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

the fuck are you doing?” is her opening liner. “Right now? Knocking down blocks.” I mutter, nodding at the computer game on my screen. “You know what I’m talking about. Seriously, fill me in. Are you planning something big? Like, ruin the Freak and her gay friends kinda big?”

My attention instantly pulls itself away from the game to stare at her. “What are you talking about, Chloe?” she huffs at me in irritation. “Don’t play dumb with me, you’ve been nice to her ever since we kicked her ass. Hun, she probably still has a creepy ass crush on you… Wait, are you trying to get to her and then dump her ass? Cause that’s conniving, even for you, River.”

“I’m not like you. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I’m trying to make amends. She doesn’t deserve what you’re doing to her, Chloe.” my emotions let me lose control for a second and the stream of anger slips past my lips. “Whatever, River. She messed with me, she almost fucked up my school record. And I know you well enough to know you aren’t trying to make amends. Since when do you have a soft side for freak shows like that? That’s not the River I knew.”

Anger courses through me “Then clearly you didn’t know the real River.” I hiss at her and by her shocked reaction I instantly know I’ve made a bad move. “You are turning on me, I knew it. You’ll both pay for this.” she utters the last part in a low warning that sends a shiver down my spine before shoving the chair back into it’s place and walking out of the computer lab.

Sighing, I get up and start walking to the library. I know I’m skating on thin ice now with what just happened, but at the moment I don’t really care. So what if she hates me now?

What about Ellie? How am I going to keep Chloe off her even a little bit if she hates us both now?

“Fuck…” I mutter under my breathe. “Yo, River. What’s up?” a voice comes up behind me as I sit in a bean bag chair near the library’s windows. Kathy strolls up to me and plops down into one of the other bean bags. “Hey.” I grumble, not really in the mood for being social right now. “Where’s your girl?” She asks casually as she readjusts herself. “She’s not my… She’s in Home Ec right now.” I sigh out. What’s the point of denying it with this girl anyways?

Her voice snaps me out of my thoughts, “Oh, That sucks. Mine’s in some bullshit math class right now. Too bad we don’t get to spend our free periods with them, huh?” She readjusts herself in the seat again, this time to look right at me. “Yeah…” I find myself muttering, suddenly missing Ellie’s presence.

“But maybe that’s for the best. Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, right?” the look she gives me is so damn cocky, but for some reason I let it go. Because I know she’s right.

“Now you sound like her.” I grumble, knowing very well the petty jab is something Ellie would probably say if she wasn’t so scared of everyone. Why does this girl have to be so ballsy? and why am I letting her get away with it?

“Right… Well, I’ll shut up now. I understand the whole thing, I do. Shay’s right, sometimes I just like to give advice where it’s not needed.”

“It’s fine, it’s not like I couldn’t use the advice anyways.” I mutter, instantly wondering why I let the comment slip. “Well in that case, I’ll shower you with advice then. I think you should go talk to her. Sort things out and all.” For a few minutes I think over her words, not really convinced that she knows what she’s talking about. She doesn’t know us, why is she so certain anyways?

“Oh, come on. You can go right now, let’s go. I can probably pull Shay out of class too, I haven’t talked to her all day.” she tugs me out of the bean bag chair and drags me along as she talks. My natural instincts kick in and I yank away from her grasp. She stops in her tracks to look at me strangely. “You okay, River?”

“Yeah… I just… I have a personal bubble, I don’t like people touching me.” I stare down at my feet like all the other times before. I’ve lost count of all the times I’ve told new friends to keep their distance. “Oh, I understand. My bad, bro.”

“It’s fine.”

“You sure? I’ve had a couple of friends like that before, I should know better by now. Feel free to slap me.”

“It’s fine, just drop it.” I grumble and she gives me this sympathetic look before changing the subject. “Right, well come on. We better go, only 30 minutes left of the class.”

“I think I’ll just chill here.” I mutter, not willing to get into whatever stupid plan she has in mind. I sit back down in the bean bag chair and she gives me that cocky look again, one hand on her hip. “Why would you just want to sit here when you could be talking things out with Ellie?”

“There’s nothing to talk out.”

“Bullshit, I know there has to be something you want to say to her.” She keeps up her determination and it starts to get the better of me; because I know she’s right. Weather I want to admit it or not. “Don’t you have a girlfriend to bother?” I grumble after a minute. “Yes and you have a girlfriend that you need to talk to.” When she uses that as a come back, I look around to make sure no one heard her.

