Chapter 4

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and Alice joined Jessica and me as we made our way home.

As we walked, we happened to see Edwards with Amaris, but I pretended not to notice them. Alice, on the other hand, kept looking at them with a frown on her face.

Just as Alice was about to approach them, I grabbed her hand and pleaded, "Alice, please don't create a scene here." She looked at me and decided not to do anything rash for my sake.

Suddenly, I saw Edwards and Amaris kissing each other, perhaps to make me jealous, but it didn't bother me much.

I knew that it was time for me to move on and start a new chapter in my life.

With a deep breath, I continued walking home, surrounded by the support of my friends. Together, we would face whatever challenges lay ahead.

As we walked past Edwards and Amaris, I noticed that Edwards was looking at me. However, I chose to ignore him and walked quickly, distancing myself from them.

"Jessica, will you come over to our place this evening and spend time with us?" My sister asked Jessica.

"I don't know yet, but I will let you guys know when I want to come around," Jessica replied with a smile on her face.

We eventually got to a shop, and Alice bought ice cream for the three of us. We enjoyed our treats while chatting and laughing, forgetting all the troubles of the day.

We continued walking, and Alice and Jessica were engaged in a lively conversation while I listened quietly. I smiled whenever they said something funny, but I didn't contribute much to the conversation.

It seemed like Alice and Jessica always had something to talk about whenever they met. They would talk about boys and other things that didn't interest me.

"Must it always be boys you two talk about every time?" I asked, half jokingly. They both turned to look at me with surprise on their faces.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked, feeling a little self-conscious.

"Nothing, Bella," they both replied, grinning mischievously at each other.

I shook my head and smiled, grateful for the friendship of these two wonderful people. Even though we were all different, we had a bond that couldn't be broken.

"You two are up to something silly again," I said, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Of course not... we were just talking about something that has nothing to do with you," Jessica replied, walking over to me and winking at Alice. Alice giggled, and I knew they were keeping a secret from me.

These two were always full of surprises, and I never knew what to expect from them.

After walking for an hour, we finally arrived at our house. Jessica and I went upstairs, dropped our bags on the floor, and jumped onto my bed.

It felt good to be home, surrounded by people who cared about me. For the first time in a while, I felt like everything was going to be okay.

"I think I'll spend some time here before going home," I said, settling in on my bed.

"That's cool," Alice replied, holding out some snacks and fruit juice to Jessica. "Do you want some?"

I shook my head; I wasn't a fan of juice and snacks. Instead, I pulled out my phone and started replying to emails.

"This summer is really boring," Alice complained, munching on some biscuits. "No fun games, no clubbing, no outings... everything is just boring. I wish we could go out one night and have some real fun."

"Why don't we plan to go out one evening and have some fun?" Jessica suggested, waiting for our response.

"Oh yeah, that's a great idea... Sis, what do you think?" Alice asked me, looking excited about the idea Jessy had brought up.

I sat down and thought about the idea, but it didn't really interest me. "You two can go without me; I'm not really interested," I told them, and they became surprised.

"You're always so boring, sis. You never want to go out and have fun with us," Alice said.

"No, sweetheart... I don't have time for that," I answered, and she just looked at me. She then had her attention on Jessica. "So, can we make it this Saturday, Jessy?"

Jessy, who is also a fun of clubbing and also had much interest in stupid stuffs just like Alice, nodded.

This made Alice more happy and she started talking about what she's going to wear for the club on Saturday.

They began discussing what they would wear and what kind of music they hoped to hear at the club. I sat there listening to them quietly, not feeling like joining in on the conversation.

They didn't seem to notice my lack of enthusiasm and kept on talking. After a while, I excused myself to my room to get some rest.

Alice came to my room on Friday evening, asking me to help her pick out a dress for her outing with Jessica the next day.

"Sis, I don't know what to wear. Can you help me with my selection?" she asked as soon as she entered the room. "What do you want to wear?" I replied, trying to sound uninterested.

"Okay, why don't you wait until tomorrow, and I'll help you then?" I suggested. She became relaxed with what I said.

"I think you're right. I have enough time to figure out what I want to wear tomorrow. Thanks, sis," she left my room, banging the door hard, which made a lot of noise in my ear.

My phone started ringing, and I answered the call to hear Jessica's excited voice.

I answered the call and heard Jessica's voice on the other end, full of excitement.

"Hey girlfriend, what's up?" Jessica asked me through a text message, and I remained silent for a moment before responding.

"So you still won't go out with us tomorrow?" she asked.

"Let's see...I might change my mind and go with you guys," I replied.

"Oh, really?" she asked excitedly, but I reminded her that I hadn't made a decision yet, so she shouldn't get her hopes up too much.

" young lady I didn't say I'm going.. I said I will change my mind and see whether I would go or not" I replied to Jessica.

"Whatever, but it's high time you start going out to clubs. You ain't a kid, you know that," she added. "Yeah, I know, but I'm not interested in those stuffs of yours," I said to her.

"Where is my baby doll?" she asked, referring to Alice. "She just left my room for hers," I informed her, and she didn't ask any more questions.

"I gotta go. Mummy is calling me downstairs," she said and hung up.

I sprang up to my feet and stood by the window.

As I stood by the window, I watched some cars parking in the neighborhood.

I continued to observe until I saw two individuals emerge from one of the cars and make their way towards the empty house adjacent to ours.

After a few minutes, they returned to their car and drove out of the neighborhood.

"Could it be that those people are moving in here to join us in the neighborhood?" I thought to myself as I closed the window and sat back down on my bed.