Words of Fate

Chapter 6

Arabella's POV

Slowly, my eyes flutter open. I soon realize that Viv's arm is slung over my waist. A warm red tint rises to my cheeks, and I smile at this gesture. I glance over at Viv's resting eyes, she is so adorable. I wish I could tell her that, but this situation is so different. Maybe one day I'll be able to tell her how I feel, but today is not the day.

"Viv?" I whisper while poking her precious face that lay gently on my shoulder. I wasn't sure if we were safe, for all I know there may be a camera watching our every move. Yes, I trusted Luca, but they could've blackmailed him to set up a trap and then The Heart steps in and kills us both. I couldn't let that happen to Vivian.

"Vivian, we need to wake up," I say again, this time she groans and her beautiful chocolate eyes flutter open. That's when she got this wild look in her eyes, suddenly she lunged at me and poked my nose before bolting off the bed and hiding behind the table. At some point in time we need to have fun, if we have to spend the rest of our lives together, why not make the most of it.

"Vivian! Did you just poke me!?" I semi yell, soon enough I hear giggles erupt from behind the table.

"No..." Viv says suspiciously.

"You know, Viv, you're a really bad liar." That's when I break out into laughter as I slowly make my way over to the table with a cotton pillow in my hand. As I walked slowly around the table I look directly into Viv's eyes, and ever since this trip started I had never seen that look and saw pure joy and happiness. Like she was a young child again, I smile even wider if that was possible.

"Hey, that's not fair! Ari put the pillow down.” When she sees I’m advancing she continues her pleads. “Ari please, Arabella, put the pillow down." Viv pleads once again as I slowly approach her. At that point, Viv rushes past me and bolts to the bed grabbing the other pillow.

"Now you're going to get it!" Viv threatened while she laughed. She was having a good time, we both were. Suddenly, Viv rushed towards me and smacked my hip with the pillow, I hit her back on the shoulder. We both continued until we were out of breath and needing a break, well, I wanted a break. But as I fell back on the bed, Viv swung the pillow and hit me in the stomach I groaned and was about to hit her back when someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" I asked as I waited for an answer.

"Someone who has been forced to come and get you two and then wishes they picked someone else because I don't have any idea of what you're doing in there, and I don't wanna know." I could tell by the playfulness in his voice that it was Luca. I look over at Vivian who is really confused.

"Don't worry, Viv, it's just Luca," I said to Viv. I walk over to the door and open for him.

"Oh, it's just Luca?!" Luca says as he walks in, and drops our bags to the side.

"Stop being so dramatic. I suppose you're to take us down to get food?"

"Yup!" Luca says cheerfully.

"Wait!" I scream making everyone look at me.

"What's wrong Ari?" Viv asks.

"Do they have coffee, Luca you know I can't survive without coffee!" They both start laughing at my weirdness.

"Yes, Ari we have coffee. You, Vivian, and coffee hold a special place in Ari's heart." Luca says. I see a warm red tint rise on Viv's cheek, it's so adorable.

"Let us get ready first," Vivian says. "Ari you can wear my clothes considering we had to leave your apartment quickly."

"Thank you," And with that, we choose our outfits and start getting ready. I had finished getting ready first and I walked out to the living room and leaned against the wall where Luca was.

"So, do you like her?" Luca asks.

"I love her, she's amazing. But this is so different for both of us, and we don't know how to handle the situation. It's very scary, how did you and Dylan adapt to the whole same-gender situation?"

"Well, we were friends at first and then we said our Words Of Fate, and then it was very awkward, and we tried to avoid each other after that knowing it was wrong. But the pull we felt was too much to handle so we started seeing each other and the pull went away."

"I never had a pull, and neither Viv. Does that mean there is something wrong with us?" I said in a panic.

"Describe what you felt."

"Well at first, it was just a small kind of discomfort. And it had gone away when we ran into each other on the bus. But when we had left, the pain in my chest got a lot worse. Soon enough it got to the point where I wanted to cry, and now I can't imagine what will happen if we left each other. Luca, tell me there isn't anything wrong with us."

"Trust me, there isn't. Your love for each other is strong, very strong. It's a good thing." At that point, I smile in relief as Viv comes out of the bathroom.

"Ready?" Luca asks and we both nod. Vivian and I walk side by side while following Luca. Once we are out of the house, we turn left and continue down the hallway. Soon enough, we all start to hear the familiar sounds of the dining hall. As we got closer to the dining hall, I noticed a sign above the heavy large doors reading: WESTERN DINING HALL.

So there must be more than one dining hall. As we walked in, some people turned to look at us but many people kept to their conversations. I had social anxiety, so I wasn't going to like having to talk to people. Suddenly, a boy, around Luca's age, rounded the corner at a fast speed, this boy had dark spiked hair with chocolate brown eyes.

"Dylan! I missed you so much!" Luca exclaimed. So, this must be Luca's boyfriend.

"So, you must be Dylan. It's nice to finally meet you." I say to him while extending my hand for a handshake. At that point, Dylan looked at me and Vivian in surprise as if he just realized we were there. I was a pretty good judge on whether or not people were good. Dylan didn't strike me as a good person. But this was who Luca loved and I had to respect that or I could lose Luca as a best friend.

