14.
I looked at the glass in horror and everyone else came in rushing. Shock registered on Mr. Cattermole's face and at this point I couldn't even speak. I rushed towards the glass when Dale grabbed me from my waist and pulled me back roughly, yelling in my ear.
''What are you doing? Its going to hurt you!''
''Ally! What happened?'' I mumbled apologies while everyone gathered around us, keeping me and Dale away from the glass.
''I'll clean this up...'' Addy muttered and rushed to the store room to get a broom.
''We heard voices,'' Mrs. Cattermole asked looking at both of us, ''how did this happen?''
''That's not important, we need to know if you got hurt.'' Mr. Cattermole looked at both of us,
''No'' Dale replied while I shook my head.
''But how did this break?'' Mom asked me,
''Ally threw the cushion at the thing and broke it.'' All of us looked up at Dale, his gaze was fixed on his father and my eyes widened in shock. He was lying, and he was lying with such a straight face. I did break the glass, but I had tried to hit Dale. He made it sound like I had aimed for Mr. Cattermole favorite and most expensive decoration piece and had ruined it in carelessness.
''What? Ally did?'' I lowered my eyes and my cheeks heated, the fact that every one's attention was on me didn't help.
Instead of telling the truth or saying that Dale was lying I hung my head low and stood up, ''I am so sorry, it's my fault.''
The next series of events were a blur. The dinner was ruined and I kept apologizing to Mr. Cattermole, being a good natured person he was, he kept brushing it. I knew that piece was very important for him and had cost him a lot and it made me feel very guilty. I was so ashamed in front of every one, I couldn't stop mumbling sorry.
When I was heading home with mom, walking slowly behind her, I couldn't help but think of Dale and his actions. He was the one that started the fight, I had no mood or intention to talk to him tonight but he had cornered me in the lounge. He had brought up Flynn and found another excuse to yell at me. And now this; a perfect lie to make me feel more guilty than I already was.
I was beyond hurt. Till now, I could only think he was capable of hating me, but now he had made it clear that he wanted to hurt me. In all possible ways. And he had succeeded in doing that.
''Its okay Ally,'' Mom tried to relax me when we got home, making me sit on the sofa and acting like I hadn't just broke something very important, ''I know you feel guilty-''
''It was really expensive,'' I whispered, more to myself, ''Daniel told me...''
''Its fine! I know it was expensive, but I already talked to them. I will pay them. In fact, we can go tomorrow-''
I was suddenly tired of this behavior and stood up abruptly, cutting her off,
''Mom, why wont you scold me? Why wont you yell at me?'' She looked taken aback for a second but recovered quickly, taking a step towards me,
''Ally-''
''You know I am wrong here. You should be upset with me, you should be yelling at me! You should be behaving like normal parents do!'' Frustrated, I backed away and ran a hand through my hair, ruining the style I had made for the dinner. The dinner that was ruined because of Dale. Because of me.
Mom didn't say anything for a moment; she was still processing whatever I had just said to her. Maybe I had hurt her. But I was hurt as well and she needed to know that I wanted a normal behavior from her. She also needed to know that I would never leave her alone, no matter how much she scolded me. I wanted her to yell at me, to tell me how wrong I was, how stupid it was to destroy someone else's stuff like that. I wanted her to punish me.
But even after saying my mind I knew she didn't understand.
''I will pay them back tomorrow and I will apologize again.'' She repeated, and I had an urge to scream. Couldn't she see? It wasn't about her paying them back or apologizing, it was about me getting what I deserved.
''No, you won't pay them back or apologize. You weren't the one who threw the cushion and broke that – that thing. It was me!'' Confusion twisted on her face, she was taken aback from my outburst.
''Honey, I know you are sorry. But if they say its fine than, we shouldn't make a mountain out of molehill either.'' I imagined the look on Dale's face if mom paid Mr. Cattermole money. He had already done enough to turn my self respect into shreds, I wouldn't give him another chance.
