A little while after, we were both seated back at the kitchen island, each of us silently thinking. Derris' hug surprised me but then again, it wasn't the only surprising thing that had happened today.
"So do you want to tell me what you meant by what you said?"
I looked up from my clasped hands and locked eyes with him. "I don't know. Should I?"
"You don't have to if you don't want to. No pressure. I haven't exactly given you any reason to trust me but after what you said, I just realized that I don't know you all too well and I do want that very much," he confessed, placing his hand on mine.
"I want to know you too but it doesn't seem like that's what you want. It's like you don't trust me," I mumbled with my head bowed.
"I do. At least I want to. It's just not that easy for me," he exhaled, letting his head fall back.
"Do you trust me? I want a sincere, direct answer from you. Do you trust me?"
A brief silence fo
Would you forgive your parents if you you were in Derris' shoes?
"What about you?" Derris piped up out of the blue."What about me?" I asked back."Well what happened to you? What's your story?""Well it's not all that complicated. My family was perfect. Then my siblings died in a car crash, my mom ran away afterwards and my dad took to the bottle. We used to be close but not anymore. There, you have it," I concluded, sounding a lot more chirpy about it than I actually was. Derris saw through it though. "You don't have to fake being okay around me, you know? I actually showed you my vulnerable side. You don't have to be afraid to do the same.""You're probably right but compared to you, what I went through seems a lot more trivial," I confessed what I was feeling."But it's not, is it? It's not you had it easy though. You mentioned you lost your siblings. That must not have been easy for you.""It wasn't." I shook my head."Tell me about them," he asked. I looked up at him since I wasn't expecting
"Nellie, is a party seriously the best idea? You just got better!" I pointed out to Nellie who was excitedly going through her closet."Um, excuse you. This is the biggest party of the year. There's no way I'm missing it!" she yelled, pausing to stare at me like I was speaking garbage."Is that really the reason you want to go or is because Caleb is organizing it? Don't think I don't see through your excuses." I gave her an all knowing smile which she rolled her eyes at."Why are you so insistent on forcing something between Caleb and I? I told you that I don't see him like that. Plus he's a playboy. Totally not my type," she argued."Sounds to me like you're in denial," I sang to her cheerily. "Besides isn't that a trope from those YA books you always tell me to read? You're basically meant for each other.""You're delusional," Nellie sighed."And you're in...denial!" I sang again."Whatever. Now which do you think goes better with t
The silence that proceeded Max's question was deafening. I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes so he wouldn't see the guilt I knew was visible on my face.My silence had pretty much answered the question already but I couldn't bring myself to tell him the actual truth. I already felt bad enough about what I'd done and confessing would only seal the end of I and Max's relationship.Still silent, I slowly slid down until I was seated on the floor. I didn't expect Max to sit beside me but eventually found him doing just that.My eyes were filled with unshed tears as I glanced at Max who had his brown eyes fixed on me."I'm sorry, Max. You have to believe that I never really meant to hurt you," I explained. "I don't expect your forgiveness but I truly am sorry.""It's okay," Max remarked."Really? But what I did to you —""Is a thing of the past," he cut in."But why? You deserved better after everything you've done for me
One moment I was standing by the door, the next I was pinned to the wall and being kissed by Derris. A very very smoldering kiss that lit a fire in my belly.This wasn't right though. I knew it wasn't. I might not be with Max but Derris had literally made out or probably even had sex with someone in this same closet. Thinking that he'd just been kissing someone made it hard for me to fully get into the kiss.I struggled against Derris and tried to push him off me but he wasn't having any of it. The more I resisted, the harder he kissed me until I eventually gave up resisting.As he sucked on my bottom lip, his hand went round my waist and lifted me up so that my legs wrapped around his waist. His hands moved down to my butt which he felt and squeezed, groaning as he did.This action though painful brought with it, pleasure and in my ecstasy, I slowly began grinding my core against his pelvis. He moaned while deepening the kiss and pulling me even closer t
Nellie and I ended up spending the night at Caleb's place and rushing back to Nellie's home immediately she woke up so we could get changed into our school uniform before heading to school.At school, finals were steadily approaching and you could see it in the air. Classes were more of revisions and the libraries became fuller.Of course not everyone was preparing ahead for the exams. They were those who were guaranteed not to fail and others who didn't care because their final score didn't really affect but I wasn't one of them.This was after all the final exams which marked the end of my high school years so I couldn't exactly fail. I still had no idea what was to come after high school.I still hadn't picked a colour neither was I even sure if I wanted to go to college. For the most part, I had no idea what I wanted to do exactly, in terms of a profession. This was the reason why I hadn't applied to any colleges yet. There was also the issue of the f
