Chapter 37: The Villain's Tale

Sometimes, it's not about being the good guy. It's just about correcting what you did before.

~Starlight24

I would have liked to say this revelation made me jump out of bed and sprint to my answers as the wind brushed it's fingers through my hair, but my broken knee caught my attention as I attempted to hop out of my bed and I howled in pain, crumpling to the ground.

Mom was up in two minutes, and she gasped dramatically as she saw me in a heap on the floor.

"What happened!?" she exclaimed, looking like she was surprised to see an expression of something other than looking completely disconnected and impassive.

"I tried skydiving in my room, but I kind of failed," I drawled out sarcastically, causing my mother to roll her eyes at me.

I guess I was a tad bit incorrigible and mean, but hey, it was in my nature.

"Day, are you capable of speaking normally?" she asked, clicking her tongue. It was sad how, even after all these years, my mom thought she could one-up me.

No one could one-up me.

Yeah, I'm a bit cocky, but self-love is the best love, right?

"Well," I began, trying and failing to get into a better position than the distorted angle at which I was in a heap on the ground. "They say your parents are your first teachers, so shouldn't you answer that? Did you teach me to speak normally?"

She glared at me.

"Really, Mom?" I asked, now starting to feel the pain in my legs and arms. "Can you stop trying to back-talk the sass queen and help me up, please?"

Mom looked like she was going to argue some more, before she actually realized my face scrunching up in pain.

"Oh goodness, are you alright?" she asked, holding her hand out for me to grab. I clumsily attempted to catch it but failed epically because failing is my middle name (apart from June. Not much better, though), so Mom had to pick me up and put me on the bed, with me muttering curses under my breath.

"Well," I asked, once I was settled on the bed. "Do you think I'm alright?"

Mom rolled her eyes again. "I'm not even going to bother saying anything," she mumbled.

"You just did," I pointed out.

"What do you want?" she asked, ignoring my statement completely.

"Um, I want to leave the house," I said, meekly.

Mom looked like I'd just told her that I was secretly an extraterrestrial Alpha monkey with four million pineapples and a bad case of jaundice.

"What?" she whispered, as if she couldn't believe her ears. "Does my hearing deceive me or did my daughter just say she wanted to press the play button on her social life?"

My mom was way too dramatic, really.

I picked up my phone and dialed in Deeds' number, a knot forming in my stomach. I was scared about my realization, but I wasn't a coward to not act upon it.

"Deeds?" I asked, and I heard a gasp.

"Day! You're talking? Are you okay? Do I need to bash anyone's brains out? Cady and I could totally do that for you. We've been discussing who all need to really get beaten with a brick. Do you—" she began, sounding really excited.

"Jeez, calm down," I said, dryly. "And no, I'm okay. At least, I think I am. We need to talk, though."

I could feel Deeds' excitement drop to below sea level. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked, sounding confused and hurt.

"Just..." I began, not really wanting a conversation. "Come over. I want to see you when I talk to you."

Deeds gulped. "Okay, now I'm scared. I'll see you in ten, okay?"

I nodded even though she couldn't see me. I just couldn't bring myself to care.

Then I hung up.

"Well, you were being awfully rude to someone who seemed genuinely happy," Mom commented.

I shrugged. "Not a good day, really," I said, honestly.

"I'll go get a wheelchair," Mom suggested.

So I guess this was it... the actual moment of truth.

*****

"Tell me again why you called me up to take you to Natalie Spencer's house?" Deeds asked, pushing my wheelchair up the front lawn. At least she wasn't complaining, though. She was such a good best friend.

"Because I had an epiphany," I informed her. "I had this sudden moment of truth rushing up at me. It was like a tornado had sucked me up and thrown me out, and I came out as a new, warped person," I said, dramatic as always.

"I really hope you're not joking about all of this," Deeds said, dryly. "My brother's back from college."

I frowned. "You have a brother?" I asked, now feeling really bad that I didn't know this.

"Yep," she quipped, before shrugging noncommittedly. "We're not too close though, but I love him all the same. He's really funny in this super geeky way, though."

"Oh."

I was at that moment when you really had nothing else to say but 'oh'. I felt awful that I didn't even know that my best friend had a sibling.