''Mom, I have made the mistake, so I will pay them back.'' I told her firmly,
She paused, ''Pay them back? How?''
I shook my head, ''I don't know, but it won't be you. It can't be you. I will pay them the compensation.'' I could she wanted to stop me but I was already walking towards my room, having taken my decision,
''Ally! How will you gather such a huge sum? Even if you get a job its going to take months before you could pay them back!'' There was desperation in mom's voice and it was evident she was afraid for me. She was afraid that I was upset. But I was desperate as well. No way could I let her pay for my mistake.
''If you can't scold me, than at least trust me.'' I whispered before she could stop me and treaded upstairs, taking two steps at a time. I could feel her gaze on my back, the same worried look on her face as she stared at my back, wanting to stop me and talk about the matter again.
Once in my room, I closed the door behind me and took few deep breaths. Mom had somehow given me an indicator of what I had to do. A job. I needed to find a job. I had never done this before. Dad never had trouble paying for me; he made it clear I didn't need to work.
I knew mom was against the idea as well, she wanted me to turn my full focus on studies and not on anything else. That's why I didn't know where to start looking. I wasn't good at any kind of stuff. I read books so maybe a library would work?
I decided to change my clothes, take a bath and start hunting for a job right now. Determined, I began to take off the little jewelry I had worn when my phone rang. At first I ignored it, but the person calling me was persistent.
Letting out an irritated sigh and glaring at the walls I finally picked up,
''Hey Allyson, it's me.'' A slightly familiar voice spoke, though it wasn't familiar enough for me to recognize,
''Who me?''
''Aiden'' I nearly dropped the phone. Aiden freaking Sullivan? Why the hell was he calling me? No, why the hell he had my number in the first place? God, I didn't have the ability to handle so many things in one day.
''Oh...'' Was all I could say.
Two or so seconds passed. C'mon! Say something already! You wouldn't possibly call me to hear me breath.
''I apologize for calling like that, I know it's very inappropriate of me,'' Who was he? A prince from distant past? Why did he feel the need to speak like that? We were teenagers, and I wanted to remind Aiden that being informal was not going to kill him. But being the good girl I was, I kept my mouth shut and waited for him to continue.
''But I needed to ask you something.''
As long as he wasn't going to ask me to have coffee with him again, it was okay.
''I'm listening''
Mr. Chapel needs to see me with one of the club member tomorrow,'' he was saying, ''I recommended your name, is that fine?''
Whatever. I didn't have time to deal with this.
''Sure, when are we meeting?''
''After our English class, I am hoping your next class won't start right after it...''
''Its fine, I will be there.''
''Thank you Allyson, I will wait for you.'' I wouldn't wait if I was in his place.
After hanging up I began to think that maybe I had made a mistake. I wanted to keep my distance from Aiden Sullivan. Going to meetings with him and talking to him on phone wasn't keeping distance. It was being on good terms.
''Whatever'' I breathed and dropped back on my sheets, too tired to care. I had a job to find.
* * * *
The next day, I was searching for the job with my laptop open in front of me, sitting on one of the spare couches in the common room. Beside me, Carmen was preparing for her Biology test and complaining that she hated the subject every now and then. She was trying to cram, repeating the sentences under her breath and freaking out.
Since it was just morning, the common room wasn't crowded and we had most of the space to us. Two boys were playing table tennis, but other than that, we were alone. I had managed to find two libraries that were looking for assistants. Even though the pay was really bad and the chances of getting in were less than zero (thanks to my lack of experience), I had already sent them an email with a CV that I just prepared last night.
Speaking of my CV, it was truly a horrifying sight. It was practically empty and it hurt to look at it.
I was never going to get a job.
I would have asked Carmen if she wasn't freaking over DNA replication. I knew that when Flynn was here, he worked two jobs to save money for college and had done it quite successfully. But I didn't feel like calling him over this. Some things, I needed to figure out on my own.
