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ღ Finding Cinderella- 30 ღ

-Kylie-

As soon as I rushed into class, Mr. Cross began to pass around the test question naires, and everyone in the class began to lament.

The big problem was that Mr. Cross had threatened to phone the parents or, even worse, the college admission committees if a student got a failing grade. I coul dn't tell if he'd been serious or had just wanted to keep the senior students in line, but there was no way I would let some despot teacher ruin my chances of g etting into med school.

The questionnaire reached my table, and Mr. Cross gave me a look as he passed by me as if to say, good luck, Harris. Last time I'd managed to get a miraculous C-oh the joy-and if I could get a C+ or, if I was lucky, a B this time...I would probably cry a bucket of tears out of pure happiness.

My eyes scanned the questions and - good grief! What the hell was this? Where on Earth were we supposed to get the answers for these bizarre problems?

Someone started to complain about it, but Mr. Cross casually interjected, "What' s the problem, Mr. Oliver? The test just covers what we've lectured on weeks ago . If you've paid attention in class, you'll know the answer to every question."

"Psh. I can't even remember what I did yesterday," a girl muttered at my side. S he was possibly the only person who was more clueless about this subject than I was, since all she did was texting under her desk during lectures.

Sweat rolled down my forehead. I skimmed the questions again, trying to recall w hat was written in Tristan's notes as thoroughly as I could. Finally, I clicked my pen, started to jot down my answers, and hoped for the best.

-Tristan-

A couple of hours later, Clark, Will, and I found ourselves sitting in the same room again. There was another person sitting beside us - a brunette who was chew ing her nails endlessly, scanning the room as if she were trying to find a mirac le at the last minute.

Mr. Cross never gave us a simple task during detention. He wouldn't assign us an essay to write, or just let us sit and stare in silence for an hour or so; rath er, he would give us a problem set that we had to solve, or else we'd stay in th e room until the school closed.

That was why no one ever wanted to undergo detention with this old teacher.

"As soon as you finish answering, just put your answer sheet on the table and yo u may leave the room," he said and went out of the room when another teacher cal led him.

Clark cursed under his breath as he glanced at the questions. "How the hell do y ou answer this?"

I started to write down my answers without breaking a sweat, since half of the p roblems had been stuff we'd already lectured about and the other half my Dad had taught me in advance. Yeah, he was that awesome.

Several minutes later, someone threw a piece of balled-up paper at me.

"Dude, make your writing bigger. I can't see it," Will hissed.

"Did I say you could copy mine?" I asked without spinning around to face him, st ill rapidly scribbling down answers.

"T, come on. I have to get out of this fast because my girlfriend might get tire d of waiting!"

"Do you have the answer to number four?" I heard Clark ask.

"Google that shit, dude. Jeez, don't even ask me. Look, my paper's like a whiteb oard," Will shot back. "C'mon, T. Share your blessings."

"We're all in this together, Tristan," Clark added.

"Go back to the sewer, you dilholes." I spread out the crumpled paper and wrote a few equations for them as a clue, then threw it at them. They scrambled out of their seats to catch it and eventually settled back down, laughing their asses off.

Moments later, I stood up from my seat, satisfied with my answers.

"You're finished already? We're still on number seven!" Will exclaimed. "Damn. W hat kind of magic trick is that?"

"It's just simple." I smirked, shrugging, and the girl behind them covered her m outh while looking my way, her eyes growing as wide as saucers.

"Yeah, for you," said Clark, struggling over his paper, but I knew that he knew he'd still get a good grade in the end.

Mr. Cross entered the room, and when he saw me out of my seat, he signaled for m e to give him my answer sheet. His eyes scrutinized the paper, and his head nodd ed in approval. Grinning, I quickly grabbed my backpack from my seat.

"What's the rush?" Will asked quietly.

And before I hurried out of the room, I heard Clark's response: "He's got a dat e."

***

As soon as I'd entered the Crest Coffee shop, I saw Lacey waving her hands in th e air at the table in the corner. I approached them, hoping this would go well.

"He's here, Kylie!" Julianne said as if she was excited about something, and Kyl ie glared, looking slightly annoyed.

Lacey and Julianne were already occupying the other seats, and they signaled for me to sit beside Kylie. I couldn't help but pull a wide grin - these girls were such evil geniuses, they knew exactly what to do to help me.

I settled down and placed my elbows on the table, trying to look as cool as poss ible. Kylie inched away, trying not to make contact even with the fabric of my s leeve, and she didn't turn around when I said, "Hey."

"Isn't it sort of strange to see you arrive late to plans like this, T?" Juliann e wriggled her eyebrows like she was trying to reveal something.

