Chapter Twenty Four: The Great Mistake
The first two periods of that day in school were hectic considering the fact that we had to digest many complicated formulae in Chemistry later followed by a dissection of cockroach in Biology. So you see, it was bad after all.
I was on my way to the Locker Room when I saw Laura coming out of a classroom.
“Hey, wassup?” I greeted her.
“Have just submitted my advertisement…mixed feelings.” she said, her voice a mixture of nervousness & excitement.
“You rock lady! I just want to see Amber’s face now!”
“You know what I was thinking, we should find time to sit & bitch about Ashley, Susan & their clones.”
My mouth opened in a big O out of shock hearing that. I mean its so weird to hear something like that from someone like Laura.
“What? Don’t look at me like that!” she said, “I think it would be too much fun to bitch about them!”
I cracked at that. Laura is turning sassier day by day.
“I’ll meet you in class. Have to keep these in the locker.” I said, looking down at the loose sheets, files & some booklets that I was carrying. All were my Journo project related stuff.
Laura nodded & I once again headed to the Locker Room.
****
“Omigod!! Where is it? Where is it? Where is it???”
I sifted frantically through all the papers but couldn’t find what I was looking for. I was just about to put everything in my locker when I realized one sheet was missing. It must have fallen down somewhere. I was all tensed when—
“Are you planning a search for this?”
I looked up to see Drake holding the paper that I lost.
“My paper! Thank you so much!!” I extended my hand to take it from him but he didn’t give it to me.
I stretched my hand again to get it but he again moved it away from me with a smirk on his face. This continued for a couple of more seconds. I tried to reach out for the sheet & he shoved it away from my reach.
“What are you doing?? Give to me!!” I had to stand on my toes cause he held the paper high up in the air, “Where did you find it?”
“You had forgotten it behind at the Whitehouse after your meeting with the President.” he said teasingly while finally handing the paper to me.
I frowned, snipping the sheet from his hand, “Ha ha very funny! And you have come to ridicule me about my carelessness, right?”
“Why do you always think that I would belittle you?” he mocked complain.
I gave him a look, “Because that’s what you have been doing since Day 1, haven’t you?”
He began leaning his face closer to me. My breaths shivered feeling his warm air on my lips....I leaned backwards, trying to keep at least some distance between us but failed whatsoever. His blue eyes probed into mine...
“You don’t know me yet. I can see that this project means a lot to you cause you’ve been working very hard & I’m in no way gonna ruin it.”
I just gaped at him blankly. He withdrew himself from me, giving a lopsided smile. I saw him walking away but my heart continued to beat louder and louder....Stop it Heart!!
***
The rest of the week kept me very busy what with the Journo project being my top priority & homework and assignments of other subjects. It was very difficult to actually make the Journo project the way I pictured it in my head. So a lot of days & nights, mostly nights went in that creating process. But I wasn’t complaining! Journalism is something that I’m passionate about!
I would lie by telling that Drake’s thoughts didn’t distract me sometimes in midst of doing my project. My mind just randomly wandered to him & I don’t even come to know when or how I start thinking about him. I don’t know why this is happening. Neither can I stop it nor can I encourage it.
It was around 2 am that night, or rather morning, when I was still wide awake working on my project. There was knock on my door.
“Come in.” I said carelessly, wholly focused in typing.
It was only when I saw a mug of coffee being placed on the desk beside me than I looked up to see Mark standing there. I realized it was that time of the day when the whole of USA, except me ofcourse, was supposed to be asleep.
“How come you’re awake?” I quizzed him.
“Its not only you in this whole wide world who is being an owl. I am up with the video game. The Video Game Festival is round the corner. ” he explained, “Even Drake is awake. I had a talk with him a while ago. After all, this video game that we’re developing has to be the best.”
I felt my heart skip a heavy beat with the mention of Drake. What’s the hell is wrong with me???
I immediately grabbed the coffee mug & took a sip of the steaming beverage as if that would aid me in forgetting about a certain blonde haired guy.
“You know I was thinking of becoming a farmer in future & grow coffee plants.”
I raised a brow, startled at his choice of career, “Why?”
“Because you have been surviving on coffee all these nights to keep yourself awake so I might as well start producing it!” he joked.
I pouted, lightly punching him in the arm, “Thanks but no thanks.”
My brother laughed, “Its high time you get some sleep. You can do the remaining stuff later.”
“The same goes for you as well, Mark Wilson.” I quipped.
“Yeah actually.” he smiled stupidly.
I chuckled. He departed soon after. And I followed his advice & switched off my laptop and fell on the bed hoping to catch some sleep.
***
“All is looking fine.” I muttered under my breath as I flipped through the slides of my project in my laptop, checking for one final time if everything was on place.
