The Key of Hearts

by Mia Rodriguez

  Chapter 31

  “Moonflower, are you going to invite me in?” Selena asked quietly when Moonflower just stood at the door.

  “Come in,” Moonflower mumbled, her voice catching on itself. She lead Selena to her bedroom. "So much has happened, hasn’t it?” she questioned as soon as she shut the door behind them.

  "A lot," Selena declared, a lump forming in her throat.

  Selena painfully looked at her friend up close. Moonflower’s once healthy body had withered away into size zero madness. Her once shiny with of tinge of rose skin a sickly yellow pallor and dark circles etched themselves under her eyes. “I know a lot has hit us, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to iron out our differences, Moonflower. For goodness sake, we can’t throw away our friendship just like that.”

  The bedroom door swung open and Moonflower’s look-alike little sister stepped in. “Hi, Selena,” she said. “I haven’t seen you here in a long time.”

  “Hi, Emma.”

  “Are you becoming friends again?”

  “Emma, what do you want?” Moonflower asked impatiently.

  “I need your help,” Emma stated.

  “With what?” Moonflower asked.

  “I can’t get the DVD player to work. I must’ve pushed a wrong button.”

  “I’ll take a look at it later. I’m visiting with Selena now.”

  “Moonflower, go ahead and see about the player.”

  “Emma can wait.”

  “I’m supposed to do my homework with what’s on this DVD,” Emma cried, holding it up to Moonflower.

  “Okay,” mumbled Moonflower. “But if we can’t make it work, then you’ll have to use the one in mom’s bedroom.”

  “I’ll wait for you here,” Selena announced.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  What a break, thought Selena, As soon as Moonflower and Emma stepped out of the room, Selena immediately started searching. She hated doing it—infringing on her friend’s privacy but she felt she didn’t have a choice. Finding the Key of Hearts was priority.

  Selena had eyeballed the room earlier when Moonflower wasn’t looking, trying to capture as much as she could with her sight. Nothing seemed out of place or different. Decorated in pastel pinks, Moonflower’s pretty bedroom didn’t show signs of anything as special as a mystical quartz key being in it. Selena looked through jewelry boxes and drawers but found nothing. She didn’t know if she was more relieved than upset at not finding it. By the time Moonflower returned, Selena had looked as best as she could.

  “Did you fix the DVD player?” asked Selena.

  “Yes, but it took me a while to figure out which button Emma had pushed to mess it up.”

  “Those things are so complicated.”

  “Not as complicated as human beings though. Vampires don't have anything over on us!”

  “Yes, we can be complicated.”

  “And messed up,” Moonflower blurted unhappily. "If Edward had been smart he would've stayed away from the very human Bella."

  Selena eyed her friend. “Moonflower, I’ve been very worried about you.”

  “You have?”

  “What’s wrong, Moonflower?” Selena asked.

  “I’m fine,” Moonflower responded with a shaky voice.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I’m fine,” Moonflower repeated with a stronger tone.

  “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Moonflower’s guard immediately shot up. “Nothing! I’m skinny, I’m in the popular group, I’m dating a football player, I’m—“

  “Are you really happy?” Selena asked quietly.

  “Do you think you’re the only one who can be happy?” Moonflower questioned bitterly.

  “No, of course not. I—“

  “I hear that Xavier kissed Cherise. It was the kiss heard around the world,” Moonflower declared dramatically.

  It was Selena’s turn to be defensive. “That’s a lie.”

  “How do you now it’s not true? Were you there with them?”

  “I trust Xavier,” Selena asserted.

  “Maybe you should take a good look at Cherise before you say that. The girl is a goddess.”

  “Xavier doesn’t think so.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “Yes,” Selena replied firmly.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

  “That’s why you’re you and I’m me,” Selena announced with steel in her voice. Moonflower eyed her desolately.

  “What if he leaves you for her?” Moonflower mumbled.

  “He’s not Saul,” Selena snapped.