"Sorry, I had some business to finish, you see."

"Hmm, forty-five minutes late spells detention already."

That was what caught Kylie's attention, and she looked like she didn't believe i t.

"You went to detention?" Lacey asked like it was her first time hearing such a t hing. The last time I'd had detention had been last year in Spanish class, and t he reason had been the same - I'd come late, but only because Fiona and I had ha d a fight. I hadn't gotten detention since then until now, and that must have be en the reason why they were so shocked.

"Where did you get the news?" I asked Julianne.

"From Walter."

"You talk to him?"

"Duh. Can't I?"

"I mean, I thought you two disliked each other."

"Where'd you get that idea? Okay, even though we call each other names sometimes , we're still on good terms with each other. At least that's what I think. I gue ss that's how we roll." She gave me a laid-back shrug. "Hey, before I forget, as k that freakazoid friend of yours if he always on crack. He needs to be shut dow n for a moment at least, 'cause he's been dragging me into his problems. I was u nluckily paired with him in Bio for the rest of the school year! Imagine that."

"Grey has the energy of an engine, you can't stop him that easily," I told her.

"Right. Now you said that, I'm starting to think he legitimately came from a fam ily of chimpanzees."

"Whatever you say, Julianne. So anyway, what do you girls want to have?" I looke d at the three of them.

"Hmm..." Lacey looked at the menu posted on top of the counter.

"I'll have... Oh, wait!" Julianne suddenly cried, looking at her wristwatch. "I totally forgot about the time! I have to fetch my brother from school! Sorry, gu ys, but I really have to get going." She swiftly stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Wha-? You can have your little bro to come over!" Kylie said, sounding slightly alarmed.

"We'd love to, but - uh, you see, as a big sister I should help him with his hom ework right after school," chanted Julianne indifferently.

"What? Since when are you concerned with his-"

"See you tomorrow, guys! Have fun, especially you, Kylie!" Julianne blew her goo dbye kisses, and with that, she rushed out of the shop, not even waiting for Kyl ie's protest.

All of a sudden, Lacey also stood up from her seat, saying, "Oh, I have to leave now, too!"

"And where do you think you're going?" Kylie's face was already pale. I didn't k now what to do; I just stared at the girls, wondering what had gotten into them.

"Home."

"We can go home together, Lacey."

"But I already hear chores calling my name." She nodded with certainty, but Kyli e didn't seem to agree. "So yeah... Byeee!" She fluttered her fingers, giggling as she went out, leaving Kylie and I in awkward silence.

I let out a soft whistle. "Well, seems like they're in a rush today."

Kylie didn't answer.

"So, uh..." I cleared my throat.

Damn, why did I feel so nervous? I'd been on so many dates before, but this one was the most nerve-wracking. Okay, I guess I couldn't call this a date, since th is was already coming so close to disaster - Kylie didn't seem to be enjoying an ything right now, probably because her sister and her best friend had just ditch ed her. Still, I couldn't keep my cool. Perhaps it was different when it came to a special person.

"Yo, man! Great to see you again here." A tall, dark-haired dude with a white ap ron around his waist appeared next to our table.

"Hey, Drew. How's everything going?" I asked him.

"Pretty cool. Got a truckload of stuff to wrap up in college, but I'm glad I'm a ble to get away from them a little while and work here. You know I love hanging out in this place." His brown eyes scrutinized Kylie. "So you brought your girlf riend again, huh? I'd seen you two outside and-"

"Drew," I cut him off, trying not to sound rude.

"Huh?" Kylie turned to him in confusion.

"No, it's not what you think," I said. "She's - she's not my girlfriend." Not ye t, I wanted to say, but Kylie would definitely storm her way out of this place i f I said so.

She nodded to agree with me.

Drew chuckled. "Are you guys kidding me? Come on. Cut the denial you two. There' s no need to be shy to admit it."

"Uh, no!" Kylie frantically shook her head; her face was all pink. "We're not a couple. We're just friends. That's all!"

I nodded miserably, not knowing what words to say.

I didn't know if she was just saying that to make Drew believe us or if she real ly meant it for a lifetime. But either way, it still sucked, and it seemed like I was heading to the zone that no guy ever wanted to be stuck in.

"Hmm, well, this is quite interesting," Drew said. He leaned down closer to my e ar and whispered, "From the way she said that, I think perhaps you two are afrai d to ruin your friendship by telling each other that you want to be more than th is."

 

"Uh, can you...can you repeat that again?" I said, even though his words were cl ear. I just wanted him to put it another way.

