"Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable." - Bruce Lee
// Important author's note after this chapter. Please make sure to read it! //
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Last night, Annie and Mike went to have some sibling fun. They both rode almost all the rides in the amusement park, and played a lot of games from random stalls. Mike even won his sister a large pink bear from one of the games, to which Annie almost died from embarassment from how childish it seemed, but nonetheless, she accepted the gift wholeheartedly.
That night, Annie didn't hesitate to hide her smiles. In fact, she was smiling althoughout the night. She couldn't help it.
They got home at 11:50 p.m. Although they went home too late, no regrets were found since they enjoyed their time together. There was no doubt that the Clifford siblings were getting closer like how close they were originally in the past, and Mike was sure that her ice was slowly melting, and was happy for that.
The next morning, Annie did her daily routine, though she wore an unusual smile on her face while doing so. She took a shower and picked her clothes from her walk-in closet. She decided to wear a pink floral dress matched with her pink flats since it's summer, making sure that they were matching, yet warm in the eyes. The color didn't seem to stand out like the typical Barbie-colored dresses on malls. It only had a normal tint of pink: not too much, and not too shabby.
After that, she decided to curl her hair -- only the ends of her hair -- and wore a white headband. She looked at her reflection and the mirror and felt satisfied with herself.
It was unusual though, because the smile plastered in her face seemed to be unremovable. She couldn't help but remember what happened last night at the amusement park. She definitely missed hanging out with her brother.
Annie was thirty minutes early when she arrived at her college, so she decided to go to and buy some frap from Starbucks. She started walking to the cafe and when she entered, she noticed that Ashton and Calum were sitting at the table they sat on yesterday. They haven't noticed her yet. She ordered her frap and went to sit next to them while waiting for her drink to come.
She greeted them as she sat down. "Hi. What are you guys doing here?"
Both boys weren't answering her and were just staring. She was confused. She then realized that almost all of the boys at the cafe were staring at her as usual.
"Is something wrong with my face?" She started touching her face and Calum soon broke his trance and stopped her. He started pinching her cheeks.
"You're so beautiful today! I told you to smile more often!" He laughed while pinching her cheeks.
Annie swatted his hands and laughed lightly.
"Wa! You're even laughing! Is the world going to end now?!" Ashton exclaimed but Annie continued laughing. The boys at the cafe were awestruck since it was rare that the ice princess was smiling and laughing, but it was a really good sight.
Soon her frap arrived and she immediately started drinking it. "You guys haven't answered my question yet."
"Oh. Well we're kind of craving for coffee since you took us here yesterday, and we kind of figured that you'd be here this morning. Last time, you came at English class holding a coffee with you," Ashton explained.
"Annie, I wasn't joking though. You look more beautiful when smiling. I'm not saying that you're not beautiful, okay? Just try to smile from time to time. But not too much, or the boys'll fave heart attacks," Calum explained and gestured to the boys at the cafe who were still gawking at Annie.
Annie just smiled in response. Once the three finished they decided to head to their class.
She told the boys to head to class first as she wanted to stop be her locker and take the books she will be needing today. The boys nodded and went off.
Annie went to her locker and took only the books that were necessary for her next classes. She was walking at the hallway when a boy stepped in front of her. She didn't look at his face and said, "Excuse me," but the boy didn't budge and stayed in front of her.
Annie was getting pissed and looked at the boy's face, but was shocked as she recognized that it was the boy that saved her the night she was at the park. Well, it was more like he disrupted her as she believed that she could handle the situation herself.
She blinked at him, her face showing no emotions at this time, but her eyes were full of curiousity.
"Hi. You're the girl at the park, right?" The boy asked. Annie didn't bother to reply though and continued staring at him as she didn't know how to respond. "I'm Luke by the way," he continued, introducting himself and proceeded in taking out his hand, asking for a handshake.
She stared at the hand at first but eventually shook it still feeling hesitant, "Annie."
"Why did you leave that night? I was about to ask if you were fine but you were already gone," he said slightly pouting.
'Is this guy seriously pouting? He looks cute though. Wait what am I thinking?' She thought, internally knocking her head for thinking that.
She looked at her surroundings and noticed that girls near them were glaring at her.
Luke followed her gaze and saw the girls who were glaring daggers at Annie. He sighed. He remembered the bracelet that he took at the park and searched his pockets for it but he couldn't find it. Annie looked at him confused, but Luke just dismissed the idea and thought that he probably left it at the dorm.
The bell rang suddenly, "Hey, I gotta go now, okay? I'm pretty sure we'll bump to each other eventually. Bye!" He waved at her and disappeared in the hallway.
The girls are still glaring at her and whispered to each other. Annie didn't mind them at all. She hugged her books to her check and went to her classroom, not wanting to be late. Those glares wouldn't affect her -- she thought confidently -- or so she thought.
The day finished, and just like that, it was already time to go home. Today, she made a new friend at her International Studies class, named Clara Smith. She was petite with medium length hair and milky soft skin. The professor was late and Annie was surprised that Clara talked to her all of a sudden. They talked about random things and just like that, they both clicked. Now, they were both walking to the gate.
"Bye, Annie! My mom's already here to pick me up. Are you sure you don't want a ride? I can tell my mom to drop you off." Clara whole-heartedly offered.
"No it's fine. It's just five minutes away from here, anyways. Bye!" Annie waved and Clara as well.
Once Clara's car had driven off, she headed home and couldn't stop thinking about today. It kept replaying in her head like there was some kind of a replay button and someone just kept pressing it over and over again.
'Funny. For the last three years I haven't got any friends, and now, in just a span three days, I already have three friends,' she smiled a little at the thought.
She stopped by the park near their apartment and sat on the swing -- the same swing she sat when she was saved by Luke. Suddenly, Luke came inside her mind and she couldn't help but wonder it he was one of those playboy guys who breaks girls' hearts. Then, her mind went to Kaiden. She remembered not seeing him at English class today too. She suddenly felt angry as she remembered her brother's busted lip and injured hand. Her thoughts were cut off though as a voice broke her line of thoughts.
"I knew it was you," a voice said beside her ear startling her a bit.
She looked up and saw that it was...
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Author's Note:
Hahaha. I know. Most of you are disappointed with this update. Well, I'm disappointed too, but for different reasons. Why? Well, only a few of you guys leave some comments behind, so I'm making a deal. At least 5 votes or 5 comments for next chapter and I'll post another chapter. Till then, I won't be posting any updates. Sorry, but the silence is ticking me off. I thought a lot of people would like this story. I guess not.