I met everyone for breakfast in the cafeteria. I spotted Leah and she made eye contact with me. She just glared and walked away.
"What's her problem," Rita said.
"Don't look too into it, Julia. It''ll be okay." Ashton said as he walked behind me towards Leah. Then why do you have to talk to her? What about me, your bestfriend...
Rita noticed how I felt and linked her arms in mine," Let's go eat outside guys," she said enthusiastically.
I almost forgot about Lydia and Ashton walking away together that night, since the snow incident.
Today is the last day of the festival. It's going to be awkward going back home. Lydia's probably going to ignore me even at school. My stomache was aching since I woke up, but seeing Lydia like that made my heart ache too.
"You alright?" Rita asked.
"Yeah, just hungry," I lied.
"Good, 'cause I made us all goodbye snacks." Matthew chimed in.
"Snacks?" the triplets drooled.
"When did you have the time for that?" Rita laughed.
"This morning. I just woke up super early and super hungry. Everyone was still sleeping and I was bored, so I thought, might as well make something worthwhile," Matthew said.
"What'd you make?" asked Shaun.
"You'll just have to wait and see once we meet up with Jace," Matthew smiled.
We walked into the forest up to a gate. Snow sleds? I saw a familiar white fluff ball among other fluffs.
"Saiv!" I cried out to him and he turned to run to me.
"PUPPIES!" the kids screamed.
He leapt up at me and I fell out from Rita's arm. She helped me into a sled with Shaun and Layla then walked to Matthew.
Matthew helped Rita into a blue sled with the boys then Saiv and the fluff balls took us off to who knows where we're going.
I started to recognize the area. There was the pavillion I wondered off to.
Jace was there waiting for us at the piano.
We went into the small house near the pavillion.
"Hmm.. so this is where you were staying." Helios said.
"So jealous..." mumbled Layla.
"Just like Eren said. It's pretty cozy~" Julian eyed the room.
"Wait how'd you know we were coming here?" I asked them.
"Nate told us yesterday after you came back," Layla said.
"He wanted to reassure us that you were safe when you disappeared the first night," Helios said.
"Why didn't anyone tell me where we were going?" I asked.
" 'Cause, you never asked," they pouted.
I see. They were worried and jealous that I went to this awesome place without them. They're so cute.
We ate some of Matthew's snacks and packed some for the road tomorrow. Then we ate frozen meals for lunch and dinner so we could hang out in that room all day.
"Hey Matthew, come sit over here," Rits blushed patting the spot next to her. "Yeah, I'll be right there after I heat up some hot cocoa for everyone," Matthew grew beet red.
"Shh! We're watching a movie!" Shaun shushed them.
Everyone fell asleep watching movies and only Jace and I were awake.
"I'm gonna play the piano a bit. Wanna come with or go back to sleep?" Jace asked.
"Yeah, sure, I'm not really tired yet." I replied.
I grabbed some paper and a pencil," I'll draw as you play."
"So, whatcha drawing?" Jace asked.
"Mmm... some dresses. I'm kinda into fashion, so I draw here and there," I told him.
"That's pretty cool, but that's some wild imagination there. You like to design cosplay or something?" he asked.
I blushed red," Uh, I just really like drawing fantasy clothing. It's not easy thinking about modern clothes."
"Yeah, I suppose that leaves lots of room for imagination." he says.
The silence always made me feel awkward and nervous.
"I'm gonna miss you Jace. I hope you'll really come back in 3 years." I said, trying to hold back tears," You're a really nice guy. You've basically been there for me the whole trip. Thanks for that."
"No problem, three years will be nothing, you'll see. I'll miss everyone here too. Who knows, maybe we'll get to meet up again for one of the school events." he said.
"Yeah maybe," I said.
We stayed up for about an hour.
"Getting sleepy now? I know I am." Jace said.
"Yeah, I'm a little tired now. Let's head back then," I said.
"Um, wait I, uh I gotta give you something," Jace held out his fist to me and I put my hand under his," Here, I made this with the stone you picked and made it into a bracelet. I hope you like it," he blushed and rubbed his head. It was a metallic bracelet with my stone in the middle and three smaller stones placed around it.
This is the first time I got a gift from a boy before." It's really pretty, thank you Jace."
The next morning, before we all left, Shaun gave everyone a card. Home... I wonder how normal it'll be.
Lydia ended up boarding on another bus than me, since I took too long saying my goodbyes.
The bus dropped me off about an hour later than Lydia. But before I entered the house, all I could hear was Lydia shouting at Mom and Hellian trying calm things down.
Lydia was crying angrily," Why the hell do you guys treat her like some special princess, huh? I'm tired of it all! Always a little angel. I don't even know why we have to keep up with this shit. Grandpa had to lose everything just because of her? What the hell! Everyone adores her like some sort of doll. Well you know what, she isn't! Reality check! She may LOOK like you Mom, but she will never be a sister to me. She isn't even my REAL sister! Why do we have to keep lying to her and why do I have to keep up with this?!"
"What are you guys talking about?" I just stood there in the middle of their stares.
"You wanna know?" Lydia walked up to me.
"Hey! It's not up to you to tell her Lydia!" Hellian walked up to us, trying to pull Lydia away.
Lydia struggling from Hellian's grip yelled out," News flash geek, you're ADOPTED! You were ABANDONED. And wherever your mom is, she's stealing Grandpa's money. GRANDPA'S MONEY! I HATE YOU JULIA, I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!"
"Mom?" I looked at her and can't help but cry.
" I don't know why Lydia hates me so much... but I do know some of the things that she must hate me for.." I told Mom everything that happened at the festival.
"Lydia is, complicated. She has always been independent, but Grandpa is her bestfriend for life. Lydia just feels left out since I was always worried and paying attention to you. And it's a given. But first I wanna know, would you like to know what we've been keeping from you?"she asked me.
"I don't know how to answer that... I wasn't expecting this. And I have no idea what you guy's were talking about. I'm curious, but I'm scared. Mom? I'm scared... Am I really not your child? I know you guys really love me, but if I'm not your kid, did you really REALLY love me?"
This was the second hardest family topic we had ever conversated about, the first being about Grandpa's hospitalization.
"Honey, I do love you, we all love you, even Dad."
"Well, I don't think Lydia loves me."
"She does, but she's having a rough time too. She grew up having to learn to be a big sister super early. And well, I guess she's just upset with your grandfather giving money to your biological mother, but it's for good reason. I guess I should start from the beginning huh?"
I just silently nodded, wiping my tears.