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ღ Finding Cinderella- 43 ღ

-Tristan-

I woke up with my temples pounding hard, still a bit out of whack after the few shots of beer I'd had back in some guy's party last night. I'd only stayed in th ere for a few hours actually, just to sidetrack myself from the shitty reality e ven for once in a while.

Although my thoughts were somewhat blurred by a few pictures of dark lights, peo ple I'd partied with, the loud sounds, still they couldn't hide even the smalles t details of what had happened after I'd gotten home.

Even though I had already seen the signs way before-man, it was hard to believe that everything I'd been hoping for had crashed down like this. That talk with h er over the phone last night-ah, fuck. If only I could rewind it, change it, or even erase it. I wish all of these things would just go back to how they had bee n before.

It made me unbelievably terrified that she didn't feel the same way. She didn't, did she? I'd been trying to figure it out, but... she hadn't spoken up.

Maybe she really didn't. Maybe she'd been just forcing herself all along. Maybe it had been just all in my head.

I'd told her I'd let her go, because I thought she needed to figure out herself first, to see what she wanted to see, and all that stuff. At this moment, though , I was still confused and fucked up; my brain was practically everywhere. My li fe suddenly turned like a huge black fucking hole.

What else I could do? I'd already done it.

But did I do the right thing?

***

"T, don't view yourself as a huge loser, okay?" Julianne told me.

The two of us, together with Lacey and Clark, were sitting on the front steps of the school building. Kylie wasn't around with them, of course. I knew she didn' t want to face me as much as I wanted to as well, so I'd taken the opportunity t o talk with her friends even just for a short while.

"Sometimes, there are things that you can't do anything about it no matter how h ard you wanted to strive for it," she continued and sighed. "Gosh, you two are s eriously turning me into a therapist once again."

"Because that's always been your role, Julianne," I said and let out a quiet chu ckle despite of what I was feeling.

"Next time, I better charge the both of you for my talent fee. Five dollars per session seems just reasonable."

"Huh, that is," I replied, picking up a pebble from the ground, "if there's a ne xt time," then threw it at a distance.

Lacey faced me with her face getting all worried. "You mean, you're giving up al ready?" she said in a gasp.

"I-"

"If she doesn't feel the same way, forget her, man," Clark spoke, shaking his he ad.

"Clark!" Lacey cried, "You can't say something like that." She turned to me agai n. "Don't give up, Tristan, because... because she does care about you, too! She 's so freakin' close! All you have to do is-is to man up and take her!"

She got a point.

"You know, Lace, there are some things that are beyond your reach no matter how close they seem," Clark expressed casually. "It's just the same as what Julianne said."

He also got a point.

"But-"

"Besides, your sister must've accepted and be happy with it by now." He shrugged . "So, T has to learn to give up at some point of his life, because he just has to."

"What? Happy? Clark-"

"Yeah, because that's what they say. You'll want that person you love to be happ y even if it's not with you. It makes a sense, right?"

Lacey stood up in front of us. "No! If you really love that person, you won't al low them to be happy with anyone but you," she exclaimed.

My mouth fell open. The two of them were staring intensely at each other, ready to exchange another set of arguments on a topic that didn't really have an exact answer. They seemed to forget that Julianne and I were still here at their back s. What had blown me the most was that, though-Lacey was starting to stand firml y on her ground.

I glanced at the redhead, raising my eyebrow.

"Oh, my God, Tristan, don't even try to ask me. Please," she said, raising her h ands in surrender. "This thing has already gone way beyond my capacity."

"Hey, you two," I called, and when Clark and Lacey looked at me, I pointed my tw o fingers at them. "Don't blame me if you ever break up just because of this, ok ay?"

Clark laughed, while Lacey bit her bottom lip. Her face was flushed; I couldn't tell if she was trying to stop herself from crying or laughing.

"Nah, it won't happen." Clark lifted a hand and pulled Lacey back to his side.

"I'm sorry," Lacey muttered, pulling up an apologetic smile to us. "I think I sh ould just stop talking now. I'm not supposed to make any more to judgments."

 

I gave a small smile back. "It's cool, Lace," I said.

"Nothing is final, T. It will be okay, no matter what."

I was about to speak when I spotted her passing in front of us. She turned her h ead in my direction, and even though our eyes locked with each other for only ju st a second, I felt my mind spinning out of control.

Lacey perked up and waved her hand in the air. "Kylie!" She ran and pulled her t owards us. "Kylie, come here."

I widened my eyes. Was Lacey trying to-?

