Part 50: Josh's Point of View I woke up and went downstairs, I was so f*cking hungry. All. The. Time. I was sitting there eating when Emily walked in. I nodded a 'Goodmorning' towards her but she just glared at me and walked toward the fridge. "Well good morning to you also your royal b*tchness." Her icy green eyes shot back up to me again. "Shut up fatas*. I looked down at my stomach and lifted up my shirt. "The f*ck? I'm not fat." I stuck out my bottom lip and pouted. Emily scoffed at sat down at the table. She was looking out the window lost in her own thoughts. I heard footsteps coming from upstairs. I looked at the clock. It's probably Zach and Chloe. I heard Emily's voice. "Ew. I don't understand why he's with her. She's not even pretty." I have no idea what the hell Emily was talking about. Chloe is f*cking gorgeous. and it's all natural. Emily is a fake as* b*tch. I felt my blood start to boil with rage. "Emily! Why do you have to be such a f*cking b*tch all the time?!" She just looked at me and glared again. I was beginning to think that's just how her face looked. "Seriously Em. Can't you see that he's finally happy?! What the hell is the matter with you?! I can't f*cking stand your negative as*." Just as I said that I heard someone clear their throat. I turned around to see Zach in the doorway with a very timid Chloe. Emily scoffed. "Repulsive." She muttered. She continued to eat her cereal with a disgusted look on her face. "Baby, go find Ali. I'll tell you when breakfast is done." I looked back and saw Zach kissing Chloe's cheek. She gave him a worried glance but then nodded and walked away. Once she was out of hearing distance, Zach turned back to us and had a very hurt expression on his face. Emily smirked at him. "So when are you going to break up with the slut?" I could see Zach trying to keep his cool. He walked over to the counter and sat down on it. Probably 6 feet away from Emily. He looked down at started playing with his fingers. He looked up with a small trace of tears in his eyes. His voice came out small at first. "Did you know that I'm her first boyfriend? Did you know that Em? How could you call her a slut when you know how I am. I treat women with respect. I wouldn't even think of that. I am the only person she has ever dated. She is not a slut Emily." Zach was still looking at Emily, but the tears were more obvious in his eyes. He was trying his best to hide them. Emily was looking at Zach with hate-filled eyes. "She's not even pretty." Emily scoffed with a disgusted look on her face. She looked away from Zach and I, looking out the window to where Ali and Chloe were on the swing. I could see a small smile creep onto his face, but it quickly disappeared. "I don't know what you're talking about." He whispered. "She is the most beautiful girl in the world. Her eyes are amazing, they make me weak in the knees. Her lips are incredibly soft. Her hair is gorgeous. She looks like an angel. She's absolutely gorgeous. So you're right. She's not pretty. I agree." He smiled and looked back at Emily. "She's gorgeous." "I don't like that you're dating her Zach." Emily spat at him. He sighed. I really admire him, if anyone had said any of this about Ali, I probably would've punched them. Just standing here, seeing my best friend hurt, makes me want to punch a girl who is practically my sister. "Em." He sighed again. "I don't know why you can't accept the fact that she makes me happy. It's the first time I've been truly happy in a couple of years. Do you realize that? I wake up looking forward to something. I look forward to seeing her beautiful face, smiling at me. I look forward to feel electricity race through my body every time we touch. Even if we're just holding hands. I go to bed happy and wake up even happier because it's another day that I get to spend with her." He swallowed, really fighting back tears this time. "I just don't understand why you would want to take that away from me." Emily got up violently and stormed out of the room. I walked over to Zach and patted his back. I could feel his body shaking under my hand. I gave him a brotherly hug an he returned it. He was crying. "My own sister wants me to break up with the one person that makes me happy. Josh, I stopped taking my depression medicine the day that I met her. I have never felt better. I finally feel like myself again. I feel normal. Why would she want to do that to me? If I broke up with Chloe, i don't even know what I would do. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I wouldn't be myself again." I kept patting his back as we hugged. "I know bro, I know."
Part 51: Zach's Point of View I sat on the counter crying as Josh awkwardly hugged me. My mom walked in and gasped. "Zach! What's wrong?!" I quickly wiped away my tears and cleared my throat. "Uh n-nothing mom. I was just uhm.. chopping onions. Yeah onions." She glared at me and looked around the kitchen. She gave me a disappointed look and shook her head. "Zachary James, there aren't any onions in this kitchen. Don't you dare lie to me." She looked closer at me and studied my face. "Does this have anything to do with your sister?" I nodded my head, I couldn't lie to my mom. I could see her clench her teeth. "Tell me what happened baby." Josh awkwardly walked away to give us time to talk. "It uhm well uh.. Emily uhm. You see, she well. She wants me to break with Chloe." and then I told her everything, from me introducing them, to this morning's conversation. My mom looked out the window, Chloe was still on the hammock with Chloe. I could see Chloe's eyes, they were filled with tears. I went to go run outage but my mom grabbed my arm. "Zach, she needs girl time." I gave her a pleading look but she just shook her head. She pulled my hand and led me into the living room where Emily was sitting. "Emily, why on Earth would you want your brother to break up with the one person that makes him happy?" Emily rolled her eyes. "She isn't good for him. and he's too good for her. It's simple really." I felt my blood start to boil, this is the first time I've gotten really mad in a long time. "What the hell Emily! How is she not good for me if she makes me happy?!" Emily looked at me and shook her head. "She's changing you." I felt myself shake with fury. "Exactly my point! She's turning me back to myself! The old me! Who I really am! Do you want me to go back to who I was?" I lifted up my shirt sleeve and showed her my wrist. I had cut myself before, only once. But it was bad enough to land me in the hospital. That's when they put me on the depression medication. I pointed to the scar. "Back to this?! Back to not talking to anyone, shutting everyone out. Not sleeping at night, having no emotions?!" My mom gasped when she saw the scar. She didn't know about it. She was away on a business trip when I did it. I made Janice promise not to tell them. But my siblings knew about it. Emily's eyes widened as she shook her head. "No Zach. I-I don't want you to go back to that.." She whispered. Emily almost choked on her words. I rolls my sleeve back down and nodded. "Well then stop being such a b*tch to Chloe. All she does is make me happy and I'm tired of your negativity. If you're waiting for me to break up with her, stop waiting because it's not going to happen."
