Hi. Hello. *waves* Did you wave back? I hope you didn't because you'd look pretty cray cray.
Anyway, hope you'd enjoy reading!
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Chapter 17 - Speaking Of Italy || Xavier's POV
"Why did you give it to her?"
"Why not me?"
"Or me?"
"Are you really still my friend after all these years?"
Those are the questions that I have received when I went down the stage to be with my friends. Those questions are from Stella and Sheena to be exact.
"Man, I didn't know both of you guys are so lucky!" Jack patted my back as we all walked out of the room.
"It was unexpected, really," Connor said in a very concise way.
"You should have gave it to us instead," Josh mimicked the girls.
I said nothing when the girls kept on nagging me some questions. The truth why I let Cassidy have the 'golden ticket'? It's because I want to piss her off, making me want to hate her in every little way. Since she laughed at us for winning a trip to Italy, well, I'll get the last laugh on who's really going to Italy. I just want to have the last laugh, so what if I got overboard? That will teach Cassidy a lesson.
I noticed that Connor was unusually quiet today, I thought about him and Cassidy going to Italy together, probably flirting to each other. That thought brought me shivers and I cleared my mind as I looked up in the sky. Bleh.
"It's a full moon," I said to no one in particular.
"Yeah, so what?" Nick looked at me expectantly while the girls are turning their heads to me. Every time we walked together, the girls are always in front whilst the guys are at the back. I guess it's just the gentleman thing that we got used to when we're with the girls. Whenever there are girls flirting with us that we don't like, the girls would be very helpful on acting as our 'girlfriends' and cut the other girl out. It's why you have opposite sex as best friends.
Sometimes I heard rumors about me and Stella being on and off all the time on our relationship, truth is we're really just friends and nothing more. Well, we're more than friends. Best friends. But until there only and Stella and I know it.
Truth to be said, not all boys want to sleep with every girl out there.
The boys are still looking at me weirdly which made me remember what we were talking about. "Nothing," I replied as I looked down at my shoes.
I remembered when I was always staying up all night to study, whenever it's full moon, I just thought of it as a good luck. The times wherein my friends won't push me on telling them what I'm doing on that night and preventing me to tell lies. When lies are made, the lies continue. And I could just ruin their trust, but is there really anyone you can trust nowadays? Whenever my friends do ask me, I always say that I'm busy watching. Which is not a lie, since I am watching my essay questions over and over again.
But I don't always use that excuse, sometimes I would say I'm texting, which is also not a lie since I am texting them back. Whenever they want to invite me on a party, I would always say that I have other plans which they always thought that I have a date with another girl and wouldn't bother on asking anymore since they always know how it goes. I would date a girl, realize I don't like her, and tell her in a very polite way that I don't like her. Period. If that excuse didn't work out, I would say that I'm tired and they would think that I'm exhausted because of the basketball practice. Or just reluctantly agree to go to the party when I'm bored.
Now with the full moon, I realized that whenever it's full moon, I always hear the birds chirping and silence. I don't know if it's coincidence or something but it always means good signs to me.
I smiled as I looked at the full moon and quickly catch up with the guys who are now going inside Connor's car.
"Home." Asher sighed as he put his hands on his neck and tried to relax. There is no place like home after this day. Who knows what more surprising things might happen tomorrow? Sarcastic moment over there, ladies and gentlemen.
When Connor started driving, it was very smooth at first. But when we ran over a red light, Connor quickly stopped the car on the side. "Dude, are you okay?" Jack asked Connor who looked behind the car if anyone saw it, which some may witness but there were no police around.
"Yeah, fine," Connor said nonchalantly as he continued driving. We all looked at each other, wondering what has gotten into Connor's mind.
Maybe it's about the trip alone with Cassidy? Wait, are they alone? Would they share the same bedroom? What if Cassidy get pregnant and all those stuffs? Wait, that's too far. But what if, they fall in love there and how would Stella and Sheena react on that? I'm being delusional, erase all of that. Wait, did I just say those things? Maybe I need a good night rest and forget everything that happened today.
"The girl wearing the summer collection with gold heels was hot," Nick, the red head, started.
"No way, the girl who wore a white see-through dress is better."
"Princeton, have you seen the girl who was wearing the wings? It's like a live Victoria Secret fashion show!" Josh retorted. And that's how our conversation started.
Connor stopped on the first house which is Asher's and we all said our goodbyes and so far Connor's being normal.
"Did you see that blonde girl who wore that eight inch heels?" Nick suddenly asked.
"How does she even walk from that?" Jack added.
"Is that the girl who wore that neon heels?" I asked, remembering the model that wore everything in neon. "She's the only one who wore that high of heels and wore neon. So to answer your question, yes." Josh pointed to me.
"Did you notice anything about the host?" Jack grinned. We all looked at him as we all know what this mean.
"She's... damn," Josh agreed. I thought about the host, remembering her face. "But I think she's way too old for us."
"And it will just make her feel a cougar if she ever dated us," Connor chimed on our conversation. The boys moaned as they realized it.
