Before writing this chapter, I thought that there was more to this book. But after writing this chapter, I feel like it's best to end the story here. There will definitely be an epilogue, a chapter titled 'Booktrovert' where I'll be talking about the old plot, Q&A and other stuff. I'm sorry if it sounds sudden but really, after writing this chapter, I know that this is the end.
Song attached: Sweeter than Fiction by Taylor Swift (shame. couldn't find a video with the entire song).
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[ t w e n t y t h r e e ]
[ i l o v e y o u ]
The best part about summer vacation was, no one would question you lazing around or hanging around the house of the girl you like.
Though Kiranya typed a fairly affirmative reply as an answer from Squirrel, things didn't simply escalate up. But that didn't mean things went downhill either.
We never talked like we were a couple nor did we tell anyone about it. Kiranya still hadn't followed me on wattpad either (what can I say? For me, people I consider important following me is a big thing). And with the way her family was right now, I knew it wasn't the right time to talk about those things.
I kind of showed our private messages to Yuvan who did look genuinely happy (though he looked awkward. I think I was a sadist). He then went on to ruffle my bird's nest excuse of a hair and asked me to finally buy him food instead of the other way around (seriously, he was my personal bank plus cab service).
I gave him my word but let's face it, this wasn't worth a celebration.
The last chapter of Through the Cheerleader's Eyes came a few minutes back and honestly, I didn't know what to make of the ending. It didn't sound like an ending to begin with but somehow, after coming to know about BookManiac12's real life, even though it made zero sense, I knew that this ending suited the book the best.
There was no happy ending. Not even an open ending. Just an explanatin; a letter Kiranya wrote to her mother, a letter her father should read.
My phone vibrated.
BookManiac12 dedicated Epilogue to you.
I voted on the chapter and switched on my private message page. I could've simply called her or texted her on phone but in a way, some things felt right only when we talked it out on wattpad. I started typing.
Booktrovert: So... what happens to Roslyn now?
Unlike always, Kiranya replied the next instant. And as foolish as that sounded, it made me happy. It made me feel important. Yeah, let me go kill myself.
BookManiac12: she lives.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
Booktrovert: Duh, I know that. But what about her love? She never grew out of it. Not even in her last letter...
This time, Kiranya took some time to reply.
BookManiac12: i think she simply learns to live with that. helium, no love dies. people do fall out of love, but the love never dies. it's knitted in the memories. it's saturated in the places. it's even in your behaviour. one way or other, you'll always remember every person you loved, whom you once called 'mine.' roslyn will get there some day. she'll understand that even though chase would never be hers again, it isn't the end of the world. she still has her parents, squirrel and sawyer. and from the epilogue, you know that there is some unknown person who has started caring about her too. love doesn't always have to be romantic and though the book didn't end with that character development, she will get there someday. and helium, this was something i learnt after watching my mother.
And for this reply, I didn't have anything to comment back. Her mother was being optimistic. It did make me happy to think that finally there was an adult figure to whom Kiranya could look up to. My phone vibrated again indicating another message.
BookManiac12: and knowing first hand that nothing lasts forever, i doubt the good things i have at present. but helium, even if someday you leave me for someone or i leave you for someone, you'll always be inside me because let's face it, even though we hadn't seen each other for eleven years, every time i look back at life, there's you and me in it. always.
For a second, all my mind could think was how she was talking about us in an 'us' manner and how much I was internally pumping my fist while hooting. But then, her meaning sank in and though I wanted to shout at her face that there will be no one 'after' her, I knew that with her present state of mind, that would be hard to believe in. But I knew. I knew that she'll come around.
After all, both her father and mother, because of whom she lost faith in 'happily ever after,' were coming around and it wouldn't take her ages to come around either. And because of that thought, I typed the words that scared me the most. Yuvan would be so proud right now.
Booktrovert: You won't believe me if I say it's for ever but damn BookManiac12, I really love you. To the world's largest library and back.
Naturally I blushed and had to hide my face but Kiranya's reply just added to the blood volume on my cheeks.
BookManiac12: trust me helium, i do too.
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BookManiac12 started following you.
1 minute ago.
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From: Unknown
To: Roslyn, the head cheerleader.
Roslyn,
Cheerleaders mentioned by me, here, are not the literal cheer captains. The cheerleaders I mention here are girls, boys or simply people who are misunderstood because of their posts, of their popularity, of their wealth or their outer masks. The cheerleaders I mention here are people who are humane but who are misunderstood for being inhumane.
Dedicated to all the misunderstood cheerleaders out there and mainly, to you, Roslyn.
When we read a cliche bad boy x good girl book, all we see is how the good girl is shy to the boy, confident and sassy to his girlfriend and a goody two shoes to her parents and friends. We all read those books. We all come to love that good girl. We appreciate her character. We love the bad boy, though he's a troublemaker, though he's a jerk, though he's a cheat to his cheerleader girlfriend. We all come to dislike—most of the times, hate the cheerleader. Because she's the bad boy's girlfriend, because she is popular, because she wears short skirts, because she's 'clingy.'
I don't know if you guys accept this but I accept with a proud heart that I was one of those judgemental personalities who loved the good girl, who was charmed by the bad boy and who hated the cheerleader.
But that was all before I became one. Before I became a cheerleader myself. No, I didn't suddenly wear short skirts. No, I didn't suddenly have an army behind me. No, I didn't suddenly become the queen bee. No, none of those things happened. But something that happens to every cheerleader in these stories happened to me.
I lost love.
I lost the person I loved the most.
And that was when reality sank in.