Part 52: Ali's Point of View I was sitting outside on the hammock reading Twilight when Chloe came out and sat down next to me. She didn't say anything, she just sat there and stared straight out towards the woods. I looked over and noticed a tear rolled down her cheek. "Hey, Chloe." I hugged her and rubbed her back. "It's okay." She nodded and wiped away tears that had escaped her eyes. "Want to tell me what's wrong?" Josh had kind of already told me, but I didn't get the whole story. "It's just.." She sniffed. "Emily." I nodded. I knew exactly how Emily was. I looked over to the house and saw Josh rubbing Zach's back, just like I'm rubbing Chloe's. But then Mom came in and Josh left, probably to give them privacy. After about two minutes, Josh appeared outside and he started walking towards us. He sat down on the hammock right in between us. He wrapped his arm around both of our shoulders in a very comforting way, he leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "Hello ladies." He smiled at both of us, trying to lighten the mood. Josh turned to Chloe and hugged her. I knew what was coming next. Josh and I talked about it last night. "Thank you. Thank you so much." He whispered, but loud enough so I could hear it. Chloe gave him a confused look, she doesn't know about Zach's 'Dark Time'. He kept hugging her and I could tell he was on the verge of tears. "You brought my best friend back, and for that, I am forever grateful." "Uh Josh, what are you talking about?" Josh looked over at me and I nodded, she needs to know. Josh began slowly. "Well, I was kind of hoping Zach would tell you, but I know that he probably won't. He doesn't like talking about it.." Chloe had a very confused look in her eyes, but I nudged Josh to keep going. "Two years ago, Zach was dating this girl named Hayley." I could see Chloe flinch out of the corner of my eye. "Ehm., sorry." Chloe nodded. "Anyways, at our Junior Prom, he walked in on her with another guy. He was a wreck. They were dating for a whole year. The worst part was that she was with one of our really good friends." Chloe shook her head. "I don't know why you're telling me this.." Her eyes looked hurt. Josh cleared his throat again. "I know, I'm sorry. You'll understand why when I'm done." She nodded for him to keep going. "So for the next month, he wasn't really himself. He wasn't really talking that much. One day, I dragged him to a party with me. and you know Zach, he doesn't like to drink, so I made him the DH. (Designated Driver). So anyways, this kid got really sick and said that he needed to go home. Zach, being the nice guy that he is, told the kid he would take him. Well uh, on the way home, a drunk driver crashed into the car and killed the kid on impact. I don't know how Zach didn't get hurt, but he was fortunate to walk away from the accident." Chloe's hand flew up to her mouth. "Oh my gosh." She whispered. "I had no idea." I nodded. "So, Zach blamed himself for killing the kid. The kid's parents tried telling Zach that they knew it wasn't his fault, but Zach wouldn't believe them. He didn't talk to anyone, every night he would come home from basketball and go straight to his room. He didn't have any emotions, ever. He was just walking around like a zombie." Chloe had a really worried look on her face. I nudged Josh again because he looked at me to see if he could go on. "My best friend, just wasn't there anymore. A couple weeks after the whole incident happened, Zach's parents left for another business trip, because they're lawyers so they had a lot of trips. Zach uh, well he. That weekend we had to go to the kid's funeral. After we got back, he went straight to his room and locked the door. We didn't hear him for a really long time so I picked the lock. I found him on the floor in his bathroom, blood was everywhere." Chloe gasped. I reached behind Josh to rub her back. Josh continued. "He was unconscious, but his heart was still beating. There was a long and deep cut that ran all along his left arm. I called 911 and got him downstairs. He was in the hospital for two weeks. I'm surprised you haven't seen the scar before.." He looked off into space a little bit before he returned to telling the story. "Anyways, before we left the hospital, the doctor put Zach on anti-depression medication. He acted the same as he had, no emotions. He cut himself off from everyone. I never really saw him smile for the next two years. There was the occasional moment when he would smile after a big basketball game that he would win, but for the most part he was just kind of there but not there mentally. Josh waited for a couple minutes. "Until he met you. The day Zach met you he stopped taking his anti-depression medication." Josh hugged Chloe tightly. "He smiles now, he's always happy, and he's joking around again." He smiled at her. "I finally have my best friend back, and it's all because of you. You have no idea how grateful I am."