Chapter 31 | Unexpected visits and Mia's angry growls

Lucas:

"Um...hello? What are you doing here?"

I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly, shoving another spoonful of cereal into my mouth. "Just wanted to hang out."

She stands still in the kitchen doorway for a second, staring blankly at me and blinking slowly, like she's processing what she has just seen in front of her.

Isabella's hair is a complete mess, sticking up in all directions and her very oversized shirt, which I presume she used as pyjamas and fell asleep in, is hanging off of one shoulder.

"And what is she doing here?" She asks in a monotone voice, raising her hand to wave lamely at Ivy who is perched on a stool beside me looking like she'd rather dig her own grave and bury herself alive rather than be here. I give my girlfriend a knowing look.

"...I'm here to also...hang out," Ivy replies quietly through gritted teeth.

I nod my head in agreement and chew on the food in my mouth. "She wanted to make friends," I say gesturing between the two girls. "I want my dear ol' best friend and girlfriend to get along."

"First of all, I'm not your best friend," she points out. "And second of all...I'm going back to sleep, this is a very bad nightmare."

"While you're at it," Ivy calls out just as Bella is about to leave the room. "Fix your hair...it's giving me brain damage just looking at that...mess."

Bella blinks slowly at Ivy before raising her hands to her hair and messing it up even more. She then shoots my girlfriend a look by raising her eyebrow and cocking her head slightly to the side before storming out of the kitchen and up the stairs, the pattering of her feet against the tiled floor echoing through the house.

I turn to Ivy. "Remember we went over this...you're supposed to be nice," I hiss from the corner of my mouth.

She shrugs her shoulders and looks down at her nails. "I am, I just gave her advice."

***

She comes down about an hour later, her lips pursed and annoyance drawn across her features the moment she see's that Ivy and I are still in her kitchen. Her hair is no longer messy and she has gotten dressed in an oversized grey hoodie that almost reaches her knees and black leggings. Her short hair is tied into a cute little messy bun at the nape of her neck with a few tendrils escaping and her face is bare and makeup free.

"Lucas can I have a word with you please," Isabella asks, well, more like demands, through gritted teeth.

I'm about to reply when Ivy very, kindly interjects, a sickly sweet smile playing on her lips. "Whatever you need to tell my boyfriend you can tell me too."

Isabella blinks slowly, sending Ivy a blank look before turning back to face me. "Lucas. A. Word. Outside."

I give my girlfriend a pleading look and she rolls her eyes. "Fine," she grumbles. "But be quick."

I quickly scramble after Isabella who is already in the hallway beside the front door, for a person with such little legs she sure is fast.

"What's up?" I ask her, running a hand through my hair and pushing it away from my eyes, it was getting long.

"What are you doing here?" She crosses her arms across her chest and narrows her eyes. "And where is my family gone?"

"Abuela is at bingo and your mom took Sofia with her to breakfast with Linh and Eve."

"And you?" She asks again impatiently, causing me to send her a cheeky grin.

"Like I said before - I'm here to hang out."

Isabella doesn't look amused in the slightest. "Lucas," she groans frustratedly. "Why. Are. You. Here?"

I raise my hands up in mock surrender. "I'm telling the truth - I'm here to hang out," I begin just as Isabella's frown deepens in annoyance. "But that's not the only reason why I'm here."

"What's the other reason then?" She stares at me expectantly and I hold her gaze.

"I know why you've been avoiding me." For a second I think I see a panic flash in her eyes but when I blink it's gone.

When she doesn't reply I continue. "It's completely ok, your feelings are valid."

"What feelings?"

"Your jealous feelings and hatred for Ivy."

After I say this, silence stretches into the air and Isabella stares at me incredulously, her cheeks flaming pink.

She lets out an annoyed breath. "For the love of God. I. AM. NOT. JEALOUS!" She seethes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "How many fucking times have I told you this already?"

I ignore her. "But I'm definitely right about the hating Ivy part?" I point out, crossing my arms across my chest.

