I stand on the pavement staring at the buildings around me. The city lights brighter than the stars in the night sky. The skyscrapers stand tall with pride. The joy and excitement of city life buzzing around me. The cold air hits my face and I hug my jacket tighter around my body trying to preserve some body heat. I gaze admiringly at all the beauty that lay before my eyes. People with bright smiles on their face , all with a different story to tell.
New York stands tall in all its sky scraping glory as the city of dreams. I silently pray that my dreams also do come true in this magical place. That true happiness is somewhere around the corner. That maybe even I can have a second chance in life to start over, no mistakes, no regrets. The chance to become everything I've always wanted to be. Nothing to hold me back. Except.......
"ANNELLIE WILLIAMS!" a stern voice brought me back to the harsh reality. Rubbing my eyes lightly I realized that I had dozed off in class dreaming about New York. That's gotten me in trouble before, but never with a teacher.Oh crap! I'm doomed! If I end up with a detention slip by the end of this period then forget about going to New York, I will probably end up staying in this lovely piece of hell, also known as high school, forever.
I stood up in my place and smiled sheepishly at the teacher, hoping that she'll let me off of detention just because she's the sweetest teacher ever. After all it wasn't often that I ended up in situations like this and even if I did, I could somehow slip out of detention, but that doesn't mean I take it for granted.
I wasn't the rebel or the geek of the school. But just like every other high school student, I too had a label. Mine was the 'sunshine' of the school. The girl who gets everything served on a silver platter just because no one can say no to her, and not in a threatening way. People listened to her because no one wanted to intentionally hurt her. The girl who smiles all the time and has a perfect life. Hell, if that was true though.
"Go wash your face" Mrs. Smith ordered the ghost of a smile playing on her lips, and I already knew I didn't have a detention.
I immediately scurried out of the classroom, closing the door softly behind me as Mrs. Smith continued the class with her boring physics lecture in her sweet and honey like voice filled with enthusiasm to be sharing her oh so valuable knowledge on all things physics to a classroom filled with students eager to learn more about gravity. Note the sarcasm.
As I made my way to the washroom I saw the infamous Becca and her posse. It wasn't like they were actually infamous, they were pretty popular. The problem was ,they tried way too hard to fix a spot on the 'royal hierarchy' of high school. They were completely fake and at times hung out that is ran errands and followed the most popular girls around like servants. You know the typical group of mean girls with fake eyelashes and skirts way too short to cover themselves. Becca at times hung out with 'that' group or just roamed around with her posse pretending to like everyone in the school including( unfortunately) me too.
"Hey Annellie" she smiled waving at me.
"It's just Ellie" I replied.
"Oh yeah, I missed you so much. It's been so long" she said with her fake sugary smile and immediately embraced me in, what I think was supposed to be, a hug. You know, the one where the person is literally holding on to the air around you and kissing the air on both sides of your cheek. I returned the gesture almost suffocating to death in her overly spritzed perfume. Sorry for the exaggeration, but I despise fake people.
"Yeah, it's been so long" I agree with her putting on my best fake smile hiding all the memories and pain with ease. I've been practicing for a long time, it almost comes effortlessly.
"Maybe we should catch up" she suggests.
Miranda and Ann standing behind her, nod their heads simultaneously agreeing to whatever she is saying. Why wouldn't they anyways?
"I think I'd like that very much. We should definitely do that" I reply quite uneasily.It's a terrible idea but I am not going to say that out loud to her now, am I? After all she knows it just as much as I do.
She bids me goodbye and we part ways.
I don't get such kind of people. Why do they try so hard to be someone they are not? I mean why in your sane mind would you have friends you can't really rely on? Unless you are talking about what shade of lipstick suits you best, then maybe you can rely on your so called 'friends' but you know not for real life. I would not really stand anywhere in the high school social ladder if it weren't for the fact that I am labelled as the 'sunshine' and everybody thinks that my life is perfect. I don't like the fake people nor the attention. Like if I wasn't invited to some stupid party I wouldn't freak out like the other girls in my grade or start screaming my lungs out if I can't find my lip gloss. So that's just me, I guess.
I go to the washroom and stare at myself in the mirror. I stare at the reflection in the mirror with disgust. The girl stands with a fake smile plastered on her face. She seems to look happy but has a misery inside her that nobody else can see. The smile hides all the pain and scars that have been etched onto her.
Once I think I've had enough of the self loathing, I splash some cold water on my face in hopes of waking up properly and walk back into my physics class shooting an apologetic smile at Mrs. Smith before settling back in my seat.
The rest of the periods go by until lunch time rolls in. I quickly dump my psychology books in my locker excited for lunch. C'mon who doesn't like the time when you can sit around your friends, chit chat and have a meal? But more importantly, it involves food. What's not to love! I enter my locker combination and push the books inside, trying to make a little space in the cramped up locker. If Adeline saw this, she would literally cringe at the mess. She's a hell of a neat freak. Speaking of which, I haven't seen her at all today. Knowing her, she was probably in the library doing way more studying than she actually needs to or reading a new book.
As I stand in front of the locker preoccupied with my thoughts I somehow do not notice the entry of the ''Prince" of our high school and his little group of ass-hats, seeing that it is kind of hard to miss when they make so much noise. From the corner of my eyes I spot Daniel and my face pales. My body turns rigid and I'm sure I am going to pass out if I can't find Adeline right now. Where is she when I need her the most?
I turn around to avoid the situation like always. My back is stiff and I try to act like nothing is actually affecting me. It is usually easy to pretend with everything else going on in life but with Daniel, the issue seems a lot harder. I need to avoid him or else I might end up doing something stupid again. I try to make my way to the lunchroom without facing him.
