Sixty-Three- Briar-Rose

Chapter 63

Briar-Rose

The divorce was meant to happen for a long time, since I came back from Malum's, probably before then. There was a certain amount of tension always present in the house when they were in the same room, even more so if I was in the room with my dad. I knew it would happen someday, I just hoped it wouldn't be over her, like it always, always, was. I knew almost every waking thought of my dad was about Ariel, about how I was a disappointment, even though I never did anything wrong. Perfect grades, perfect boyfriends, no drugs, no alcohol, still a virgin; everything a dad would want, but no, I'm the awful child, the one that lived. The one with the powers, the freak, the little girl who talked to plants so much when she was little she had to be scolded.

When I woke up this morning, I smiled though. Because of Jasper. The bad boy, the 'playa' was mine, and he held me while I cried until I fell asleep in his arms. He's changed so much, but he's still Jasper. I remember the day I realized he wasn't a bully like the other guys on the football team, or like Missy, when he stood up for me and Air.

I realize now, that that was the moment I fell in love, though we hadn't spoken since sixth grade, when he was a little chubby and a nerd and we were partners for a science project. Before then, he was known as the boy with the pretty brown eyes, because I had forgotten the names of a lot of people, because this was only a year after I was captured, and I was known as the girl who was kidnapped whose sister didn't return.

The funny thing is, I used to have a crush on Ash, I thought he was hilarious, and funny guys always got me, but that's a thing of the past now, he's just a friend. I only have eyes for Jasper.

It's weird how we're all pairing up, Wren and Marina, Nox and Ray, Jasper and I, and then there's the question of Air and Ash.

I'll have to invite her over today, girl talk time, maybe ice cream and a sad movie? It'll be nice to do something normal. I text her.

The town is building a new school in memory of the kids that died that day, there will be a memorial outside.

Will I be going back to school in the fall? That will be weird, I wonder if Air will fly to classes, or hover during assemblies so she can see. That will be funny.

But will I be alive to go back to school? Will any of us be? Are we going to be the next people on a memorial?

I get a reply from Air to my text asking her to come over. She said she's on her way, and within a few seconds there's a knock on my window. I smile and open it for her. She tumbles in and we sit on my bed.

“Explain. Now.” I say, referring the make out session she and Ash were having. She sighs unhappily.

“I really like him, like, really. I feel like if we were together, we'd be the Wren and Marina kind of happy, you know? Like, so completely in love you wonder if they ever think about anything else.” She claps her hands over her mouth.

I point at her in accusation, “You said love! Airborne Diane Casey said the word love in reference to a boy!” I shout, grinning.

“Shut up! Your window is open!” She hisses, but I continue shouting, repeating the word 'love' over and over again, like in the Spongebob movie when everyone is just saying 'bald' forever, except with 'love'. “I didn't say I loved him! I said I could if we were together!”She protests.

“Well, judging by how you were kissing yesterday, open mouthed and everything, I'd say you're together.” I tease. She blushes a deep red.

“When we got back to my house though...” She trails off, looking sad. “I can't be with him, as much as I want to, I can't do that to him. I'll end up like my mom, I know it. And he'll end up like my dad, still hopelessly in love with a dead girl who was a horrible person.”

“Airborne, you are not going to end up like your mom, okay? You've never done drugs, and you have no desire to! If I see you ending up like her, I promise I will slap you silly.” I say.

She shakes her head, “I can't.”

I sigh, “Okay.”

“Well, enough about my problems, how've you been?”

“Not so great.” I admit. She looks at me questioningly. “My parents are getting divorced, because my dad wanted to disown me...” I take a deep breath, the words always painful, “Because I killed Ariel.”

“I know we kind of wanted a normal day, but your section of the prophecy: From the ruins and broken glass seedlings begin to regrow at last old scars are fading and secrets she has been cradling are released in her awakening. I feel like the 'ruins' and 'broken glass' are your family. Broken down ever since you left. In sophomore year, didn't you write a poem and describe your family as 'shards of broken glass, shattered and no longer intact'? Old scars, how's your dream cycle?” She asks.

“Gone.” I say.

“See? Your prophecy happened! It's all for a reason, I promise.”

“How do you remember a line from a poem two years ago?”

“What can I say? I'm a best friend.” She shrugs, grinning.

“Wanna wallow in our sorrows?” I ask after a pause of silence.

“Is there ice cream involved?” She asks, looking intrigued.

“Of course.”

“Does it happen to be cookie dough?”

“And Rocky Road.” I nod.

“Let's do it.” She smiles, bounding downstairs to the freezer. Mom looks up from the couch.

“Airborne, when did you get here?” She asks.

“I flew over.” Air grins. Yup, she will definitely be flying in the halls. We scoop ice cream and head to the basement with blankets and our favorite wallowing movie.

“I cry every time!” I wail as the credits roll.

