Chapter Twenty Four
It was a quarter past midnight, my shoulders ached, the sleeves of my work shirt were covered in spaghetti sauce, and I was utterly exhausted. I opened the door after a missing the key in the hole several times. Every extra second I stayed up as a challenge for my eyes to continue opening.
I make my way to my room in a zombie-like fashion. I all but collapsed on my bed a millisecond after I lazily kicked off my shoes. I landed face first on the bed, and even the uncomfortable position was drowned out by the bed's pull to lull me to sleep.
I contemplated not brushing my teeth for an extra five minutes of sleep. One day won't give me cavities I tried to convince myself.
I woke up the next morning, passing out in the middle of deciding whether or not ot be a slob. I was still in my work clothes and I slept through my alarm.
I had 10 minutes to get to school, which on the brightside is a new late record for myself.
There was barely any time before I'm flying out the door. I was like a magician that morning, brushing my teeth and combing my hair at the same time. Putting my shoes on and grabbing my backpack. I looked like one of those old timey actors whose actions were sped up in editing, only mine was in real life.
My phone had less than 50%, and I had a feeling one of my step-sisters stole my backup charger. I really had to rely on my car's crappy charger.
On said phone, I received over 100 texts last night (not an exaggeration) collectively from my step-sisters. It was mostly them complaining about how I did something wrong and whatever other annoying tasks they ordered me to do.
I ignored it and focus on getting to school only 20 minutes late. My parking job was sloppy and most likely crooked and I can't remember if I locked my car, but I managed to shave off 10 minutes with reckless driving. Besides, no one will want to steal the old scrap metal that is my car.
I don't pay attention to my surroundings and head straight to class hoping today was one of the off days my teacher was late. Although in that case my rushing would have been for nothing.
Something kept catching my eyes, there was a weird blue posters around the halls. It was literally everywhere, next to very classroom door or exit. You couldn't go 2 feet without seeing another one. I had no time to focu on it, and I doubted it pertained to me anyway, probably an overzealous kid running for student body.
I managed to make it to class with minor incidents, the teacher gave me a dirty look but didn't say anything so I'd consider that a plus.
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I didn't pay attention to the posters again until it was time for lunch. I figured I had more time and glancing at one for 5 seconds wouldn't be that much of a waste of time. I zeroed in on one in the corner of the hall giving me more space to look.
It turns out those 5 seconds were more than enough to give me a heart attack. The pale blue poster was simplistic in design, the image of a glass slipper was center-stage. It read: "Cinderella come find me. I have something of yours -Derric Wilder".
It suddenly became hard to breathe, a lump formed in my chest and weighed down every shallow breath. There was too much stimulation in the halls, too many noise and sounds. My vision was getting fuzzy and harder to focus.
In my one moment of clarity I texted Edmon hurridly and ducked into the staircase. The bell already rang, and by now most people were already at lunch so it was nice and empty.
He found me a few minutes later leaning against the wall clutching my head tightly. "Adira?" I lifted my head sightly in recognition. Ed wordlessly stood next to me and put an arm around my shoulder.
"What happened?" The million dollar question.
"He's looking for me, he put up posters all over the school. People are obsessed with this fictional image of Cinderella that they're projecting on me. He's going to find out who I am, and then the whole school will know and my stupid family will do everything in their power to make things ten times worse. I can't handle it, it's becoming too much. You were right, I never should have gotten involved with him."
My breathing was getting more shallow and my chest rose up and down rapidly. My head began to spin and I felt like I was getting no air despite breathing heavily.
"I feel lightheaded." I say resting an arm on his shoulder in an attempt to steady myself. I felt like I was about to fall and collapse on the floor which only served to make me panic more.
"What's happening to me?" I asked frantically as the pancic wouldn't stop.
"You're hyperventilating." He reassured me in a soothing tone, but I saw the panic just as clear in his eyes. "Let's sit down."
"Don't let go." I clutch onto his arm even tighter. He gives me a reassuring squeeze. "I won't."
