Evelyn woke a few hours later with no motivation to do anything. It reminded her of the earlier years. The years before troy came into her life and flipped it all upside down. They were going through something though, so all it did was make her even sadder.

     She hadn't gotten up since she laid back down in the middle of the night. Her family was probably confused, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was sulk in sadness as she hugged her favorite stuffed animal and played the saddest records she could think of.

Four soft knocks on the locked door caused Evelyn to sigh. She wasn't ready to tell her family about what happened. Having to admit that Carson was right for the first time in his whole life was probably going to be the hardest thing she'd ever do.

"Ev?" Evelyn's heart almost stopped at the sound of the familiar voice. "Can we please talk?"

Evelyn frowned. Why would she want to speak with him? So he could berate her and show her how much she was resented? It simply wasn't worth it.

"Ev, I know you're in there. Please open up," when Evelyn didn't respond, she heard a huff come from the person on the opposite side of the door. "You know I'm not gonna leave until you do," now it was Evelyn's turn to huff. He was right though, she knew he wouldn't. "Evvie, please."

The pleas only got Evelyn to cry harder. "Go away Troy!" she brokenly called out to the boy.

"I'm not leaving until we talk this through, Evelyn," she could hear Troy wriggling the door knob, though there wasn't any point to it.

"There's nothing to talk through, Troy! You made your point very clear last night."

     "Evelyn, I never meant any of that. Please let me in so that I can at least apologize," the air remained still as evelyn decided what to do next. She wanted to let him in, have him pour out his apology and beg for her forgiveness, but she also wasn't over the previous night, and she also wanted to ignore him and make him aware of just how bad his words stung. Reluctantly swinging her legs over the edge of her bed, Evelyn made her decision.

     She begrudgingly opened the door, allowing Troy to see her disheveled appearance and her to see his well-put-together one.

     Troy squeezed past her, shutting the door before he began his ramble. "I'm so sorry, Evelyn. I don't know what was going on last night, I was just in such a bad mood and I never should've taken it out on you."

     Evelyn's bloodshot eyes stared at Troy's face for a long moment. "You don't seem very sincere."

     Troy let out a deep sigh. "I don't know how to show you, but I swear I am," a part of this statement was true.

     "How can I believe you after what you said last night? I'm clingy and all I do is nag and you can't stand it!" Hot tears slipped out of Evelyn's eyes as she repeated troy's words. She's grown so attached him in such a short amount of time because, how could she not? He was the only person other than her family in this toxic environment to ever show her any kind of positive attention. He kissed her and he held her and he made it impossible to not fall for. But now she knew how he really felt, and she was right back to square one.

     "Evelyn, I didn't mean any of that!" Troy grabbed her shoulders. This time he actually had somewhat of a concerned look on his face, which shocked Evelyn.

     "Then why did you say it?" Her voice was quiet as she rhetorically asked him the simple question. "You could've said nothing, but instead you chose to take it out on me. For what? I did nothing! You obviously meant what you said."

     "Evelyn," his head stooped low. "This is all new to me, but I know the last thing I want is to lose you," his hands moved down to play with her fingers. "I love the way you complain about the littlest things, I could listen to you talk forever. And I guess since I could listen to you talk forever, that makes me clingy too."

     Evelyn frowned. She was sure Troy's small speech was meant to reassure her, but she wasn't so sure it was effective.

     She assumed troy noticed the confused look on her face, because he continued. "I guess what I'm trying to say is I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't have you any other way."

     Evelyn's heart melted at the statement. "I wouldn't have you any other way either," she whispered. she knew she was making dumb decisions right now, but she didn't care. How could she stay angry at him when he spoke words like that? 

     Troy's eyes met hers, and she swore she could've seen a million thoughts and emotions run through them, though she'd never be able to read them. He was thinking, but she couldn't tell what about. "I don't want anybody to take you from me," he spoke up after a while of silence.

     "What?" Evelyn's face read nothing but confusion. "Where did this come from?"

     "I saw... I saw you and the new kid," Troy spoke with uncertainty.

     "Saw me and the new kid... doing what?"

     "You two were close."

     "Troy," Evelyn emotionlessly chuckled. "This isn't what you're thinking about. Tell me what's really going on, because I know it's not this."

     "It is," Troy quickly responded, which Evelyn found suspicious.

     "You are one terrible liar."

     "I'm not lying!"

     "Troy," Evelyn's eyebrows were raised. She was stressed. She wanted to just kiss him, tell him that there wasn't anything going on, and lay down to take a nap, but Troy was being weird.

     "How would you feel if you saw me getting close like that with another girl? Huh?" Troy dropped her hands.

     "Well, if you lived on a ranch where everyone was insanely racist toward you and you finally made a nice friend who actually cares to talk about it with you, I'm not sure I'd be too angry about it," Evelyn shrugged.

     "Evelyn," Troy stated very seriously.

     "I mean, if I saw you guys like hugging and kissing then yes I would be upset! But I was crying and Ethan was comforting me, there was nothing else to it, Troy, I swear!" Evelyn was irritated now. She couldn't believe Troy— she didn't believe Troy. There was something going on and it was much deeper than this pretend jealousy over Ethan.

     Troy ran a hand through his perfectly messy hair. "I gotta go do my chores," he mumbled before rushing out of her room. He was unbelievable.

a/n
so i had a really bad ugly
cry/meltdown in the midst of
writing this so i so sincerely
apologize if this chapter makes
no sense at all. i tried my best.
now goodnight all
wc: 1185
05.23.22