I was in the empty Computer Lab and the Journo presentation was an hour away. So yes, finally the day had come & I wouldn’t deny the fact that I’m extremely proud of what I made. I had gone to the scrap yard last evening to return all the reference material that I had taken for my project to Robert. Couldn’t have been possible without him and especially...Drake..
“Are you Andrea?”
I heard a voice & looked up from the laptop screen. I saw a girl whom I didn’t know.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Miss Martin wants to see you right away. She’s in the staff room.” the brunette said.
“Uh...okay.” I was startled, wondering why Miss Martin was calling me.
I connected my laptop to the charger after putting it in stand by mode & headed to the staff room. But when I got there, the teacher was nowhere. I didn’t know whether to wait for her there or go searching for her. I waited for sometime but when she didn’t turn up, I went looking for her. After walking around for a while, I finally saw her teaching in one of the classes. Miss Martin looked very much surprised when I told her the reason pf my finding her.
“No Ms Wilson, I did not call for you! There must have been some miscommunication.”
“Oh..okay...” I didn’t know what to say. I clearly heard the girl mention Miss Martin but then again, why would the teacher lie!
I walked back to the Computer Lab, wondering about the whole thing. I realized that my laptop was turned off. Startled, I tried to switch it on but it just wasn’t happening. Panic seeped into my veins as I tried a couple of more times to turn it on & then finally when it did, the laptop screen turned blue showing an error message before it turned off again automatically...
My heart sank, my palm running cold out of fear. Mark had once told me it was a symptom of hard drive crash....My breaths came to a standstill..My project was in my laptop....I hadn’t saved it anywhere else....The project is gone...erased forever..
Realization slapped me hard. My feet felt heavy when I tried to stand. So many days of hard work was wiped off in a couple of minutes....Now I had nothing to show...And then I knew, it was all a trap and I could clearly picture the person who is sure to be behind this...Anger in extremity was the only emotion I could sense as I set out to find that person.
My guess was right. I found him at the football field. He was alone there. He hadn’t seen me approaching him.
“How dare you do that?” my voice cracked since I was overwhelmed with anger.
Drake looked up at me, “Can you be a bit descriptive of what you’re trying to say?”
“Trying to act innocent like always, aren’t you? How can my laptop, which was working without any problem, suddenly have a hard disk crash? You knew the password!! You tampered with my laptop!! You sent the girl to get me out of there so that you could destroy my entire project & ruin everything for me!!” I screamed at him in hate.
There was a dead silence after that. He stared at me blankly for maybe a fraction of a second & then his expressions regained his usual calmness.
“I had told you to change your password but you didn’t heed me & never bothered to save your work elsewhere.” he spoke as though he was least affected.
“Why did you do this when you know how much my project meant to me.” My voice cracked further, tears were building inside me, “Never seen someone like you who could stoop to such disgusting levels. You deserve hate & nothing else from anyone. I abhor you forever.”
I tuned my back & walked out of there. Not able to hold back anymore, tears flooded my eyes making my vision blur...I was so excited about my presentation but its all shattered now....More than that, I felt an annihilating pain stab my heart cause Drake had brought about all this...
My legs trembled in pain & I sat on one of the stairs. Tears were rolling down my cheeks & I made no attempt to stop them...
“Andy!!What happened??”
I heard Daniel’s alarmed voice as he came rushing towards me. I instinctively wiped off my tears with my sleeves. Before I could speak, Sophia & Laura too had come there. They too unsettled seeing me in despair.
“What’s wrong?” asked Soph, “The Journo presentations are about to begin now. What’s the matter with you?”
“I won’t be able to present...” I said in a broken voice, “I lost my project..my hard drive crashed...”
All three of them were shell shocked.
“But I heard data can be recovered from a crashed hard disk!” Soph said, trying to be optimistic.
“Chances are very rare & with the amount of time left, its next to impossible.” I said numbly.
“You don’t have to worry.” said Daniel, “I’m giving you my project. You present it as yours. These grades are very important to you than to me.”
“No Daniel, I can do this. Either I will present what I have worked on or nothing.” I said.
“I know my project is not as good as yours but--”
“Don’t get me wrong, its not that.” I interrupted him, “You have slogged a lot for your project & its really good. I don’t want to spoil your hard work and ruin your grades.”
Daniel was very much concerned. Never seen him so tensed before, “But--”
“You don’t have to worry. Its..Its fine...” I said assuringly but in a low voice.
“There’s definitely gotta be some way to recover the lost data. We won’t know unless we try.” Laura said with determination.
“She is right Andy.” Soph said, “Laura & I will figure out something. Where is your laptop?”
“Computer lab...” I replied.
The next second, my two friends were heading in that direction.
