Chapter 29
C H A P T E R2 9
Twin Flames
Ella
The Present
T he Hill residence was an imposing beauty with a Greek Revival architecture, flanked by tall pillars, weeping willows, limestone fountain, and white and red roses across the courtyard.
My stomach flipped when I pulled into the driveway. I hadn’t been here in months, and I didn’t expect to be hit with such a strong wave of nostalgia. This place was like a second home for me. I grew up here with Darla and her sister Dacia, who was two years older than us.
I remembered playing with Barbie dolls as little girls on a picnic blanket, while Alberto—their butler and the closest thing to a father figure for the Hills—waited on us with iced tea. I remembered driving the staff wild with worry as we spent the day playing hide-and-seek, holed up in the kitchen cupboard with fluffernutter sandwiches and giggling amongst ourselves because nobody could find us. I remembered practicing cheerleading routines in the backyard when Darla and I first joined the team in high school. I recalled so many memories with fondness—the smiles, the laughter, the tears—and I couldn’t believe I let it all go without a fight.
I should have come here long before now.
And I should have tried harder to communicate with Darla to figure out what went wrong between us.
As I jogged to the front doors, a pair of crows cawed. Either a bad omen or a sigh of good luck. Regardless, I wasn’t leaving Hill residence without my cell phone and some form of closure.
I didn’t even have the chance to ring their bell when the doors opened and a curious Alberto regarded me. “Miss Cordova?”
“Hi, Berto! Long time no see. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” He smoothed his white-gloved hand over his greying hair. “And yourself?”
“Great.” I smiled sheepishly. “I’m here to see Darla.”
“Is Miss Hill expecting you?”
A little white lie never hurt anybody, right? “Yeah, she is. We’re supposed to hang out tonight and watch a movie.”
His features perked up with joy. “I’m very glad to hear it. I’ve not seen you here for quite some time and was worried you were no longer friends.”
My smile wavered. “We…We’ve just been busy with our respective lives. You know how it is, Berto.”
Seeming to sympathize with our situation, Alberto let me inside and I kissed his cheek in gratitude before climbing the grand staircase two steps at a time. Eager to see Darla and adamant on avoiding Principal Hill.
When I reached Darla’s room, her door was shut.
I gingerly knocked three times.
A faint, “Who is it?” came from the other side.
“It’s Ella.”
Silence echoed for six seconds before I heard footsteps. The door swung open to reveal a stunned Darla. “Ella?”
I tried to remain calm and steady. “Hey.”
She assessed me the way you would a serial killer on trial. “What are you doing here?
The sharp tone, so unlike her, caused me to flinch. I steeled myself quickly. “I just want to talk. Please, darling .”
When I was seven, I learned that Darla was named after the affectionate term. I found it so adorable that I spent the better part of second grade refusing to call her anything but ‘darling.’ The same kids who occasionally bullied me for my sectoral heterochromia were the same ones who teased her for loving bright colours and making eclectic fashion choices. I called her darling incessantly because I wanted my best friend to know she was dearly beloved. And that it was okay to be different. It’s what made us unique and special.
Plus, I’d threaten to beat those kids with tree branches and push them off slides if they ever dared to bully her in my presence.
The term of endearment softened Darla. She hesitated for a split second before allowing me entry. “Fine. Come in.”
Her room was as I last remembered it. Crème and gold accents, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, canopy bed sitting on a dais, and a work desk fitting for a queen. A laptop was opened on a page of her manuscript.
Darla had been writing romance novels secretly for a few years now. I had the honour of reading her first drafts and she was extremely talented. Fear of the unknown and Principal Hill’s reaction—who was very harsh and strict with her daughters—held her back from publishing. I wished she’d take the leap. Last time we spoke, I was encouraging her to do so.
“What are you currently working on?”
She ignored me and retrieved my phone. “Here. That’s what you came for, right?”
“Thanks.” I grabbed my phone and watched Darla shift awkwardly on her feet, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She was in silk jammies and her hair was tied in a ponytail. “When did you get glasses?”
