Crushed

8

Diana:

I just sit on my bed looking like I'm the last survivor of a war. I still can't digest the fact that Edward is my partner. The person who I have been avoiding for so many years was now the person who I'll spend most of the time with.

"Who's your partner honey?" Dad asks as he got back home early
"Uh... Rephlin's son." I answer plainly
"Oh....Edson Rephlin!" Dad said
"What? No dad......It's Edward!" I chuckle
"Oh.." dad laughs too "I haven't really seen that kid with you since years!" He spills the truth
"Yeah." I agree.
"Anyways...I'll cook food...you've got school tomorrow."
"Why? When's mom coming?" I question
"She has an hour of extra work. So I guess she'll reach home by 10:30 or 11:00" he informs me
"Right...." I nod "so...I'll be in my room. Let me know if you need help." I say as I leave my father in the kitchen

My mom come home by the predicted time and she asks me the same questions that dad asked when he asked me about my partner. Except, she was pleased that I got Edward because she's actually in good terms with Edward's mom.

I say 'good night' to my parents and just walk out of the dining. My parents have figured that there's definitely something wrong with me but they don't know the reason. I was just too disturbed and irritated that I could actually answer them. So I thought that the best way to avoid misunderstanding and trying to act like everything is cool would be keeping to myself and staying in my room listening to One Direction.

I was listening to Night Changes but the song is interupted by the notification tone. I remove the earphones from my ears before I could see what stopped me listening to Zayn Malik's, I mean the king's voice. When I see through the lock screen I just see a notification of Whatsapp which says '2 messages from 2 chats'.
My eyes have been betrayed when I see a message by none other than my partner Edward.

Hey Diana Fernaux, Edward Rephlin here.

I don't reply to him but I let him know that I've seen his message by leaving him in the 'seen zone'

I'm really sorry for the unnecessary confusion caused today. I really appreciate the fact that you have decided to help me in my studies. I will be a better person than you have known all these years. I swear I will make you laugh everyday. I'm sorry again. See you tomo.
Have a good night.

I wasn't a bad person at all. But I just couldn't reply to Edward. I realised that I have his number. I knew I had his email address but I was surprised that he hasn't changed his number ever since I had to take his number for a group project in 7th Grade.

When I reflect back and think on the way I had behaved towards Edward, I feel like a sinner. I have never refused to help a person. Then why had I refused to help Edward? I felt terrible for behaving towards him that way.

As my undeserving rudeness felt like a preoccupied thought right now, I started thinking about Edward. He was so calm but I was an utter chaos. All he did was listen to my crap. He must have realised that I didn't want to teach him. It was obvious because we haven't had a proper conversation in years. But today we had a conversation. Our conversation was nothing but a huge drama. The drama was put to end when Edward said he would speak to a faculty member and get himself switched with another person. The moment when he picked up his bag and was almost ready to leave was the moment I let go of my 'sudden coldness'. I called him Ed after many years. I used to call him Ed when I was younger. But over the years when our friendship failed to exsist he was just Edward Rephlin to me.

Today, he apologised to me even though it wasn't his fault. You know who would apologise even if it wasn't their fault? It was Ed! The Ed who I now call Edward. I questioned myself if he has ever changed at all or is it my imagination because even though it wasn't his fault, he apologised and that was something Ed would do.