Fables of Entanglement

By Ashley Chan

Fables of Entanglement is a collection of fictional short stories for young adults, spanning genres like romance and mystery and a random assortment of topics. It addresses the different types of relationships, from familial and loving to parasitic and psychotic. In this book, there is a story for everyone! It will leave the audience feeling completely satisfied and wanting more by the end of each quick read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098349004

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Copyright © 2020 Ashley Chan

FABLES OF ENTANGLEMENT

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-09834-900-4

To my parents

Contents

The Price for Popularity

My Kiss

The Betrayal

Her

Trapped

The Song of the Nightingales

Dripping in Diamonds

The Price for Popularity

August. The month I dread as the golden summer ends and my horrific and cutthroat nightmare begins. I would say my nightmare is similar to being swarmed by thousands of blood hungry sharks. Except, in my nightmare, these sharks wear suffocating mini skirts, have a cloud of perfume looming over them, and are only hungry for more likes and followers. And I, Amelie Carter, is at the bottom of this hellish high school food chain.

With every last ounce of energy I had left, I dreadfully yanked myself out of my bed and arrived at my high school twenty minutes before class started. Once I walked in, it was like a tornado of things happening all around me. The new freshmen were aimlessly walking around in the newly shined hallways to try and find their homeroom class, some sophomores and juniors were already complaining about their AP classes, and a group of seniors were already gossiping about what events went down during summer break. And this group of seniors were none other than your typical high school popular clique that ditch school and post narcissistic Instagram pictures. But I can’t tell them that to their makeup-packed faces since the one in the hot pink shirt is my cousin. I do have to admit I looked like a trainwreck compared to her as I passed by in an enormous and faded gray hoodie that was twice my width, my chocolate brown hair in a messy bun, baggy light wash jeans, and shoes that used to be a shade of white a very long time ago. I decided to save myself from this chaotic hallway and went into my first period class where I sat down next to my only friend, Autumn.

Hey Autumn! How was your break? I asked with a bright smile. Autumn? Hello? Autumn!

She put down her textbook and exclaimed, Oh, sorry Amelie! I mean I guess it was fun. I got to attend that summer program at Harvard and volunteer at the health clinic that you have been wanting to attend. And if you don’t mind, I want to finish this book on Chinese medicine before Mr. Jones starts lecturing us on the classroom norms. laughed Autumn.

Oh, alright. I replied as Autumn shoved her freckled nose back into her book and tucked a strand of her silky ginger hair behind her left ear. I realized that there was still two more minutes before this boresome history class was going to begin so I just looked out the window leading into the hallway. Right as the school bell let out its shriek to inform us that summer had officially ended, I saw Stella laughing and joking around with her giant group of friends as most of them entered the classroom next to mine. At that moment, realization ran me over like a truck and I suddenly wanted to be someone else.

Throughout that entire day, I could not take my mind off of Stella and how she was smiling so brightly around her friends. I completely snapped out of my thoughts as the last bell of the day let out its final cry. Thank goodness. Calc BC and AP physics really sucked the energy out of me. World history was fine though. But then I slumped back down into my seat as I realized I had to mentally prepare myself for another three hours of exhaustion and complete boredom. I left school and started my usual walk towards the convenience store a couple blocks away and headed inside the quiet building as the bell chimed.

I heard my boss cheerfully say, Welcome! Let me know if you need anything! She looked up above the cash register to see me enter and her fake customer service smile almost immediately dropped down into a snarl.

Oh. It’s just you. she growled as she sat back down behind the food stained counter.

Good afternoon. I spoke. My boss rolled her eyes underneath her giant spider-like lashes and just ignored my remark.

You need to clean out all the expired food today. Make sure to lock up by 8:00. she simply stated as she grabbed her fake designer purse and started to head out.

Wait! When can I get my paycheck? I need to start seeing how much money I have for college in case I don’t get into the undergraduate scholarship program for health science.

You need more money? Don’t you think I give you enough? You have a room in my house and you get fed. my boss spat at me.

I understand, Auntie. Sorry. I mumbled softly.

Stella and I will be going to a steakhouse tonight so pick up something on your way home or whatever. she replied as she quickly left. My dirty gray school bag dropped from my shoulders as I flopped down on the stool and watched the time slowly tick by.

Hours slowly passed by with only a couple of customers here and there but it was now 7:32 PM and I was drooling over the people across the street at that newly opened burger joint. Snap out of it. You can’t waste your money on an overpriced burger. I looked around the empty convenience store and decided to lock up early. I did my assigned task of clearing out all the expired snacks and bento boxes but I kept a box and bag of chips for me to eat. While I was munching on my stale potato chips, I still found myself thinking about how cheerful and content Stella looked when she was with her large clique. What if I was pretty? Would I have friends? Moments passed and the answer finally clicked in my mind and I started to head, not towards the house, but towards one of Stella’s boutiques whose clothing is all over her Instagram. After about half an hour of shopping, I started to check out my cart filled to the brim of new, flashy, trendy clothing and makeup with aesthetically beautiful labels. $144.29. Card or cash miss? the cashier kindly asked. Cash I guess. I replied as I pulled out my wallet and reluctantly gave her the money. Well great. That’s at least seven new books I could have gotten and a couple of burgers. When I returned home, I snuck through the backdoor and sneakily slipped into my room across the hall from my cousin’s and hid the two brown paper bags of new products under my creaking bed frame. I went to use the restroom when I passed by Stella who was heading for her bedroom since she seemed like she just got back from her nice steak dinner.

Hey Stella. I stated. She swiftly passed by me as if I was a ghost. Oh well. Guess me shopping is the only abnormal thing of today. I shuffled my way back to my room and laid back down in my safe and comforting bed. I drifted off to sleep despite this very transformative and hectic day and that is when I realized that when I walked into those doors tomorrow, I would be a brand new version of myself. And it would be a better version of me...right?

Even though I had walked into those school doors at least hundreds of times, it felt as if this was the first. The buzz in the hallway seemed to die down as the constant clicking of my 3 inch heels hit the scuffed cream-colored floor. My old shaggy look was no longer as I wore a sky blue dress, had a sleeker top knot bun, wore a decent amount of makeup and had large, shiny silver hoops. Even my dusty bag made a full 180 transformation as it was replaced by a new pastel purple sack. Whispers and the clicking of phones rang throughout the echoing hallway and I felt as if some of their eyes were burning into the back of my head. Relax. You look fine. Just be Stella. I took a deep breath in and walked towards my homeroom class with my chest puffed out and head held up high. Before I entered, my gaze attached onto Stella who was staring at me square in the eyes as she leaned against the door frame of her first period class. She glared at me up and down, as if I just became her greatest competitor.

My stomach grumbled so loud that a couple people near me heard and stifled their laughs and snickers. I went into the cafeteria where I sat down next to Autumn with an expired meal. She had missed homeroom because she had a speech and debate competition at 6:00 AM, so I had to deal with all the gasps from classmates by myself. But, I didn’t mind it for some peculiar reason.

Amelie? What? Hold on. Autumn took off her blue horn-rimmed glasses and rubbed her eyes. What in the world? Did you get brainwashed by that monster in the bedroom next to yours?

I chuckled, No, Autumn. I was not brainwashed by Stella and I am perfectly fine.

Are you sure? Ever since sixth grade you told me that you hated wearing dresses because they were restricting and the literal definition of impracticality.

Aut- I could not finish my sentence as a group of girls wearing flashy and tight clothing interrupted us. What the? Nobody ever comes to our table.

Hey! I’m Skylar. She grinned.

Hi? I said utterly confused.

"You know you