She gave me a bewildered look. Fair enough. I was asking her about her optical accessories when I should be asking her a million other questions. “Over the summer. I usually wear contacts, but since I’m home…”
“Ah.” I pocketed my phone. “Well, they suit you.”
Darla’s shoulders sagged with a drawn-out sigh. “Why are you here, Ella?”
I needed to sit down if we were going to have this conversation. I parked my ass on her bed and said, “As you may already know, I was in jail this weekend.”
“Yeah.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I heard from my mother. Are you…okay?”
Darla acted indifferent with me these past few months, yet whenever I was in distress—like Josh’s party and now—her caring side shone through. I knew my ex-best friend like the back of my hand. She may walk around with a tough exterior, but she was a softie on the inside. Moreso where I was concerned.
I hoped, with every fiber of my being, that our time in each other’s lives wasn’t over.
“I’m fine, but I’ve had one helluva twenty-four hours.” I rubbed my forehead. “I think I’m still wrapping my head around everything that happened on Initiation Night.”
“I tried contacting Shaun, but he hasn’t answered yet. He was supposed to return me the keys to the school this morning.”
“Um, about that.” I cleared my throat. “Shaun is currently indisposed.”
She blinked. “Pardon me?”
I winced. “I might have smacked his head with a baseball bat.”
“Ella!” She screeched, momentarily forgetting that we weren’t on speaking terms and sounding so much like her old self. “What. Are. You. Talking. About?”
“I swear I didn’t mean to, okay?” I wailed.
A case of word-vomit possessed me and I proceeded to recount everything that happened, from Shaun chasing us in the hallway, to us terrified and hiding in the confessional booth, to me whacking him across the head accidentally. And how the only thing that woke Shaun up was the thought of Hera potentially marrying somebody else.
Darla expelled a huge breath and took a seat next to me. “This is a mess. I thought for sure he’d get you both out sans getting caught.”
“On the bright side, Shaun is alive. Before I came here, I stopped by the hospital to check on him. He’s going home soon. Although I’m probably going to be sending him a fruit basket as an apology every month until the day I die.” Then I added as a joke, “The only silver lining in this situation is that I look really cute in my mugshot. Oh, and technically, I won Initiation Night twice and created history.”
“Well, I’m glad everyone is all right.” Darla smiled. “And that you won Initiation Night.”
Seeing her smile at me after months was a rare sight. It incited my own. We watched each other quietly, before I decided to say, “There’s something I need to tell you.”
She frowned at my somber tone. “What is it?”
“Shaun mentioned that you think an Initiator is responsible for calling the cops.”
“Yes, and once we find out who did it—”
“I know who did it,” I rushed out. “Or at least I think I do.”
Darla arched her brow. “Who?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Callie.”
Darla reared back like she’d been slapped. “ What ?”
“When we got arrested, I saw her and a masked guy standing by St. Victoria’s woods, watching us get taken away.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Darla stood up and started pacing. “I know Callie is a bitch, but I don’t get why—” My ex-best friend stopped herself short. “Never mind.”
‘Callie is a bitch.’
Well, that was a hot take.
I stood up too. “Darla, I have tried to figure out, over the last few months, why you’d remove us— me , in particular—from your life without a reason. I’ve gone over every single one of our exchanges and I don’t understand if I hurt you or—”
“Cut the act, Ella.” She scoffed. “You know why I stopped talking to you both. I’ve seen your conversations with Callie.”
Huh? What was she talking about? “I’m sorry, but I’m not following. What conversations?”
Darla braced her hands on her hips, practically shooting me daggers with her eyes.
“Darla,” I hedged calmly when she remained silent, apprehension swirling in my gut. “What conversations are you talking about?”
She inched a disgusted expression my way. “The ones where you’re insulting me and talking shit about my family.”
I felt like I was going to collapse.
What was she talking about? Why would I insult her or her family? I loved the Hill women—and Alberto—like my own. “I have never, in my life, spoken a bad word about your family, Darla. Never .”
My vehement tone jolted Darla. She recovered quickly and scowled. “I have proof. Don’t even bother denying it.”
“Show me,” I challenged. “Show me this so-called proof you have.”