  “He might’ve left me for Julia,” Moonflower erupted, “but he came back to me—just like Edward kept coming back to Bella even when he was trying to stay away from her.”

  Selena had heard rumors circulating that Saul dated other girls behind Moonflower’s back and judging by the way he flirted and carried on with girls in sixth period, that gossip unfortunately seemed to be true. She could’ve pushed this in her friend’s face but decided against it. Being cruel was not in her make-up.

  “Xavier isn’t going to leave me for Cherise, Moonflower.”

  “But—“

  “And even if he wanted to, he’s welcomed to leave.”

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to hold on to a guy who doesn’t want to be with me.”

  Moonflower’s eyes turned as round as marbles. “You wouldn’t?” she asked in pensive thought.

  “No way.”

  “You wouldn’t hold on to him? Don’t you love him?”

  “I love him but not enough to humiliate myself for him.”

  “You wouldn’t be humiliating yourself for him,” snapped Moonflower. “You’d be proving how much you loved him.”

  So she knew about Saul’s cheating, thought Selena. “That doesn’t prove love,” Selena said delicately. “Grandmother Chela says that love can only work if it’s a two-way street. It can’t work with one partner being untrue to the other.”

  “Your grandmother doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Moonflower disputed. “Haven’t you heard that love forgives everything?”

  “How can someone stay with another who is messing the relationship up?”

  “Selena, you don’t understand anything.”

  “I don’t?”

  “How could you understand?” Moonflower stated, rolling her eyes. “You’ve got this perfect thing with Xavier.”

  “It’s very far from perfect.”

  “That’s what it seems like to the rest of us,” Moonflower sighed.

  “It does?”

  “Yes.”

  “Moonflower, if you think it’s so perfect then why did you tell me that there was something between Xavier and Cherise?”

  “Uh . . . I . . . You’re twisting my words,” Moonflower blurted with exasperation.

  “Am I?” Selena questioned sardonically.

  “Selena, maybe this get-together between us is not such a good idea. We’ve changed so much since we were children. We’re so different from each other. I mean, I’m with the It Club, and you’re hanging out with whoever.”

  “Whoever?”

  “You’ve got your friends and I’ve got mine,” Moonflower announced, her voice with points of cold ice freezing it.

  Selena eyed her sadly but with some irritated spikes. “You care a lot for your new friends?”

  “Yes, they’re lots of fun, interesting, and popular.”

  "They seem cruel and ugly to me."

  Moonflower eyed Selena with round eyes. "That's a nasty thing to say."

  "It's the truth. Some people are just too blind to see the lie they're in."

  "Lie?" Moonflower's eyes narrowed.

  "Expensive clothes, snobby friends, and superior attitudes don't make a person better than others. It's too bad that you were carried away by lies."

  Moonflower's nostrils flared. "Stop insu
lting me! You have no right—"

  "It was a mistake to come here. I’m leaving,” Selena announced, as she stood up. “Don’t walk me to the door. I know my way.”

  “Good luck with Cherise and Xavier,” Moonflower stated as Selena made it to the door.

  "That was a low blow,” Selena stated with a groan as she stepped out the door. "Really low."

  "Selena, wait!" exclaimed Moonflower, rushing over to her, outside the door. Selena stopped moving forward and turned to Moonflower with questioning eyes. "If you're going to keep insulting Xavier and myself then—"

  "I'm so sorry, Sel." Moonflower blurted, her face pleading.

  "You are?" asked an astonished Selena.

  "Very, very sorry." Her solemn eyes were tearful. "I know I've been a big witch. I should've apologized to you a long time ago. I HATE THE IT CLUB! I HATE that Saul is cheating on me. I especially HATE that we aren't friends anymore!" she wailed, sobs in her throat.

  "I hate it too," Selena murmured. "I miss my BFF."

  "Does that mean you forgive me?" she asked anxiously. "I know you've put up with a lot from me, but please don't give up on me. Please forgive me even when I don't deserve it."

  Selena's arms went around Moonflower. "Forgiven."