The door swung open, only to reveal a pretty looking woman in her late forties. Her resemblance to Natalie was pretty striking, with the same eyes and high eyebrows. Her hair was honey blonde and she looked kind of dazed and chaotic, in a kind of mad scientist way.

"Um... hello? Tracey, honey, I can barely recognize you anymore! And goodness, Gloria, what happened to your legs and arms?"

Deeds cleared her throat awkwardly. "Um, hi, Mrs. Spencer. I'm Deirdre Lacey and this is Day Winters. We were wondering if Natalie was around?"

Mrs. Spencer's face brightened up. "You must be the Girl Scouts. I hate to say it, or be the one who has to tell you this, but Nat's a bit too old for that. Although I must say, you both seem a tad bit too old for it too."

I heard Deeds groan softly above me before plastering a smile on her face. I didn't even need to see her to imagine her facial changes.

"Mrs. Spencer, let me introduce myself!" she said, brightly. "We're Nat's classmates. We came over to talk to her."

Mrs. Spencer suddenly looked really confused. "Nat didn't tell me she had any pretty friends over," she said, cocking her head to the right slightly.

I blushed lightly at that. I looked like a dead moose that had just been roadkill, but apparently that was pretty. Eh, couldn't argue with that logic now, could I?

"Mom?" came a voice, and I recognized it as Nat's immediately. "What's going on?"

"Oh, two girls are here for you. Why don't you go sit out in the garden? I feel like they're going to be here for a while."

*****

"Okay, tell me everything there is to know," I said, my steely gaze on Nat's hesitant figure. We were sitting in her garden on a bench (well, me in a wheelchair) and there was bougainvillea hanging above us like bells.

Nat bit her lip. "From the beginning?" she asked, stupidly.

"Nope, start at the end. I've heard that's where most stories begin," Deeds said dryly.

Nat sighed deeply. "Well, this could get a bit awkward," she began.

"Try me," I said, with an impatient click of my tongue.

She took a deep breath again, before looking at us with pleading eyes. "Please hear me out," she begged.

"I swear, if you don't start this story now, I will bang your head with my shoe," Deeds threatened, looking overly annoyed.

"Deeds, shut up," I said with a glare, and she drew out an exasperated breath and rolled her eyes. I pursed my lips and turned to Nat. "Ignore Deirdre. She's just kind of on permanent PMS mode."

"HEY!" Deeds said, looking annoyed.

"Continue," I said, ignoring her with a small smirk, and I heard Deeds groan louder than ever before.

"So basically, I had a step sister," she blurted, and her eyes widened as she realized she'd begun without wanting to. I coaxed her gently to go on. "Her name way Ashley. She was super perfect and looked a lot like you, Day. She had the whole world wrapped around her pinkie and every feature was perfect. She had the perfect grades, perfect personality, perfect friends, perfect life. She actually happened to be my childhood bully, and Dylan had liked her in this puppy love kind of way. Dylan and I kind of go way back, by the way. So you can imagine my shock when I saw her come into my house with her father and a ring. Next thing you know, I'm living with my number one enemy.

"And then," she continued, her lip quavering a bit. "She went a notch higher than usual. She started stealing my essays that I'd stay up till two to finish. She'd take my stuff and put it in the guy's locker room. She'd send creepy notes to random people and sign it off with my name. She did all this while putting on this golden daughter act in front of our parents. It was maddening and sickening.

"One day, she went with my mom to do some dress shopping and she'd insisted with her bright blue eyes that she wanted a go with the wheel. She happened to be in seventh grade, by the way, so this was technically completely illegal. But because everyone loved Ashley Martins so much, Mom gave in and let her drive. The idiot then crashed the car, and my Mom is still- to this day- kind of loopy in the head. But oh, doing that wasn't enough."

Nat's face was streaming with tears, and to my surprise, Deeds sat next to her and began rubbing her back slowly, her mouth set in a hard line as if not realizing that she'd gone through all that.

"What happened next?" I whispered, my voice a bit croaky.