He leads us a few steps to the stairs and we take a seat. "Let's take some deep breaths together, just follow my breathing." I nod along numbly, willing to take any advice to get me out of this state.
"There you do, nice and easy." We take a few deep breaths together, all while my hand gripped his. We did this about ten times before my breathing regulated itself.
"Are you ok now?" I nod hesitantly.
"Much better than before." I admit. "Thanks Edmon." He responds with a grateful smile.
"Now that you're calm let's approach this with a level head." I nod and take a deep breath to prepare myself.
"What happens if he's searching for you? As much as I hate it, try to understand where he's coming from. You haven't given him your name, and abruptly walked away from him with no context, his curiosity is burning within him. It's a miracle he's lasted this long." He veers off into a tangent, seemingly slightly annoyed about Derric's perseverance.
"My point is, is it a guarantee that if he knows the whole school will know?"
"No, but-"
"It was a simple yes or no question Adira. Don't make thing more complicated for possibilities that may never happen. There's no reason to work yourself into a frenzy over things that might not happen and which you have no control over."
"Take things one at a time, if something happens we'll deal with it together. You're not in this alone." I needed that reassurance, to remind myself to stop being irrational.
Edmon places his hand on top of mine as a physical reminder because apparently it's something I forget often.
"Thanks Ed for all of this, I really appreciate it." I turn to face him completely giving him a grateful smile.
"Anytime." He smiles widely with his teeth on display which was cute, and I saw a look of hesitance in his eyes although I couldn't place why.
He distracted me before I could think about it further. "What did you lose at the party?"
I shrug immediately, the hell if I know. "I don't know I can't think of anyt-" My hands shot to my neck as I let out a surprised gasp.
"My necklace." I never put it back, and things have been so chaotic it slipped my mind. It was my parent's engagement ring and represented a simpler time in my life. Does he really have the necklace or is it something else?
One thing's for certain I need to get it back, which means I have to face Derric.
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I made a decision as soon as I left the stairwell with Edmon. I was faced with the decision to be a coward or the opposite of a coward.
I decided to.....
Deal with it tomorrow and face him then.
I figured I would have more strength tomorrow mentally, and giving myself 24 hours seemed like a sufficient amount of time to recuperate.
In the meantime I wondered why he never texted me that I lost something. I sent him the message, was he angry at him? I stay in the staircase for a few minutes after Edmon left. I open my phone to our text convo and immediately want to kill myself.
I never pressed send.
How did I miss something like this? I'm all over the place and need to get my shit together. Fuck! Does he think I ditched him on purpose? I threw my head back and cursed myself over and over again for being so stupid.
What if he hates me now and wants to expose who I am? What if he wants to ruin our friendship and whatever else we might have. Have I been imagining that the whole time and looking too much into things? He must think of the worst of me now, how can I face him tomorrow?
My mind was falling into the rabbit hole of dark places where I relive all my mistakes and think of every possible negative outcome. This time there was no Edmon to save me from myself.
It was times like these where I wished I could discover my time-traveling powers. Unfortunately I stayed the same and have to live with the consequences of my stupidity.
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Ten minutes later and I have to drag myself from my self-loathing to satisfy my hunger. It was only the cry of a dying whale emerging from y stomach that made me realize it was time to get up.
I walk into the cafeteria hoping to grab something light and walk out with no incidents when I see a ginormous line of girls.
They were waiting by Derric's table all looking excited and jumpy. It no doubt had to do with the posters, he's popular but not that popular.
I caught a small glimpse of Derric's face, he was unimpressed with the Cinderella wannabees and frankly looked bored out of his mind. His friends were getting a real kick out of it though.
I don't know why they decided to make the Cinderella comparison because I'm far from a Disney princess. I'm not a Cinderella archetype, I'm just Adira and that's ok.
I turn around and walk out of the cafeteria with a newfound confidence and courage to fight for myself.
I can face Derric, I can handle what he has to say. I will get my necklace back and tell him my name once and for all.
There's no reason to be afraid.