Broken Chains

#6 The Start of Something New (Part 2)

***

Skylar was indecisive on what to wear. She had too many cute winter clothes that she did not know which one she should wear. And yet she still could not stop thinking about how her father will react to the fact that she went against all the rules of being a family by dating Cody.

At the moment that she was thinking of Cody he showed up right there and then in her room without her knowledge about it. He was wearing a sweater with an overcoat and jeans. He came up behind her and startled her by whispering in her ear, “Need some help?”

She was taken aback for a minute, she would not get used to the fact that he could just show up so quietly that she would not even know about it, “Cody...You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Already falling for me, princess? Sorry, I should have knocked.”

“Actually, you’ve come in at the right time. Which one should I wear?”, she was holding a red sweater in one hand and a blue hoodie in another.

“The blue one.”, he said without any hesitation.

“You sure? I mean like it is Christmas and red is a Christmas color.”

“It’s actually up to you. I’m just saying that the blue one just looks nicer on you.”

“Then blue it is.” She continued to go to her closet to get change into the oversize hoodie and when she stepped out of the changing room, it was like Cody was under an enchantment, he could not keep his eyes off her.

“Gorgeous...”, his voice seemed to trail off as he watched her, he did not even realize that he said that.

“Thank you. This hoodie was actually one of my do-it-yourself works that I did as an inspiration after watching Rise of the Guardians.”

“Wow, you’re so creative. I wished that I was half as creative as you are.”

“It’s alright, you also have many great qualities.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, you are kind, not self-centered, you are always rational in everything you do, you always look at the positive side of everyone you meet.”

“I think we should be headed down; Alexa and Brooke are looking for you after all.”

***

When going down the grand staircase, Skylar was seen as a princess again, all eyes were on her despite her not wearing a dress or ballgown. Her friends also set their eyes on her. When she was down, she asked herself, Why are all eyes always on me?

Before she could even say anything, Cody whispered into her ear, “Because you’re always the center of attention.” after he had read her mind.

“If we want this relationship to work, you got to stop reading my mind without permission.”, she whispered back to him in a tone that he was able to hear him.

“I just can’t help it; it is just that your thoughts are too loud.”

“What took you - Nice ring, where’d you get it - Did a certain someone special give it to you?”, Alexa was eyeing on Cody.

“Not now, Alexa!”, the two of them said to her in an emphatic way.

Though Cody remembered promising her that she would be the first to know about the relationship, he knew he could not explain it to her in front of his parents.

When he thought his problems weren’t enough, Zaylee asked, “What? Are you guys keeping something from me?”

“Nothing mom, it’s just that we’re planning to go to the mall after this, to-”, Cody sounded hesitant.

“-hang out. I’m sure you don’t mind right? It is the holiday after all.”, Skylar finished his sentence.

“Sure, you can definitely go out as long as all of you are back by dinner. Got it Cody?”, Zaylee said to her children.

***

The four of them got in the car and headed to the mall, everyone was silent before Skylar broke the silence, “So why are all of you so tense today? I mean like I get it that it is the festive season and all but then-”

“Yeah, why don’t you turn on the radio, I’m sure that Cody must have all kinds of music especially in this type of luxury car. I mean like you wouldn’t mind would you now, Cody?”, Alexa interrupted.

“Sure, do choose whatever you like”, Cody said while passing Skylar his phone which was already connected to the car through Bluetooth. Skylar hesitated at first because it was too good to be true that Cody would have no secrets on his phone, but Cody continued, “Don’t worry I have a playlist for every occasion.” She scrolled through the many playlists to finally stop at her name which had about over two hundred of her favorite songs. She looked at Cody with a cold stare which did not seem to bother him, “Oh, I was hoping that you would pick this one.” He said upon hearing the familiar songs.

“Cody, you really know your sister, don’t you? This is our jam.”, said Alexa, looking over at Skylar who was in shock of how Cody had found out about all her favorite hits. But when she listened to the songs all her thoughts seemed to disappear. And before she knew it, they were already at the mall.

When they were in the mall, Alexa allowed Skylar and Brooke to head on ahead without them when she realized that Cody was deep in thought, so she started teasing Cody, “So, how did it go with that thing?”

Cody pretended to not know about whatever she was talking about, “I don’t know what you mean.”

However, it wasn’t enough to get something past a warlock like himself. “You know the thing between you and Sky, come on and spill, you have to stop being so secretive, you know that it is also about time that Tyler found out about you being a vampire too.”

