Rewrite the Stars (bxb)

Chapter 24 Cleave Day

Happy birthday to Callahan!!!

When I come down for breakfast the next morning, I feel like I'm interrupting an intimate moment. I mean, no one is naked, but there's a feeling around the room of something heavy but also light at the same time. It shines through everyone's eyes and makes everything have that Disney princess glow.

It makes me insanely jealous.

I want that. I want what they have. I want someone to love me like they so clearly love each other.

But that will never happen.

I sit down at the table, keeping my head down and not really talking. After a minute of Peter attempting to talk to me, he stops trying.

He's given up on me already, but that's okay. I don't need them in my life. I don't need anyone. I've been living for myself my entire life, and it won't stop here. I've survived without anyone to love me, and it'll continue that way until the day I die. They don't care about me, so I don't care about them. And I'm okay with that.

I'm okay with that.

I eat breakfast with a lighter chest and help clean up afterward without any problem. I escape as soon as I can, grabbing my things and heading to my nook. I don't leave a note for Lincoln this time, even with my mind screaming at me to.

It's five minutes before I break and go to write a note for Lincoln. I hate my guilty conscience. I'm about to enter my room when I faintly hear someone crying. I stop walking and listen to the sound. For anyone else, it may seem like anything, but I know the sounds of someone trying to muffle the sounds of crying.

It only takes me a second to decide to go investigate. We may all be not on good terms, but that doesn't mean that I want anyone to suffer. If I can do something to help them, then I want to try.

I walk over to Sam's room and knock gently on the cracked open door. "Can I come in?" I hear footsteps before Sam swings the door open, wiping at his eyes and sniffling.

"Hey, Blythe," he says, voice surprisingly sounding normal. "What's up?" He tries for a smile.

"You're not fooling anyone," I say gently. "You okay?"

His smile falls. "I'm fine."

"Bullshit. What's wrong?"

He cracks a genuine smile. "I didn't know you knew how to swear." He sighs and opens the door further. "Come in. I don't want the others to hear."

I walk in and sit on his bed.

He joins me after he closes the door.

I don't mention that he didn't close it all the way.

"What's wrong?" I ask again after noticing he won't say anything.

"My dad," he says.

"What did he do?"

"Remember that competition that I entered?"

"Yeah, of course. You spent hours practicing for that."

"Well, my dad found out about my entry. And before the judges could listen to it, he pulled it."

"Pulled it?"

"Scraped it. Threw it away." He starts tearing up. "It's gone." He scrubs at his eyes. "He didn't even listen to it. Just called to yell at me for entering. Told me I'm an embarrassment to the family." He's crying now, curling over into a ball to lessen his cries.

It breaks my heart to see him like this, and I try to think of something I can say to make everything better. "Do you have another copy of it?" I ask. "You could always submit a new one. Maybe under a different name or something. So your dad wouldn't recognize it."