[THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED]
ღ Finding Cinderella-27 ღ
-Kylie-
"Hey, gotta go now. See you later, Ky," Erik said, getting up from his seat and slinging his bag over his shoulder.
Julianne and I both waved goodbye to him before he jogged away, in a hurry like always. I'd been wondering about it for some reason, but hadn't questioned him a bout it because it would look like I was interfering in his matters. Instead, I went back to my schoolwork in an attempt to finish it as soon as possible while my motivation was still up. I never liked to do my homework in the house, anyway , because I'd still be doing it at school. Yup, I was such a good student.
Moments later, I heard Julianne sigh, scooting closer to me. "You know, Kylie, i f you asked me, I'd bet on Tristan," she said, unwrapping a piece of gum and plu nking it in her mouth.
What she'd just said had been really random.
"What? I didn't ask anything," I said as I wrote stuff in my notebook. "Here we go with the Tristan thing again. Just drop it, Jules - I have to concentrate rig ht now."
"Girls!" someone called from behind us, and without even looking, we could alrea dy tell who it was.
"Lacey, where have you been?" Julianne said, chewing.
"Oh, just somewhere..." Lacey puffed as she sat on the opposite side, facing me. She leaned closer as if she was examining my face while I wrote. "Hey, why's he r face in sour mode? Sis was just having a good laugh a while ago, and now she l ooked upset...?"
"It's just my face," I said.
"Don't worry about it, she's fine," Julianne answered. "I simply mentioned T's n ame, and she was instantly in a bad mood again. Like flipping an on-and-off swit ch."
I dropped my pen to say my fantastic comeback, "It's because-because-I'm... I me an, he's, like, sending off these really bad vibes, okay? And then the whole uni verse blows up, and it's like a serious bummer."
"Jeez, why do you overreact every time we talk about him?" Julianne asked, raisi ng her eyebrows. Her lips curved in a somewhat teasing smile.
"Me? O-overreacting about Tristan?" I stammered. I didn't even know how to reaso n it out or explain myself. "Huh, well excuse me, but I'm just being cool," I sa id instead to make me look calm and to make my stress levels lower; deep inside, though, I was having spaz attacks again.
"Girl, please," they chorused, exchanging meaningful glances that only they unde rstood
"'Cool', huh? I think it's already different." Julianne tickled my sides again, which made me half snarl and half laugh.
Eventually, I propped myself up while slapping her hands just to get away from h er.
"Stop! I don't know what you guys are talking about, but really, just stop it," I demanded, clenching my teeth.
"Really? Being cool, sis?" Lacey spoke like she was provoking me. She cocked her head to the side as if she were looking at something behind me before giving me a grin. "Then if that's it... he's right over there," she said, pointing in my direction. "I dare you to go and talk to him. I think he wants to tell you somet hing."
"W-what? Since when did this become a dare?" I stammered, not daring to look beh ind me, even though I assumed she might be bluffing.
"Hey, you just said you were cool with him, so we're testing to see if you were telling the truth or not," Julianne ventured. "I thought you never backed out fr om dares."
"You guys are seriously teaming up against me." Just as I was about to pull a se rious face, I heard a distant melody.
"Uh-oh, Tristan's coming closer!" Lacey squealed, her cheeks lighting up in a sh ade of pink. "Look, turn around already!"
I crossed my arms and tried to make myself look angry. But no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't help but feel nervous-the tune sounded dark, but somehow heartening at the same time, and it seemed to be getting closer and closer.
"Oh, my goodness... No. Way." Julianne gasped as she stared behind me as well. " Lacey, I honestly thought you were just joking... Gosh, Kylie, you really have t o see this." Beaming, she held my gaze, nodding her head to encourage me to look .
I still stood in my spot and tried to block out the sound by thinking of random things.