“Oh, sorry. I meant ‘friend’.” she gives me the look of knowing that she gave me the first day we met and in an instant it irritates me. But as quickly as it angers me, it also makes me realize the point she’s trying to get through my thick skull. I made a promise to Ellie that I would start fixing things. Pretending like she’s just a friend isn’t fixing anything… Kathy’s right, I need to talk to Ellie.

“Alright, fine. Let’s go.” I grumble, slightly irritated that she could beat me down this easily. But at the same time, deep down, I’m glad that she did. Not that I’ll admit it.

 

☀Ellie☀

This whole week has been confusing as hell and with everything Chloe’s done, I’m surprised we made it to Friday. But somehow Friday did come, despite all the bullshit. And now that I’ve made it to the last class of the last day of the week, I can finally enjoy making batches of cookies like we do every friday.

After the last batch is made, I sit down in my own little corner to eat a few in silence. The girl on the other side of the island hands me a glass of milk and I take it gingerly before she goes back to talking to her friends. I fade back into the background again but I don’t expect much more than this, it’s what I’m use to. I’m use to no one talking to me and somehow I’ve gotten use to just being alone. But today I don’t end up completely alone.

“Ellie’s needed in the office.” River’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I look up from my glass to find her talking to Mrs. Greer. When they both turn to look at me, I stand up cautiously and follow River out the door. Why did they send River to get me? I thought the only one who stayed in the office during fourth was this small boy with glasses.

For a second I consider asking her about it, but on second thought I know it’s better not to question why River was in the office.

After a few minutes she stops walking and turns to me. For once I think I see the small hint of a smile. “Hey, I wanted to tell you something.”

“What is it?” I ask with a little too much enthusiasm, instantly curious about what she has to say. “I think I took care of our problem today.” her answer leaves me just as clueless as I was before and I stare back at her confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s a long story. But to sum it up, I somehow got myself on Chloe’s bad side.”

“But I thought that’s exactly what you didn’t want, what if she finds out about…?” for some stupid reason my brain so desperately wanted to use the word ‘us’ but after the first time River referred to it like that, I can’t manage to call what we have anything. Thankfully, River seems to catch on regardless and the cocky smile that River practically invented shows up.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t care if she finds out what happened, let her pry.” As soon as she says that I think I imagined the whole sentence. It’s not like River to suddenly change her mind once she already has a plan set in motion. So why is she suddenly changing everything around. Why is she standing here telling me that she’s not worried about Chloe anymore?

“But… What happened to ‘I don’t want anyone to know’ and ‘she’ll crush us both if she finds out’? I thought you were pretending to be her friend so she wouldn’t hassle me. Wasn’t that you’re whole plan to protect me?” Her signature smirk suddenly changes to this look of guilt, like what I said had reminded her of some wrong doing.

“I… I was wrong.”

For at least a minute, all I can do is stare at her, unable to process what she just said. In all the years I’ve known her, I’ve barely ever heard her say that she was wrong about anything. “W-what?” is the only thing I manage to get out after a minute or so. “Don’t make me say it again, you know I hate saying that. It’s just that… I shouldn’t have been so scared about her finding out. It was wrong of me to make you feel like we had to keep it top secret. I’m sorry, okay?” she looks at me like she’s under persecution and that look in her eyes makes it hard not to fall for anything she has to say and all I can manage to do is hug her.

She stands there awkwardly for a second before hugging back. “Just for the record, this doesn’t mean I’m going soft on you. I still have my dignity, you know.” she grumbles after a minute and it pulls a laugh out of me. “Right, right, you have a heart of ice. You never change.” I chuckle and pull away from the hug. “I change a little bit…” She mutters, taking my hands.

I freeze up at the feel of her hands holding mine. I stare down at them for a moment, at a loss for words. When I look back up, she’s staring back at me with this expression I can’t read. What I would give to be able to read her mind. “What?”

As soon as I ask she starts walking, keeping hold on one of my hands and tugging me along behind her. “Where are we going? … Hey, wait, I’m suppose to go to the office, aren’t I?” my questions go unanswered as she drags me into the girls bathroom and nearly pushes me into the last stall.

“River, seriously. What are you doing...” she shuts the door behind her and before I can even think of anymore stupid questions to ask, a kiss cuts me off. I find myself suddenly pressed against the wall and all in an instant I realize what’s happening. This can’t be happening. Is she really going to try this right now, in the middle of class? Her kisses quickly move to my jawline and the answer to that