Just two minutes away
A minute away from a recipe to disaster
Five steps away from doing something I will regret
Four steps...and he is standing in my way. So much for going unnoticed by him.
I look up to see his blue eyes filled with concern. My heart swells up at the thought that he still cares. That makes me think that maybe we could sort this out and go back to where we were...No Ellie, snap out of it!...now! I order myself but I just don't wanna listen to myself, now do I?. Even though my brain knows that what it's seeing right now is a fake look of concern, my heart doesn't want to believe it.
"Hey Ell" he says gently.
Oh god! Not the nickname again... why does my name sound so sweet rolling off of those pink lips of his. It sounds like coming home. Like you could just stand in front of him and feel complete, like your problems were just like paper planes that blow away at the mere presence of this one person. I could go on forever but he speaks again, snapping me out of my daze, "It's been a while". And we're back to reality.
Indeed it's been a while. And indeed I haven't forgotten.
Some people are easily forgotten in a person's life. But some people can not be forgotten no matter how much you try. Some people don't affect you at all no matter what your relation may be. But some people, become like, the glue that holds you together, only to leave you broken and torn one day. Unfortunately, he was one of those people in my life.
"Yeah, guess it has" I reply trying hard to make my voice sound even.
"We could you know ,catch up sometime. If you'd like to, maybe" he says sounding almost nervous.
No I cannot, it is not going to turn out good. I still have a chance to say no, I mean we're not even friends anymore, I don't have to care what he feels or whether he still cares for me. I don't have to care about him anymore but still I find myself nodding my head.
"Yeah sure" I add. I am so going to regret this later. But you know what stings? That I really don't have to be there for him or care about what he feels, yet I do. It stings a lot if you ask me.
"I'll text you" he says his blue eyes filled with excitement. I nod before he is dragged away by his other jock friends. The reality of what I just got myself into strikes me once he leaves. Oh god! I really need to get a grip on myself.
Maybe I could use this as an opportunity to ask him what happened to us. Oh, who am I kidding? I always chicken out. Groaning in frustration I mindlessly continue my journey to the cafeteria that now seems longer than it was five minutes ago.With what just happened my brain is a scattered mess and even the idea of food doesn't seem so pleasant anymore.
I suddenly bump into someone, knocking whatever the poor girl was carrying all across the floor.
"Oh I'm so sorry" I say helping the girl. But I look up to see it's none other than my missing friend, Adeline.
"Dumbass" she curses me with a half-smile etched onto her face.
She then bends down to pick her storybook and hugs it to her chest like it's her lifeline. I swear she is so over-dramatic and possessive of her books. She has her face buried in one book after another. It's like her escape from life. Guess that's one of the very few things we have in common. Some would say she's weird that way but I love her, weird or not. She's so confident and not afraid to be who she is no matter what anybody says. I'm proud to call her my best friend.
"Adeline I need to talk to you" I state and she raises her eyebrows giving me a look of suspicion.
"Just come with me would you?" I ask and without waiting for her reply, I clutch her arm and drag her to the ladies room.
"What happened?" she asks me as soon as we get into the ladies room and spot no one in sight. So much for patience.
"I saw Daniel, like just before I bumped into you" I explain.
"Oh no!" she says and one glance at me before another question flies out of her mouth, "something more happened than just seeing him right? I know it. What did that dipshit do now! Why aren't you answering me? Answer me will you!!"
This is what I dreaded. She has already pressed her hand to her temples contemplating the worst things. She over-thinks every situation. Like literally everything!Ah, the things I have to deal with. Just kidding, I'm honestly surprised she still bears with me.
"I sort of...you...know" I stall and before I continue, she shoots me a glare from above her black rimmed frames that are perched on her nose. That one glare tells me I need to get straight to the point if I wish not to die so early in life. "I kind of agreed to meet up and.. catch up...with..him..kinda..you know" I continue. Her eyes shoot wide open. With anger or shock, it's kinda hard to tell..
"I mean, you know, I can always cancel on him. It's not planned or anything" I amend.
She sighs and says, "I know that you want things to go back like it was before but he can't keep playing these games with you. One day he comes walking up to you like nothing happened and the next day he avoids you like the plague. Ellie..." she pauses to see my reaction and one look makes her rethink what she was going to say, "Let's head out for ice cream"
I swear this girl knows me too well. I know what I did was something I will regret and so does she, I didn't need a constant reminder of that. But the amount of truth in everything that she just said, has me wanting to crawl into a hole and cry myself to death. I needed to get out of that hellhole. So that is how we end up skipping the entire school day to enjoy and think about the craptastic situation at hand later. Well technically only I skip school because once we finish our ice creams, she drops me home and heads back to attend the rest of her classes. Adeline is a total nerd who wouldn't skip her classes even if she had like, the flu or something. But don't let that fool you, that girl can kick some serious ass. She's an insanely awesome closet writer but would never admit it to anyone. Once she gets over that bit of shyness, I bet a million dollars she's gonna be like the next J.K Rowling. She's that good.
And since she's my best friend in the whole wide world, I would use her fame to meet Harry Styles , kidnap him if I'm left with no other option, and make him fall in love with me and then run away and get married in Vegas. Yep, I have some pretty wild life goals. But sometimes, dreams and imagination are a better place than reality.
A/N: Thank you for giving my new book a try. This is the rewritten version of The Runaway Cinderella which had a lot of plot holes and I wrote it when I was pretty dumb and stupid. If you are new, you don't have to go back and read Runaway Cinderella, just start with this story and please let me know your reviews.
Constructive criticism is welcomed.....Thank you so much
Have a great day!
Proud2Bcrazy