Usually classy and collected, Darla looked like a bomb about to detonate as she pulled out her phone, unlocked it, opened her gallery app, and thrust her device against my face with an angry huff. “There you go.”
I grabbed her phone, glaring at the screenshot. It was a private conversation on social media between Callie and me.
Reading through the contents, I blanched.
It was horrifying and extremely disturbing.
I scrolled through all the screenshots and read one lie after another, feeling my blood boil, my heart rate skyrocket, and my need to break something grow increasingly stronger with every second.
In the conversations, it was made to look like I was calling Darla a pathetic bitch for being afraid of her mother, calling Principal Hill a cunt for giving us detention after we pranked the boys on the hockey team, and the worst of them all? I was made to look like I hated Dacia for being bi and calling her all sorts of derogatory terms I’d never heard in my life. And Callie was seen ‘agreeing’ to all these messages. But fuck, none of this was actually me. I’d rather cut off my own fingers than to hurt— insult— anyone like this. The Dacia one slashed the deepest. She was like the older sister I never had and I adored her with my whole heart. She didn’t deserve to be spoken about in such a horrible light.
“This is fake.” Repulsed, I shot the phone back at Darla. “I swear on my abuela’s grave that I would never fucking say anything like this. Not about your family or anyone else’s, Darla. That isn’t me.”
My ex-best friend bristled. “Then how do you explain this?”
With jerky fingers, I unlocked my phone, which thankfully still had some juice, and went into my conversation with Callie. I scrolled up to the same time stamps as those screenshots and turned my phone towards Darla. “Look at this. Read through my real conversation with Callie. It’s just memes and the occasional text about where to meet up for our hangouts.”
To be honest, I wasn’t a big texter. I preferred to call. Typing up long messages—let alone the kind Darla showed me—wasn’t my style. Nor was shitting on my childhood best friend and her family.
The colour leeched from Darla’s face as she read through our conversation. The truth was right there. “Are you…Are you trying to tell me these texts are fabricated?”
It was the only logical answer because I sure as hell hadn’t written them. “Darla, you have to believe me. I would never say those horrendous things. You know me. You’ve known me my whole life. I’d never utter such despicable words about you or your loved ones.”
“But…you think Callie would?”
Nodding, I stared at the floor. “Unfortunately, I’m beginning to realize that Callie may not be the person I thought she was.”
Considering she hasn’t even left a single call or text on my phone asking me if I’m okay after Initiation Night.
Now I was certain that Callie had a hand in this whole fake screenshots situation. On top of her and the masked guy being involved with our arrest.
The why still remained to be discovered.
Darla gazed at me like she finally saw through the lies. “The evidence was there, Ella. How was I supposed to think otherwise?”
“I know, Darla, and I don’t blame you. I just wish you had more faith in me. You should have talked to me the minute you received these. I could have shown you the truth then. Fuck, I too should have tried harder to talk to you. All I know is we shouldn’t have wasted months being angry at one another. That’s not you and me. We’re supposed to be stronger than this.”
Her hardened shell slowly broke, my words having the desired effect. “Before receiving these screenshots, Callie spent weeks rudely throwing it in my face how close you two had gotten—more than you and me. I’m ashamed to say all those comments got to my head. I wished it didn’t bother me, but I felt sad and angry whenever I saw you both laughing together because it felt like an inside joke that I wasn’t in on. It also made me feel like a third wheel. Like dead weight, Ella, that you were unable to shed since you felt some type of loyalty to me given our past. And after I received these screenshots, it was the final nail in the coffin. I was appalled by you and Callie. That’s why I distanced myself without a confrontation. I didn’t want to waste my energy on people like you. It wasn’t worth it. I believed karma would do its thing, and you’d get what you deserved for being horrible friends to me.”
Before Callie, there was Darla. I’d known her since we were toddlers. No one meant more to me than her. Callie knew it, too. Now I knew that everything she said was to drive a wedge between me and Darla.
She must have been jealous of us.
