ஃ✿ Chapter 13 ✿ஃ

ஃ✿ Chapter 13 ✿ஃ

Is it really OK…?! He began to feel like you… so much that I almost called him by your name the other day. I was happy with the attention I’m getting from him, but I couldn’t help but notice that there’s something missing… I thought it was you at first… but then, it came clear that it wasn’t you that’s missing… it’s Dominique…

Ever since Dominique revealed his true self to me… I don’t see him anymore… I asked Cedrick if he’d seen him, but he just nods and says that he sees him sometimes. It didn’t feel so good knowing that Dominique’s not around to annoy me anymore… not even the other annoying dude could fill the void. I spotted Angel that afternoon when I was walking home, he was serenely sitting on a branch of a tree. It was one of the many few times I’ve seen him so calm and mysterious… he looked peaceful… I guess…

“Stop staring, you’re gonna fall for me” he said, completely shocking me. He let out that evil giggle… that sounded similar to Dominique’s evil giggle. He opened his eyes to look at me, I blushed by looking at his smile.

“I’m sorry to bother you” I gulped. “I hope I didn’t get you mad or anything”

He bursted out laughing. “Why? You’re afraid of me…?”

“I’m not afraid of you…” I muttered. “I just don’t like to be around you when you’re angry…”

“I’m not angry now” he smiled. “Care to join me on the swings?”

He was acting weirdly nice. Come to think about it… he’s been acting weird all along. He’s not as rude to me as before, he doesn’t get angry as much too. His attitude reminded me of Cedrick, how I first knew him as a masculine serious guy… but turned out to be sweet and tender. Maybe I don’t know people as much as I think I do… I couldn’t reject Angel’s offer to join him on the swings, I was afraid he’d get angry with me as usual.

“So, Leela…” he cleared his throat and slid his fingers smoothly through his hair. “I see you talking with that Cedrick guy a lot lately…”

I gulped nervously, knowing that they don’t like each other… why is he asking me about him?

“So what’s your relationship with him?” he asked.

I took awhile to answer him. “It’s complicated… I like him, he doesn’t know… or maybe he knows but don’t know what to do with me…” I giggled. “Why are you asking…?”

“I don’t know… I thought I might face trouble bullying a girl who’s dating Cedrick…” he sighed. “You know once, he wasn’t all cool and tough…”

He started to get me all curious, “Now that we’re talking about Cedrick… how did you two end up being enemies?”

He sighed again so heavily. “Enemies is such a strong word… makes it hard to believe that once we were brothers…” I looked at him in shock. “Why’re you looking at me like that? I didn’t mean ‘brothers’ like actual brothers… I meant like best friends ‘brothers’… does that makes sense?” he tittered.

I continued to look at him in shock. First ‘Dominique’s condition’ and now this?! This is just too much… I saw sorrow in Angel’s eyes though.

“What happened to you two?” I asked, hoping to hear a story or something… but he didn’t give it to me.

“Let’s just say he found somebody else to play with” he sighed and smiled at me. “He had more toys that I did…”

Somebody else…? Could it be Dominique…?!

“It’s not Dominique, is it?” I curiously asked, he raised his eyebrow at me.

“You know that imbecile?!” he inquired me in a shocked tune, I was afraid to answer… yet I was surprised my guess was correct.

“Red hair, blue eyes, carries headphones on his shoulder, about 5 and a half feet tall…? Yeah I know him…” I remarked. “I’m surprised you know him as well…”

“That gay princess” he said abusively, referring to Dominique. I was in disturbance to hear him say that about Dominique… but I was also surprised.

“You know about his condition…?!” I gulped.

“Heh… it’s not a condition…” he let out a small laugh. “We all knew about his little gayish affair with Cedrick back in elementary and junior high”

I reminisced Dominique’s sentences… where he said he was being laughed at for loving Cedrick… and that he never used to care. I thought about Dominique’s feelings for a bit… but my phone started ringing, thus interrupting my thoughts. I saw Cedrick’s name light up, so I rushed to leave.

“It’s Cedrick, isn’t it?” Angel guessed.

I looked at Angel’s face. “Yeah…”

He smiled. “Ditch him for the day and stay with me…”

I was surprised! That was really an unexpected offer… but I don’t know why, I hanged up the phone and returned to my position on the swing… next to Angel…

What’s happening to me…?!

ஃ✿ Chapter 12 ✿ஃ

ஃ✿ Chapter 12 ✿ஃ

I didn’t wanna go to school today. I didn’t sleep at all last night and I’m sad about it. I skipped breakfast and I’m sad about it. I guess I was sad at everything that morning. I was even more sad to have heard Dominique’s story. I didn’t know how to face him today… stupid me, I shouldn’t be concerned about how I’d face him… I should be concerned on how he’d face me after letting out the truth… will he be too ashamed to come to my school from now on…? I hope not…

How about I cheer him up? That sounded like a nice idea! Will he be Ok if I brought him one of my homemade sandwiches…? I wondered what kind of sandwiches does he like… Tuna…? Bologna…? Maybe I’d make him some tomato cheese sandwich in case he’s a vegetarian. I unconsciously noticed that I was actually filled with joy and excitement making some sandwiches for Dominique! I couldn’t wait to give him some, so I excitedly rushed to school.

I was even thrilled when I reached the school’s gate. I stood there waiting for Dominique to arrive, hoping he’d show up… appear from nowhere, like he always did… but soon my excitement turned into misery as I watch dozens of people walking in and none of them were Dominique. I was devastated… though I didn’t wanna give up… any time soon at least. Few seconds later, I felt a hand rested gently on my shoulder, I was surprised and excited all over again!