"Welcome back, Master Derris. I trust school went well?" Roger inquired as he took my bag from me after I stepped into the house."I guess, " I muttered a response as I began trudging up the stairs to my room."You have a visitor," Roger informed me, causing me to pause and glance back at him."Who is it?" I asked, trying to think of who Roger would allow into the house without checking in with me first."Perhaps you'd like to see for yourself. She's waiting for you in the living room."I walked down the stairs and into the living room expecting to see Allison only to find Aria comfortably seated on a couch.Almost immediately, my eyes narrowed and I stomped over to her, grabbing her wrists and angrily demanding, "What the fuck are you doing here?""I came to see you!" she answered, trembling with her eyes widened."Well, I am not interested in seeing you. So get the fuck out!" I roared before letting go of he
[Aria's POV] I was mad. Like vividly furious, so much so that it was a struggle to keep my attention on the road. My anger stemmed from frustration, embarrassment, and pure hatred for Allison. Even now, I still couldn't see what exactly Derris saw in her. She wasn't even half as pretty as me neither was she as endowed as I was with physical features. They probably hadn't even slept together yet so it couldn't be sex. What then? What exactly attracted him to her? Why hadn't he dumped her yet? Could it be that he was in love with her? The mere thought of Derris together with the ugly bitch sent shivers down my spine and made my blood boil. This would not stand. Not at all. I wasn't about to lose Derris to some naïve little bitch. Something had to be done. Thankfully, I had a backup plan: Max. I'd helped him enough with Allison and it was time he returned the favor. On pulling up outside the gate to Max's family home,
[Allison's POV] "Five, six, seven, eight!" Miss Audrey called as the music started and I began the routine again. We'd been practicing the routine for a while and I was quite tired already but I wasn't going to say that. The competition was now about a week away so I couldn't afford to be lazy. However, when I reached a particular move in the routine, one that I'd been finding hard, I slipped up again and tripped. "Allison, are you okay?" Miss Audrey asked, running to my side. "Yeah, I'm okay," I grumbled as I sat up. "Why can't I get this move though? I keep tripping and tripping and — I don't know if I can do this. What if I trip in front of the judges?" "You won't," she responded. "But what if I do?" I reiterated. "Allison, you won't. Okay, how about this? Let's call it a wrap today and pick things up tomorrow. But before you go, I'll offer you a tip. When you're dancing, try not to think about the compet
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" I inquired, looking at his stitched-up wound with concern. "I'm sure. You heard the medic. It wasn't really serious. The bullet just grazed me. I'll be fine," he assured me but it did nothing to abate my worry. "But still... You could have been seriously injured. Why did you have to rush in like that?" "It was all worth it to make sure you didn't leave here in a body bag. I'd do anything to protect you," he stated, staring seriously at me. "How about you try not to die while you're at it?" He chuckled. "I'll do my best." I nodded to show that I was satisfied and continued to look at his wound. "Allison?" he called. I looked up from the wound. "Yes?" "About what Aria said—" he started. I raised my hand to stop him. "I don't want to hear it. Be it the truth or not," I told him. "I still want you to know. I've kept it to myself for so long but I didn't know how I w
I had several hours before my flight to England which was taking off early tomorrow morning. Nellie being Nellie, she'd organized a get-together for all of us. A farewell party for me.At the party, she'd decided to embarrass me by unexpectedly showing up with an album containing pictures from my childhood that had somehow ended up at her place.Baby photos, bath photos, birthday photos, embarrassing pictures; it was there and Nellie was taking great delight in my embarrassment."I hate you!" I whispered to her while Max and Derris were laughing over a picture taken of me trying to steal a piece of my birthday cake before the birthday and ending it with it all over."Aww! I love you too, boo," she replied, blowing a kiss at me. I rolled my eyes at her before attempting to snatch the album from them."Hey! What gives?" Max whined. "I think that's enough pictures for one day, don't you think? Besides, aren't you guys supposed to be sad that I'm leavi
Neither Derris nor I spoke about the situation with his mom again. Things were a little tense because of it so ignoring it was probably for the best. The next day, Derris got discharged from the hospital so he could finally go home which was enough cause for celebration. But I was also reminded of the fact that that meant I would be leaving soon. I had told my dad to book another flight, guaranteeing him that nothing was going to stop us from leaving this time. The flight was booked to go in three days. Three days to say goodbye to everything and everyone I'd ever known and loved. It was a little depressing but I tried my best not to focus on my nearing departure and just live in the moment and at the moment, I was happy that Derris was doing okay and out of the hospital. After he was released to us, we — consisting of Max, Caleb, Jeremy, Nellie, Derris and I — piled into Max's car and drove to Derris' house. The atmosphere was filled with excitement
Derris made a quick recovery afterwards. It was probably because of his phobia for hospitals after his experience when he was younger but either way, I was happy about that. But despite all my pleas, he'd still refused to see his mom and even when she tried to speak to him, he'd either ignore her or coldly tell her to leave because she wasn't wanted. It was clear he'd made us his mind and that was what worried me. I knew that if he continued to hold on to his resentment for his parents, it would only come back to harm him later on. In a way, it already had. I just had to make him see that. A day to his discharge, I was with him in his ward, reading a book to him like he'd asked me to. When I looked up from the book though, he wasn't looking at me like he always did. Instead, he was staring into space thoughtfully. I dropped the book on my lap and tapped him. "Hey. What are you thinking about?" "Everything and nothing, I guess. Why'd you stop?"
