The Imposter

The Imposter | Chapter Thirteen [Eristic]

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[Chapter Thirteen]

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eristic \e-RIS-tik\

(adj.) Argument for the sole purpose of winning, regardless of the reason.

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The rest of the school year sped by relatively fast and before I knew it summer was here. My clone had decided to lie low and I hadn't seen or heard from her since Prom. I figured she was planning something over summer, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

Graduation came and went without any complications. Frankly, I was surprised because I was sure my clone was going to pull something. However, nothing exciting happened save from Marie Knight tripping on the way to get her diploma.

I graduated in the top ten percent of my class with Andrew, Olivia and Kyle and afterwards we celebrated by going to Grad Night. It was a fun evening, full of goodbyes and laughter but I wasn't going to miss high school at all. College was the place for me and I knew it. I needed to move on and start my own life away from all the stupid high school drama. UCLA was going to be a blast despite the fact that Andrew and Olivia weren't going to be with me. They were going to be close though—only at UCSD and Chapman University—so we would still see each other.

As for Kyle...I had no idea what he was planning on doing. He didn't need to go to college since he was twenty-one and had finished his last semester of college online a month ago. Neither of us talked about it, but we both hoped that this whole problem would be taken care of by the time my first semester started. Then we would both go on our separate ways and it would all be for the better. Part of me was going to miss him because it was hard being the third wheel to Olivia and Andrew. We had an amiable relationship now, but nothing too amazing. We tolerated each other and that was about it. Kyle made my life a living hell at times, but he also had his moments. Granted, those glimpses of 'nice Kyle' drove me mad when I was constantly shown 'asshole Kyle'. And I saw plenty of 'asshole Kyle' since we spent nearly all our time together.

Whenever I managed to get away from him I was relieved, but I also kind of missed him...in a twisted way. I guess I was just used to him always being there, annoying me, that when he wasn't there it seemed like something was missing. Stupid, I know.

Today, for example, I was over at Olivia's for a girl's day/night, yet I was so distracted by Kyle's absence that I couldn't concentrate on anything Olivia was saying.

"That's it!" she finally said, exasperated. "If you don't stop drifting off into la-la land, thinking about Kyle, I'm going to put a scary movie in and make you watch it with me. With no blankets or pillows!"

"I'm sorry, Livy," I said, giving her puppy dog eyes. "I promise not to drift off any more."

She shook her head in disbelief and handed me a bottle of nail polish remover. "Sometimes I don't understand you," she said softly. "You and Kyle fight like cats and dogs all the time and you say how much you dislike him, yet when you're apart I can tell that you're thinking about him; pining for him. It's pathetic."

I wiped the remaining flakes of polish off my toenails, using a methodical rhythm, trying to gather my scattered thoughts. "I don't know what's wrong with me," I finally replied. "He bugs the crap out of me, yet I know he's there to protect me and when I'm with him I feel safe. Maybe I'm just worried something is going to happen while he's gone." I shrugged and reached for the base coat polish, "I don't know."