"Come on, you guys need to make up already," she implored and tugged Kylie's arm .

Kylie tried to pull away herself, avoiding my eyes. "Lacey, please, I have to ge t going," she said in a rather small voice.

"Just for a second, just try to talk with him-"

"Lacey."

Taking a deep breath, I stood up from the steps. "I gotta go," I muttered and we nt inside the building before anyone of them could speak up.

Kylie had made her decision. Maybe for her, there was no going back. I just had to suck it up all right. Maybe it was for the best.

-Kylie-

 

I'd thought he'd be the last person on Earth who would make me feel this way, bu t I was wrong.

Ever since I let myself feel and cry over him, it had been hard to be around him . Yeah, I had managed it before, but it was different now. That moment when you were trying to ignore someone but that person kept on appearing anywhere really sucked.

There were some occasions that both of us would have an accidental eye contact i n the hallways and during English classes, and every time it happened, we'd both turn away and continue with our lives.

Sometimes, I couldn't help to look at him.

Only to see he wasn't looking back.

And I hated myself for doing that, since it wasn't my place to do so anymore. I had to remind myself that every time.

Tristan seemed to be doing better on his own. He was hanging out with his friend s and with everybody else, doing the usual stuff, and whatsoever, just like what he had always been doing before. So I just pretended I didn't care-although it affected me inside.

I hated doing this. I really did. But I had to learn to deal with this kind of f eeling and forget about it.

***

"You know, it's really sad," Lacey began to speak up distantly, spinning the spo on in her soup.

Julianne looked up from her pocketbook and glanced at her. "I've been hearing th at opening line from you for the nth time of the week already, Lacey," she said and took a bite from her mash potato.

"Just voicing out my thoughts," she said, shooting a meaningful glance at me.

I slowed my munching and observed Lacey, knitting my eyebrows. "What?"

"Well, it's kinda sad that some people don't know what they got 'til it's gone. It's the same thing like people have to lose something or someone for them to re alize they mean a lot to them so much," she said.

That was so deep. But her words had hit me in the bull's eye, honestly.

And for a second, I found myself glancing at Tristan on a distance again. I shoo k my head, looking back at my lunch.

"Right?" Lacey pressed.

I heaved a sigh. "Hmm, but it doesn't matter anymore," I mumbled warily. "I'm do ne. It's just a bunch of hooplahs."

"What does that even mean?"

"I dunno. Just something I made up."

Lacey rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, whatever, Kylie. You still are not really good at lying with your feelings, okay?"

"Huh, that's just her," said Julianne, smirking.

And I went, "I'm on the verge of forgetting, okay? I was ignoring it already." L ike the "um, hey T, excuse me, but I'm trying to get over here. Could you stop m aking me fall for you? That'd be great. Thanks"-type of forgetting/ignoring. "Ignorance is a passive-aggressive treatment that is absolutely childish," she p ointed out. "And if you're still going to do it, as your best friend, I swear I' m going to slap you in hopes of waking your senses up."

"I think I finally need that now."

Julianne put down her pocket book and sighed. "Come here, you dummy." She leaned across the table and pulled me into a tight hug. "You know what, no matter how pigheaded and silly you can be, I will always love you, Kylie."

Grinning, I tapped her back softly. "Okay, okay. Ditto," I said gladly. "Release me now, girl. I can't... I can't breathe!"

"Ditto, too! Yay, group hug!" Lacey threw her arms around me as well.

"Aw, my neck! Hey, easy you guys!"

Although they had already squeezed me between them, so tight I was already gaspi ng for air, loud laughter still bubbled up my throat. I was glad I'd been stuck with these girls all throughout my high school life. They were pretty much the o nly persons who could help me get from the crappiest mood to feeling pretty okay .

***

A few hours later, as I was heading to my final class, I came across with Erik, and he tried to catch up with me.

"Hey," he said.

"Oh, hi," I mumbled. Ever since that call, I suddenly felt uncomfortable hanging around with Erik, for no apparent reason.

"So how are you and Tristan now?" he asked out of the blue.

I lowered my head down. Out of all the questions, why had he asked that?

"We're uh... we're just," I muttered and sighed. "We're just cool," I finally sa id with a small, impassive smile.

 

"Cool, huh," he said. I snapped my head to him and noticed that the corners of h is lips were pulled up into a seemingly furtive smile. He looked down at me. "It 's all right, Kylie. Don't be so worked up about it, yeah?"

What?

