Chapter 19—Rebecca Anderson

(Cover of Sequel on side)

They were gone, all gone. No more Michelle or Jessica or Scarlet. From now on, it would only be Rebecca, Emma, Karter, and Alexandra. I was the girl with four identities and I hoped that this alias would help me to attract Benny. I picked up my phone and dialed a number I had memorized.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Benny, it's Rebecca," I said slowly.

"Is it? Or is it Emma? Or Jordan or Jessica or whatever you're called. Look, I can't deal with this right now." He was about to hang up. He didn't want to talk to me. How depressing.

"No! Benny, wait! Please don't go. I would really like to talk to you. It's important. I've changed. I'm not who I used to be." I sat down on my bed and propped myself up against a pillow. He waited a few seconds to respond and I could hear him breathing.

'Rebecca, the problem is that I don't know who you used to be, so how can I know you changed?" There he went again, making comments about understanding my multiple identities. Why can't he have an open mind to my multiple identities?

"I don't want to fight over the phone. I don't want to fight at all, actually. Could you meet me somewhere?" I asked. I was nervous he'd say no, but I had to ask. You've got to take chances to be rewarded. If you fail, then you fail. If you succeed, then you've been gifted.

He seemed to be considering his next words. "Fine, it can't hurt to meet with you. Where and when?" Yes! He would meet with me!

"Umm how about the park in about a half an hour?" I suggested.

"That will do. See you then. Oh yeah, what should I refer to you as? Emma? Rebecca?" He should really stop making cracks about my different names.

"Rebecca. I'll see you, then. Goodbye." I did not wait for an attitude-filled reply and I hung up before he could say one. I was already dressed as Rebecca and ready to go so I sat for about twenty minutes and at that point I hollered down the stairs about studying and having no one bother me. I exited and walked to the park to sit on a bench.

A few minutes later, I could hear Benny's steps and I jerked my head in the direction they came from. There he was, looking as amazing as usual.

"Benny!" I called out because don't think he'd seen me yet. I saw his head whip in my direction. I'd hoped his mouth would turn into a smile when he looked at me, but instead he frowned. He was unhappy to see me. In just a few days he'd gone from loving me to hating me.

"Rebecca," I said, avoiding the use of the nickname "Becca." He clearly did not want to be here, let alone express his friendship or anything more for us. He walked over and sat down on the opposite side of the bench I was on, so we were about a foot apart.

"Benny, I need to tell you something very important and I would appreciate if you did not listen with biased ears." He looked at me, wondering what could be so important.

"Of course."

"So in the past few days, I've undergone a... process, you could call it." I awkwardly looked down at my hands which were turning around each other.

"A process?" he questioned. I honestly didn't know what t call my transformation. No words could exactly describe it.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that. It was very emotional for me and I did not particularly want to do it, I had to. I did it for you so just remember that." He was either going to love me or hate me for good after tonight, so I had to play out everything I said just right. I could of gone at any angle to tell him my news, but I'd chosen the fact that I did it all for love.

"Becca, you didn't have to do anything for me..." sighed Benny. On the upside, he'd used my nickname. On the downside, he didn't want what I'd done for him and he didn't even know what it was yet. Talk about being biased.

"It was necessary, though. Alright, so do you remember how I had seven identities? There were seven of me. Rebecca Anderson, Emma Stevens, Karter Johansen, Alexandra Quarent, Jessica Fitzgerald, Scarlet Black, and Michelle Flanders." I continued to look at my hands which kept tumbling around each other.

"I remember. Not the exact names, but how could I forget the biggest news of my life? What you'd told me that night was pretty important and totally changed the way I look at you. I didn't think I'd be able to look at you the same way as before." Benny lied. He was totally coming into this situation being biased.

"Well, I figured that I didn't need all of them..." I said and I saw Benny's head turn to look at me, but I continued to look at my hands.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused. He continued to look at my unmoving head.

"Well..." I began to speak, but was interrupt by a sound. It was a rustling noise off in the distance. It sounded like a breaking branch or something. "Did you hear that?" I asked, suddenly slightly scared. We were in a large, city park and it was starting to get dark. It could be anyone... or anything.

"Yeah, but it was probably just a squirrel or something. Ignore it." That calmed me down a bit, the fact that Benny thought it was nothing. Every few minutes though, I continued to hear a slight rustling noise. It kind of sounded like a walking person, but I couldn't really tell. I listened to Benny and ignored it.

"Okay... Anyway, I didn't think I needed all of them. It's almost like my life was a computer. I clicked and dragged a few files into the trash." I was beating around the bush and needed to get to the point. Benny looked confused. "I got rid of some of my identities..." I said point-blankly.

"Rebecca, you changed yourself that much for me? How many did you lose?" he asked, surprise that this was the news I had for him.

"Yes, I did, for you. I took away Michelle and Jessica and Scarlet. Michelle was my smart identity who was schooled. Jessica was my athletic identity who played sports. Scarlet was my romantic identity who went on dates. I got rid of her so we could be together, so we wouldn't be interrupted by her dating habits." I finally turned to look at Benny, whose eyes were critically analyzing me. What he said next was extremely unexpected.

"That's it? Only three?"

"Benny, I don't think you understand how hard it is to give up an identity, mentally and physically." He didn't understand. He wouldn't understand either.

"And you did this for me? So we could... be together?" Benny looked at me sickly. My face fell as he stood up. "You're a physco! A loon! You're crazy and I don't want a part of that!" he started to walk away when I stood up.

"Wait, Benny!" I called to him.

He turned around and sharply yelled, "What do you want?" That stung. It was harsh.

"Can you promise me something? One last thing before you leave? Can you please keep this a secret? Don't tell anyone about my life, please. Please, Benny, I'm begging you!" I cried.

"Whatever. I won't tell anyone about your stupid secret," he retorted and began to walk off again, then turned around. "Do me a favor and don't call me again," he said coldly and stalked off.

I was crushed. He hated me. I'd ruined everything in one week. I'd lost three of my identities and Benny. It was getting dark, but I wasn't moving anywhere and I wished that stupid rustling noise would go away.

Shit... what was that noise?

"Umm, Rebecca, is it?" I heard someone say, emerging from some of the trees at the other side. Benny was wrong. We shouldn't have ignored the noise. It was someone I never would have expected to show up here.

"How much did you hear of that?" I choked out. It was hard to talk while being under so much emotional distress.

"Enough to know that you weren't who I thought you were... Karter. I want to let you know that I wasn't intentionally listening. I was taking a walk and happened to pass through your conversation." The person moved closer and sat on the bench. "I believe the last time we met with each other, you should have told me you had another man on the side."

In one night, I'd hurt not only myself and Benny, but also Mitch, too.

Mitch had heard my whole confession.

He knew that I'd kissed him while interested in another guy a lot more than I was interested in him.

"Karter, if it's okay that I call you that, I want to let you know that I love you, no matter who you are or what you do with your identities. I don't care about this Benny kid and what you wanted to have with him if you'd like to have something with me. Karter Johansen, I love you just the way you are."

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Author's Note: HOLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY CRAPPPPP! Didn't see that coming, now did you?

I bet you also didn't see coming the fact that this book is now OVER! THE END

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-Nickie (gymnast17)

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