''Carmen! Ally!'' Daniel cried from afar, he was walking in with Lillian and Dale. I glanced at Dale who was grinning to himself, with a very satisfied look on his face. Jerk.
''Hey'' I greeted them, ''did you deal with Aiden?'' I asked Lillian, making an effort to forget that Dale was there and preventing myself from charging at him.
''She did,'' Daniel replied instead, ''Hayley got involved though and ruined the show. She's a complete psycho by the way.''
''What are you doing now?''
''Can't you see I'm trying to study? Will you guys get out?'' Carmen cried at them in frustration. The boys playing tennis looked at us lot like we were crazy.
''I wasn't talking to you anyways!'' Lillian snapped at her, ''I was asking Ally.''
''She's looking for a job,'' Dale answered, looking smug, ''she broke dad's glass football, the one he got at that auction.'' He looked oddly happy about my misery. Or maybe it wasn't such a shocker anymore.
''Ally, you don't need to pay him back, he says its okay.''
''Are you crazy?'' Dale asked his brother, ''he bought it exclusively from Mr. Martiz, do you have an idea how important it was? Apparently, it used to sit in Marc Salvadore's house.'' Marc Salvadore was Mr. Cattermole's favorite footballer. I knew he was a big fan because he kept telling me I needed to watch him play.
''Ally don't mind paying back, she made a mistake after all.'' Dale finished saying, smirking at me. Jerk.
''Don't worry Daniel, I will find a jo-'' Just then I got a reply from Spence Jefferson's resident library. Apparently I was right and they had said no because I had zero experience in any work, let alone being a library assistant.
Seeing the torn look on my face, Lillian bent down to see what I was staring at,
''We considered your application, but we expect our workers to have minimum of three years working experience. Thus, your application is rejected.'' She muttered the words and gave me a pitying look,
''Are you sure you are looking at the right place?''
''Will you guys shut up?!'' Once again, all of us ignored Carmen,
''What does that mean?''
''She means look for a job that you can easily get into. Like being a waiter.'' Okay, that didn't cross my mind. I was so invested in the library idea that I didn't pay attention to anything else. Me and my lack of concentration...
''Okay, thanks.''
''Don't worry Ally, I will help you find a job,'' Lillian offered earnestly, ''I have a couple of places I know. I will go and talk for you.'' I gave her a smile.
''Guys, don't you have any consideration for me?'' Carmen asked in a weak voice and gathered up her book, ''I will pray y'all fail your tests.''
''And off she goes...'' Daniel muttered, watching her leave.
''Go luck finding the job.'' I would have lunged at Dale and broke a few bones if Lillian hadn't dragged him off to their class, leaving me with Daniel. English wasn't going to start until another half an hour, giving me time to look for a waiting job. I also had to meet with Mr. Chapel with Aiden, but I had no idea what this Chapel guy looked like or where his office was.
''Ally, are you and Dale fighting?'' Daniel asked me out of blue.
I stopped typing on my laptop, taking a long breath I replied, ''Yes, we are fighting.''
''I heard you guys yesterday, when both of you were going crazy.'' At this point, nothing surprised me anymore,
''You should have shown up then, at least I wouldn't have thrown at stupid cushion on him.''
''Why did he lie though?''
''You should know better Daniel, he's your brother.''
He put a hand on my own, ''Close it down for a sec, we need to talk.'' Yes, we needed to talk. And there were so many other people I needed to talk to. But confrontations were always the hardest part, even when they weren't always about you. Confrontations were scary, in the end, you will always fear that things will turn back on you and swallow you whole. It was crazy, to think that words could eat you away like this.
''Okay,'' I closed my laptop and put it away turning towards him, ''lets talk.''
''Ally, I feel like things are difficult for you here. Different than what you were expected. A lot has changed, all of us have changed, and my brother might not be the same person anymore. But-''
''But...''