It was a strange answer coming from him. I thought he would be at least sympathe tic about it, but the nonchalant tone of his voice had told me that he wasn't.

What is he thinking right now?

As if reading my look, he playfully brushed my head. "He's just finally learning his lessons," he said, grinning.

I blinked several times, surprised. What was that supposed to mean? Whatever the reason was that, though, it somehow gave me sudden chills, as if my guts were t elling me something wrong had been going on around. No, not just between Tristan and me, but... something that was much more.

I stopped in front of him.

"Erik, I..." I began to say. I wanted to ask him about everything, but my words were stuck in my throat, and all I came up was, "I have to go now." With that, I walked ahead of him.

I had to pull my shit together and figure everything out.

-Tristan-

I spent a couple of days trying to suck everything up no matter how bad they'd b een. Hitting a few night parties and road trips with the guys, working out, stud ying my ass off, and all that other stuff.

But after doing all those things, at the end of the day, I knew I could and woul d never.

"Are you thinking about giving up on her?" Grey asked.

"I've been trying, man," I told him and shook my head. "And because of that, I c ouldn't sleep. My mind was telling me it was a downright stupid thing to do."

Ryo looked up from his waffles, which he had been building into a tower, and fro wned at us. "Gee, why are you guys talking like this?" he asked, unaware about t his thing like always. We ignored him.

Grey reclined on the seat. "Well, the thing between you, Kylie, and that Erik du de is kinda complicated. I think you're already done with your part now." He tap ped me on the back. "At least you've tried your best. Cheer up, man."

I laughed silently. "Yeah."

So this is how everything ends, huh.

"Grey-" I heard Monique say, but Justin cut her off.

"It sucks to be you, T," he said, cracking up.

I was about to knock his head with my knuckles when he blocked it. "Oh, get lost , Case," I snapped.

Monique drew away from Will's arms and leaned across the table. "Grey!"

"What?" the guy asked.

 

"Can you repeat what you just said to Tristan?"

Grey lifted his eyebrows. "Uh... Tristan tried his best and he should cheer up?"

"No, before that. You mentioned the name Erik. You're referring to Erik Taylor, aren't you?" she asked. When Grey nodded, she mumbled "strange" and faced me. "W hat do you mean that there's a thing going on between the three of you?"

"It was a long story, Nic," I said evasively.

"Why are you asking them about that?" Will asked his girlfriend.

"Well, it's just kinda weird because..." Monique shrugged. "Why would Erik be in cluded among them when he is dating Fiona in the first place?"

At that moment, my mind blocked all the sounds around, and in its place were Mon ique's words that kept on echoing all over. I stared through the distance, and e verything that had happened days and weeks before flashed through my eyes.

"What did you just say?" I acidly.

"Um, I said that Erik and Fiona were dating," Monique explained slowly, "And I t hink it's been like almost a month... oh!" Her hand flew to her lips like she ju st realized something. Then she giggled. "Gee, I shouldn't be saying that to any one, but I just did! Oh, well..."

"Holy shit..." Grey mumbled.

Will's jaw dropped. "Y-you're not joking?"

"Why would I joke about that? It's real talk!" She nodded, smiling eagerly. "I'm friends with Fiona, so I know. I was even the one who gave Cla-wait, why are yo u guys staring at me like that? Am I saying something wrong?"

All of my blood boiled to its peak. I banged my fist on the table and everyone a round looked at me in a snap; I didn't care about it as anger began to cloud my vision. My guess was right-that damn bastard had been feeding lies to Kylie afte r all this time!

I stormed away before anyone could stop me, and searched for every damn corner o f the school building to find him. I hadn't had any luck at the start-he was now here to be found-until I rounded a corner and came across with someone.

"You." I grinded out the words through my clenched teeth. "You're friends with E rik Taylor, right?"

The ginger dude took a few steps backward. "Y-yeah," he stuttered.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know..."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I said, 'where is he?'" I pressed again. "You bette r tell me, Parker!"

"He... he left me for almost an hour ago," he stumbled, sweating in bullets. "Bu t I-I think he's in the greenhouse right now. He always goes there. Jeez, Hartfo rd. Seriously, calm the fuck down. You're starting to scare me."

I stalked out, leaving him baffled. As soon as I reached the greenhouse, I saw t wo figures inside. They were so close with each other, and I could've sworn they were making out. Fury racing through my body, I burst into the place and grabbe d Fiona's shoulder, yanking her away from Erik.

My fists convulsed, and before the bastard could open his mouth, I socked him sq uarely on the cheek. He staggered back, hitting the potted plants.

