Page 3 of My Bully's Crush: Vol1

“Fine, you go on up, and I’ll bring you some ice cream.”

“Ah, Sydney, maybe we should let her rest.She’s had a long day.”My friend and assistant Rachel piped up and were promptly ignored.I’m not sure why my two best friends could never get along, but they don’t.Some people might think it was jealousy, but they both get along equally well with the rest of my friend group, so I know it isn’t that.

I was too tired to dwell on it now, so I headed for the stairs as Sydney went towards the kitchen to get the ice cream.“It’s okay, Rachel.Let her do as she pleases.”She looked as if she wanted to argue, but then she thought better of it.

“Fine, I’ll be in my room if you need me.”She walked off in the direction of her room on the first floor, away from mine upstairs.Mom had already left to return to her place, and my aunt and uncle, who live here with me, were at work at this time of day, so it was only the three of us here now since the staff had already come and gone.

Upstairs, I only had enough strength to kick off my shoes and crawl into bed.Although the day didn’t turn out as horribly as expected, I still felt drained.Now that I think of it, I hadn’t had anything except the smoothie Rachel had made me for breakfast this morning.

Sydney soon appeared with a tray and two heaping sundaes, and my appetite was suddenly awakened.“Come on, sit up.We’re going to gorge ourselves like the pigs and zone out on Netflix.”

“Sounds a lot like Netflix and chill.”I quipped.

“Listen, you…you stay on your side of the bed, and I’ll stay on mine.”

We both broke out into laughter as she got settled in the bed next to me.“Ooh, what’s this?”She held up my journal slash diary that I’d forgotten to put away before I left earlier.

“Give it here.”

“Oh no, let’s see.”She held it out of my reach playfully, and since there was nothing more than my ramblings and poor attempts at songwriting, which I haven’t been able to do since the breakup, I didn’t put up too much of a fight.

“Oh my goodness, Elena, did you write all these songs?”

“They’re all a bunch of crap.It’s more like venting than anything.”She scoured the pages, page after page, of my feelings poured out in ink.When she started shaking her head, I knew there would be trouble.

“Oh no, girlfriend, I will if you don’t sing these.These are gold.”

Chapter 3

*Elena*

And so began a whirlwind of chaos.I had what you might call a manic episode spurred on by her words of encouragement and locked myself away in my room, rereading all that I had poured out of my heart during these past three years of hell.

Some words seemed so foreign to my eyes that had it not been my writing, I would’ve suspected someone else of planting them.When I came up for breath, it was growing dark outside, and Sydney was long gone.

The ice cream, at least one of them, was a melted puddle of cream and sauce and soggy fruit, and I was reminded once again that I hadn’t had anything to eat all day, but there was no hint of hunger in me.

I had another hunger brewing, one that left me ravenous.It had been so long since I’d had the urge to do anything artistic that that too felt foreign, but when I looked over all that I had done in the last few hours, I found that I had created three new songs from my pitiful ramblings.

I was more surprised by the fact that no one had come to bother me in all this time than by my progress.Usually, Rachel, my aunt, or my uncle would’ve popped their head in by now, but when I listened for any sound from downstairs, there was none.

I wiped the fatigue from my eyes, and that’s when I saw the note Sydney had left on the pillow for me to find.I hadn’t seen it yet because, at some point, I’d moved myself to the carpeted floor of my bedroom, surrounded by sheets of discarded paper that I had no recollection of using.

Now I know why no one had bothered me.To give me some time, my friend had lied to the home’s other occupants that I’d taken one of my pills and gone to bed.Since everyone was very well aware that I usually did that after an interview and that that was my preferred method of escape, no one doubted her.

I considered heading downstairs to prepare a meal but moving away from what I was doing made me feel tired, so I dove back into writing and rearranging.

It was another few hours before fatigue kicked in, and the words began to blur on the page.As much as I wanted to push myself, I knew from experience that I’d pay the price the next day, well, today, since it was already three o’clock in the morning.

So, I forced myself to get up, head into the en suite bathroom for a much-needed shower, and work the kinks out from sitting in one place for too long.The shower revived me, and I was back at it before the water dried on my skin.

Wrapped in a comfy old robe, I climbed onto the bed this time and settled down to do some serious work.Please leave it to Sydney; she always knows what to do.It was just a stroke of luck that I’d run back up to my room after the maid had cleaned it and made the bed to jot my thoughts down as a kind of exercise before heading out to the interview.

Had I not done that, she’d have never found my journal, and none of this would be happening.I wrote furiously until the sun came up.Turning the words I’d written in my darkest moments into art.My mind felt the clearest it had been in some time, and there was a little spark of hope for the first time in way too long.

I smiled down at the finished work, feeling a sense of pride, but as much as I was tempted to rush to my home studio, I knew I would be no good to do that now on no sleep.Still, the tunes ran through my head after I put everything away in my little hiding spot and settled to sleep, pulling the covers up beneath my chin and letting the first strains of sleep take me.

The next afternoon, I went downstairs feeling fresh and renewed.Only Rachel was in the kitchen on her phone, which she hung up with a smile as soon as I walked in.“Hi, sleepyhead.How many of those pills did you take anyway?You’ve been asleep for hours.”

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