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ღ Finding Cinderella-21 ღ

-Tristan-

For the past few nights, I could barely sleep because my mind had been consumed by all the random thoughts. It was as if everything was starting to overwhelm me , and the thought of it made me restless because I was honestly not sure I would be able to digest the growing truth. I could feel the tension in my mind and in my chest, but I didn't know what I should do about it.

Yeah, anxiety sucks, doesn't it?

Fingers snapped in my dim field of vision, and I blinked several times.

"Earth to Tristan, Earth to Tristan," Grey chanted at my side. His voice was kin da inaudible, since I had my headphones in and a rock song was blaring in my ear s.

What surprised me the most, though, was that the others had leaned in towards me and were already scarfing down the rest of my lunch.

"Hey, stealing people's lunches isn't funny!" I shouted at them, shoving their h ands off my plate.

Their laughs echoed around the room, causing the other students' heads to swivel towards us. My friends could be complete assholes, especially during lunchtime, and that fact didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

"Says the guy who always runs off with the tomboy's lunch," Will said from acros s the table. He had his arms wrapped around none other than his current girlfrie nd, Monique, whom he'd finally gotten the nerve to ask out.

I simply shook my head at Will's statement, remembering back in my sophomore day s when Kylie would chase me across the field just to get her lunch back.

"What?" I grumbled as I felt a nudge from Justin.

"Hey man, what's with all that sulking? Anyway, wanna come with us this weekend to-"

I interrupted him by saying, "Sure, whatever," so that he wouldn't bother me any more.

As I increased my phone's volume, everything around me seemed to be drowned by m y thoughts. It was like I was transported to another world, with my phone, my mu sic, and two particular people in my mind only.

And thinking about everything drives me insane!

Every time the girl at the ball crossed my mind, there was chance that Kylie wou ld flash through my thoughts as well, as if their two separate images were combi ning and producing the same result. I didn't know how to explain it. Was my mind tricking me? Whatever the case, I knew I shouldn't make stupid conclusions, sin ce it'd be absurd and farfetched. Kylie hated to doll herself up, let alone atte nd dances, for that matter. She always acted reckless and stubborn, whereas Cind erella acted graceful and smooth.

The two were complete opposites.

But then again, why was I getting the feeling that they were the same person?

I'd never known looking for the truth could piss you off this much.

In spite of that, I figured keeping up the search would be worth a shot.

-Kylie-

"I've been slacking too much!" I cried out, slamming my notebook against my fore head.

Julianne, Lacey, and I were sitting on the bleachers surrounding the field, sinc e that nerdy best friend of mine had dragged us here just to watch her Pete play ing Frisbee with his friends. And when I say friends, I mean none other than Eri k and his pals.

Julianne was waving her hands in Pete's direction, as if she was his number one fan, but just watching her all shaky and giggly made me wince. Her actions were just the same as those girls who always praised Tristan's graces.

Talk about obsessed fan girls.

Something bumped my side, and I turned to see Lacey with a lollipop in her mouth , giving me a meaningful signal to look across the field. Heaving a sigh, I glan ced over at the Frisbee players, who were running like a swarm of bumblebees.

Erik was jogging over to where the blue Frisbee would go, and when he jumped hig h to catch it, the smile on his face widened. Seeing him grin made the corners o f my lips turn upwards uncontrollably. Smiles were so contagious.

Erik spotted me from a distance, and he waved at me, much to my surprise.

"Ooh la la," Lacey sang, "look who's waving. Wow, sis, I didn't know Erik had hi s eyes on you."

Was that supposed to be a compliment or a joke?

However, I didn't remark on it, just rolled my eyes and returned to my work. My purpose had been to find peace in this place and carry on with my schoolwork, no t stare at people, but I could barely concentrate on my lessons with the chants of cheerleaders, the thuds of runners, and the yells of students distracting my thoughts.

Julianne let out another girly yelp, and I couldn't prevent myself from saying, "You know what you look like? A silly lovesick frog that's just waiting for some big old bug to fly in her mouth."

Snapping her mouth shut, she turned her eyes towards me. "Come on, Kylie, I'm ju st trying to show my support for Pete. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

"Whatever," I said with a snicker. "You think you seem okay from a distance? It turns out, you look more like a stalker than anything. Watch out for police dogs ."

"Hey, I'm not stalking him! That's a strong accusation, Ky," she retorted. "I'm just looking at him... all the time."

"Right, whatever you say," I said. As my eyes dropped to my problem sets, I felt a vein popping in my head. Another day of math torture, fantastic.

I raised my notes to Julianne's eye level and asked, "Um, Jules, can you please explain what this is all-"

"Yay! They scored!" Julianne automatically shot up from her seat, as if there wa s a spring attached to her butt, and she waved her hands so wildly.

I smacked my palm to my face. Oh boy, she was a nutcase.

"Julianne! I thought you were going to help me with this?" I cried out in frustr ation, tugging her frilly peach skirt just to make her sit down.

"I'm so sorry, Kylie," she said, her attention fixed on her idol. "I get distrac ted too easily because... you know." She gestured towards Pete again, and I let out a groan.