At the same time, Fiona cried, "Oh, my God, Tristan! Stop! This is not what you think-"

I spun to her, pointing my finger sharply on her terrified face. "This isn't abo ut you, Fiona, so get outta here now!" I yelled, and she scrambled her feet away from the place.

I faced Erik back. He wiped his jaw as he stood up straightly.

"Shit, what's with all this, Tristan?" he uttered impassively. "I was having a g reat session with that chick, okay?"

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him. "Don't play innocent, you fucktard," I hisse d. "You're lying and cheating with Kylie all this time!"

"Cheating? With her?" He snorted brazenly. "I never even like the girl in the fi rst place."

With that, all of my memories back in the ninth grade surged at me once again. H is words were as the same as what I had overheard from him at that time: "I don' t like her. She's not even my type at all. She's way too weird and unattractive. "

That had been it. That had been the one of the main reasons for my suspicions a bout him. Now he was bringing it back.

My mouth curled in disgust as I shoved him away. "And then what-you just played with her feelings? Showed her lies? Treated her as an option when you get bored? " I spat the words. "I knew from the start you're a huge shameless asshole, Tayl or. You'll get so fucking sorry you took her away from me!"

"Who gave you the right to say that to me, huh?" His voice was tinged with menac e. "I'm just getting the payback for what you did three years ago. Vengeance is sweet, indeed."

"What?"

He laughed scornfully.

"Now look who's playing innocent right now," he said and narrowed his eyes. "You fucking stole Cyrene from me, Tristan, don't you remember? We were happy with e ach other until you came and ruined everything!" he shouted. "She broke up with me because of you. Then guess what? You played and dumped her eventually. She's the very first of your collections. She cried over a goddamn jerk like you!"

"Bullshit! Who do you think you're even kidding?" I snapped. "I never played wit h her. And the main reason why Cyrene left you because you treated her like crap !"

He gritted his teeth. "No! You think I'm falling for that? I loved her; tried to get over her. But I've never forgotten what you did," he continued, mouth conto rting grotesquely. "So I came back here to steal Kylie from you, to give what yo u deserved."

I lunged at him. "You son of a-"

My fist was about to hit him when he blocked it with his hand like a speed of li ght. Before I knew it, a blow jerked me back. Pain shot all over my face as my b ack collided with the clay pots, which sent loud crashing sound on the floor. My body shook frenziedly; I could taste blood in my mouth.

"Now... do you know how it fucking feels like, huh?" Erik panted bitterly, walki ng towards me. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it?"

"Damn you!" I bolted to him, lifting my fist.

He blocked my attack. Then in a flash, I kicked his gut and sent him flying from one side of the area to the other. Before he could recover, I grasped his colla r shirt and pinned him on the floor. He hissed; the veins in his neck were protr uding out in ridges.

"You know what you are, huh? Erik? Aside from being an asshole, you're also a si ck coward!" I squeezed my grip. Harsh gasps were escaping out of my pained mouth . "Instead of facing me right away, you dragged a faultless person into your fuc ked up plan!"

He fought back to escape, but I kept on restraining him with all of my strength. Thumping noises were getting louder from the outside. The door screeched open, and three guys rushed around us. Strong hands caught my shoulder and dragged me away from Erik.

"Jesus, Tristan! Get a hang of yourself!" Grey screamed as I struggled with him.

Will raced between us, spreading out his arms agitatedly.

"This won't be the only thing you'll get from me if you won't stay away from her ," I jeered, looking venomously at Erik. "Kylie's mine, got that?"

Parker helped him to pull up. Erik shoved him away, wiping his mouth with his ar m. His bruised lips stretched into that deceitful smirk once again.

"Ah, finally, your friends are here." He stuck out his chin defiantly. "Where's that other guy, though? The swimmer, Clark Young?" he asked in a tone like he di dn't give a shit. "I forgot to say thank you to him, since he was the one who se t the trap for me."

I swallowed.

Clark... Clark was also behind this? He was with him? Why-?

Ryo and Justin darted through the door, and their faces immediately turned pale and tight at the sight of the damages.

"Both of you are seriously in a deep shit," Justin muttered, shaking his head.

At the same time, Coach Condor came; behind him was Fiona with her face smeared with tears and mascara.

"Hartford, Taylor! Enough!" Coach's voice thundered throughout the place. The mo nstrous glare on his face was something I'd never seen on him before. "Come with me to the office right now and explain yourselves!"