He swallowed, ''Please don't fight Dale because of me and Carmen.'' If Daniel knew that Dale had changed, he should have known that his brother was the one who completely discarded our friendship. I wasn't saying I was without faults, but Dale had taken it too far.
''Why didn't you guys tell me? Am I not your friend anymore?''
Daniel shook his head, looking guilty, ''We just didn't want to go back to that topic again. When Carmen and I broke up, things got really tough for both of us. It was really hard on us.''
''You still like her don't you?''
He nodded, ''Yes. I like her a lot, I really do. But I am scared that if we go back together, our fights will get worse. As much as I want to be with Carmen, I don't want to ruin my friendship with her again. I want to mend things between us, slowly but definitely. But, I don't want it at expense of your and Dale's relationship.''
''You are not the only reason we are fighting.'' I told him solemnly, recalling all hurtful things Dale had said to me, ''He's not the same guy anymore. Daniel, he said he hates me.'' What surprised me more was that this didn't faze him. Not a least bit, which meant that he knew.
''You know my brother, once he holds a grudge, he doesn't let it go. He was never a saint anyways.'' This wasn't about Dale being a saint, or let alone a good guy. I had expected a lot, true, but more than anything I had longed him to be my friend. If Dale wanted to end all ties with me, he should have said so before. He should have made it clear from the start, instead of putting on a show.
Daniel kept on speaking, but it looked like he was just trying to convince me with empty words, ''After you left he felt betrayed. Of course we know it wasn't your fault, but the fact that nobody told us anything didn't help. Dale had a rough time back then.''
So what? Was he hell bent to give me rough time now? Dale's anger didn't have any logic; he had failed to make me feel guilty. I wasn't the one with fault here, if he had issues he needed to resolve them instead of taking it out on me.
Daniel was wrong.
I didn't know Dale. Not anymore.
''I have class now,'' I announced, ''I will see you later.''
''Okay, see you.'' He wanted to keep talking, but thinking or talking about Dale was too upsetting for me.
English was painfully slow. For once, I didn't pay attention to class. My mind was too bogged to focus on paradoxical phrases or juxtaposes. Around an hour later, I received a message from Aiden (I saved his number yesterday), reminding me to meet him after class. I glanced at him from my seat; he was sitting in the row next to me and sent me a grin when he saw me looking.
No wonder girls threw themselves on him.
Focus Allyson! This is the guy that tried to humiliate Lillian.
When the class ended, I quickly packed my stuff and waited outside the classroom for Aiden.
''Are you waiting for someone?'' Lee asked on his way out,
''I need to see Mr. Chapel with Aiden, something about the club.'' He nodded,
''Good luck, I'll see you.''
I watched him leave. Come to think of it, we never got a chance to complete our conversation yesterday. I had wanted to ask him more about Trevor, probably find out how Trevor was related to Dale. But after the things Dale had pulled, I wasn't a fan of knowing anything related to him. He could deal with gangsters of warlords for all I cared.
''Did I made you wait long? I apologize.'' Aiden was out; I leaned away from the wall and gave him a reassuring look, wishing he would stop 'apologizing'.
''It is fine, lets go. I only have thirty minutes until my next class.'' It was a lie of course, I didn't have any other class for the day, but Aiden didn't need to know that.
''This wouldn't take long, don't worry.''
Aiden began to lead me to the other side of the main building, that's where Mr. Chapel's office probably was. Okay, I had to remember that.
''What is this about anyways?'' I asked as we walked, there was nothing else to talk about anyways.
''I am not sure, but he wants to give us some work to do.'' Aiden didn't explained more, guess he didn't know either.
''So, are you still allergic to Coffee? Though I don't think I've heard about an allergy like that before.'' Aiden had his signature smirk on his face, but I wasn't falling on my feet anytime soon.
I didn't know what got into me, I smiled back, ''It was a joke.''