"I think I saw something when she gave you the certificate. She's smiling way too big and kept looking at your body," Josh joked, looking at Connor. We all commented about them when Connor said that he had nothing on the host.
"Her eyes kept roaming on you guys and then her face turned solid when she saw Cassidy on stage. I think it's about her clothes," Nick commented. We all laughed as we couldn't help but agree. Cassidy's sense of fashion is out of this generation and her clothes are more likely .. masculine.
"I would totally let her borrow my clothes anytime," Josh teased.
I rolled my eyes at their childish ways of teasing someone. Seriously, maybe you would expect mean kids bullying students around on school but I think that our school is fine. The second worst thing a student could do to the others is probably talk about that person behind their back, which is what we are kind of doing. Or which is what they are doing. I mean don't all people do that nowadays? Maybe there are worse than backstabbing, like embarrassing someone if they disagree to help you in your homework, or things that Cassidy would involve to. The worst was when there's punching involving with the devil.
I think I even heard Stella or is it Sheena who said, "I didn't know rags are so in today."
I quickly went upstairs after I closed the main door behind me. I greeted my parents which are in the living room, watching the television. I opened my bedroom door and quickly smelled my favorite scent.
I quickly opened my bag and grabbed my math book and notebook. I took out a pen in the table and opened the table light.
I enjoy learning new stuffs and reading. But seeing as how some people insult other kids, who doesn't care what others think about them, makes me feel weird. I feel like I want to be like those carefree kids who wear big glasses and be alone sometimes.
I looked at the full moon again, wondering what good happened today. I don't count winning a fashion trip as a good one or having one of my best friend cry because of disappointment.
"Maybe it's a sign that tomorrow will be," I said to Casper, my hamster, as he stared back at me whilst running at his cartwheel.
Cassidy's POV
"Good morning, class!" Mrs. Ross greeted us. We all greeted back like we normally do. And I rolled my eyes, as if any morning was good to start with.
"It's our last week before Winter Break, anyone planned on doing something?" She asked cheerily. She placed her handbag on the chair and stood in front of us.
We all murmured something below our breaths on what we're planning but I just said nothing.
"I think I heard you saying about Italy, young man." Mrs. Ross looked at Connor and it was very vivid on his face that he was surprised by Mrs. Ross shout out.
We all turned to him, I recalled what happened yesterday and I couldn't help but glare at Xavier, who is sitting beside Connor like always. Xavier looked extremely confident as he put his left arm on the chair beside him, which was Stella's. I'm still wondering, are they together again?
"Oh, uhm." Connor stood up from his seat, looking uncomfortable. I prayed that he won't say anything about the contest that would lead to inviting Xavier then embarrassing me in front of everyone that would lead into making me go to Italy as well as he is for a fashion trip. I mean, fashion trip. I know a lot of girls would be thrilled about this idea, but does it look like I want to watch girls go catwalk on the runaway wearing very .. girly clothes? Nope. Tank tops, pink clips, yellow handbag, high heels, skirts, nah. I'll pass.
"Yeah," Connor said sheepishly. Everyone was not surprised since we all knew that a lot of people get to go to another country especially the popular, not to mention kids in our school are in middle class and some are rich.
"Would you mind telling us about your trip?" Mrs. Ross smiled warmly at him. I never got tired of Mrs. Ross's smiles. It somewhat reminded me of my father's smile. He used to smile like that. I do miss it sometimes but -
"It's not that exciting, really," Connor said. Stella and Sheena, who most of the time would give shocking noises whenever they hear something unusual since they can't see most of the time because they're always busy with something, said nothing.
Someone in front yawned loudly and we all diverted our attention to that student, namely Sheila, instead.
"Sorry. I stayed up all night because I was studying," Sheila mumbled. We all turned around, ignoring Sheila's remarks about studying and putting more attention to Mrs. Ross instead.
I looked at Reese for a second and saw him drooling at Jessie. I rolled my eyes as I remembered that he fell in love before, but got rejected and it took him a hard time to recover. After Clarissa and I tried to cheer him up, he finally moved on. Now, he's going back to the first stage of love, Clarissa's words and not mine.
Clarissa would always say to us that when you're in love, there will be hard times and a lot of fights, but you'll pass through it. It's part of love. Love, love, love. Pshh. I don't know why she even bothered telling me since I don't planning on being in love when I'm just a teenager.
Connor looked extremely uncomfortable which probably is the reason why Jessie raised her hand. Mrs. Ross nodded at her direction and Jessie gladly stood up from her seat.
Jessie often volunteers to raise her hand, and whenever she saw someone, popular or outsiders feeling uncomfortable or not knowing what to answer, she would always save their day.
"I'm going to Italy, too. But it's just for a week. I'm really excited on visiting --" Italy again. I got lost when she was talking about buildings, people, culture, and more. Seriously, can't anyone talk about something that's not related to Italy?
"I love fashion shows!" Mrs. Ross clapped her hands, smiling widely at Jessie. Jessie said something but I didn't catch it because I was busy studying my ball pen, which says that it's made in China, funny I didn't know that. Since I know that Reese is listening to what Jessie is talking about, I quickly turned to him.