Long story short, I missed my flight the next day. It was a little hard to explain why I couldn't leave town just yet to my dad but being the caring person he was, he understood. Since the family who bought our house didn't have plans to move in just yet, we didn't have to move out yet so our accommodation was settled, at least for now. The next few days after Derris' accident though, were anything but. As it turned out, his injuries were a lot severe and he had to be rushed into surgery two times while still being in a coma. Every moment he spent in surgery was a moment I spent wondering if he would come out alive. And when he did, I was torn between being happy that he made it out and devastated that he was still in a coma. But after seeing his car and the accident scene, it really was a wonder he hadn't died on the spot. Supposedly, Derris had crashed into a parked car from behind and then had his car run into by another car. The police rep
Things progressed smoothly for a while. My dad got a few offers for the house and eventually decided on one. With the down payment, we were able to find a little flat abroad which we paid for upfront.The plan was to move to England about a month before I was to resume at Sunnyside which would give us the time to settle in at our new place.To get rid of the stuff we couldn't bring with us, my dad insisted we had a yard sale which turned out to be a little harder than I thought.We kept only the things that were important to us and our family as a whole and put the more trivial things on sale but even then, seeing other kids touch my little sister's old dolls, the twin's colouring sets and other things like that...It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.But after the yard sale ended, it felt as though a load had been lifted off my shoulders and I could finally breathe. We'd kept those items around for so long and now that they were g
After my conversation with my dad, I got back to Mr Raymond as soon as possible and told him that I had accepted his offer. He was ecstatic, to say the least. He told me to inform him whenever I planned to come to England so my accommodation could be made available.I did, however, have a few months before the dance academy came back into session.My dad and I planned to move to England though as soon as the house sold so we were working towards that.The thought of moving filled me with fear and excitement. I would be leaving Nellie and the life I had known for years to an entirely different environment. Then again, after the year I had had, the prospect of moving was pretty exciting.It was a mix of emotions. Nellie had been pretty sad when I told her my plans."You know I'm always going to have your back no matter what. I'm so happy for you— and also sad. I'm going to miss you, Allison," she sniffled. I rolled my eyes at her dramatics.
Later that night, I was in my room, browsing through my computer for information about Sunnyside. Turns out it was a pretty big establishment and a highly respected one at that.I had no idea how I never knew about them but the more stuff I learnt about, the more my desire to attend the school was piqued.There was just one problem. The school was far away in England and would require me to stay there. Was I ready to uproot my life and that of my dad's? Would my dad even agree to it?I sighed as I turned off my laptop and walked over to my bed, sighing heavily as I flopped on the bed.I still hadn't told my dad about the leaked video and now there was this. The offer was literally godsent but what would my dad think of it?At that moment, there was a knock at my door before it was opened and my dad popped his head in. I sat upright and smiled as my dad walked in, bearing a tray."Hey Dad," I mumbled."Hey, sweetheart. Just thoug
The next few days after my return to school were tumultuous, to say the least. After what Derris did to the guy who assaulted me, no one approached me directly again.Instead, their attacks were more discreet. I got messages instead. Notes, private anonymous messages from people telling me all the nasty things that they couldn't say to my face for fear of upsetting Derris.Every day, I walked into school, looking at the faces around me, wondering who sent the last messages.Nellie told me to just ignore it and not read them but sometimes I just couldn't help it and I got hurt.Some were even accompanied by pictures from the clip and lewd messages. The video had been taken down but pictures couldn't exactly be erased.I tried to ignore it and not let all the whispers, murmurs and messages get to me like Nellie advised but it was easier said than done.I felt trapped at school like my every move was being watched and at home too. I knew that s