She nods, pursing her lips. "Yeah you're right, I don't particularly like your girlfriend."

"Because you're jealous?" I suggest.

"No can you stop that already! We've discussed this before! I don't like her because she is RUDE, not because I am fucking jealous."

I wave my hand dismissively. "Okay but at least I'm right about you not liking her and because you don't like her you therefore don't like me, thus have been avoiding me so you can also avoid Ivy."

For a beat there is silence once again and then Bella splutters out in laughter. My eyebrows draw together in confusion. Why is she laughing?

Placing her hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath after giggling for quite some while she looks up at me. "You think I'm avoiding you because I don't like your girlfriend?"

I nod my head, still a tad confused. "Yes. That's why we're here today, so you two can make friends therefore don't need to avoid me."

She shakes her head, snorting in laughter again. "You couldn't be more wrong."

"What?" I ask, as she turns around and begins to walk back into the kitchen. I run after her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not avoiding you because of Ivy! I'm avoiding you because of you!"

"But what did I do?" I question, more confused than I ever. I genuinely thought my theory was correct.

She ignores me and merely shakes her head, continuing her journey back into the kitchen. Once she gets there she singles out Ivy.

"Ivy you're free to leave."

"Thank God." My girlfriend practically flies out of her seat. "So we don't have to make friends?"

Isabella shakes her head enthusiastically. "Nope."

"Yay." Ivy throws her arms around Isabella in a bone crushing hug and I'm half expecting Bella to push her off in disgust but to my surprise Bella swiftly wraps her arms around Ivy and hugs her back. The pair then pry off each other a second later as the two realise what they're doing.

Isabella clears her throat. "I'll walk you two to the door."

Ivy grabs my arm and promptly drags me to the front door before I can protest and I hurriedly shove my feet back in side my shoes as Isabella pushes the two of us out.

"Okay well this was a waste of time, goodbye Bella," Ivy says, looking over her shoulder to Isabella who smiles back brightly.

"I know!" She nods her head. "Now goodbye!" She cheers before slamming the door in our faces.

My mouth gapes open as I stare back at the closed door that is still vibrating with the intensity Bella had closed it with, my mind reeling with thoughts.

What the fuck just happened? Did my plan really just...fail?

Ivy lets out a sigh of relief, tugging on my sleeve before retreating down the porch steps. "Thank God we managed to escape that one."

I swallow. Yup, my plan really did fail.

***

Isabella:

I lean against the cool wood of the door once I bid goodbye to Ivy and Lucas after their very surprising and frankly unwanted visit.

I can't believe he thought I was avoiding him because of Ivy, I think to myself, shaking my head and scoffing and he had the audacity to tell me that I was apparently jealous as well.

But you are.

No I'm not. Shush brain.

Now you might be wondering why I'm refusing to tell Lucas the real reason as to why I'm avoiding him and when I will stop avoiding him. Well, firstly, it's because I'm frankly embarrassed. It would sound so weird telling him that I am so hung up on things he did as a little kid that I refuse to even be in the same room as him. Also it would mean telling him about my little childhood crush on him and possibly even tell him about my eating disorder and I was not ready to do that. And secondly, I don't know when this avoidance will stop, I think once I give it some time I'll stop feeling so annoyed and nauseous around him but for now I'll just wait on that.

After grabbing a granola bar from the kitchen, I make my way up the stairs and into my room where I jump onto my bed and begin dialling a facetime call with Grace and Mia. As the phone rings I scrunch my nose up in disgust as I spot Lucas and Ivy about to tear each others clothes off in his room and I briskly go over and tug my curtains closed.

When two gleaming faces appear in my phone screen I begin telling them about the events that went down this morning.

"So why are you avoiding him?" Grace asks after I've finished telling them the story. "And I think Mia is more stressed about why you're avoiding him than Lucas himself.

"It's true," Mia nods her head vigorously. "I have constipation from the stress."