I was exactly in the Cheerleaders' shoes. I started seeing things through a cheerleader's eyes.
She tried to grip her love, to hold her love. She didn't want to let it slip through her fingers as she watched helplessly.
But you know what people called it? Yeah, even I used to use that word when the other cheerleaders did that. She was told by strangers that she was clingy.
People cursed her because she was a witch who was stealing her love from the good girl's pretty hands. What they never knew is that it was indeed the good girl they cherish so much that stole what was hers. Her love.
She was labeled as needy. The good girl was labeled as the faithful angel who was holding onto what was hers. But from an unbiased point of view, both of them were holding each end of the rope and were involved in a match of Tug of war, in this case, the bad boy. But the good girl was praised for holding onto the boy while when the cheerleader did the same thing, she was kicked aside for being clingy.
She tried to defend herself. People said that she was being a 'bitch.' The good girl's retorts, if I use their exact words, were 'bitchy' enough but it was praised as being sassy, as being confident, as fighting for what she deserved, as what was... right.
And it wasn't fair. Not fair at all.
The cheerleader watches as the guy who cherished her so much follows the good girl like a love sick puppy as soon as he sees her. Maybe what the bad boy and the good girl have is true love. Maybe they are meant to be together. Maybe it is the cheerleader who is the third wheel.
But we are all humans.
We all need time to heal.
If the good girls, all these writers portray, needs a tub of ice cream to drown her sorrows just when the bad boy says one, single mean comment to her, then of course the cheerleader would need days and trucks of ice cream to drown her sorrows when her boyfriend wordlessly goes on her back to be with the good girl without even breaking up with her first since they are, obviously (I'm being sarcastic here), only working on the school project they were paired up.
And because you're a cheerleader, they think that you don't deserve to cry, to feel sad, to throw a tantrum because, to put it bluntly, your life really sucked then.
In the end, when you remove the labels 'cheerleader,' 'good girl' and 'bad boy,' you get surprised that all this time, you were looking at the canvas from the opposite side, in a reversed manner. Like how Leonardo da Vinci writes with reversed fonts.
Then you take the canvas, stand in front of a mirror and then you see clearly. That what you thought was right was in fact, the most wrong thing. You see the picture in a different light. And you'll realise how the cheerleader was indeed the victim. You'll see how the bad boy wasn't a scarred, misunderstood soul but all through, he was just an insensitive jerk and the good girl whom everyone loved was indeed the vile one here, intentional or not. Through the mirror's reflection, you start seeing things through the cheerleader's eyes.
And you start wondering. Would you be a complete angel when your unfaithful boyfriend whom you love but who only wants you to quench his kissing craze goes to a new girl who behaves good to everyone with this beautiful smile but gives snarky remarks to you? And you keep wondering further. Would the good girl be so good if her boyfriend goes behind her back and falls for the new cheerleader who comes to school midyear? You won't be the one to comment when tables change. Good girl won't be good anymore. She'll be an erupting volcano. I don't know about you, but I'd erupt if my love is lost in front of my eyes. And yet again you see, it's the same situation. Same reactions. Two different people. Two different stereotypes. Your views gets biased because of the stereotypes.
But if you get personally affected, you'll erupt too, even if you try hard to grab and put your 'good' facade in place.
That's what we do. That's who we are. That's what 'being' human is. Humans are people who are dictated by emotions. We don't control emotions. It's always the other way around. If you can control your emotions 100% 24/7, then you've attained nirvana. Which, I find, is hard to attain these days.
This long speech, Roslyn, is not about finding faults in the much loved Bad boy x Good girl stories. Like I said at the start, the cheerleaders I mentioned are people who were wronged by society just because, yeah, they were labeled under stereotypes who were meant to be hated.
Humans are not all good and not all bad.
Everyone has their good and bad. The good girl who steals someone's boyfriend is obviously a good person but her badness shows when she becomes the bad boy's one true love when he is still in a relationship. The bad boy who is bad to his cheerleader girlfriend shows his goodness to the good girl because she deserves it. The cheerleader who shows badness to the good girl would show her goodness to the bad boy if he lets her.
See? They all have their good and bad.
In the end, it's all a cycle. Of good and bad. Of right and wrong. And, of love and hate.
So next time you go judge a person and label them under stereotypes, think this. Do you know the person? Do you know what they go through? Do you know what's in their minds? You don't know, right? So stop judging. Because someone good to you may be bad to someone else. And that's what it comes up to. It's all a cycle and without breaking it and thinking about it, just go on with it. Because who knows? You may be the good girl in your story while through someone's eyes, you're the cheerleader. And vice versa.
But remember, through the cheerleader's eyes, she is good.
And to her, that's what matters.
So Roslyn, chin up and s m i l e . 'cause there's a whole new world out there.
Epilogue - Through the Cheerleader's Eyes.
Written by - BookManiac12
Copyright BookManiac12 2016-2017
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Wrote this letter (epilogue) more than eight months back and didn't even read through it now haha xD (including the rest of the A/N)
And what Unknown wrote to Roslyn is my letter to everyone who's reading this.
All the words, each letter I wrote here is heartfelt. Every time I read a badboy x goodgirl book, I wonder about the cheerleader. I wonder what she would be feeling. I wonder what she will do when she sees the mean comments the badboy and goodgirl shippers leave behind. And it wasn't fair. Suddenly, I wanted to cry for the cheerleader.
Through the Cheerleader's Eyes was an actual book I've been planning to write but since Confessions is also a series of letters, I didn't want a repeat. And since Kiranya is a writer here, I decided to post this letter as her work.
So next time you go judge someone, learn their story first :)