"That girl is pretty much special to you, isn't she? I can see it in your eyes, T." He kept flashing glances at her, but fortunately, Kylie seemed unaware.

"Listen, here's an advice: snap it shut, dude," I whispered, though I knew that he could be right.

At times, I was scared to imagine what would happen if I ever tried to tell her how I felt about her. I was scared because she might think that I was taking adv antage of her and our friendship. I was struggling between the two opposing deci sions because the outcome was so unpredictable.

Man, this was getting harder than I'd thought.

"Here's my advice: grow a pair of balls man," Drew said amusedly, shaking his he ad as he straightened his back.

"We're just friends," said Kylie again with finality, and I slammed my palm agai nst my face in frustration.

"All right, girlie, I think I cannot argue anymore," he said with laughter. "So what do you want to have today?"

I raised my eyebrow at her but couldn't bear keeping eye-to-eye contact with her for more than two seconds. My eyes dropped and saw the small chain around her n eck, which never failed to piss me off.

Kylie's shoulders heaved as she breathed with relief, apparently glad that the t opic was finally over. She pulled a small smile and said, "Just a vanilla puddin g."

"Is that all?" I asked. It was kinda surprising to hear her order a small quanti ty of food. For the most part, she liked getting things that would be enough for one-year consumption, but maybe what had happened earlier had changed her appet ite.

She nodded. "I'll eat it on my way home, anyway."

"Well, what about you, Tristan?" Drew asked, and I shook my head. I didn't feel like having anything now.

As he was about to leave, I told him, "Drew. Here's another advice: take your ad vice first and go talk to that girl."

He smirked as he headed to the counter.

"Girl? Who?" Kylie asked.

I nodded at the far away table near the windows. "Do you see that redhead girl o ver there? The one who's looking at the window? That's the girl he's crushing on ." I ran my fingers through my hair, struggling to look calm. Talking to her alo ne at this table was more difficult than talking elsewhere.

"Really? Wow, she's pretty. Is she a regular customer here?"

"Guess so. I always spot her there whenever I go here."

"What's her name?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Drew wants to know her name as well, but the dude doe sn't have the guts to talk to her."

Kylie's face softened, as if she was saddened at the thought. "So...he's just lo oking at her from afar?"

"Yeah... all the time."

Come to think of it. It seemed like I was having the same status with Drew. We w ere just here, looking at the girls we adored, waiting for the right time to tel l what we felt for them.

"I bet the girl likes him, too," Kylie remarked, still looking at the girl.

"How can you tell?"

She shrugged. "I just feel it."

She could feel and notice somebody else's feelings, but not mine? That irony.

We fell into a momentary silence. I found myself tongue-tied again. I had so man y things I wanted to express, but I didn't know where to start.

Drew marched, with a tray on his hands, towards the redhead girl, and settled tw o milkshakes on her table. We always wondered for whom the other milkshake was, because after all this time, no one had ever come up to join her. Drew was looki ng flustered as she said, "thank you," and after that, he just sauntered back to the counter.

"What a shy guy," Kylie said with a small laughter. "He can't even look straight to her."

"Yeah, I'm also like that," I blurted out without thinking.

She frowned. "Wait... do you mean..."

Holy shit. That had been like a dead giveaway. Did she get what I was trying to say? Was she finally having the clue?

"No way. You mean, you also like that girl?" she asked after a moment, her eyes wide.

I nearly hit my face with my palm. Of course, she was that naïve.

"No, Kylie. I mean-ah. Never mind," I muttered. I must've given her the wrong im pression.

Drew came and handed the pudding to Kylie with his usual wide smile. After I gav e him the cash, I signaled him to get the girl already, in spite of the irony. H e grimaced, but I knew he was considering it.

We went out of the shop and headed to my car. As I drove, I kept glancing at her taking small bites of pudding and looking giddy like a kid. An idea popped into my mind, and I quickly revolved the wheel to the left.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she looked through the window.

"Relax. I'm not going to do something bad to you. We're just going to a place we used to hang out."

"What place are you talking about?"

I just smiled weakly. She really had forgotten about it.

A moment later, we found ourselves parking at the side of a riverbank. The clear water looked calm and low; and it glowed as the afternoon sun hit it. From afar was a bridge where a few small vehicles were passing through.

Kylie narrowed her eyes as she scanned the place.

"This place rings a bell..." she mumbled.

I picked a pebble from the grass and tossed it over the water. The pebble skippe d three times before it stopped. That was something I'd been trying to master wh en I'd been young.

"Oh yeah? I told you we used to hang out here. Catching frogs and insects, tossi ng stones, running around..."

