Chapter 5
596 Words
The pieces clicked into place with brutal clarity. All those times he had listened to her cry about living in Caroline's shadow, he had been seeing Caroline's ghost too. Different from Mrs. Hilton's, but just as painful—no, even more so. At least her adoptive mother had been honest from the very beginning, while he had kept his feelings hidden for a year.
Olivia stared at the promise ring Caleb had given her, feeling sick.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "When I first saw you last year, I thought maybe God was giving me a second chance. You look so much like her, except for the eyes. But everything else, your smile, your laugh, the way you tilt your head when you're thinking..."
"Stop." Olivia wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hold it together. "Please stop."
"I tried to love you for you, Olivia. I really tried. But I—”
Slap!
Olivia's palm stung from where it had connected with Caleb's cheek. Her mismatched eyes blazed with hurt and fury.
"I am not Caroline," she tried to control her voice, but it shook anyway. "I will never be Caroline."
She yanked the promise ring off her finger and threw it at his feet.
"I've spent four years trying to be perfect. Four years trying to fill a void that cannot be filled. Four years of straight A's, extracurriculars, student council, and volunteer work. Four years of straightening my hair and wearing the clothes Mrs. Hilton picks out because that's how Caroline would have worn them."
Her voice reached a fever pitch, and she screamed at him, "And you… you were supposed to be different. You were supposed to see me as who I am. But you're just like everyone else. You don't see Olivia at all. You just see Caroline's replacement.”
Olivia expected herself to cry, but even if she wanted to, the tears refused to fall. She had cried a dam for the past four years, and her eyes finally ran out of water.
She didn't run; she had grown tired of running from reality all her life, trying to escape everything that hurt her. This time, she stood, watching him without saying a word until shame finally sank in him, and he walked away without saying goodbye, even though they both knew that was the last time they'd see each other.
Olivia had no idea how long she'd been standing there until she felt a pair of eyes glued on her. She turned only to find Clayton offering her his handkerchief.
She didn't realize a tear had fallen on her cheek. A single tear! That's all she could summon from all the heartache she felt.
She didn't take his handkerchief. Instead, she just stared at it, wanting to laugh at the irony of it all. Clayton Bradford, the boy who tormented her worse than anyone, stood before her with his handkerchief.
He'd been there when Ace broke up with her, just like when he accidentally stumbled upon her after David ended things. And he was watching, probably heard everything Caleb said.
Every breakup, every heartache, Clayton had been there by coincidence or on purpose; she couldn't tell… She didn't know what to believe anymore.
Her heels clicked against the pathway as she walked away, leaving Clayton standing in the garden.
“Olivia…”
She stopped, waiting for him to finish his words, but he didn't. Just like what he had done that fateful day four years ago after he called her a freak, she walked away from him without looking back.
- Writer
