Words of Fate

Chapter 8

Arabella's POV

Viv and I spent our morning reading in Aceria's library. Only to be told that it is lunch time and we needed to head to a hall to get some food. Viv and I walk to the nearest dining hall, which was the east dining hall. 

Though I’ve heard how strong the pull to a fated is I can’t say I believed it. Looking at Vivian my feelings get overwhelmingly strong. I picture us years from now taking care of a child together. I realize it’s absurd but I can’t help it, I feel so drawn to her. My heart pulls to hold her and even kiss her, we need to build up our relationship first though. We can’t just act off of impulse and attraction. Though hopefully there will be time for me to hold her and kiss her soon.  

As we make our way into the dining hall and get our food we sit down at an empty table. The meal is plain and consists of potatoes, corn and flavourless meat, though I notice Vivian skips the meat all together. I definitely like the western dining halls food better. Halfway through our meal, I see a familiar face casually strolling through the hall. Luca. He spots us and then smiles while walking over to us.

"Hey, Ari can I talk to you?" Luca hesitantly asks.

"Sure." I wasn't sure if he wanted to talk in private, but either way, I made no motion to move. 

"I want to apologize for this morning. Dylan wasn't feeling well, and he got mad at me because I left him without telling him. So, I'm sorry." Luca explains, however, I'm not sure that really makes up for the way Dylan acted. 

"Can you forgive him?" Luca asks.

"I guess I can," I say with a dull tone. 

"Thank you so much, Ari." Vivian looks at me like she knows I’m only forgiving him for Luca. Or that I’m not really sincere and can’t really forgive Dylan just yet. 

"There's a lake not too far from here, anyone up for a swim?" Luca asks. Though it seems as though it’s just a way for him to try to fix things for Dylan. 

"Swimming doesn’t sound too bad. What do you say, Viv?" I ask her, not knowing if swimming was her thing or not.

"Sure," Vivian pauses her eyebrows furrow, "but we don't have any swimsuits."

"Don't worry about that, we have a*****e that sells clothes. But we'll have to go get your cards, I think Cecelia should have them ready for you."

"a*****e?" Vivian asks.

"Yeah, most of the people escape the city with just the clothes on their backs, so we go to thrift stores and get a bunch of clothes and as for the undergarments, we buy them new."

"Wow, I guess you guys are prepared for anything."

"Yup! So, are you guys coming or not?" 

"Yeah" Vivian stands. We follow Luca out the doors of the Eastern Dining hall, the fresh air hits my face, I don’t remember if Sawyer showed us this particular store or not, it seems pretty easy to get lost or turned around up here. When we finally reach the store, Luca opens the door but Vivian pauses.

"I thought we were going to get our cards first?"

"Well, you girls are going to stay here and pick out a few outfits while I go set up your cards. Ari, are you going to be able to survive shopping?" Luca asks. I've always hated shopping with Luca, but I think it will be different with Vivian.

"I think I'll be fine," I say to him. And with that Viv and I walk into the store and Luca walks in the opposite direction. 

"So, you don't like shopping?" Vivian asks in a curious tone.

"Correction, I don't like shopping with Luca. He takes forever, and then he goes and tries it on, and stands in front of the mirror staring at the outfit and then deciding that it doesn't look good on him. It infuriates me, he takes forever." I responded.

"Really? I don't know him well but I wouldn't have guessed he was like that."

"Yeah, and don't ever get him talking about what's in style. He'll talk your ear off, and you'll never get him to shut up about it." I say as I begin to file through the clothing rack. 

"Noted." Vivian laughs, "I know this isn't any of my business, but when Luca asked if you could forgive Dylan. You didn't, did you?"

"I did, but it still hurt. Luca and I have been best friends since junior year, and we've always stuck up for each other. He's always been there for me. So, I guess it just hurt when he didn't say anything to Dylan. I know this all sounds very selfish..." I trailed off as I continue to search through the clothes.

"Ari, that doesn't make you selfish. I've done the same thing, the only difference is that she wasn't a good friend. So, when I got upset with her always choosing her boyfriend over me, she got pissed and found new friends. That's why I'm not very close to anyone." I stopped looking through and looked into Vivian's beautiful brown eyes.

