Truth of Dark Pasts by Serena Wood (free children's online books .TXT) 📖

the movie we picked. Somehow we fall back into that routine like nothing ever happened, as if we’ve been best friends all this time and nothing ever changed.

That fuzzy, uncontrollable emotion sneaks up on me again and just like before I start to feel like I don’t deserve to be here like this. I’m with the most kind hearted, unbelievably sweet person I know right now and for some reason she’s looking at me and talking to me like I’m the great one. I’ve done nothing but hurt and tear this girl down and somehow we’ve managed to bounce back and even more so she still sees something in me. What on earth could she possibly see? What am I missing?

Near the end of the movie, she ends up leaning on my shoulder and by the time the movie’s over she’s nearly sleeping in my lap. I watch the words fly by on the black screen, not wanting to move in fear of waking her.

Eventually the dvd makes it back to the menu screen and I’m forced to scoot away from her to turn off the tv. I turn off the light too and turn on the small bunny shaped night light on her nightstand before moving back under the covers. It’s kind of odd that a 17 year old girl still has a nightlight but honestly I don’t think I can blame her for still having a fear of the dark.“River?” Her quiet, half asleep voice startles me out of my thoughts; I hadn’t known she had woken up. “Hmm?”

“Are you going to bed?” She yawns and the expression that settles upon her face is absolutely priceless. “Yeah, El. We should get some rest.” I play with her hair for a moment before moving to kiss her forehead. She’s silent for a minute and at first I think she dozed off again. Until her hand moves to my arm and in the dim light I can just barely see her movements.

She kisses me, it’s short and sweet but it still leaves me at a loss. “Night, River.” she mutters before curling up in my arms and within seconds she’s asleep.

At first I don’t know how to respond, I’m not at all use to the sort of relationship that seems to be growing out of this. But it’s nice, surprisingly comfortable. Something I could get use to if I ever let go of my fears. Which I probably won’t anytime soon. Regardless of the little thought, I pull her closer and suddenly it feels like she’s the only thing keeping me grounded. She buries her nose in my neck, sleep still getting the better of her. “Good night, Ellie.” I find myself muttering, even though I know she’s probably sound asleep by now. She makes a soft noise in her sleep and after a few minutes of silence, sleep gets the better of me too.

Chapter 12, "New Starts"

 

☀Ellie☀

I wake up to the sound of birds chirping on another sunny morning. I rub at my eyes for a minute and try to remember life before the dream world. I realize I’m facing my night stand and groggily I reach out to turn the bunny light off before checking the clock. 6:58. Mom moving around down stairs must have woke me up, she’s usually up by this time. Which means it’ll be time to get up for school in a few minutes. I could postpone it to another week if I really felt that it was unsafe for me to go, but honestly there’s no point in it. As much as I’m dreading this monday, I need to go. I can’t keep letting Chloe and her bitch posse affect my life.

Groaning, I try to pull my blanket off me. For the first time since I woke up, I notice a figure hugging my waist. The figure groans and moves further under the covers, pulling me closer and attempting to resume sleep. In an instant I know it’s River and suddenly my brain wakes up fully, remembering now how she got here.

“River, wake up.” I try to pull away from her grasp, nudging her away a bit in an effort to wake her before my mom comes up here to make sure I’m up. “Stoooppp!” River growls, pulling the cover over her head before hugging my waist again. If I wasn’t worried about Mom, I’d let her sleep. I’m not use to the idea of her cuddling with me but it’s something I find surprisingly comfortable.

“Seriously, get up. You know my mom hates it when you sneak in here.” I mutter in an effort to keep my resolve. “She shouldn’t complain about me using the ladder if she won’t move it.” is her only reply.

“Ellie, Are you up?” Mom shouts from the bottom of the steps as if she heard us. “Shit.” I mutter under my breathe, finally managing to pull out of River’s grasp in my panic. But I pull too far and suddenly I come in contact with the carpet floor. Pain from every one of my bruises shoots through me. The thud of me hitting the floor wakes River and causes Mom to shout something in worry at me. “Are you okay?” River gets up and rushes to my side of the bed, this guilty look on her face. “I’m fine. Go, she’ll be up here any second now.” I get up, grabbing her shoes on the way and shoving her to the window. She rushes to slip the shoes on, not having enough time to change out of the pajamas I gave her.

