Power and Fire

Two Weeks Earlier.

"Is my outfit okay?" I nervously ask Faith for the tenth time in that past three minutes

I am wearing an adorable knee length white dress with little pink flowers on it that I covered with a matching pink sweater so that I look more put together. For shoes I chose a pair of white sneakers and for hair I decided on loose curls.

"Hanna, you look amazing" Faith responds genuinely with a small smile from my chair

"Yeah, If Chadley doesn't think so then he's blind" Bailey cuts in as she continues to read a random fashion magazine from my bed

Chadley Huntington.

Chad for short.

Chad and I have been dating for ten months.

Today is our ten month anniversary and I made the brave decision to surprise him with baseball tickets.

He's obsessed with baseball so I wanted to give him a present to correlate.

I hear a knock on my bedroom door before it opens to reveal my mother.

"Are you ready?" She asks with a smile

I nod my head as I nervously grab my purse and say goodbye to my friends. They return the farewell as I exit my bedroom.

I really hope that this all goes according to plan.

-

"Do you want me to pick you up later?" My mother asks me as I unbuckle my seatbelt

I briefly glance at Chadley's house before facing her and shaking my head.

"No, I'm sure his mom will drop me off" I reply since his mom always volunteers to drive me home

If she's not up for driving me home then I could just call one of my moms.

"Okay, call me if you need a ride back" she says with a serious tone of voice

My moms are crazy about kidnapping.

They never let me, or my siblings, out past nine unless we are with another trusted adult.

I understand their worry though.

"I will" I reply with an appreciative smile as I exit the car

I close the car door behind me and make my way towards their front door, making sure to walk along the stone pathway.

As I arrive in front of the main door I knock on it three times and wait a couple of seconds before I'm met with Mrs. Huntington's excited facial expression.

"Hanna!" She exclaims with obvious happiness

"Hello, Mrs. Huntington" I say with a smile

She steps aside so that I can walk into their house, which I do with no protest. She quickly closes the door behind me to keep the autumn breeze out of their warm household.

"Chadley is upstairs in his bedroom, would you like me to go get him for you?" She questions politely

"No, is it okay if I go up alone?" I ask her

She instantly shakes her head and uses her hands to usher me towards the stairs. I thank her before making my way towards my boyfriend's room.

The closer I get towards his bedroom the clearer I'm able to hear some particularly odd noises coming from it.

Could it possibly be from his video game?

He hasn't played a game in awhile.

His television?

He doesn't usually watch cable.

Once I'm outside of his bedroom I'm able to one hundred percent make out the sounds from the other side.

He's watching porn.

Why would he be watching porn?

I twist his doorknob and push the door open only to immediately stop in my tracks at the sight that meets my eyes.

Oh my goodness.

This can't be happening.

"Oh my god" I say with an appalled tone of voice

My best friend jumps off of my boyfriend at the sound of my voice with a shocked facial expression.

No.

Please, tell me that this isn't happening.

"Hanna, this isn't what it looks like" Chadley tries to defend as he stands up with an obvious tent in his pants

I glance over at my best friend only to see her trying but failing to cover her body with his blanket, the same blanket I slept under one night when my parents and I were fighting.

"It looks like I'm being cheated on by my boyfriend and best friend" I say with a slight voice crack

I'm not going to fight for him.

Obviously our relationship didn't mean as much to him as it did to me.

So, I'm done.

"Oh, then it's exactly what it looks like" my best friend says

"Shut up, Ava" Chadley says to her with an annoyed tone of voice

I sigh as I calmly hand him the baseball tickets, I have no use for them anymore.

"Happy ten month anniversary" I say with a small reminiscent smile before retreating out of his room

"Hanna, wait!" He calls after me but I continue to walk away

"Just let her go, babe, she was going to find out sooner or later" Ava says to him with an annoyed tone of voice

I can't believe I was so stupid.

How did I not see the signs?

Always texting each other whenever he and I were together at school.

Always getting jealous whenever I mentioned a milestone in our relationship.

Always having secrets.

"Hanna, is everything okay?" Mrs. Huntington asks me with a confused facial expression as I step onto the tiled flooring