(RIVALS) The Upside of Falling ✔️

Chapter 43: Stranger

Becca

Who are you? I asked the reflection in the mirror.

"Becca Hartwell," I answered, watching as the reflection's lips moved in sync with mine. I tilted my head to the left, I arched my right eyebrow, just as they did. The reflection mirrored my every move. The reflection was me, but it didn't look like me. I never realized how long my hair had gotten, hanging all the way down to my elbows. And was it always this light? When did my hair get so freaking light?

But the most startling part were my eyes. They looked... older. Tired. Weary. Since when did I have bags under my eyes?

The sound of someone coughing caught my attention and I turned around quickly. Cassie was standing behind me, watching me with her eyebrows raised.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked me, a question I had no answer to.

"Since when did my hair get so long?" I ran my fingers through my hair, wanting to grab a pair of scissors and snip it all off.

"Since you haven't cut it since last summer." Cassie walked over to me and looped her arm through mine, watching me with cautious eyes. "Did you get the address?"

I nodded, unlocking my phone and handing it to her. The address was there, written in my notes and staring at me hauntingly.

"Awesome," she smiled, handing my phone back to me and walking towards the door. Her hand lingered on the door knob, she turned around slowly. "Are you ready?"

I took a deep breath and turned back to the mirror. How had I been born with blue eyes and blonde hair yet, on my face, they managed to look so ordinary? I rolled my eyes and turned my back to the reflection, resisting the temptation to change out of my plain jeans and t-shirt.

"Ready," I told Cassie then followed her out the door.

* * *

"Make a left at the next light." I stared at the phone in my lap, reading the directions it was showing me and conveying them to Cassie as she drove.

The windows in the car rolled down and the warm breeze blew in, sending my hair flying in a crazy mess around my head. I grunted in frustration and quickly rolled up the window to my right.

"Leave them down," Cassie warned me from the driver's seat.

"Leave your's down, Cass. I don't need my hair knotting into a bird's nest on my head."

I didn't have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes at me.

"The fresh air is good for your nerves, Becca. It'll help calm you down."

"I'm not nervous," I replied too quickly, making me sound the exact opposite.

"You haven't stopped tapping your foot and you're breathing like freaking Darth Vader." Cassie said, shooting me a glare quickly before turning her eyes back to the road.

I looked down immediately and, sure enough, my foot was tapping impatiently against the floor-mat. I crossed my legs and fidgeted awkwardly in the chair.

"Brett's your boyfriend -"

"Is he?" I asked, cutting her off and having no idea where our relationship even stood at this point.