“It’s my secret to tell, and I would only tell them when I am ready. I manage to diverge his thoughts for this long. And as for Skylar, she’s my girlfriend now, but we’re planning to keep this little relationship of ours between ourselves.”

“But how? - You know that your parents are going to find out sooner or later. - Anyways congrats. -  I thought that Skylar would never be in a relationship anymore especially after what happened to her back in middle school.”

Cody had a look of concern plastered on his face, “What exactly happened?”

“Well, we were all playing spin the bottle and it was her first kiss, she actually refused to kiss him at first but after some consideration - thinking it was just a kiss and nothing more, she finally agreed and after that one kiss, Ash, thought that they were already an official and he started bragging to everyone about how he and Sky got together, the story after is just all a complicated relationship, so she broke up with him and swore never to get into a relationship ever again. But then yet here she is, dating someone who actually loves her for her and not just for her looks.”

Cody gave it a thought where he had ever heard the name, ‘Ash’ before but he just couldn’t quite remember when he had last remembered hearing that name. That was when his thoughts were all cleared up as he heard Skylar calling their name from a distance, “Cody! Alexa! Come on why are you guys so slow.”

“You go on with her. I need to take Brooke to someplace else anyways.”, Alexa said to Cody.

Cody nodded and caught up with Skylar to chat with her while still walking, “So what were you talking about with Alexa just now?”, asked Skylar.

He was in immense thought and that was when he decided to just ask her about Ash without a moment of hesitation, “Why didn’t you tell me about your past relationship with Ash that left you in trauma?”

“Well, I believe that what has past has past and there is no point lingering in the past right. Speak for yourself, Cody, you also never told me about your past relationships anyway, so I did not see the point.”

“Well at least now you can say we’re even.”

“Are any of your exes still in the school that we’re attending in Crystal Cove?”

“Yes. But then I am sure that it was just as bad as your relationship with Ash. She only dated me just because of my family status.”

“Why is that?”

“I also have no idea why.”

“Come on, you found out about my relationship with Ash from Alexa so why not you tell me more about your ex.”

“It’s just all a toxic relationship which is why I broke up with her. You’ll get to know her soon enough, once we’re in Crystal Cove. She’s the talk of the whole school. I just hope that one day someone would soon take all that away from her.”

“I’m sure that there will be someone who would soon take all that away from her, I mean like popularity does not last forever.”

Just then, Cody looked at the time and saw so much time had already flown by so fast. It was already time to get home for dinner so avoid any complications with his mother for being late again.

He got Skylar to call her friends so that they could all get home in time.

***

“Where’s your brother? Does he always have to be late for every event?”, Zaylee asked Tyler.

Tyler could not say anything but shrug his shoulder in cluelessness. And just then he heard the roar of the engine from the outside - Cody was finally back.

Tyler was relieved, as this time Cody was right on time and was not late for once. If Cody came back late again, he would be the one who had to reason with the whole family.

And as Cody entered the mansion, Tyler started shooting him with questions as always which Cody tried to reply as calmly as possible for, he knew how Tyler was, being forever under the wings of his mother, protected from the world around him and still so innocent. Yet again all that was going to change once he went to Houston with Cody and Skylar to attend high school, the next big step in his life. Though he would only be in Freshman year, he had made it through his Junior High.

As Cody just walked past him to go and get ready, he felt that Skylar had completely taken over the role of being Cody’s younger sibling. He just ignored him, but once they were all in Houston, how would any of this change. There isn’t a shadow without a doubt that Cody and Skylar would be in the same year because Skylar had obviously skipped a year to be in Junior Year. Tyler was thinking of all the great moments he used to have with his brother that had now been taken away from him by his sister. Was this going to be the new normal?

Only a few people in the family could make it to the dinner, but then it was the thought that counts. Only some of their cousins could make it, so they found a way to make the best of their time by talking to as many people that Cody could introduce to Skylar. Not in a rambling way though because he did not want to make it too obvious that he was apparently in a relationship with her.

After the dinner, they had to begin packing for their trip to Hawaii and to Houston. Though everything seemed like a rush Skylar did not actually have to pack that much as Zaylee said that she had many varieties of clothes for her to choose from in her walk-in closet at their beach house in Hawaii. The thought of a walk-in closet made Skylar think if this mansion was already considered rather big then how big is their mansion in Houston. But she was also unsure of how she would have to say goodbye to her friends. Though she was going to leave New York, she knew the main reason why her father and Zaylee could not go with them.