****
The Journo presentations were held in the auditorium. I was feeling very miserable as I took a seat in one of the front rows. Daniel was there with me for support. One by one, all the pupils were presenting their topic. When Mrs. Flores called out for Daniel, he went up on the stage as well. His presentation was really good. Others had done a good job too. And lastly, my name was called out.
I took a deep breath & walked up the stage. It was no use telling Mrs Flores anything cause she had made it clear that no one would have second chances as we had ample of time to prepare for this day.
“Ms Wilson, can we start with your presentation?” the teacher asked in a voice indicating me to start.
“I...I..I...uh..” I stuttered.
“We don’t have the whole day for you!” said Mrs. Flores
“Uh..the thing is I--”
“Her project is right here Mrs. Flores.”
The door of the auditorium opened & Drake’s voice echoed out loud. I saw him entering the auditorium with my laptop in hand followed by Sophia & Laura. I was clueless as to what was happening when I saw Soph’s fingers make the victory sign while smiling at me.
“There were some technical problems in her laptop but its fixed now.” Drake told the teacher.
I saw him connecting my laptop to the projector & within a few minutes the first slide of my presentation flashed on the big screen, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. At the same time, I was bubbling with happiness. Drake gave me a lopsided smile & then turned his back to exit the auditorium. Laura & Soph gestured me an ‘all the best’ and followed Drake suit.
I had lots of questions knocking my head but right now, I need to focus on delivering my presentation.
“Impressive first slide.” Said Mrs. Flores. I even heard mutters from the rest of the students.
“Lets begin with your presentation Ms Wilson.” The teacher spoke again.
And I started off with it.
***
I was grinning like an idiot as I was walking along the corridors, minutes after I was done with my presentation in the auditorium. It was after school hours so no one was around to see me smiling stupidly. This was the best presentation of my life. Mrs. Flores & even my fellow classmates complimented me on that. Couldn’t be happier than this!
“Heyyy! How did it go??” Sophia asked as soon as I entered the Common room.
“From the look on your face, its obvious your project is a super hit!” Laura chirped.
“You’re right! I can’t tell you how happy I am!” I said in glee.
There were big smiles on their faces as well. We three enclosed in a hug.
“But what exactly had happened to my laptop & how did you recover my project?” I asked after we parted, the question that had been poking my head since long.
“You were right when you said there was a hard disk crash.” Laura said, “When we got to the Computer Lab, Drake was already at your laptop to see what could be done to fix up things.”
I cringed hearing that, “He is the one who had tampered with my laptop. I didn’t expect him to be guilty of his deeds & make things proper.”
My friends looked at me in shock when I said that.
“It wasn’t Drake who crashed your hard drive!” exclaimed Laura, “It was Susan!”
My eyeballs almost burst out in terrible shock, “What are you saying???”
“You got that right. I heard Susan & Amber brooding in anger in the washroom while I was peeing. They didn’t know I was in there nor did I bother to let them know that I was eavesdropping. It was entirely Susan’s plan. She was frustrated as hell that her plan failed. Can’t digest the fact that she is my cousin who stooped so low.” Soph said in a stiff voice.
I was numb when I heard all that.
“Soph & I were there when Drake was frantically slogging away to recover your project. Never ever saw him freaking out so much. To recover everything that was lost was an impossible task but after trying like hell, he succeeded in retrieving your project...and a couple of your favorite One Direction wallpapers.” Laura ended solemnly.
I sat on the couch with a thud, covering my mouth with both my hands in angst.
“Oh God! I wrongly accused him & said so many hateful things to him. What have I done!” I felt a heavy guilty knot at the pit of my stomach.
I once again experienced a sharp pain pierce my heart, the only difference was that this time it made me feel worse than before...
“I need to apologize to him right now. Where is he?” I asked my friends in urgency.
“We don’t know! He must have already left by now.” Soph said.
I decided to take the chance & rushed out of the Common Room. I ran through the lone corridors as fast as I could, hoping that Drake would still be within the school premises.
I was racing downstairs when I caught sight of him from the first floor parapet of the school building. He was walking towards his car & had his back at me.
“Drake!!” I called out to him loudly but he didn’t hear. He was too far for me to reach him. I ran faster to catch up with him but he was already in close quarters with his car.
“DRAKE!! Please listen!!” I called him again when I sprinted out of the school building but he didn’t hear or maybe he didn’t want to hear me....
By the time I could reach him, he had already got into his car & began to drive away.
“Drake!!!” I huffed reaching the spot where his car earlier stood. I saw his car zooming away in front of my eyes while I breathed heavily out of running....
The guilt & regret in me rose higher. I need to try & talk to him as soon as possible...
~*~*~*~
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