"Um, we should probably get some food," Luca speaks up looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Yea, food sounds like a great idea right now," Vivian says as she turns in the direction of the food.

"Hey, Dylan can you go save us a seat please while I show the girls where to go?" Luca asks.

"I'm sure they know how to get food. They'll be fine!" Dylan says with a snotty tone while giving us evil sideways glances. Luca looks over at me hesitantly and I nod indicating that I'd be fine. And with that, they left hand in hand.

"Wow, he's a real jerk. Luca didn't even stick up for you, and you've been best friends for years." Vivian says with disgust, I turn around to watch Luca and Dylan walk away. I feel very abandoned, Luca has been my best friend since Junior Year, and now we're in our 20's. You'd think that being friends for years would mean you would stick up for the other person, I know I would, apparently the feeling isn't mutual.

"Are you okay?" Vivian asks while breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine." But I wasn't, not really. What Luca did, or didn't do, hurt me a lot. Maybe things were better when I didn't know about his boyfriend. Vivian and I walked over to the cafeteria line and began to fill our plates with food. There was toast, pancakes, eggs, omelets, and more. Plus endless drink choices.

It appears that they have almost everything in this dining hall. Once we had gotten our food and drinks we stood at the end of the cafeteria line and we looked around for an empty seat. Finally, we found one near the door. I pointed it out and we made our way over to the seat, throughout breakfast, we remained silent, I think Viv knows I'm upset. But she also knows that I don't want to talk about it. I respect her for that, and I'm glad she knows that I'm not in the mood to discuss the recent events. As I’m caught up in my thoughts, a girl around Vivian's age walks over to our table.

"Do you guys mind if I take a seat?" The young girl asked.

"Yeah, sure," Vivian speaks up and she sits down next me. I wasn't trying to be rude, but I get anxious sometimes, and it’s hard talking to people that I didn't know.

"I'm Vivian and this is Arabella. What's your name?" Vivian asks.

"I'm Aspen, it's nice to meet you," Aspen says kindly.

"It's nice to meet you too, how long how you been here?" I'm thankful for Vivian taking over the conversation.

"18 years, I was born here." She says to us. "How long have you guys been here? I don't think I've seen you around."

"We arrived yesterday, her friend Luca saved us from the Bizziers," Vivian says while gesturing to me.

"Wait, Luca? Does he have a boyfriend named, Dylan?"

"Yes, do you know him?" Now I speak up.

"No, not personally. But I've heard rumors that Dylan is very possessive over Luca." Aspen says to us. I then follow Vivian's gaze over to the door where Cecilia stands. I'm sure she's here for us.

"I'm sorry, Aspen but we've got to go. It was nice talking to you."

"It was nice talking to you too." She says in reply.

"If I'm being honest, I totally forgot about meeting with Cecilia," Vivian says as we walk to put away our plates. The meeting with Cecilia was the least of my worries, my thoughts kept going back to Luca. Even Viv knows that I'm upset. As we made our way towards the door, Cecilia smiles in our direction.

"We're terribly sorry, we forgot about the meeting," Vivian says to her.

"It's okay girls, I was just worried that you got lost," Cecilia reassures. 

"That is still a possibility."

"That's why I had put Luca with you girls to help show you around. Apparently, he'd rather spend time with Dylan. Oh well, I'm sure you girls will be just fine." Cecilia says, and I clench my fist at the recent actions of Luca.

"Before we go, can I ask you something?" I speak up.

"Of course, you can ask me anything."  Cecilia gives me a warm smile but I can’t will myself to give her one back.

"Where did you get my grandmother's necklace?" Her eyes widen at first and then she smiles.

"Here, come sit down." She says as she leads us over to one of the empty tables. "Your grandmother came here when she was young when she was twenty-six she was pregnant and gave birth to her second child. That still lives here."

"So, I have an aunt here?" I ask in shock.

"Yes, you do."

"Well, who is she?" I ask her.

"Well, you're talking to her. Arabella, I'm your aunt."

"What?"

"I'm your aunt and you're my niece." She repeats.

"No, there's no way! You're so kind and nice, unlike my mother."

"Your mother doesn't know about me, and the reason she was so bitter to you. Is because our mother left her with our father when she was a child, she doesn't know how to care for a child and she didn't want one in fear that she would be like our mother. Your mother didn't know why she left, and she didn't know that our mother was pregnant with me. That's why she was so bitter to you, she knew she couldn't care for you and thought it was wrong that she got pregnant but that it was your fault you weren't a miscarriage or stillbirth" Tears begin to fill in my eyes.

"Before your grandmother died, she gave me that necklace, and I thought it'd be a good gift for you to have when you got here."

"You knew we were coming?"

"Of course, Arabella, we know a lot about you two."

"But wait. What about my father's compass? Who did you get that from?" Vivian asks.

"Vivian, I'd like to take a walk with you, I'll have Sawyer come and pick you up Arabella, and take you to the meeting room. Vivian and I are going to talk about her father for a little bit, and then we'll meet you there. Is that okay with you girls?" We both nod and soon enough they leave and Sawyer comes to my side and leads me out.