“Dominique!” I excitingly called as I turned around, but I was shocked to find out that it wasn’t Dominique’s hand I felt on my shoulder… its Angel’s.

“Do I look like a ‘Dominique’ to you?!” he pissed off, poking my forehead. “And who the hell is Dominique?”

“Oh I’m sorry… I thought you were somebody else” I gulped embarrassedly.

He interrupted me calmly. “I didn’t receive any sandwich yesterday… but I’ll spare your life this time”

He seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood today. I wished he’d be in this mood every day… though at that moment, he looked like he was impatiently waiting for me to do something… perhaps he was waiting for me to hand over a sandwich…

“Oh breakfast! Wait a sec…” I said as I searched through my lunch box. I saw the two sandwiches I made specially for Dominique, arranged perfectly on the side… I didn’t feel like handing them over to Angel, that’ll be a total waste of my effort. I gave him my caesar salad instead, which was supposed to be my lunch. “I hope you like salads…”

He gave me a deep long stare as soon as I handed him my lunch… it was like, the world was on pause for some reason. I felt uncomfortable looking at his eyes, which were looking straight at me… his gorgeous eyes should never be used to terrorize innocent cute girls, meaning myself. They should be used in sunglasses commercials or something.

“Leela, is it?” he said suddenly after the pause, scaring the hell out of me.

“Huh? Is it what…?” I confusingly and frighteningly asked.

“Your name,I made sure I memorize it correctly… Leela?” he said, strangely not showing any emotions on that unfairly angelic face of his, though his eyebrows always showed a dash of anger going on. He was staring at my eyes again… probably thinking of a way to comment on them like last time when he called me a frog.

“Yeah, that’s my name” I giggled and nodded, trying to look away from his eyes. It felt like I was almost hypnotized by those golden pair of jewels.

“Hey” I heard somebody calling from a distance. I so wished it was Dominique… but I can’t say I’m disappointed to see Cedrick coming my way. “Is he bothering you? Angel, Why can’t you find a less lamer job?”

I gulped. “Um… well…” I was rudely interrupted when I was trying to come up with an ending to my sentence.

“None of your business, Cinderella” Angel declared. “What are you, trying to be a hero or something?!”

“What did you say, punk?” Cedrick shoved me aside to invade Angel’s personal space.

I hate it when boys do that, putting chest to chest to see who’s tougher. “Break it up please, we wouldn’t wanna go see the principle again…” I tried to squeeze in between them to put them apart.

“I have no problem seeing my dad…” said Angel proudly.

“Daddy’s boy…” whispered Cedrick, making sure Angel would hear and piss off.

“Hey” I calmed Angel down, “Don’t be the troublemakers, it’s not as cool as you think”

“What do you know about cool?” he yelled at me, I was afraid he’d pull me up like he did in the cafeteria, but he just took deep breaths and lowered his fist. He sighed angrily, “I can't stand your face, I'm getting out of here…”

We stood in silence as Angel left the scene, looking all pissed off. Cedrick was looking at me, I was ashamed to look back… he hasn’t talked to me in awhile, ever since Dominique told him to stay away from me… I wasn’t all sure, but from the edge of my eye I could see Cedrick’s sweet warm smile… I’d never got used to the idea that he still smiles sometimes… the sweetest smile in the world…

“Leela” he called me, waking me up and giving me a fright. I gulped as my face turned red, but he laughed for some reason. “I thought he was gonna hit you, I was getting ready to jump in the middle” he continued to laugh out loud.

I blushed even more, never thought I’d be shy from Cedrick’s company. “You’re talking to me… that’s nice…” I giggled.

“Oh yeah… sorry about that” he sighed. “It was nothing… just had some trouble with Dominique, he’s acting all weird”

I knew Cedrick never knew about Dominique’s condition… I began wondering what will his reaction be if he knew…? Will he end his relationship with poor Dominique… or will he accept him just the way he is and be with him for the rest of his life…? Soon enough, I began to feel awkwardly stupid… what was I saying?! Dominique is a guy! The idea of them being together is insane… it’s abnormal and unusual. Besides, Dominique made it clear for me yesterday that he just happens to have feelings, he’s not fully acting like a girl… just his heart, it’s acting like a girl… but seriously, he can’t have Cedrick… right?

“Why’re you so spaced out today?” Cedrick asked me, waking me up twice today. I felt silly watching him looking at me so utterly confused. “Is there something wrong…?”

“No no…” I tried backing away the trouble. “It’s just… I’m glad you’re talking to me again…”

He smiled. I smile. I sillily walked forward to walk by Cedrick’s side, but thinking about angelic smile made me feel so clumsy, I found my self feeling so uncoordinated. I even missed my steps and unluckily fell into Cedrick’s back. My nose almost cracked as my face was completely hugging his back, my arms felt unbalanced so I grabbed Cedrick by his tummy.

“Sorry” I yelled in shame, “I had bad footing…”

He’s gonna push me away like always, that’s what I thought… but instead, he laughed at me. “Be careful, clumsy” he didn’t even bother to turn around to help me up, he just knew I was gonna help myself up grabbing ahold of his informally worn uniform… I think he’s turning sweet, not the Cedrick I used to know… maybe he was the Cedrick I always dreamed of… other than you, he began to feel like the man of my dreams… only smaller and blonder…

I don’t think I’ll be missing you anymore, Jadrien…