I snort, chewing on the inside of my cheek nervously as I stare back at my best friends through the phone screen looking at me expectantly waiting for an answer.

I let out a breath. "Can you guys come over? I've got to tell you something."

***

I've barely opened the front door before Mia hurdles inside, dragging Grace in with her.

"Alright tell us know!" She practically screams in my face, kicking off her shoes and running up the stairs, Grace following suit.

"Hello to you to," I mutter under my breath before following the pair into my room. Mia is lounged across my bed, shaking with excitement.

I plop down on my desk chair and am about to begin speaking when I finally remember something.

"Wait a second," I tell the two and Mia's face drops. She promptly presses her face into my pillow and screams. I ignore her antics and quickly run out of my room just as Grace screams. "Don't leave me alone with the loca!"

Hauling my ass up the other flight of stairs into the attic, I blindly search for the box containing my diaries, not bothering to turn the light on and as my foot collides with something hard I look down to see purple books sprawled across the floor, their cover twinkling in the tiny beam on light coming from the window.

Bingo.

I pick up the box and rush out of the attic before any ghosts or whatever it is lurking in the darkness come out and possess me and rush back down the stairs.

"Okay I'm ready to tell you guys," I say breathlessly as I enter back into my room, placing the box onto my desk.

"Finally," Grace breathes, the panic flashing in her eyes subsiding. "I thought Mia was about to have a stroke."

I let out a little giggle and take a seat on the floor dramatically, stretching my legs out in front of me.

"Hmm, where should I begin," I say thoughtfully, tapping my chin, just as Mia scrambles up from the bed, her face burning an alarming shade of red.

"From anywhere," she replies desperately. "You're killing me here Isabella!"

"Okay, okay!" I retort, showing my palms in mock surrender. "Well, er, I guess the first bit of information you need to know is that I had a fat crush on Lucas growing up."

I pause to peer up at my two friends to assess their reactions but what I get in return from my statement is two blank stares.

"We know that already," Grace responds in a matter-of-fact manner causing my eyebrows to draw together in confusion.

"You do?"

Mia nods her head, her face growing even more red. "Yeah, it was pretty obvious, you would flush a horrendous shade of pink anytime he was near you and you would stare at him like your eyeballs were superglued to his head."

I'm at a loss for words. Was it really that blatantly obvious? So all I say is: "Oh."

"Was that it?" Mia practically cries, the sweat on her upper lip intensifying. "That is the reason why you're avoiding him?"

I shake my head. "No, it's a bit more deeper than that." I grab one of the diaries from the box on my desk and file through it until I find a page where I had noted what rude thing Lucas had told me that specific day and hand the book over to the girls.

There's silence for a bit until Grace perks up visibly, looking up from the book with a huge smile on her face. "I'm mentioned in here!" She says excitedly just as Mia wacks her across the stomach.

"Shush, I'm reading."

Whilst the two continue reading the entry, I pick up another one of the diaries and file through this one once again in search of another entry showcasing Lucas' torments. It's not particularly hard to find seeing as most entries were about him and what he would say to me basically on a daily basis.

My heart clenches as I skim over one of the entries and keep that page held open to pass onto Grace and Mia once they're done with the first one.

"Lucas called me fatty today at lunch today and I cried in the bathroom," Mia reads aloud, her eyes widening promptly.

"Lucas kept poking my stomach today and pinching my cheeks," Grace continues.

Lucas did this...Lucas did that...

It goes on like this for a while. The two girls reading each entry I pass to them, their eyes widening as the remarks get ruder and ruder until they've basically read 2 books full of everything Lucas had said to me as a child.

Once they've handed me the diaries back they both peer up at me with solemn faces. Grace's lips are pressed into a thin line and Mia's face is so red but now from pent up anger, I'm scared she's seconds away from combusting on the spot.

And well...she does.

"That...BASTARD!" She yells, jumping up from the bed and briskly rushing to the window. She tugs the curtains open so hard I'm surprised they don't rip right off of the railing.