Nat took a deep breath. "Turns out, Ashley had been cutting herself. They weren't deep, though. They were across her shin, and they were the kinds that were primarily used to seek attention. The cuts looked just as deep as an everyday shaving cut, but of course everyone fawned over the brilliant girl. And her reason, apparently, was because I was too much of a bitch for her to handle, so she decided to crash the car and kill herself. Next time, crash into something harder than a poor poodle on the lane if you're trying to commit suicide."

My eyes widened considerably. "What the hell?"

"Yep," she said, furiously wiping her eyes. "So everyone was so mad at me. She kissed Dylan for a good three minutes in front of my face, and I'd never told him about what she'd done to me, so he was so mad. I'd never told him because I thought I'd look weak in front of him and practically spent every spare second trying to be strong enough for him. So then, her father got really pissed and called a divorce straight away, because apparently, my dysfunctional family had made her spiral into depression. So they left and moved to Texas. They ditched us... they left me alone to take care of my brain-damaged mother in seventh grade."

Deeds sniffed, and I realized she was crying softly. "I was such a bitch to you," she whispered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "When all along... Oh god, Nat, I had no idea."

Nat smiled a very watery smile. "No, this is actually where you come in. You were exactly like Ashley. You had the looks, the train of admirers... you had Dylan. You were everything I'd ever wanted to be, and I could never be you. So then I tried to make things awful for you, but you one-upped me. Just like how Ash always had. And then Day popped up, and she even looked like Ash with her baby blue eyes and wavy blonde hair. The typical cheerleader looks that even Ash used to flaunt across the hallways. But only this time, I wanted to get close to you and wreck you, but Deeds took you in faster than I could. So when I found out about Max, I immediately tried to get him to crush your heart."

My eyes were bugged out, and I probably looked really hideous, but I couldn't care less. "So I guess this teaches you to not make assumptions, huh?" I said, after a long pause.

Before Nat could answer, Deeds butted in with a slightly icy tone. "What about the milkshake? Don't get me wrong; what happened to you is devastating. But we still can't use a tragic past to cover up what you did to my best friend. If you tried to hurt her... no matter how hard you'd had it going, I will murder you."

My heart warmed and tears pooled around my eyes. Deeds was always there for me. She'd always covered for me when I needed it, she'd cried when I'd gotten hurt and she'd punched the people who'd hurt me.

I hope I'd end up being worth all her trouble for me. 

"Yeah," she said, gulping slightly. "So... you know about Max. And after that, I was royally pissed, but I didn't want to kill you. So Cady went to pee, and I crushed in half a peanut," she said.

My face contorted in disgust. "Ain't that sweet of you?" I mocked, rolling my eyes.

"So anyway, Cady came back when I was in the middle of crushing it, and she screamed at me. I went in to get some berries... I got the most rotten ones, please don't kill me, but... when I came back, I saw her crushing in some nuts."

Deeds, to my surprise, burst out laughing. "Okay, listen up," she began, rolling her eyes at Nat. "Just because you've had a bad life, doesn't mean you can actually just come up to me and tell me that one of my best friends tried to murder Day."

"Wait," I whispered. "Are you Miss. X, Natalie?"

Nat's eyebrows scrunched up. "Miss. X? The one who's been sending hate to Starlight's account?"

I nodded tersely. "Yep, that one. Is it you?"

Nat looked at me like I was insane. "Are you kidding me? Dylan and I have been huge fans of Starlight24 since eighth grade. He's made it his life mission to talk to her. We both are in love with her!"

I blushed as Deeds nudged me with a grin. "Well, I happen to be Starlight. Surprise," I said, weakly, and Nat stared at me for a good five minutes before she started laughing.

When she realized I wasn't kidding, she widened her eyes. "Wait, you're serious?"

I nodded. "Wait, you want proof?"

"Obviously," she scoffed, and then she turned to Deeds. "She's joking, right?"

Deeds grinned and shook her head. "Trust me, my best friend doesn't lie."

I popped open my phone and connected to the WiFi modem at Nat's place, before opening up Onlinathon. I saw a message from Popcorned, but I resisted the urge to open it as I went to the posting tab, before I turned to Nat. "What do you want me to post?"

Nat's eyes were still bugged out. "Um... there are always two faces to a coin."

I grinned. "There are always two faces to a coin, and even every villain has a story," I began, before breaking into a big grin and typing it out furiously.