"What's she talking about?" I tugged his shirt. His eyes didn't remove from Jessie and I kept tugging his shirt. I looked around me, checking if anyone is looking at me weirdly base on my position. Maybe they are wondering if I badly want to take off Reese's shirt, or something.
I am right about him listening to Jessie, since he was too busy listening to her and didn't notice me talking to him, I turned to Cassidy. He's so stubborn sometimes, he can't feel anything around him when he's in love, Clarissa's words not mine.
"Pst," I called her. She turned her head to me slowly, not making obvious that we're talking.
"What is she saying?" I asked her, hoping this time, I could get an answer.
"Italy. Fashion. Ssh!" Cassidy turned away from me. I was taken aback at how she replied. Usually she's into talking to someone every time someone talks, but I guess it's not the same when it comes to fashion.
"It's nice to get to know where we are all going this winter break!" Mrs. Ross clapped her hand in excitement as she walked back to her table. "Now, I want all of you to get a paper and a pen. Those are the only things that I should see on your table," she instructed us.
I sighed as I remembered the same instruction before. And she even told me, face to face, if I was a girl. Seriously, do I not look like a girl? Wait, don't answer that if you're in the same school as I am. Or if you're my cousins. Or my parents. But you can, if you're Sasha, she's the only one who saw me wearing a dress that my mother bought me to wear for my sixth birthday. And the necklace that my father gave me on my seventh birthday. And a pair of earrings and tiara on my eight. But all those birthday presents stopped there.
"I hope this would be the same as last time." Reese smiled at me. Oh, so now you're talking to me. "Did you seriously just ignore me a while ago when Jessie's talking?" I asked him, straight to the point.
"Sorry," he mumbled as he put his hand at the back of his neck. I think I saw a tint of pink on his cheeks. I gasped as I saw Reese's face. Now, blushing.
"You did not," I accused him, saying it in a low voice.
"Sssssh!" he shushed me, just like he would always whenever I'm getting the attention of the teacher.
I looked at Clarissa, wondering if she saw what I saw, but given that she's smiling while looking around the classroom, which she always do whenever she's pretending she saw nothing.
I smiled as I shook my head. If things go well for Reese and Jessie, then Reese would be happy forever. Then if Reese is happy, I'm happy. And if Clarissa saw Reese happy, she would be, too. Then all three of us would be happy.
"Happiness is a journey, not a destination," Mrs. Ross quoted.
Seriously, could this day get any worse? Just as I was about to talk about being happy then Mrs. Ross would quote something very true like that totally ruined my daydream.
"So, I would like all of you to write an essay about what you expect and what you think might happen in your winter break trip! Isn't this exciting?" Mrs. Ross smiled warmly at us, giving all of us a Christmas spirit. Some chatted with their seatmates on how they're very excited on where they are going, I heard someone said spa, racing cars, hotels, wait, or is it motel? Never mind.
"Chop, chop. I'm giving you all fifteen minutes to write about it. Feel free to write more than one page," Mrs. Ross noted. She sat down on her chair, sighing as she saw my classmates looking happy on writing their trips.
I looked at Reese, for the nth time, and saw him writing something down. I looked at Clarissa and saw her picking which ball pen to use to write.
"Go with your Parker ball pen," I suggested. She looked at me, all the worry in her face gone.
"I'm not choosing--, thanks," she replied as she started the write about her trip.
I sighed as I looked at my empty paper. I looked at the clock and five minutes have passed.
I wrote my name on the top. Then the date. Before I know it, I started to write my 'trip.'
"Accidental Ticket"
You can call me lucky or this whole thing coincidence. I don't know if it's a sign to tell me something. But I guess it all happened for a reason. There's no turning back and there's no way out. What do you expect when you're trapped on a wonderful trip of that some might say, but your worst nightmare if I could say so to myself. I think people should care about my opinion, too.
Expecting that I might be "enjoying" this trip of mine with someone I barely know, who would be my companion during my trip. This person has been my acquaintance for a while. We shared laughter and anger. Although I don't know who this person is really, maybe this is my chance to know.
Pros on going on this trip would be learning new things; hopefully it would do me good, probably improve my fashion sense. Cons on going on this trip would be learning new things, knowing that I already hate the idea of this from the start.
Maybe I am afraid of doing things out of my comfort zone. I always choose what I always prefer, and dodge it if I don't. Maybe I already know what's going to happen, that's why I don't want it to continue. But no one really knows what could happen tomorrow or the day after. The only way to find out how to deal with my future is to live the moment right now - which is hating the whole trip.
To let you know what I am feeling right now, I am confused. But that aside, I'm scared, scared of that things might change after this trip.
- Cassidy Jones
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a u t h o r ' s n o t e :
Italy = PIZZA LAND <3
Okay, I might be a bit of hungry and craving for pizza.
Tell me what you guys think! Comment down below or feel free to give me some votes aka stars to light up the sky (Okay, I'm getting cheesy, like the pizza, get it? Cause Italy = pizza = cheesy, okay, I'll stop).
P.S. SMILE. SMILE. SMILE. :)
"Every smile makes you a day younger." —Chinese Proverb