Once Upon A Twisted Fate

Fourteen. - No Control

Envy burned through me inside and out. I felt like a little kid with a box of newly bought crayons, only to find out the kid who used to be my friend had a box just like it, but hers was limited edition so it had an additional colour I never knew about. In the end she got the most attention in class, snatching away the person I wouldn’t want her to have anything to do with.

                I’d admit perhaps that example was a tad off, since I usually wasn’t the jealous type, but that was exactly how I felt. It felt like 10th grade all over again. My ex, Matt and I dated for a little over five months when he broke up with me exactly a few days after Tia and I went our separate ways. Cassandra saw Tia talking to Matt, just hours before our break up. Although she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she suspected it had something to do with Tia. After all, she did go all out and told every single person who knew me rumours about myself that I didn’t even know about. Till this day, Matt never explained why he called it off. Now that I thought about it, I wouldn’t want to know. If Tia had a part in it, I was better off without him anyway. How could he trust Tia over me, right? It took me quite some time to realize that. Being 16 that year, I naively thought Matt and I would last and I cried for days when we broke up. But well, let bygones be bygones. Except when the person included in that bygone showed up, threatening to make history repeat itself. I cringed at my thoughts.

                “Eryn, I didn’t know you knew my boy toy here,” Tia said while messing up Dillan’s hair flirtatiously. Boy toy? Dillan squinted his eyes at her, whatever that meant. He didn’t even try pulling away from her gesture. I felt my stomach somersaulting inside, causing my vision of the world in front of me to go one dimensional for a second. Get out of there, I told myself, but my legs were stubborn.

                “Eryn and I used to work together,” Dillan explained, “how ‘bout you guys?”

                “Used to? Oh my God, what happened?” Tia asked with one hand covering her mouth, completely ignoring Dillan’s question. She was always more dramatic than the average people. After she joined the popular girls she became that way, at least. Dillan went along and told her a brief summary of what happened back at the café. Now was my chance to leave. I couldn’t take breathing the same air with either of them anymore. But I couldn’t make myself depart, not without Dillan. I felt like we were magnets of opposite poles, magnetized at each other, not moving until the other does.

                Not moving until the other does?

                I could be the other, couldn’t I? Only one way to find out whether I was the only one feeling that way.

                “I’m afraid I have to get going, guys. It’s getting late. You guys catch up,” I said casually and turned my body back on track, walking back home. I didn’t know what Dillan’s relationship with Tia was, but I really wanted him to come along. It would mean he’d choose me over her. Tia did act like Dillan was her boyfriend or something. From what I know, she’s taken by some jock at our school. She couldn’t be cheating on her boyfriend with Dillan, right? Maybe she would, but not with Dillan. I didn’t want to believe Dillan would agree on that.

                I walked slowly while making my ears zoom in on their conversation. We weren’t that far apart yet, so I could hear every word, still.

                “Tia, dear,” Dillan said. The word “dear” stabbed me in the chest, making my lungs stop functioning for a second. “I don’t think I should let Eryn walk alone. She’s been nothing but nice to me today.”

                Aw. My goofy grin made its appearance. Now I was one hundred percent sure I was wrong for blaming him for the cause of my out-of-control emotions. Anger, specifically. Why was I mad at him? I asked myself time and time again. I still couldn’t make out a perfectly logical answer.