Darla and I had the kind of bond that was akin to sisterhood. She was my twin flame. Everybody knew it. No matter our differences, our friendship had always been tight. We were always seen together, talking and laughing, walking down the halls of St. Victoria in our matching cheer outfits and pompoms.
Nothing could break us apart. Or so we’d thought.
Nevertheless, Darla and I wouldn’t let this destroy us anymore. We’d come back stronger than ever. I knew it.
“I’m sorry, Darla. I’m so goddamn sorry.” I closed the distance and hugged her with all the strength I possessed, needing her to know that without her a part of me was lost. “You’re not a third wheel. You’re not dead weight. And there’s no inside joke. Callie was wrong. You and I have always been the closest. She knows this, too. You’re my best friend, you’re my sister, you’re my co-captain. No one could ever replace you. Your presence in my life is priceless. I’d never want to hurt you. You mean too much to me. I love you and I’m so fucking sorry again that this happened to us.” My voice was ragged with emotions. “I’ve missed you so much. I’ve had one of the worst summers and all I wanted was to pick up the phone and call you. To come over and see you. To just have you by my side. And I’m so saddened that we lost this much time.”
Halfway through my admission, Darla wrapped her arms around me just as tight. A teardrop touched my collarbone. “I missed you and I love you, too.” Her voice was watery. “This has been the worst summer of my life as well. All I wanted was you by my side, but I was so hurt and furious. I should have confronted you so we could have resolved this earlier. I believe everything you said, Ella, and I’m not mad anymore.”
We hugged each other, breathing in this newfound truce, and pulled away only when a knock at Darla’s door alerted us of a new presence.
Dacia Hill leaned against the doorframe, watching the scene with a cool smile. Long blond hair. Blue eyes. Periwinkle minidress. Looking every bit the ice princess she was renowned for being. “Well, if it isn’t my favourite duo reunited once more.”
“Have you been eavesdropping this whole time?” Darla asked accusingly.
“Mhm.” Dacia sauntered in and took a seat on Darla’s bed, crossing her legs. “Berto let me know Ella was here, so we listened to the entire conversation with our ears pressed against the door. We wanted to know the juicy details on why you stopped being friends and hear your mend your friendship once and for all.”
Alberto, bless his soul, had the bad habit of eavesdropping on everyone’s conversations. He was here for one thing only: the tea. I wasn’t surprised he dragged Dacia with him. “Where’s Berto now?”
“In the kitchen, helping the staff prepare dinner for us.” Dacia clasped her hands together and rested them on her knee. “Now tell Ella who sent you the screenshots, Dar.”
Darla cleared her throat. “They were sent to me by the Secrets of St. Victoria account a few days after prom.”
Secrets of St. Victoria was a social media account run by an anonymous individual who shared dirty secrets of the institute’s populace. It was known for stirring the pot and pitting people against one another. Till this day, no one was able to figure out who was behind the account.
“And you think Callie is involved in all of this, right?” Dacia asked me.
I brought a fist to my mouth, debating how much I should let these two know. “Okay, so here’s the thing. Cade and I did something bad over the summer.” For their own safety, I wasn’t going to tell them about Kian Wilson. “A few days after that, Cade was drugged and assaulted the night of Josh’s party by four guys wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Obviously, Darla, you know this last bit, because you helped save him, which I cannot thank you for enough. Then on Initiation Night, a guy wearing a Guy Fawkes mask attacked me in Balthazar Building.”
They gasped, spitting curses.
Then I gave them a rundown of my entire Initiation Night, talking about our dares, what happened between Cade and me, and how we ended up in the confessional before getting arrested. By the time I finished, both sisters gaped at me.
“With all that being said, you can probably understand why we came to the conclusion that both of those attacks are linked.” I shrugged. “And somehow, Callie has a hand in all of this.”
They were still silent. I knew it was a lot to take in.
“I’m sorry, Ella, you did what in the nurse’s office?” Darla finally spoke, covering her mouth in a scandalized fashion. “In the middle of a competition?”
“First of all, it was towards the end of the competition when I was convinced we’d lost anyway.” I blushed under their scrutiny. “Second of all, I was overcome by passion after hearing how much Cade still loves me, okay? The setting didn’t matter!”
