Going To Hell

“I’ll do it alone. GO AWAY, VANESSA!”

“But it’s a team project. I just want to do my part.”

“I don’t need you fu-”

I shut my mouth when my father came out of the office to investigate why I was yelling. I took a deep breath.

“Let me shower and I’ll be right there,” I mumbled.

I quickly showered and got dressed before grabbing my laptop. I jogged down to my father’s office to print the articles I emailed to myself. I snatched it from the printer before I went outside where I could smell her waiting for me. She beamed at me as she held up a tin.

“I brought cookies.”

I growled lightly. “Fuck you and your damn cookies.” I threw the papers down on the table. “Let’s go through these and then divvy up the project. I don’t want to work with you.”

I began to organize the papers while she watched. Lazy bitch should just let me do the whole thing. I shoved a stack of papers in front of her.

“Here, this is your half.”

I began to read the first one in my stack. When I got to the microorganism section, I put it down on the table and pointed.

“Look! We could put this in our powerpoint. I don’t think anybody else will go this far in depth.” I started reading the next page before pausing to lean over the table to reread part of the previous paragraph. “This one is cool.”

When she made an annoying noise, I turned my head to glare at her. The smile on her face irked me even more, and I opened my mouth to say something to her when she kissed me. Godric recoiled while I sat stunned for a moment before my sister’s angry yelling made me pull away, and turn to Elena. My heart sank when Scarlett stood next to her. I jumped up as her eyes darted wildly between me and Vanessa. She spun around before she darted away, running faster than I had ever seen her move. I took off after her.

“SCARLETT! WAIT!” I yelled.

The sound of flesh connecting with flesh behind me did nothing to slow me down as I chased after her. Realizing she was pulling away from me, Godric made me shift as he raced through the woods to cut her off. He jumped in front of her and she cried out. Her heart pounded in her chest while she gasped for air. Godric tried to shift back, but I made him maintain his form. This was bad. I couldn’t shift back. It would make this whole thing worse if I was naked in front of her. My only choice was to keep her from going inside until she had calmed down.

“LEAVE ME ALONE! GO HOME! GET OUT OF HERE!” she screamed.

I shook my head. I had never wished for the ability to link her as badly as I did right then. I wanted to tell her that I could explain. I wanted to tell her that it wasn’t what it looked like. I wanted… I wanted to hold her and tell her that I loved her. That I wanted her to be my mate.

“Scarlett?”

“Mom! I want to go inside. Make him move! Please.”

Godric met her eyes, trying to plead with her, begging her not to go. Valerie came down the stairs to stand next to Letti, and tried to escort her around me. I forced Godric into their path, and he bared his teeth, growling at me.

‘You can’t let her leave. We have to explain. Please.’

“TASHA!”

FUUUUUCK! I had forgotten my mother was supposed to be here today.

“Valerie? What’s-Osprey? Godric, what are you doing?”

In the next moment, Maddy was standing between me and Letti. Her aura kept us in place while we tried to fight it to keep Scarlett from going inside. When the door shut, my mother let her aura loosen up around me. We immediately tried to go up the stairs, but stopped cold in our tracks when we heard Scarlett screaming.

“I hate Raul. I hate Elena. I hate Osprey. I hate everybody. Just leave me alone!”

Godric whimpered as he pulled back, forcing me to shift on the porch. I leaned against the door with my eyes closed.

“Letti,” I whispered. “Please, don’t say that.”

My mother put her hand on my shoulder. “Osprey?” she murmured. “What happened?”

I shrugged her off before walking off the porch. I went into the forest to put on a pair of shorts we had previously hidden there before going back to my house. Vanessa sat on the porch with an ice pack on her face. I calmly walked up onto the porch, gathered all the papers into a single pile, and put it in front of her.

“You do the project by yourself. I’ll do it, too. We’ll both turn them in, requesting Mrs. Taylor to take the better one.” I met her eyes. “Get off my porch, Vanessa. Don’t come back,” I told her calmly before walking into the house.

Elena jumped up off the stairs, where our fathers were all around, partaking in the lecture they were giving her. She pushed past them.

“Osprey, I-” She fell silent when she saw my face. “Osprey, I’m so sorry,” she called after me. “I should have linked on the way home.”

“It is what it is, Lena,” I said sadly. “Good night.”

I went up to my room and threw myself down on my bed. When my door opened, I rolled on my side, away from it. I didn’t want to talk to anyone except Scarlett. My father sighed before closing my door. I stared at my alarm clock. It was only 4 PM. I had hours before I could sneak out. I had already made up my mind. I was going to explain everything to her.

******

At almost midnight, I leapt down from my window and made my way to Scarlett’s house. I moved around to the back where I knew her window was. I squatted on the ground to search for pebbles that I could toss at her window without breaking it. Finding some, I picked them up. I began to toss them at it, hoping to get her to come to the window. I paused when I heard her breathing change, knowing she had woken up. I tossed a few more up before I heard her let out a sob. Fuck this. I clenched my jaw as I precariously perched on the rickety fencing Valerie had lined her flower garden with. I jumped up and my fingers barely managed to grasp onto her windowsill. I pulled myself up to stand on the ledge. I peered inside, and knocked on the window when I saw her shaking with silent sobs.

“Open the window or I’ll break it,” I threatened quietly.

She rolled over to stare at me for a moment before getting up to unlock the window. I climbed in and the second I saw her red, puffy eyes, I reached for her. She pulled back and slapped me across the face. She crawled back into bed, pulling the covers over her head as I covered my stinging cheek. I stared at the lump she created under the blanket before going over to sit on the edge. When I tugged the covers down, she shoved me off the bed.

“Just go away, Osprey. Go back to Vanessa.”

I got up on my knees beside her as I tried to take her hand.

“Letti, please, believe me. I didn’t want to kiss her.”

She closed her eyes. “But you did. I saw you.”

“Letti-”

Her eyes snapped open, glittering angrily at me. “I hate you, Osprey. I never want to see you again. Get out.”

My heart shattered in my chest. “Don’t say that. I lov-”

She rolled over, pulling the pillow down over her head. “I don’t care what you say. You are just a liar. Go be with Vanessa. She’s who you want to be your mate. Just leave me alone.”

“Is that what you really want?” I asked quietly.

“Yes.”

I stood up to leave, pausing at the window before climbing out. “I know you don’t believe me, but I didn’t want to kiss her. I don’t want her to be my mate. I want you to be my mate.”

“Go to hell.”

I stared at her in disbelief. She had cussed at me. My Letti never cussed. I hesitated for a minute, debating if I should push the issue or not. She turned her head to look at me.

“Get out.”

“Letti-”

She met my eyes. “MOOOOOOOMMMMMM!”

I cursed as I dove out of her window, rolling on the ground before scrambling up to sprint back to my house. I barely made it back into my bed before my parents burst into my room. They flipped the lights on, looking me over before leaving. I groaned as I rolled over to reach for my phone that was beeping continuously as it blinked red. I opened my messages, growling when I saw it was from Vanessa.

’I’m sorry about today. Please forgive me.’

I tapped my fingers on my leg while I debated how to respond. Finally, I sighed, resigned to losing no matter how I responded. If Letti wanted me to go to hell, this was the fastest way to get there. I quickly sent a response before slamming my phone down on the bedside table.

‘Want to be my girlfriend?’