupid of me, and I apologize," she concluded.

She's sorry. She apologized. She actually said sorry.

"I-I'ts okay, I guess," I whispered. She gave me a small smile, which I returned.

"Well, I should go." Eleanor stood up, threw her bag on her shoulder, and left the room. I followed her downstairs. She opened the door and turned around before saying a small 'bye'.

"Wait!" I yelled. She turned around once again, a wide smile plastered on her hopeful visage.

Don't let her smile trick you, my conscience warned me.

That's when I made a decision.

I'm not letting her go.

   I'm not letting her go back home and start the endless gossip that will only end up in me being bullied. I made a decision that I wasn't going to make the same mistakes I had before, and I'm not backing away right now.

My eyes darkened and narrowed as I gritted my teeth.

"Make sure you know that if you utter any single word of what you saw today to anyone, I'll ruin your life. Get it?" Her eyes widened at my sudden change of mood and dark, lethal threat directed at her.

   She slowly nodded before turning around and leaving my house, only with a sad frown and crushed hopes of a possible friendship.