He chuckled, ''I guessed that much. So, how about we have coffee today after school?''
I gave him a blank look. Coffee wasn't a bad idea. Coffee with Aiden Sullivan sounded bad and dangerous and something I had no intention of getting into.
''I am not free today, lets go sometime else.'' He looked disappointed but didn't press me further, for which I was glad. He might not be so clingy after all.
Around two minutes later, we reached Mr. Chapel's office. He was buried in a pile of books. Not literally. It was just that his desk was filled with thick books, which made it hard to see his face.
Aiden helped to push aside the books and saying our hellos, we took the seats. Mr. Chapel looked like thirty something year old man with light brown nest of a hair and thick glasses.
''Sir, you called for us.'' Aiden began to say, ever so formally. Adjusting his glasses, Mr. Chapel nodded,
''I wanted to discuss some things with you and I have something to offer as well. As you know that the club was there previously as well, but since no one was interested anymore, we removed it.'' That was news to me, not that I was interested.
''We used to have a Cultural themed event which was very popular among students. I was thinking that maybe we should plan it again.''
''What do you have in mind?'' Aiden asked looking serious all of the sudden.
''I want you to arrange this event, but not in school. Do it outside. The headmaster thinks it's a good way of expanding the school's name...''
''Sir, it's a good idea. But we don't have enough funds to arrange the event.'' Funds was Aiden's only problem. He was forgetting that the club had very few people; one of them hated him so much that she would never help him in this. Another member was a brood who also hated him and had no intention to do anything productive. Then there was me, who didn't have enough confidence to work with him and had million other problems at the moment to deal with.
Mr. Chapel rubbed his chin, ''Yes, it's a big problem. But do you have any plans to raise finds?'' Aiden shook his head.
''That's why I called you here,'' Saying that he leaned down and began to look for something under his desk, I exchanged a confused look with Aiden. A second of clattering and clunking later, Mr. Chapel produced a pamphlet and slammed it on his table,
''This is a competition that Oswald Kindengarten and Pre-primary school is hosting. They want someone to put an entertaining performance for kids and so I recommended your names,'' he took out another piece of paper and looked at me, ''your name is Allyson White right?'' I nodded,
''What do we have to do?'' I couldn't help but ask,
''Anything you want. But keep it in literally or cultural context. You have two weeks to plan.''
A performance with Aiden Sullivan? Great. Just what I needed. And he already had our names, which meant there was no going back.
''Thanks a lot sir! We'll do our best!'' Beside me, Aiden sounded elated; the reason was beyond me though. I wanted to wipe that stupid smile off his face. He looked at me as well so I forced a smile too.
''I'll see you guys later. Come up with something soon. You don't have much time.'' We were excused.
''Lets meet up tomorrow and discuss this. I already have some ideas.'' Aiden said when we were outside.
''Okay, I'll be free after two. We can meet in the cafeteria and discuss.''
When Aiden left, I was ambushed by Lillian. The way she jumped on me, I nearly had a heart attack.
''What!? You scared me!'' Lillian was grinning broadly, looking scary and excited at the same time. She grabbed my shoulders and spun me around,
''Ally, you're gonna love me forever!'' She shrieked in my ear. What happened? Earth opened up and swallowed Dale? Mr. Cattermole's football repaired itself?
''What's wrong?''
''I got you a job! And guess where?'' Okay, I could breathe a little now. At least something good happened today. I sagged in relief, smiling up at her gratefully. She really saved my ass.
''Thanks Lillian! But you found a job so fast? In just two hours?''
''Of course. I had to talk to my mom, so it didn't take long. She's quite happy to hire you, we were actually short of staff,'' my smile faded, ''Derrick says you can start tomorrow.''
Oh no.
* * * *
To all my Muslim followers and readers: Eid Mubarak! I know in some places, Eid won't be until two more days but I wanted to greet y'all anyways. Stay blessed and enjoy!!!