Nat looked at her phone and her jaw dropped. "You're... oh my gosh," she breathed, her jaw slackening.

"Yep," I said, nodding. "I thought you were Miss. X because... well, whoever Miss. X is, she's been sending me hate even at school. So whoever it is, knows I'm Starlight."

"Back to the milkshake thing," Deeds said, still hung up on that. "Tell me what happened next?"

Nat nodded. "So I went up to her, obviously confused. I asked her what the heck was going on, and she winked at me, saying, 'Please, Spencer. Don't act like the good Samaritan. We all know that you'd have done the same thing; you did do the same thing,'."

I knew it. It was just hard to accept it, though.

"Cady is... Miss. X?" whispered Deeds, looking at me with wide eyes.

I gulped loudly. "I... I guess," I whispered.

"Oh my god," whispered Deeds, and all of a sudden I felt like a ton of blocks had been dumped onto my back and I let out a soft sob.

Everyone betrayed me in the end. Max had been like no one else, telling me things that made my heart beat a little faster. Turns out he was a fraud the whole time. Nat had been nice to me on the first day of school, but turns out she only did that to win me into their group and then push me down. Dylan had been the best guy friend I could have ever asked for, and then all of a sudden he decides to yell at me for things that no one can do anything about.

And now Cady decided to jump in.

"Aw, sweetie," whispered Deeds, hugging me lightly. "Want to talk about it?"

I gulped. "Okay, so this is my life: I have a handful of friends. The whole grade thinks I'm an attention seeking bitch. I've been bullied by someone I thought was my best friend. My crush hates me. My crush also happens to be my best friend's ex. My world is spiraling out of control. My immune deficiency has me thinking I'm going to die every two minutes. I think I like someone I've never seen—"

Deeds cut me off. "Hold up. A guy you've never seen? Day, do you know how dangerous this is? He could be a psycho stalker! He could be trying to slit your throat with the information you give!"

I rolled my eyes. Of course, Deeds would only pick this out.

"No, he's not. He's amazing, and he's stood by my side the whole time. He's really deep but also really cool and smart at the same time. I know I'm going to sound like a gushy first grader, but... he's perfect." I said, and then I cringed. Ew, I did not go around calling guys perfect on a daily basis, by the way.

"And now there's Miss. X," Nat supplied for me, still looking at me in awe thanks to my Starlight confession.

"And now there's Miss. X," I echoed, wiping away my tears.

"You'll always have me," Deeds said, kissing my cheek lightly. I smiled at her.

Nat coughed awkwardly. "I know I've not been the best person, either, but... you'll have me by your side too. Permanently. Like a leech. I'll be super clingy. You'll hate it. Am I being awkward? I guess I'm being awkward. I'm always like this—"

I laughed and cut her off. "Chill, I get it," I said with a smirk.

She turned red, and then she wiggled her eyebrows. "So, Mysterious Guy on the net, huh?" she teased.

Deeds chuckled. "Yes, Missy, I need details. Pronto."

I felt my face heating up as I laughed. "Patience, grasshoppers!" I said, before launching into my tale.

For a moment, I could almost forget that everything else was spiraling downwards in my life. I could almost forget that nothing was going my way. I could almost forget that I was in a situation that not a lot of girls had the misfortune of being in.

We were just three girls, talking about my fail love life.

For once in a very long time, I could pretend my life was normal.

A/N:

HEYA LIGHTERS!

Pic of Day ^^^

I updated! Despite my busy schedule and my annoying school and tests and *rant rant rant* I UPDATED!

So... yeah.

Miss. X is Cady! Who all knew that? Show of hands :P

Also, guys, quick favor, but can you all please promote my book? Tell your friends about it if you liked it. It would mean a ton.

Also, pretty please, comment? And vote?

Teaser: Popcorned and Starlight moments ;)

Guys thanks so much for the support. You guys are legit the BEST. READERS. EVER.

Song of the Day: Closer by Chainsmokers ft. Halsey

EffervescentReader yeah, thanks for playing that song a good two thousand times for me. I totally didn't hear that song WAYYY too many times -.-

Anyway... thoughts on this chapter? Nat? Deeds? Day?

KAYYYYY UNTIL NEXT TIME PEOPLE!

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Love you all,

~Lexi