Old Dreams No Return (Serena) novel Chapter 6

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Silently, I turned away, giving them a wide berth, and headed for the school’s back garden.

An old tree stood there. Liam’s name and mine were carved into its trunk, a tiny heart etched right beside them.

That was freshman year. He’d pulled me over, carefully carving them in with a small knife, saying he wanted us etched into each other’s lives forever.

Now, I pulled out the key I always carried, found those names, and started scraping them off, hard, bit by bit.

The moment I was done, about to walk away, Tiffany’s chirpy voice and footsteps sounded right behind me.

“Liam, check this out! I heard if you carve your name into a tree in this grove, you’ll have a super bright future, like, totally dazzling success! How abou we carve one too?”

I didn’t turn around, but I could totally picture him nodding yes.

Sure enough, I heard his low voice say, “Okay.”

Then came the faint sound of a carving knife slicing into bark.

Right next to the tree where I’d just scratched off our names, they picked another one and carved ‘Liam’ and ‘Tiffany’ side-by-side.

I kept my back to them, not saying a word.

Done with what I needed to do, I slipped the key back into my pocket and turned to leave.

I’d barely reached the pond by the garden when Tiffany came running up behind me.

“Serena, wait!”

Tiffany called out to me, holding a tiny hairpin. “You dropped something.”

I recognized it as mine, something I’d accidentally dropped, and reached out to take it.

But Tiffany pulled her hand back slightly. A smirk played on her lips as she looked at me. “Serena, from now on, the only person standing beside Liam

will be me.

You’re no longer worthy of standing by his side.

I’ll prove to you

that in his heart, I’m a thousand, even ten thousand times more important than you.”

I couldn’t be bothered with her pointless bickering. I just wanted my stuff back so I could get out of there.

“Give it back”

My utter indifference completely infuriated Tiffany.

She suddenly gripped my wrist, her voice turning shrill. “Stop acting all high and mighty! Don’t think growing up together makes you special. Let me. tell you, childhood friends never win against the destined one! Liam and I? We’re soulmates. You’re just some forgotten extra in his past!”

“Let go!”

My wrist throbbed. I yanked, trying to get away,

“No way!”

We struggled, pushing and pulling by the lake. In the heat of the moment, one of us slipped.

Two splashes followed, one right after the other. Water sprayed everywhere! I knew how to swim, but the instant shock of the icy lake water wrapping around me sent a violent cramp through my calf.

A cramp! I couldn’t move. My body sank, out of control. Lake water burned up my nose, and the suffocating panic hit me hard.

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