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better are you?"

"No, not with that story. If I did I would've told you about the friend that took advantage of me."

"So, you haven't had a very pleasant time with people, I suppose," I say as I go back looking through the clothes.

"Not in the slightest. What about you? I haven’t heard you talk about anyone apart from Luca.”  

"That’s because Luca has been my only friend for pretty much my whole life. Before my junior year, I was practically left for dead. Everyone hated me and always picked on me."

"Damn, I guess we both haven't had a very lucky time." 

"Nope."  I picked out two pairs of jeans and three pairs of leggings and two pairs of jean shorts. Now onto the tops. I grab about five different tops both long sleeve and short and I got two hoodies. I should be set except for a swimsuit. 

As I walk over to the swimsuit rack, I caught the eye of a girl. She had long blond hair and deep brown eyes. She kept her eye on me while she gave me a death glare. She rolled her eyes flipping her hair and walking off, I wonder what her problem is.

"I left you for twenty minutes, and you haven't even found a single bathing suit?" Luca asks as he comes up behind me Dylan following closely behind. 

"I'm getting there, hey who was that girl over there?" I ask as I gesture in her direction.

"Oh her, that's Aleah. I'd stay away from her, she can be really bitchy." Luca replies. 

"Yeah, but so can you," I complain. 

"Bish! That hurt!" Luca says sarcastically. We both laugh as we make our way over to the bathing suit rack. Vivian was already there holding a slim full piece bathing suit. I lose sight of where Dylan wandered off to but I don't really care where he is. 

"That one would look really good on you," I say quickly to Vivian. I watch as a bright warm red tint raise to her checks. I'm really bad at flirting so I'm not sure where that flirtatious comment came from. I find a colourful bikini and we all got our clothes paid for. We made a quick stop back at our apartment to drop off the clothes and change into our bathing suits. 

Once we’re changed we head back outside to Luca and Dylan who are waiting at the railing across from our door. I notice Sawyer and the girl we met in the dining hall both standing alongside the boys, chatting. We walk over and catch bits of the conversation. 

“Nah, Aspen and I were headed to play some chess. The water was freezing anyway last time I checked.” So Aspen is her name, it sounds familiar now that I hear it again and I make an effort to remember it this time. 

“Alright, well now that the girls are ready we should head out so we have time to swim before the sun sets.” 

“It was nice seeing you again, have fun.” Aspen smiles and nods in our direction before turning and walking off with Sawyer. 

“So are they like a thing?” Vivian asks as we make our way to the ground. 

“No way, Sawyer is quite a few years older than her. She just loves chess and Sawyer is one of the few here that will play it. They’re nothing more than friends,” Dylan explains and I can see Vivian redden seemingly embarrassed by the way Dylan reacted to her question. 

After we make it to the ground the rest of the walk is silent and stiff until we finally reach the lake. Luca is the first into the water dragging a hesitant Dylan behind him. I grab the hem of my shirt and gracefully pulled it over my head. Once my shirt is off I manage to turn myself around and see Vivian watching me out of the corner of her beautiful eyes. She saw me watching and quickly turned away as a warm blush rose to her cheeks.

 I smiled to myself and began to take my jean shorts off. Before I know it, I'm in the water. At first, there was a cold shock as the water surrounded my body inch by inch, but soon my body gets used to the water and it feels warm and almost comforting. Luca swims slowly over to me leaving Dylan to swim around on his own which is unusual.  Suddenly Luca's hand shot up out of the water and sprayed across my face and the small swath of water around. 

As the water rolls off my face, I stare at him with an evil glare. I bring both my hands to the surface of the water at a rapid speed splashing water all over Luca. Vivian then joins me at my side and we both begin splashing water all over Luca. Luca fought back just as hard. We soon all become out of breath and begin to immensely enjoy the warmth of the water. 

"Alright, I've got an idea!" Luca exclaims.

"Oh no," I say. "That's never good."

"It's a good plan I swear!" 

"Okay, shoot," I say.

"Let's have a race! Whoever can make it to that island will win the chocolate bar I have in my bag. Good enough?"

