Chapter 216: The Past [22]

"Annabeth..." I wasn’t sure of the name I’d called, but I needed an explanation. "What do you think you’re doing?"

All she did was glare at me in fierce rage, eyes bloodshot red. "I should ask you that fucking question."

I scoffed. "Are you being serious right now? Because it looks to me you’re the one who owes me an explanation for coming into my room and—"

She raised my diary, and my eyes widened in disbelief.

"Y-You went through my diary? You have no right to—"

"I should’ve known," she cut me off bitterly. "Z stands for Zade, doesn’t it?"

My blood went cold.

"All this time you knew, even before I told you. You know who I told Father I wanted, so you tried to take him for yourself!"

My eyebrows furrowed in deep confusion. "What are you—"

"YOU KNEW I WANTED ZADE!" she screamed at me, and I jumped, startled. "H-How could you?"

"Annabeth—"

"I knew there was something off yesterday. The way you looked at him, how hesitant you were. You left so suddenly after I came back with no explanation at all. You made a fool of me, Ana."

"It—"

"How long?" she demanded. "How long have you fucking my future husband!"

"Stop!" I yelled, throwing my hands up. "You’ve got this all wrong."

"Do I?" She questioned venomously. "These dresses that got sent to you were from him. Those kittens too. They should have been mine. MINE!"

I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off before I could get the word out.

"I thought you would be happy for me! You were the only one I shared this with, and you knew how much I worked for this, but you just have to take that away from me, don’t you? DON’T YOU?!"

My lips pressed into a thin line, my face morphing into distress. She wasn’t even gonna let me explain. I felt like the villain who had done something evil.

"You can’t say anything, can you? How could you?" Her chest heaved as she tossed my diary at me, and I flinched when it hit the wall behind me.

"You can’t explain yourself because I’m speaking the truth!"

She stormed out of my room and slammed the door after her.

I stood there for a while trying to get a grasp of the situation, but I couldn’t. I was distraught as I picked up my diary and sat down on the bed.

Then I broke down, sobbing so hard that my eyes and nose burned.

I used the back of my hand to wipe away the tears, but they kept coming, soaking my hands no matter how many times I tried to dry my face.

~☆~

I heard a knock, and my eyes darted to the door.

"W-Who is it?" I winced at how cracked my voice sounded.

"It’s me, Ana."

I froze.

"Can you please open the door? We need to talk," Annabeth said, voice desperate and pleading.

Bile filled my throat. "We already talked."

"Please open the door."

I don’t want to. I don’t think I can bear to even look at her right now, no less have a conversation, without feeling like my insides were about to vaporize.

"Stasia..."

My chest tightened when she used the name we called ourselves when we were little.

Clenching my teeth, I wiped the lone tear that ran down my face and got off the bed. I went to the door and reached for the knob, my hand hanging for a while before I eventually unlocked it.

"I thought you would be asleep," she said, a faint smile on her lips.

"About to," I replied, walking back to bed.

"I came because I wanted us to talk."

"We already talked, Annabeth." I sat down, and she followed suit.

She placed her hand on her chest. "I get it."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion and asked skeptically. "Get what?"

"You were mad about what happened with Jacob and wanted to get back at me. We can call it even now. You forgave me so..." She sighed heavily before nodding her head like she had thought long and hard about it. "It’s my turn now."

"Annabeth, this is not—"

She took my hands, holding them tightly. "Now we’ve cleared this misunderstanding... we’re good. Which means... Whatever happened between you and Zade Salvero ends today. It wasn’t real after all. You were just trying to hurt me, and I forgive you."

I ripped my hand away from her hold, then pushed to my feet. "You said you wanted to talk. This isn’t talk. You’re just making up things to justify what happened."

She stood. "We’re talking, Ana. And I’m not making up anything. I mean, why else would you be anywhere near Zade Salvero of all people if it wasn’t to get back at me." She rolled her eyes.

"You two don’t even exist in the same world. How did you do it, though? Did you pull the trick of an interview?"

I ran a hand through my hair in annoyance before gripping my hair like I was about to go insane.

Did she seriously think I was capable of doing something like that because of what happened with Jacob?

"I’m curious, tell—"

"ENOUGH!" I roared, and she froze at my outburst. "This isn’t about Jacob. It had nothing to do with Jacob. This isn’t about revenge or whatever you think this was... how could you possibly think I’d stoop so low to hurt you like that?"

She took my arms in her hold. "I’m not mad if you were. At least we’re even—"

"When I met Zade, I had no idea he was the one you talked about. He was just a stranger I met at the club and..." I paused. "We grew close, we had a relationship, and none of it was about getting back at you."

"What do you mean?" Her smile slowly faded, and then she released me.

"This has nothing to do with you. Nothing. I met Zade before you even told me about him. I only found out who he really was yesterday. This isn’t about revenge or jealousy... this... this just happened, and I’m sorry if you feel like I hurt you but I didn’t when I had no intentions to do so. You can’t fault me for the fact that it was the same man you fantasized about."

She was silent, just staring at me blankly. I sobbed, looking away as I wiped my tears away.

"Say something..." I murmured. "You’re scaring me."

"What about what I want?" she said. "Don’t I get to feel betrayed?"

"For the love of God! I didn’t betray you, Annabeth. Don’t twist—"

"Yes, you did," she enforced. "You did."

Her eyes raked over me, and I hated the way she looked at me as though I was beneath her.

"In normal circumstances, he wouldn’t even look at you or walk toward your direction. This only happened because you threw yourself at him like a fucking slut!"

Her words were like shards to my chest, and it hurt more when I saw the abhorrence in her eyes.

"And I’ve got every right to hate you right now. Can’t fault me for that, can you?" She turned on her heels and left.

I glared hard at the doorway as my chest burned.

~☆~

I set the plate down and picked up my fork to eat, but the moment I did, the appetite was gone.

My phone vibrated, and I darted my tired eyes to it, seeing the message icon.

Zade.

I haven’t returned his calls or his texts. Not because of Annabeth’s words, but because I wasn’t in the right headspace right now.

Annabeth and I have fought occasionally as any sisters would. At the end of the day, we would make up. Kiss and make up, as we always called it, and it’d be like what caused the quarrel to begin with never existed.

But this...? It felt like something broke, and I wasn’t sure there were any pieces of what was left of us to pick.

I heard footsteps, and I quickly darted my eyes to Jacob.

"Hey..." I said, finally taking a bite, but the food tasted bitter in my mouth.

Jacob rested his hands on the counter, pinning me with a look. "Is something going on between you and Annabeth?"

"..."

"She’s been... distant, and she won’t talk to me. Well?"

"Look, Jacob, I’m not—"

"Did you two fight?"

I licked my lips. "Yeah, we did."

He nodded in understanding. "About what?"

My mouth hung open for a while before I eventually answered. "I don’t wanna talk about it."

"Annabeth won’t talk to me, and now you won’t. You can’t just expect me to just pretend like nothing’s going on."

In silence, I grabbed my plate, scraped the food into the trash, and dumped the plate in the sink.

When I turned, I jumped because Jacob was suddenly in front of me.

"You hurt her, didn’t you?"