Something covered my eyes and shocked me for a brief second. I didn't have to wo nder who the culprit was, though, since the sweet aroma from his rough hands gav e it away.

"Guess who?" he whispered at my side.

I mentally rolled my eyes. "Tristan, don't you have any talents or hobbies besid es being a royal pain in the neck?"

"If being awesome counts as a talent, then yes."

"You have some serious issues, did you know that?"

Laughing, he removed his hands from my eyes, and I blinked several times to rega in my sharp vision before spinning around and giving him a glower. He'd come her e all alone, and I wondered why his minions weren't with him.

"So what's up?" he asked, stepping down from the bleachers and moving in front o f me. "What are you girls doing here?"

"Ah, nothing much," I said sarcastically. "Just hunting some wild game, that's a ll."

"Don't tell me you're referring to the guys over there," he deadpanned as he nod ded his head at the people in question.

I took a quick glance at the field and was surprised to see Erik looking in this direction, too. I couldn't tell why the usual smile on his face had disappeared , but when I viewed Tristan, I figured it out.

There seemed to be static electricity between them, making their gazes lock on e ach other. Tristan's jaw went firm as Erik smirked deviously before returning to the game.

What's with these two giving the cold shoulder to each other?

Lacey cleared her throat, making my attention snap back to Tristan's statement.

"What- no!" I answered incredulously and faced my books again. "If you have no o ther business here, will you please just go away? I don't have time to deal with you, I'm busy."

He chuckled; I could sense a tremor in his voice. "Take it easy, Kylie, I was ju st joking. Actually, I have something to talk with you about..."

"I don't want arguments with you right now, T."

"We won't have any arguments if you will just listen to me, Kyles."

I sighed. "Fine. What?"

He signaled for Lacey and Julianne to clear the seats, and that to my shock, he sat down with only a few inches between us.

"Well, you see-"

"Tristan, will you please, um..." I trailed off, gesturing for him to move furth er away. When he didn't budge, I was the one who moved instead.

"Didn't you get what I just said? I said, you must listen to me," he said, scoot ing nearer.

I moved farther away. "Tristan, don't come any closer."

"Why?"

"Just don't come closer! You're probably going to hit me."

He shook his head, lips turning into an amused smile. "I absolutely won't and ne ver will, but look..." He shifted closer again, and my pulse started up a frenzi ed beat. "Okay, just once, try to listen. This may sound a little weird-"

Sliding away, I raised both of my hands between us, saying, "Stay where you are. "

He only slid closer, damn it. "But I've had this question stuck in my head for t he past few days..."

"That means you're finally thinking. Congratulations," I said, inching away. "No w would you back off a little bit? It's nicer to have a conversation if we're on e meter away from each other." I glimpsed at Julianne and Lacey and noticed that their faces had gone blank. When I tried to send them a distress signal, Trista n's nail-biting glare stopped me mid-glance.

He was totally creeping me out.

"I've tried to talk with you about this for a long time, but I... I didn't have the nerve, you see."

"I said back off," I demanded between clenched teeth.

"But I finally decided I shouldn't waste my time like that, so here I am."

I pulled myself away with a gulp. "Dammit, Tristan, I'm warning you. Try to come near me and you're dead. I swear I'm going to punch you so hard my fist will go through you," I told him, cracking my knuckles and trying to look as tough as p ossible.

I guess my warning really sucked, though, since he continued approaching me. The flames in his eyes sparked.

"I need you to take this seriously," he pressed.

"W-why are you so-" I couldn't even carry on my sentence, since my whole body wa s starting to shiver so badly.

Now I regretted coming along with Julianne. This place had smelled like trouble before he'd even gotten here, and I should've gone to the library instead.

"Don't make this into a huge joke, Kylie. Try doing that and you'll be toasted f or life."

"Y-you can't be serious, you jerk."

"I'm completely serious. And don't call me jerk."

Okay, he'd definitely lost it.

"Do you understand me?" he asked slowly, emphasizing each word. Was he even payi ng attention to everything I'd said?

"Screw it, Tristan. Forget I brought this up. I-I'm not interested anymore."

"Answer me in all honesty, Kylie."

"Shut your trap, Tristan, before I can take out your tonsils and sell them in th e black market."

"Kylie-" he warned.

"Gah! Just beat it, okay? Whatever it is, you know you can't get anything from m e, T!" I yelled in frustration, blood boiling at its peak. "Jeez, I'm outta here ."

With a final glare, I stood up from the bench and was about to turn away when a hand grabbed my wrist and yanked me so hard. I gasped out loud. My shoes squeake d on the metal as I twisted around, stumbling swiftly.

A strong grip caught my shoulders before I could fall flat on the bench. My head shot up, cheeks growing slightly warmer. Tristan was staring at me so sharply; I thought his eyes would pierce through my skull. He pulled me closer, our foreh eads almost hitting each other.

"Game over, now, Kylie. Tell me," he said in an unusually low voice.

I gulped.

"Where were you on the night of the Valentine Ball?"