Her father was working for the N.Y.P.D. which made it impossible for him to move to Houston with them and Zaylee had her own job to do, acting. Skylar also had to get used to living amongst boys now that she had brothers. Cody reassured her that everything was going to be fine as Tyler and also himself were tamed already by their father who had brought them up to treat everyone the way they wanted to be treated.

During her thoughts, she was brought back to reality when her name was called by her mother from downstairs, “Skylar! There’s one last gift for you waiting!” That made her think of who it could be from. He dashed down to get the gift from Zaylee that was in a white box. She brought it up to her room to unwrap it and upon opening the box, she could smell the familiar smell of roses that she would usually receive from her admirers. She unwrapped the parchment paper to see that her nose had not failed her and there was really a bouquet of flowers. There was also a tag on the flowers saying ‘Merry X’mas, will you do me the honor of being my date to homecoming. Signed Jackson’

She went speechless for she knew that this was not the first time she had rejected Jackson, but he was still very persistent. And now that Cody and her were an official she had no choice but to reject him. Plus, she also would not be able to attend the homecoming that year because she would be in Houston. Before texting Jackson, she went to look for Cody to consult him about the matter.

She knocked on the door before entering the room. He had already finished packing so he asked her, “What’s up? You look as if you had seen a ghost, are you alright?”

“Yes, it’s just that I had just received a gift from Jackson, and he is asking me if I would like to go to the homecoming dance, but I do not know how to tell him that I am not going to be in New York by the time homecoming rolls by.”

“Think Sky, you know what to say? And I know what this is about, is it because the two of us are dating and you’re scared that I might be that type of overprotective boyfriend? Not to fret, I am more of an overprotective brother than an overprotective boyfriend.” Looking at Skylar’s expression which seemed to look at him in fear of crossing him, so he continued to say, “I’m just kidding.”

She snapped back to reality, knowing that Cody would never inflict harm on her. She continued their conversation from where she had stopped, “I just don’t know how I am going to tell him?”

“Leave that to Alexa and Brooke, I mean like if you think of it, they might have already told him about us leaving the state by now. It took the flowers a while to come right?”

“I think you’re right. Thanks Cody. You’re the best.”, she said while going into his embrace and giving him a bear hug.

Just then, her dad came in when she was still hugging Cody. “I see that the two of you are stepsiblings but then how are the two of you so close. I was never this close to my brother.”, he said while she was still in his embrace.

Skylar felt like she had lost her voice as she was blushing that made her face as red as a tomato. “It’s just that we were friends even before the wedding.”, Cody gave an innocent but true answer. Cody knew that Daniel was a police officer and he had been in the force for about more than ten years and was able to tell when someone was lying.

Daniel raised an eyebrow and looked over at his daughter and noticed a ring that he had never seen before, “Skylar, where did you get that ring?”, he was eyeing on the ring around the ring finger of her right hand.

Without a moment of hesitation, Cody answered, “She had received it from Alexa and Brooke for Christmas.”

“Just messing with you son. This is obviously none of my concern. - But have the two of you finish packing.”

“Yes dad.”, Skylar let out a squeak.

While Skylar was walking through the halls back to her room, she heard the familiar voice again. It was the same voice she always heard every night while she was falling asleep. It had been keeping her awake at night but then she usually tried to ignore it so that she could try to get some sleep. 

            Skylar saw the familiar figure again. She saw how it was holding a winged figure (an angel) locked up in chains, but she could not do any about it. She was chained to a pillar which she could not get out of. She tried to struggle but then the more she struggled, the more it hurt, she felt the blood trickling down her hand. She tried breaking the chains, but it was pointless. The angel was being dragged out of her reach and by the time the door shut, she felt her eyes starting to well up. The salty tears flowed down her face like a river. The river of tears was broken when the figure holding the other guy came back. He got down to her level and brought the lighted lamp close to his face so that she could see the face clearly. Upon, seeing his face, she immediately recognized that face, but she kept questioning herself, ‘How Cody would even commit this type of monstrosity.’ "What did you do?", she asked him furiously. Or so she thought she did.  However, the figure did not answer her question but instead he told her that she was next. This left her in suspense, but she could not do any to defend herself as the figure slowly disappeared into thin air.