She begins yelling very, very crude profanities and exclamations as Grace and I stare at each other in a mix of shock and panic before instinct kicks in and we both run to the window to try and pry Mia off.

I'm so glad the window is closed and soundproof so Lucas doesn't hear the things Mia is currently in the midst of yelling. I don't think he would have noticed anyways as he seems to be preoccupied with...well...Ivy.

As I peer closer my eyes widen in shock and then promptly shut closed again as I realise what the two are actually up to and I let out a disgusted scream. He's preoccupied with Ivy that's for sure. Very preoccupied.

Mia stops yelling and Grace stops her tugging on Mia's shirt as they both pause and take a closer look through the window, trying to figure out why I'm screaming.

Grace squeals and briskly turns around and Mia...well Mia nods approvingly before squinting to take a better look.

"Hm, good stroke game," she nods before letting out an animalistic groan and continuing her frenzied shouting, jumping up onto the window ledge and trying to pry the window open.

This snaps Grace and I back into action and we go back to hauling Mia away from the window. After a couple of tugs and yanks later, we've successfully managed to constrain Mia away from the window and onto my bed where Grace is promptly sitting on top of her to stop her from escaping.

"Bell, why didn't you tell us?" Grace asks, her face softened with Mia wriggling underneath.

I throw her a sheepish look. "Honestly, I know why I didn't tell you about the crush because I know you two would have never let me live it down...but I don't know why I didn't tell you about the teasing."

Mia's head pops up as she continues writhing under Grace's weight on top of her. "Well I'm going to give that bastard bitch a piece of my mind the next time I see him...I mean how DARE HE!" She lets out a guttural growl, one that sounds way to unhuman and with a sudden force manages to push Grace off of her. Grace promptly tumbles to the ground with a thud.

"Ouch!" She yelps just as Mia begins pacing up and down my room.

I look at her in alarm. "Mia you can't!" I yell in panic.

"Why not?" She flails her arms up into the air. "He can't get away with this! He needs to at least apologise!"

"You can't say anything, please Mi!" I plead. "I can't tell him yet because I can't tell him about my eating disorder, not yet anyways."

My friend stops pacing and turns to face me, her lips pursed and her face softening.

"Promise me you won't Mi."

She looks pained for a second, confliction drawn across her features but then she lets out a large breath. "Fine," she huffs, holding out her pinkie so we can pinkie promise. "But don't be shocked when someone inconspicuously murders him in his sleep and chucks his body in the river."

I laugh. "I won't hold you against that."

***

We spend the rest of the day lounging around my toom, talking and reading the less depressing entries of my diaries.

Both my mom, sister and Grandma have since long come home and are in the midst of cooking dinner and the smell of paella wafts into the air causing my stomach to rumble and reminding me that all I've eaten today is a granola bar.

Around 7 o'clock in the evening, my mom calls us downstairs for dinner and as I'm walking down the steps with Grace and Mia following suit, my grandmother greets the three of us at the bottom of the staircase with a huge smile on her lips and clutching a red and white checkered dish towel in her hands.

"Guess who has decided to join us for dinner!" She exclaims and we all turn our heads towards the tall brute of a boy turning the corner and coming into view, a sly smirk playing on his lips. He sends the three of us a cocky wave and I feel Mia tense up behind me.

She lets out another growl and that's when I realise shit is about to go down.

Oh God. Dinner is not going to be fun.

━

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hiii! I really like the concept of this chapter but I'll admit it's a lil rushed, I just really wanted to get it out there so I apologise for any grammar mistakes but don't worry I'll edit it soon!

P.s by the way Lucas calling Isabella his best friend is just him joking around, he doesn't view her like that anymore but he is trying to get closer with her again (by following Dylan and Aidan's advice from chapter 11 and hanging out with her at all times) (p.s they might become bffs4eva in the near future who knows ;))

Anyways have a nice day! Don't forget to vote! Lots of love - Mai x