“Personally, I’m still stuck on the fact that you’ve already fucked in the confessional booth.” Dacia looked impressed. “Damn, that’s…blasphemous.”
My entire face probably resembled a tomato. “Can we move on from my sex life and talk about the real situation at hand?”
“That you’re into sixty-nining without locking the door?” Darla side-eyed me before her and Dacia cackled, ribbing me good-naturedly.
“I hate you both, truly.” I ran a hand over my face. “I can’t believe I’ve missed you two menaces.”
Their laughter soon faded and Dacia shook her head with a smile. “No, you love us. Just as we love you. And for what it’s worth? We’ve missed you continuously over the summer.”
I joined them both on Darla’s bed. “I saw online that you spent some of August in Europe.”
Dacia nodded, playing with her blond strands and casting Darla a meaningful look. “Yeah, we decided it would be good to get away from Montardor for a bit.”
Darla bit her bottom lip. “I have to tell you something, Ella.”
“What is it?”
She touched the pulse at her wrist with her thumb, taking a deep breath. “I hadn’t been feeling well for the last few weeks of senior year and I got diagnosed with a small benign tumour shortly after graduation. I ended up getting surgery for it and it was relatively quick and successful. After that, Mother suggested we take a vacation before university starts to reground myself. Get a change of scenery. All that jazz.”
My throat was tight. I wanted to cry. “Darla, are you serious?”
“Yes.” She smiled sadly. “The doctor said it could have been caused by stress and inflammation. Anyways, I was lucky it was small and non-life threatening.”
I hated the way she was downplaying this. I hugged her again, kissing her temple. “Darla, I don’t know what to say except that I’m so sorry to hear you went through this. I wish I was there for you.”
“It’s okay.” She patted my back. “You’re here now and that’s all that matters.”
She was right. We were back. That’s all that mattered.
“While we’re being honest with each other, I want to tell you both something.” I played with the strings of the friendship bracelet Darla gave me eleven years ago. “I was five weeks pregnant and miscarried the night of Josh’s party.”
More gasps and curses echoed in our little circle. Suddenly, I was enveloped by both sisters. They hugged me as I recounted my miscarriage and how I recovered slowly, one day at a time, after that night.
Darla’s voice trembled as she pressed a kiss to my head. “I’m so sorry, Ella. This is heartbreaking. I know how badly you’ve wanted to be a mom.”
It would happen one day when the time was right. I wasn’t worried.
But hearing these words of comfort after spending the entire summer dealing with this on my own filled me with warmth and healing. For the first time in weeks, I felt good on the inside. Like everything would finally work itself out.
Dacia wasn’t one for emotions, but she did caress my shoulder in an affectionate gesture to show her support.
“Thank you for hearing me out,” I said. “And thank you to Berto for letting me through the doors.”
We shared a short chuckle.
Growing up, I never felt the lack of sisters because I had these two. I was a firm believer in counting my blessings. The Hill women were probably one of the best gifts the universe had given me.
I was grateful that we got this second chance.
Before I left for Initiation Night, I begged the universe for a reprieve. This was it. Divine timing. It threw many obstacles my way but look at me now—a better version of myself than when this entire mess started.
“All right, that’s enough emotional talk for today.” Dacia stood up and stretched her arms. “It’s Saturday night and we should do something fun to celebrate.”
“What do you have in mind?” Darla asked, going over to her vanity to fix her appearance.
Dacia and I shared a knowing look.
There’s only one thing we’d be doing tonight: gathering dirt on Callie.
Before setting her aflame.
“How about we pay a little visit to the Mackowski household?” I offered with a grin.
“You read my mind, Ella.” The thing nobody knew about Dacia? Behind her ice princess front hid a ball-busting bitch.
“I’m texting Hera.” Darla typed on her phone. “Whatever we’re doing, she’ll want in on the fun.”
“Good.” I stood up and adjusted my cropped leather jacket. Tonight, the back of it was adorned with justice scales, stitched carefully with a gold thread. “And I know just the person who can help us execute this plan.”