"...those were our weekend routines, and we used to pack food and later eat them here," she supplied.

I stared at her, and she laughed. I loved the sound of it.

"You... remember," I uttered in surprise as I watched her stretching her arms up and inhaling in the cool air.

She shrugged, sat on the grass, and continued to eat her pudding. "I won't remem ber if you didn't tell me first."

Smiling, I sat two feet away from her and gazed at the water. Memories ran aroun d my mind. I just wanted her to remember that we used to be friends and that we had shared those moments that I'd thought had been trivial before. I didn't want her to forget.

"And when you said that," she mumbled, "I remember them now like it was yesterda y." There was wistfulness in her tone and in her eyes as she gazed to the red an d orange sky.

Seeing her like that gave me a craving to come closer to her, brush her hair tha t was touching her lips, or even hold her hand. But I was above that. I didn't w ant to blow up this moment because of these selfish urges inside me.

"Ah, I almost forgot," she said to break the growing silence. "Thanks for the no tes, by the way. They really helped me a lot. I'll return them to you later."

"You can have it a little longer if you want," I said.

She shook her head. "No, it's cool. I already copied some of the lessons I misse d."

"So how was the test? Did you pass?"

She licked her lips, and I closed my eyes for a brief moment, trying to control myself. Doesn't she know that can drive me insane? Sighing, I then opened my eye s and tried to act casual.

"I can't tell exactly, but I answered all of the questions." She chuckled softly . "Isn't it surprising to think that I managed to do that?"

"Not for me." A smile crossed my face. It felt so good to be able to carry on a casual conversation with her now. "I always knew you could do it, Kylie."

Her eyes dropped. "Uh, but I don't know if half of my answers are even right, so don't get too excited."

"Just believe in yourself. You're Kylie Almighty - I know you never back down."

"Jeez, what's with that nickname? Did you get that from under your bed or someth ing?"

"But don't you think it sounded poetic? All hail Kylie Almighty," I said, mimick ing a booming announcer's voice.

Our eyes locked with each other, and we both exploded into laughter.

"You're the worst mimic I ever heard," she said, rolling her eyes. "Listen, T, e ven though it's hard for me to believe in myself, and even though I wish it was as easy as you say it, I just wanna say... thanks. I admit; it's good to hear th at from you, although you are the greatest cheesehead I know. "

"Cool, uh, no problem," I responded sheepishly. Oh, hell yeah, plus points for m e. I should say that kind of thing more often.

Her smile broadened, which lit up her whole face - so tantalizing. My mouth drop ped slowly, and I was unable to avert my gaze as I stared into her bright eyes, since all the desires in me were boiling up.

"Is there something on my face?" She quickly wiped her mouth with her hand.

"Kylie, can you do me a simple favor?"

 

"Hmm?"

"Can you..." I exhaled. "Can you not show that kind of smile to any other guys?" The moment I blurted it out, I realized how selfish I sounded.

"Why?" she asked and frowned. "You think it looks creepy, right?"

No, her smiles had never been creepy. I was simply afraid the other guys might b e attracted to her once they saw that rare, beautiful smile of hers. I definitel y wouldn't hesitate to punch their noses in if they did. Even when I thought of someone else being with her... it bothered me a lot.

"No, I..." I couldn't say all of it. "Okay, I know I don't make any sense now, b ut..." I looked straight to her eyes, to her soul, and whispered, "Please?"

I wonder why is it that everyone else around knows that you love someone, but th at someone doesn't know she is the one.

When will she realize that?

-Kylie-

Why is he saying such a thing?

The way he looked at me sent awful shivers down my toes. A frog croaked faintly, and I snapped back to reality.

Tristan blinked a couple of times. I didn't know if I was simply imagining stuff , but I saw scarlet color leaked all over his face. He turned away, and muttered , "Sorry if I'm requesting you such weird thing."

"Um." I gulped and let out an anxious, cringe-worthy cackle. "You know, what you said didn't really make sense, but whatever you say," I murmured and gobbled up the rest of my pudding, trying to hide my embarrassment.

The feeling of mortification I'd had back in Crest wasn't fading away, and it ha d gotten even worse now that Tristan and I were alone in this place.

It's been so long since it was just the two of us... I don't know what I'm suppo sed to do when this happens.

I groaned silently.

It had been Lacey and Julianne's fault! How could they? We'd been having so much fun picking our favorite coffees, and the next thing I knew, they'd disappeared like bubbles. I could imagine them laughing manically at their success in ditch ing me, but they'd surely see madness once they saw me coming.