His steps came even closer and halted. That was when I finally get a clearer pic ture of the sound. It was like being submerged in a flowing river; all the harmo ny was flowing past him, the notes of the chords forming different levels as he strummed them at the same time. My heart accelerated faster. It made me feel suc h emotion that I could barely handle listening to its incredibly smooth sound.
"Will you listen to my story?
It'll just be a minute
How can I explain?"
I turned around; eyes growing wide, mouth hanging open. It was like a sudden ele ctricity had struck me when I'd heard him sing.
"T-Tristan, why... why are you-?" Then I was lost for words.
He'd started to sing quietly at first, but the song grew louder, as if his confi dence was growing, too.
"How can I explain?
Whatever happened here never meant to hurt you
How can I cause you so much pain?"
His voice was raspy and deep, though he sang with unfaltering conviction. Trista n was not the kind of person who had a voice for performing on stage, nor was he the type to sing a song like this. I'd actually seen him pick up a guitar befor e, but most of the time it would only be in his room, and he'd never dared to si ng.
This was the last thing I'd expected him to do.
"When I say I'm sorry
Will you believe me?
Listen to my story
Say you won't leave me..."
I couldn't believe I was saying this, but Tristan was the very first guy, and so far the only guy, who'd gathered enough nerve to sing to me. My stomach did lit tle flips.
"When I say I'm sorry
Can you forgive me?
When I say I will always be there
Will you believe... will you believe in me?"
A song for an apology. This was his way of saying, "I know I screwed up, and I'm sorry." If everything were still the same as before, I would've immediately lau ghed in his face for doing such an embarrassing thing. But right now, I didn't e ven have the energy to move away, much less speak up.
After the last strum, Tristan stopped and waited for my reaction. I only stood t here, mouth glued shut. His eyes begged me to say something - forgive him, forge t about everything, make a fresh start. Then Julianne's words flashed through my thoughts:
"The most important thing you can give to someone is a chance, you know..."
"I'm sorry," he began to say. "I know that word's being tossed around so much, p eople don't care about it anymore. I don't even know if you'll ever accept it or not, but I'll still say it no matter what." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry a bout all the things. I'm sorry for dragging you into trouble back in the English class yesterday, I'm sorry for upsetting you, I'm sorry for making you mad, I'm sorry for bothering you right now. And... I really mean it."
At that point, I realized that everyone could say sorry, but the genuine apology lay in the sadness in his voice, the look in his eyes. I also knew that he'd up set himself just as much.
"You know that an apology is never something that I'm quick to let out. And the fact that I'm openly admitting I was wrong... well, I guess that's gotta count f or something. Hopefully." Tristan tried to smile but didn't really manage it, th ough for some surprising reason, it made me blush.
Lifting his guitar, he turned his back on me and walked away.
He really meant what he said, Kylie. He may be a total jerk most of the time, bu t he actually is a sweet guy. Stop being such a mean person. Don't screw his eff ort. Just forgive him. Give him a chance. That may be the only way you'd finally forget everything that's happened.
I ripped my gaze off him walking away, turning to Julianne and Lacey, who were a lready giving saddened looks at me.
"Aren't you going to say something to him?" Lacey said softly, as if she was goi ng to cry. She was always sensitive about stuff like this.
I wanted to tell her to stop stressing herself out, since she had nothing to do with this. However, I didn't say a word. With a heavy feeling welling up in my c hest, I went back to the table and quickly gathered my books. I wanted to go hom e and curl up in bed already.
"Don't be angry about this, but I have to say this as your best friend, Kylie," Julianne said in her usual blunt fashion. "Sometimes, I just really want to slap you in the face. Hard."
My English book fell off the edge of the table. I was about to pick it up, but m y fingers froze when I noticed a paper stuck between the pages. The memory flash ed back - before I'd left class yesterday, I'd decided at the last minute to get the note from my desk and read it later.
Straightening myself, I slowly unfolded the paper.
Don't worry, Kylie. I won't annoy or tease you, this time or ever again. I absol utely won't bother you...so please, don't be mad anymore.