Chapter Eight

What are Ryan and Stella gonna do? Derek just saw the picture!! (The picture is this chapter's icon. :P)

I prayed to whoever is up there at least fifty times in two seconds. Derek didn't move for a moment. What was he thinking? Did he realize what it was? I prayed he hadn't. Could I get away with saying it was a photo of my now dead twin sister? I figured he was a bit too smart for that.

 

Damn Charles, ruining everything like this. Derek suddenly looked at me, and a tingle went down my spine. His look meant that he probably knew. "Who's this?" Derek asked, turning to pick up the photo.

 

This was such a bad thing. I was about to just run upstards, scream into a pillow, and come back like nothing happened. If I ran, he would suspect something more. He studied the picture a bit more closely. I mother knew this would end badly, and fled unnoticed. Smart woman.

 

Stella gave me a hopeful look. She probably thought I could talk us out of this mess. "Say, this looked a bit like you," Derek said to me.

 

We're soooo screwed. Stella shook her head and put on a brave face. She glanced to Derek and gestured him over. He placed the photo on the table and went over. Stella whispered smoething to him, but I couldn't make it out. I noticed Derek's eyes got really wide really quickly. Did she tell him she was a witch? Derek leaned back and narrowed his eyes. "Prove it," he challenged.

 

Stella muttered something quietly and disappeared before Derek's eyes. She reappeared behind me. Derek just stared. He must have never been so scared in his entire life. He looked at me like I had fifty heads, not just three. I almost choked on my words. That's how worried I was. I tried to explain, "That photo, was taken last year."

 

Stella jumped in to save my sorry a*s. "It was an accident," she said. "It's entirely my fault."

 

Derek picked up the photo once more. He looked at it for a moment, then he looked at me. He repeated his actions a couple times. My mother took a peek into the living room from the kitchen. She said quietly, "Can you promise not to tell?"

 

Derek looked back to her. From there, he turned to look at me. He nodded. I swear, Stella and I both sighed at the same time. What a relief. I found Derek staring at me for a moment. He said quietly, "But, why?"

 

What did he mean? My mother turned and went back in the kitchen. Quickly, I led Derek and Stella to my room. Derek sat down on a beanbag chair with a slump. He looked up at me. Then he looked to Stella. "This explains a lot, huh?" I asked.

 

He looked at me again. "It's not fair," he pouted.

 

"What's not fair?" I thought aloud.

 

Derek hesitated. "You were like, hot before. It's just not fair!"

 

Ugh. Was this kid kidding me? I slammed my palm into my forehead. "Goddammit, Derek," Stella cried. "Don't you care about anything else but hot girls? Jesus Christ!"

 

I was shocked at Stella's sudden bad language. I looked to my feet slowly. "Well, now you know," I muttered.

Author's Note

What a relief, huh? Just look out for typos!