"Good." His face was blank, like he wasn't even bothered by the strange stuff he was saying. "Because the last thing I want is competition from others."

"What competition?"

"Never mind."

I grunted. "You're really weird, T, you know that?"

He just shook his head amusedly in response.

"Kylie?"

"Yeah?" I began to twirl a grass around my finger.

"Don't get mad about this, okay?"

My head bobbed.

"Are you and Erik dating?"

I choked on my spit and coughed a couple times before saying, "Why'd you ask?"

"Well, it's because I always see you two hanging out together... and yeah. I'm j ust wondering." He said it as though he were either completely uncomfortable or trying to sound irritated. I wasn't sure, though; maybe it was just me.

"No, we're just hanging out as friends," I quickly answered. Even if Erik had sa id that he liked me, I hadn't responded to it, and thankfully, he was cool with it. No pressure, no problem. We still got together as if everything were complet ely normal like before.

"Friends?"

"Uh-huh."

"You serious?"

"Jeez, T, do I need to repeat it a million times before you get it?"

"He was the one who gave you that necklace, right?" Tristan added, and my hand a utomatically flew to my chest, touching the pendant. It wasn't like it was his i dentification necklace or something. It was just a gift, and that's what I'd tol d him.

He nodded, the frown on his face gradually fading away. My inquisitiveness was s tarting to kill me, so I said, "Wait, wait. What's with all these questions, Tri stan? You sounded like an FBI agent or something."

"Doesn't a fellow have the right to ask when he doesn't understand something?" H e smirked. "That's what they taught me in class."

"Oh, please," I muttered. "But seriously, what's it got to do with you?"

 

His eyes fell, like he was thinking about what he should say. "Look, Kylie," he began, finally looking up. Then a series of words tumbled rapidly from his mouth , coming so fast that I couldn't understand any of them.

"Sorry, come again?"

He sighed. "I know we're not together or anything, but no one else is allowed to date you, okay?" he stated slowly, as if every word were very significant to hi m.

My stomach did wild cartwheels again, and I tried to shrug it off by laughing, e ven though I most likely sounded like I had the hiccups.

"You know, I never thought you'd say weird, random stuff like that, Tristan. I t hought I was only the one." But seeing his grim face, I stopped laughing and sai d in an even voice, "Okay, I so don't get you right now. But if you're, uh - if you're that serious, shouldn't you be saying that kind of thing to the girl you. .. you know, to the one who got you, like what you said this morning?"

And eventually, he said the words that could possibly be the death of me:

"But I just did, Kylie."

Even though I knew it sounded weird and just plain crazy, the moment he spoke th ose five little words, an electric charge materialized in my skin, slammed my he art into my ribcage, and made my whole body tingle.

"Uh... I, um..." I swallowed and looked away. "I want to go home now."

"Kylie-"

I immediately stood up, and tapped my pants. "Look, i-it's getting dark already, and I'm... starting to get itches and cold," I stammered, trying to pull up a c asual grin and hugging myself.

He nodded without looking at me. "Okay. Let's go home," he said in a small voice .

I couldn't stop myself from fidgeting in my seat as we went along the way. I too k a sneak glance at him and thought of those memories back in that summer. Somet imes, being friends with him scared me. History repeats itself, right? What if h e'd leave me behind, just like what he had done before?

But the way he looked back at me now told me otherwise.

I wished it was easy to believe.

Finally, after a seemingly long while of driving in silence, I bolted to my hous e without looking back and without saying a word to him.

Lacey was having a gabfest with someone on the phone, and I stopped in front of her.

"Lacey-"

"Kylie? Come here and have some snacks," Mom called from the kitchen.

"It's okay, Mom. I'm full now. Thanks anyway." I faced my sister again. She cove red the phone as she turned to me with an expectant grin on her lips. I lifted a finger, trying to catch my breath. "Lacey, you better explain what happened bac k there, okay?"

"Uh-oh." She went back to the phone and whispered, "Julianne, she's here, and I think we should call nine-one-one because she's freaking out pretty bad."

"And tell that to her, too!"

Since I didn't feel like talking any longer, I went straight to my bedroom, toss ed my bag onto the chair, pulled the blinds as closed as possible, and finally s urrendered myself to the bed. English, economics, and math assignments could wai t. I had a bigger issue than those.

"...if you're that serious, shouldn't you be saying that kind of thing to the gi rl you... you know, to the one who got you..."

"But I just did, Kylie."

The memory kept playing over and over again.

I pressed my palm on my chest. My heart felt like it was going to explode inside and kill me.

Why... why am I feeling like this?