Chapter 17
You Won’t Tell, Will You?
I ran upstairs to my room, just wanting to be alone before dinner. The smell of cigarette smoke greeted me outside the door which I found strange since neither Sabrina nor I were smokers.
“What the hell?” I opened the door, and Sabrina rushed to cover herself with the duvet. In bed beside her was Ivan.
“Arelia, hi,” her voice unwillingly quivered.
“Hey, queen.” Ivan gave me a wink and took a drag from his cigarette.
I shot him an evil glance. This is not what I needed right now. I wanted to be alone.
“Ivan, can you excuse us?” Sabrina practically pushed him out of the bed. He scrambled to collect his clothes from the ground.
“I’ll catch you later.” He gave me a wicked glance before exiting.
“You’re unbelievable.” I was livid. All this time she had been going on and on about how much she loved Lucus, and here she was in bed with Ivan. She was such a hypocrite. She always wanted to be the center of the universe and didn’t care who she hurt. What was wrong with all the people around me? Why was everyone so messed up, so self-absorbed?
“Arelia, please don’t tell Lucus.” She jumped out of bed and came towards me. “Look I’m sorry for all the nasty things I said about you, I was just jealous.”
Tears started rapidly running down her cheeks, streaking them with globs of mascara. “I should have never accused you of trying to steal Lucus. You’re my best friend and what I said to you was so bitchy. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t in my life.”
I wanted to stay mad, but I couldn’t. Her apology melted the anger off my bones. This was Sabrina. We had been born one day apart, and from that moment on we had been inseparable. She could have refused to play with the nanny’s grandkid, but she hadn’t. When we were younger, and I was constantly teased for having parents that were MIA, Sabrina had always been the first one to my defense. She was my sister, we had an inexplicable bond. I had no one else at Darkwood. Ms. Mae and Lucus were both liars who only cared about themselves. What good would it do if I kept on fighting with Sabrina over Lucus? I would never speak to him again. I hesitated and chose my words carefully. “I don’t get it, if you’re crazy about Lucus, why are you here with Ivan?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Her tears continued to flow. “Lucus, he hasn’t even kissed me yet. For the past three weeks, I’ve been trying, but nothing.”
“I thought you already had sex with him.” I wanted her to admit that she had been lying.
“I lied. I only said that so I thought you would stay away. I really like Lucus. I know I’m in love with him, but I just lost my self-confidence. Ivan, he’s been constantly flirting with me ever since I got here, and I figured that if I slept with him, it would make me feel better, but I was wrong. I feel awful. Please Arelia, don’t tell Lucus what you saw, I’ll probably lose any chance that I have with him. Obviously he’s a bit traditional.”
“Look Sabrina, I can understand why you may have been jealous over Lucus, but what you said about me being a freak was super bitchy and I don’t think I can get past that.”
Sabrina wrapped her arms around me.
“I was scared,” she whispered. “I’m not as brave or smart as you, but I promise from this day on I’ll be there for you no matter what,” she vowed.
“I’m scared too,” I admitted. “I don’t get any of this stuff. Anyways, you really need to stop hooking up with every guy that smiles at you.”
“I know,” she moaned. “I would never go out with a waiter,, much less marry one. I have to keep my eyes on the prize- which is Lucus.”
All of a sudden, her tears stopped, and she eyed me intently. “I wouldn’t want you to change Arelia. You’re my best friend, and you’re perfect just the way you are, and when you smile the whole world stops and stares for a while.”
“Hey, that’s a Bruno Mars song.”
“You caught me. You know I’m not great with words. I missed you, where have you been going off to every day at seven am? Did you meet someone?”
“No, I’ve been meeting Ms. Mae. I’ve been learning stuff.” I didn’t know if I could tell her exactly what kind of stuff just yet and what had happened. It was all too surreal. The wounds were still raw.
“What kind of stuff? Tell me, I won’t freak out or anything. I think I know.”
“Really, what do you know?”
“You’ve been learning how to develop your witch powers.”
“The technical term is voodoo queen, but yeah, I’m pretty much learning how to be a full-fledged queen. Or at least I was. I’m not anymore, not here, anyways. Are you going to call me a freak again?”
“No, are you kidding? Do you know how awesome it is having a best friend who is a voodoo queen? Think of all the possibilities.” Sabrina’s eyes got a faraway look. She was probably thinking of ways she could get me to put a love spell on Lucus. “So, you’re not going to tell Lucus?”
“Sabrina listen to me, it’s not my place to tell Lucus, but as your best friend, you need to believe me when I say that you need to stay away from him. There are things that you don’t know about him.”
“Like what?” Her eyes got large with anticipation.
“I can’t explain. I’m leaving Darkwood tomorrow, and I think that you should come with me.”
“Come with you, are you insane?”
“No, I’m serious. This place is creepy, and we don’t belong here.”
From the cynical expression on Sabrina’s face, I knew that this was going to lead to another battle.
“How can you say that when you’re the one learning voodoo? You can’t just say that this place is creepy and expect me to leave. I can’t leave yet. I haven’t had enough time with Lucus,” she protested.
“I’m sure Lucus is great and all, but there are plenty of other guys.”
“Not like him,” she maintained. “If you leave, I’m still going to stay.”
“For once can you please just believe me, and not pick Lucus over me? We just made up. I don’t want another fight.”
“You know that I love you, but I don’t have to leave. We don’t have to be joined at the hip 24/7, you know. I’m not picking him over you. It shouldn’t have to be like that.”
“It’s not about that. This place is dangerous, that’s all,” I wanted to tell her the truth about Lucus, but how could I? She was infatuated with him, so there was no way she was going to believe me. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed me either. I guess it didn’t matter whether Sabrina stayed or not, they wanted me, not her. Besides, I knew that Ms. Mae wouldn’t let Sabrina be harmed if she ever wanted me to consider helping Lucus.
“It’s okay if you go. I’ll give you my paycheck,” Sabrina offered nobly.
“You know I won’t take it. It’s your choice if you want to stay, but I’m leaving first thing in the morning.”
“What’s with the drama, what happened?” For the first time in a long time, Sabrina looked genuinely worried. I hadn’t seen much of that side of her since we’d left home.
“It’s nothing. I just don’t feel right working here anymore. I don’t feel safe.”
“Oh please, the most dangerous thing here is Mr. Dumpty, and that’s only when he has too much gumbo or slams back the hurricanes. I know you’re hiding something,” Sabrina pressed on.
“I don’t feel like talking about it.” I wanted to forget everything about Darkwood and return home to Grand-mere Bea.
“I know what will make you feel better.” Sabrina walked over to the bed and pulled out a box of chocolates from under her pillow. They were the chocolates Lucus had given me. “I was tempted to eat all of the boxes, but I kept this one for us. I figured it would be a great way to kiss and make up.”
“You’ve been holding out on me.” I grabbed the chocolates out of her hand and tore open the box. I didn’t care even if they were from Lucus. Chocolate was chocolate, and in situations like these
, it didn’t matter where it came from. Sabrina and I plopped ourselves down on the bed and rehashed the details of our lost time while inhaling down the chocolates. I had my sister back.
Chapter 18
Mud Fight