Chapter Eight: Bitterness
1317 Words
The walk away from the school was suffocating. The crowd had scattered, whispers trailing after them, but Tobe’s broad shoulders never shifted from their protective stance at her side. Axel flanked the other, hands shoved deep in his pockets, his jaw tight. Mimi walked slightly ahead, her arm crossed, fury radiating off her in waves.
Aris couldn’t speak. Her hand still ached from the punch, but her chest… her chest hurt worse.
“Knight’s lucky you hit him first,” Axel muttered, kicking a rock down the sidewalk. “If it’d been me, he wouldn’t be walking home at all.”
“Should’ve let me handle him,” Tobe added, his voice grim. “He laid a hand on you. That’s not something I let slide.”
Aris clenched her fists, guilt coiling tighter in her stomach. “I didn’t hit him just for that.”
They glanced at her, but she kept her eyes forward.
“I hit him because… because if I didn’t, Akari would’ve thought I wanted him too.” Her voice cracked despite her effort to sound strong.
Mimi slowed, turning to face her. “Aris…”
“She already thinks I stole him.” The words tumbled out faster, sharper, rawer. “She thinks I let him look at me. That I wanted it. That I let this happen. And now she won’t even look at me.”
Silence fell between them, broken only by the shuffle of their steps.
Mimi’s glare softened, though her tone stayed sharp. “That’s not your fault. That’s his. Don’t you dare carry his mess.”
“Akari doesn’t see it that way,” Aris whispered, blinking hard.
The Next Morning —
The whole high school felt different the next day. The air buzzed with the sharp edge of gossip, every whispered voice carrying fragments of yesterday’s explosion at the gates.
“Did you see Aris punch Gabe?”
“She laid him out in front of everyone.”
“I heard it was over her sister—Akari was crying.”
“Figures. He’s always chasing someone he can’t have.”
Aris heard every word. They clung to her like smoke, following her down the hallway. Normally, she would’ve snapped back, thrown a glare sharp enough to shut them up. Today, she didn’t have the energy.
Akari was nowhere near her.
She walked ten paces ahead, head down, clutching her books like they were armor. Her usual smile—the soft, steady thing that drew people in—was gone. When Mimi called her name, Akari didn’t even glance up. She slid into her classroom early and kept her gaze fixed firmly on the desk.
It was like the sisters were tethered by an invisible rope pulled so tight it might snap.
Aris wanted to bridge the gap. She wanted to grab her twin’s arm, drag her into an empty classroom, and scream until the words cut through. I didn’t take him from you. I don’t want him. I never did.
But every time she opened her mouth, the memory of Akari’s broken whisper—You win—froze her tongue. It was beginning to be too much, more than she could bare.
Gabe walked into school later than usual, his backpack slung low, his hood pulled up. For once, no one tried to slap him on the back or joke with him. His friends from the soccer team gave him wary looks, some whispering when they thought he couldn’t hear.
Pathetic. He clenched his jaw, ignoring them.
All anyone cared about was that Aris had punched him. That Akari had cried. That he’d lost control.
But they didn’t know the truth.
He replayed it in his head: Aris’s eyes blazing with fire when she swung at him, her voice slicing through the crowd when she shouted at him to stop. Even angry, even furious—she was magnetic. Impossible to look away from.
It was never Akari. Not really. He saw that now with painful clarity. Akari had been comfort, a shadow, a pale imitation of what he really wanted. But Aris—Aris was the storm.
And storms couldn’t be ignored.
From the back of class, he watched her with a hunger that made his chest ache. She sat with Mimi and Axel, Tobe hovering close like her silent guard dog. Gabe’s fists clenched around his pencil, his knuckles whitening.
Tobe. Always in the way. Always too close. Always looking at her like he had some right.
She doesn’t belong with him.
The thought grew louder, more certain.
If Aris had chosen to hit him, then fine. He’d take it. He’d take her fire, her rage, her hatred—because at least it meant she was thinking about him. At least it meant she saw him.
And when the time came, he’d make sure she saw him the way he saw her.
Even if he had to break every wall standing between them.
At lunch, the tension thickened.
Mimi tried to pull both sisters to the same table, but Akari shook her head, murmuring something about homework, and vanished toward the library. Aris sat stiffly with Tobe and Axel, her food untouched, her eyes flicking toward the empty seat across the cafeteria that should have been her sister’s.
Tobe watched her quietly. Every time her shoulders slumped, every time her gaze dropped, something twisted inside him.
He wanted to tell her. He wanted to blurt it out right there between the noise of the cafeteria and Axel’s half-hearted attempts to lighten the mood. I like you. I’ve liked you for a long time. And I hate that Gabe got close enough to hurt you before I could protect you.
But the words caught in his throat.
Because Aris didn’t need a confession. Not now. She needed her sister back. She needed peace. She needed space to breathe.
So instead, he settled for sliding his untouched cookie across the table to her tray.
“You need to eat,” he said softly.
Aris glanced at him, a flicker of surprise breaking through her storm of guilt. She managed the smallest of smiles. “Thanks, Tobe.”
It wasn’t enough. But it was something.
By the final bell, the divide between the sisters felt carved in stone.
Akari slipped out of class the moment the teacher dismissed them, her bag already slung over her shoulder. Aris tried to follow, weaving through the crowd, but Mimi caught her arm.
“Give her time,” Mimi whispered.
Aris nodded, but the weight in her chest didn’t ease.
Behind them, Gabe lingered by his locker, his hood pulled low, his eyes following Aris until she vanished down the hall with Tobe and Axel at her side.
His chest burned.
If she thought she could walk away from him, she was wrong.
Axel sighed, running a hand through his hair. “She’s hurt, that’s all. Give her time.”
Aris bit her lip. “What if time doesn’t fix it?”
Tobe stopped walking. She nearly bumped into him, but his hand lifted gently, steadying her shoulder. His gaze was steady, grounding. “Then we’ll stand here with you until it does.”
The words hit harder than she expected, almost undoing her. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and nodded, though it felt fragile, like glass about to break.
Mimi looped an arm around her anyway, muttering, “Stupid boys and their stupid drama. Always wrecking things.”
Axel grunted in agreement. “He’s finished, Aris. Nobody’s going to side with him after today. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
But Aris wasn’t worried about Gabe.
She was worried about the look on her sister’s face, the way her voice had cracked when she said, You win.
And no matter how many times she tried to tell herself otherwise, it felt like losing.
- Writer