"Sure let's do it! But what happens with the loser?" I ask.

"Uh, haven't thought that far ahead Ari. We can figure it out when we finish. Sound good? Either way, I'm going to win. I have four years of competitive swimming." Luca says proudly. I looked at the island and see that is only about half a mile away.

"Luca, I was in that swim class. And I was still in there a year after you left, I have more experience than you."

"We'll just see about that," Luca says and suddenly, Vivian pushes off and begins to swim towards the island, with great strength and speed. Luca and I look at each other in surprise and then we begin to race. Vivian stayed in the lead, while Luca and I were an arm's length away from each other at one point Dylan pulled ahead almost catching up to Vivian before losing his breath. 

About halfway to the island, deafening gunshots erupted into the air around us. They were as loud as thunder, as they clapped across the still waters of the lake. We all stopped swimming and looked at each other.

"Luca, tell me that wasn't a gunshot," I stare at him in disbelief.

"It sounded like it but the guards don't shoot unless there is a threat. Which is what worries me, come on let's get back." Luca says and we all begin to swim back, when the gunshot went we had only swum a quarter of a mile and with the adrenaline in our veins we reach shore in record times. 

"Who do you think it was?" I ask Luca once we are on shore. We all grab our towels and clothes and make our up to the trail.

"I'm not sure, but we need to report it if they weren’t able to hear it back in Aceria but with how loud it was I don’t think they could have missed it." Luca says. The first person we run into is Sawyer, we quickly tell about the gunshot and he informs us they heard it too before ordering us to get into our apartments and stay in there until we know what has happened and the initial threat is gone. Seconds later Sawyer takes off running along the trail to go warn the others. Everyone walks in silence until we reach our room, Vivian and I start to make our way to our door but Dylan grabs me by the arm and turns me around. 

"Listen, I shouldn't have been such an ass yesterday. I'm just dealing with a bunch of s**t"

"I uh, it's okay" I stutter as he lets go of my arm and walks off with Luca to their room.

Vivian opens the door and I follow her in, she takes a seat on the couch and I plop down beside her. As we waited to hear of what the gunshot was, Vivian and I have a light conversation.  

"That was weird,” she states.

"What part?" I ask.

"Dylan trying to apologize to you" 

"Luca probably put him up to it. Either way, I'm surprised he even talked to me today," at this Vivian nods and I realize I'll have to keep talking to get her to talk more. 

"Did you take swimming lessons?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I took them for 8 years."

"Damn, now that's commitment. Do you like swimming?"

"I love it, sadly awhile after my father left my mother stopped paying for the swimming lessons because he loved swimming. This afternoon, it brought such a rush that I fell in love with when I was little."

"You should get back into..." I trailed off as a knock interrupted our conversation. 

"Who is it?"

"Cecilia." The voice from behind the door came out dry and raspy.

"It's unlocked." As I said that, Cecilia walked in looking as though she’s out of breath from running a marathon.

"I just heard what happened, are you girls okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. Did you find out what happened?" I ask.

"Yes, it was a hunter on the west side forest, he got lost and he shot off a couple of rounds so someone could find him." Cecilia hesitated for a little bit.

"So what happened to him?" Vivian asks.

"Well, we took him in and we gave him food and water. And we're giving him a sedative that will make him forget he was ever here. Then we'll have a few of the guards take him back to the city. He'll be okay." Cecilia explains. "I have to get back work, so I'll leave you two here. You no longer have to stay inside, though because of the disruption I've closed down everything but the dining halls." And with that, she leaves.

"So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" I ask. Vivian thinks for a few seconds before smiling, a small blush coming to her cheeks. 

"Do you want to see if we can go to that giant hammock near the schools?" Vivian has a childish grin on her face that I'm sure will be one of my favourite things for the rest of my life. 

"Yes!" a smile now forming on my face. We leave our room once again and find our way to the hammock, to our surprise the gate is unlocked. When we walk on Vivian is clearly happy and I'm sure she has no idea just how beautiful she looks right now. We lay down and stare up at the leaves swaying gently in the breeze above us.