“Ya baby.” Air teases, poking me in the stomach. “So we went in detail about my romantic life, how's Jasper?”

“Amazing.” I grin.

“Last time I was over you denied having a crush on him, remember?” She smiles, almost nostalgically.

“It seems like a lifetime ago.” I nod.

“We have seen things most people never will, though.” She says.

“Yup, like Nox's tighty-whiteys!” I laugh. We go into a laughing fit for a while.

“Remember the time Ray won the oreo, and she just sat on him eating it, both in their underpants?” Air remembers.

“Neither of them realized, at least Ray didn't, Nox probably wouldn't have wanted to say anything.” I say, and Airborne laughs. “Oh my god! I never told you!” I sit up quickly, laughing at the memory, so long ago. “There is another girl who say Nox's underwear! At Michaela's party, I was looking for the bathroom, and I walked in on Nox and some girl.”

“Doing it?” She asks, shocked, but laughing. I nod collapsing in laughter.

“It was so awkward! I didn't see anything, but, oh my god, so funny.” I shake my head.

“Have you seen his tattoo? It's huge! It must've hurt a ton. I wonder if Ray's read it.” she waggles her eyebrows jokingly.

“Oh my god!” I exclaim, shocked.

“What?” She asks.

“I forgot! I read it at training when were at the beach, and I've just realized now it's the prophecy.”

“No way, that's so cool.” Air says.

We're silent for a minute as the very end of the credits roll and the screen turns bright blue.

“We're going to be seniors next year.” I say.

“Seniors with freaking powers.” She adds, laughing.

“If we're alive.”

“Yeah, there's that little detail...” She says, trailing off.

“Let's change the subject! I bet I can whoop your a*s at Mario Kart.” I say, grinning wickedly.

“I can't get used to you swearing.” Air shakes her head, “That day at the school, when you were swearing, I think I was so in shock of everything that was happening, all I could do was rant inside my head about how weird it was.”

“Really? That's so weird.” I laugh, turning on the Wii and handing her a controller. I end up winning first place on the hardest tracks while she comes in seventh, poor Princess Peach looks sad.

“I wonder how Ray's doing.” She murmurs.

“I bet Jasper will know, living with Nox and all.” I reply, opening my laptop, “We'll video chat him, he's online.”

We sit in front of my laptop and he answers. “Hey.” He smiles.

“Hi.” I reply.

“We were wondering if you knew how Ray was doing.” Air pipes up.

“Nox can tell you better than I can, hold on.” He gets up and we hear him yell, “Nox! You don't need practice on the video game, you can already beat me! Bry and Air want to know how Ray's doing.” We wait a minute and Nox appears on the screen.

“Hey guys, what's up?” He asks.

“Just having a sleepover, we were wondering how Ray's doing.” I answer.

“She's better, last night she held a fist closed for a few seconds, which was really great.” He smiles, Nox doesn't smile unless he's being sarcastic or insulting you. That's love right there. “I'm heading over soon to work some more, she can wiggle her toes for a while now too. And her vision is improving a lot quicker, though she's still probably going to need glasses.”

“That's great!” Airborne says, grinning.

“Oh, Air, Jasper and I had a question for you. What's going on with you and Ash?” He asks, teasing her.

“I don't know what you're talking about.” She says.

“You know we'll find out one way or another.” Jasper sing songs, sitting down next to Nox.

“Well you better get to work then.” She laughs, “'Cause you're not getting it out of me.” Both Jasper and Nox's eyes shift to me.

“You really think I'm going to tell you?” I laugh.

“C'mon Bry, you won't even tell your boyfriend?” Nox says, pointing to Jasper, “I mean look at that face.” Jasper makes puppy dog eyes for emphasis.

“How in the world did you two become friends?” Airborne laughs.

“You know, I think it started when we realized we could get killed.” Jasper decides after a moments thought, “It was like, desperation.”

“Hey!” Nox says, faking being offended.

“I would suggest all of us having a group sleepover at some point, but considering we're pretty much all together, I don't think the parental units will go for that.” I laugh.

They laugh, “Very true.” Nox says, behind him Jasper waggles his eyebrows at me and I blush, laughing.

“Well, we're gonna go, probably pig out on food.” I say.

“What? No pillow fights in your underwear?” Jasper asks, laughing.

“Is that what you think sleepovers are like? At sleepovers, girls pretty much turn into guys, video games, eating way too much food, burping contests, and then we paint our nails.” Air laughs.

“I desperately need to get a manicure, my nails are awful.” I add.

“I brought my nail polish.”

“Awesome!”

“Bye guys!” Air waves to the computer screen and we exit out.

Author's Note

I'm working on getting my chapters longer and adding in downtime.
This is pretty much how my best friends and I are like, I tried to put in a lot of laughter and eating.
reviews please!

Reviews

[Amanda]

I hate Kaylee for getting that Mario Kart song stuck in my head. Good chapter as always