I hear Mom start to walk up the stairs at a worried pace, like I’m an elderly woman that fell out of bed and she’s the nurse that comes to my rescue. “Hurry up, she’s coming.” I whisper. tossing River’s jacket at her. With the shoes finally in place, she opens the window; throwing one leg over and out onto the roof. I come up behind her, waiting to close the window and the curtain behind her. She turns to face me and startles me with a kiss on the cheek.

“See you at school.” the smile she gives me seems to melt me just a bit before she moves to climb out the window. Within seconds she’s gone and I close the window. Mom opens the door and I jump a bit, snapping the curtains shut.

I turn to face her and try to act normal as she looks around the room. “I heard a noise, you didn’t fall did you?” She asks me worriedly, her gaze falling on me at last and I let out a sigh of relief; knowing the coast is clear.

“I fell out of bed, I’m fine though.” she gives me a look, but tries not to seem too worried about it. “Alright… Well, since you’re up. Do you think you can go to school today? If you don’t want to you know I can work something out with the school.”

“No, Mom. I’m fine, I want to go back.” I answer with a surprising amount of determination in my voice. Again she goes quiet, thinking it over. “Oh… Well, alright. But only if you’re 100% sure.” She says with this timid look in her eyes, like she can’t trust me. “I’m sure.” I smile at her in hope of erasing that unsure look in her eyes. Her lips move up slightly to match her eyes timidness with a small nervous smile “Well, you better be getting ready then.” with that she leaves the room and when the door closes behind her, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

Within the next hour, I’m sitting in World History, watching the clock. I forgot during my mini vacation how much I hate being here, knowing half the girls around me belong to the Chloe Clan. I can practically feel their icy glares the whole time I take notes.

The bell rings at last and I rush to my next block. Thankfully, there’s hardly anyone in my Yearbook class and what people that are in this class are no where near the popularity group Chloe or any of her friends are in. I get to sit in peace for an hour, rearranging pictures for the art page.

Lunch arrives quicker than I had expected, being so caught up in the yearbook I almost didn’t hear the bell. I log off of the computer and grab my bookbag. “See you tomorrow, Ellie. Good work today.” Mr. Pendum smiles at me as I start to leave. I mutter a quiet goodbye in return before walking to the lunch room in silence. The line is already getting long by the time it takes me to get there and it takes me nearly ten minutes to get my food.

I start walking back to the door that leads to the hall, planning on going to Robin’s office as usual. But this voice I know all too well stops me as soon as I pass her table. “Hey, freak. Wait up. I didn’t get to welcome you back.” Chloe gets up from the lunch table and walks over to stand in front of me. I freeze up as soon as her green eyes lock onto mine with this intimidating glare. I don’t know what to say, if I could manage for my now dry mouth to form words anyways.

I spot River sitting at their table, silently. “What’s the matter, Freak? Cat got your tongue?” Chloe jabs a perfectly manicured nail into my shoulder and I flinch back, instantly fearing another beating.

“Aww, Don’t worry. I can’t kick your ass… yet. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give you a wardrobe adjustment” This almost evil looking smirk appears on her perfect lips and usually I would envy her. But at the moment I only fear what she plans to do. Before I can get a word out or even try to understand what it is she’s going to do, my tray suddenly flips out of my grasp. She knocks the food onto the front of my shirt. Thankfully only a fruit cup and my milk are the only things that manage to make a mess. But still, her sting sets in when I start to hear the other girls around her laughing.

I look around the room for an escape, no teachers near by to run to, no friends. Only River. Sitting there silently with this pained expression on her features. I don’t know what I expected when I came back, for her to be my friend again? For her to stand up for me? Who was I kidding?

I rush out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. Tears are already streaming down my cheeks as I make it to the mirror and start dabbing at the milk with paper towels. I quickly give up and retreat to the stall at the very end of the room, hiding in the corner.

I lean against the wall and try to stop from crying. A few minutes passes but the tears don’t stop falling. Another girl walks into the bathroom and immediately I hold my breath, my tears stopping in an effort to make me invisible.

“Ellie?” as soon as