  After Xavier had seen Asher and Steve leave, he quickly rushed to her bedroom when no one was looking. It was lucky that the house was so large that he could be on one side of it and everybody on the other as was the case at that moment. He prayed he wouldn’t get caught. He was so private that he hated the thought of snooping in someone else’s space but finding the Key of Hearts was too important.

  Once inside Asher’s room, he scrunched his face in dislike as he stepped in. His cousin’s room was like a showplace for the rich and famous. Asher had decorated it from a photo display in a magazine of her favorite singer’s bedroom. The place was all done in gold metallic with purple touches here and there. Xavier frowned at Asher’s unoriginality.

  He quickly started looking because the sooner he started, the sooner he’d be able to finish and get out of there. He searched through drawers of diamond jewelry and went through closets packed with designer wear.

  Nothing!

  Xavier couldn’t find the Key of Hearts or a single thing that would seem to link to it. Maybe I’m missing something, he said to himself. He was about to start looking again when the door swung open. Asher and Steve stepped in and stood dumbfounded when they found him there.

  After the initial shock, Xavier quickly thought of plan B.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Asher, glaring at him.

  “I lost something,” he stated with confidence.

  “What?” Asher snapped. “What could’ve you lost in my room?”

  Behind Asher and Steve, Xavier discretely made a green object roll in from his room. It stopped at a corner. “I lost a marble.”

  “What?” Asher asked, puzzled.

  “There it is,” he said, stepping over to it and picking it up.

  “You play marbles?” asked Steve.

  “No, I’m not a five-year-old but—“

  “Then what do you want a marble for?” Asher asked suspiciously and with venom in her voice.

  “It’s for my fish tank.”

  Asher blew up. “You barge into my room for a marble! Don’t you have enough of them for you stupid fish tank?”

  “I figured you’d be angry if you came back to your room to find a marble on the floor. You know you don’t like anything out of place. To avoid problems, I thought I’d get it out,” Xavier stated. “How was I supposed to know you’d be back so fast, before I could grab it and get out?”

  “I had to come back because I forgot my cell phone,” Asher said, between her teeth.

  Steve chuckled. “You know your cousin—she can’t live without her cell.”

  “Look, Xavier,” Asher said, smirking, “don’t you ever come into my room uninvited.”

  “Okay.”

  “Baby,” Steve said, “I think you’re making too much out of this. He was only trying to get his marble back.”

  “Steve, please stay out of this,” she stated.

  “I was only trying to help,” Steve said, voice sounding hurt. “I don’t like to see families fighting.”

  “Xavier is the one not acting like family. He’s carrying on with this repulsive pudgeball without thinking about how it makes his family look.”

  Xavier was about to blow but Steve beat him to the punch. “Don’t call Selena that. It’s not nice.”

  “You’d better never call Selena anything like that ever again!” demanded Xavier, stepping near her so that she knew he meant business.

  “Why did you kiss Cherise and then go back to Selena?” questioned Asher.

  “I didn’t kiss Cherise,” Xavier snapped.

  “But she said—“

  “She’s a liar.”

  Asher shook her head with full force. “I’ll never understand you.”

  “Baby,” Steve said softly. “He fell in love with Selena and not Cherise. You have to accept it.”

  “How can I accept what doesn’t make sense?” Asher asked, her voice trembling.

  “I’d better get out of here before I can’t control myself,” Xavier blurted as he started to head for the door.

  “Xavier, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about. . .” Steve stopped himself from continuing when he saw Asher looking at him with narrowed eyes.

  “Yes?” asked Xavier, stopping and turning to Steve.

  “What are you apologizing to him for?” demanded Asher.

  “Nothing . . . I’ll talk to you later, Xavier.”

  After a few minutes, Xavier heard Asher lock her room before stepping out with Steve again. Xavier shook his head. If she only knew that that no locks would keep me out of her room if I wanted to go in again. But Chad was now in his bedroom next to Asher’s and Xavier didn’t want to risk getting caught again. Still, he had looked enough and was positive that the key wasn’t in her room.