Chapter 18 - An Eggplant Fell On The Floor
"Really? Oh my. Sidney I'm so proud of you." Mom hugged me after I let her read Mr. Frederick's text message. She was jumping up and down in her high heels. I was glad her heels didn't break.
Ed was behind her and he was giving me two thumbs up. He was also smiling so wide that I could see his gums, and I liked seeing him like that. He looked so cute and happy. I couldn't help but smile at him.
Mom finally let go of me. "Yeah mom. I'm proud of myself too." I joked, but I was just so happy. I couldn't believe that I'm actually going to be a song writer for famous artists. It was like a dream come true.
I liked songwriting, but I never thought that it would actually be turned into a song. I know that a lot of songwriters wish to be in my place, but wow. Just wow. It was happening to me!
"Have you talked to Mr. Frederick's assistant about the flight?" Mom asked, her eyes still glittering with joy.
I nodded. "Yes mom. She said she'll pick me up at 7 am on Saturday," I told her.
Mom didn't say anything else and just smiled. She looked beautiful, despite her old age. Her wrinkles didn't look obvious with her smile. She looked younger with her smile.
"I'll just drink water." I excused myself and went to the kitchen. My mouth really did feel dry. I spent all my saliva talking to Ed about how happy and thankful I was. I just couldn't stop being happy about my big news. I suddenly became talkative.
I opened the fridge and drank some cold refreshing water. I also took a peice of bread because my stomach ordered me to. It didn't have any spread or fillings, but hey it's food, I shouldn't complain.
When I got back to the living room, mom and Ed were talking, but I couldn't hear what they were talking about. Their faces looked serious, which was odd because just a few moments ago, they were jumping for joy with me.
Ed tilted his head and saw me. He immediately stopped talking to mom and smiled at me. I wanted to ask him about their conversation, but all I did was smile.
I walked towards them. "Hey," I greeted.
"Hey Sidney," Ed greeted back. "How was, uh, the water?" He asked nervously.
I raised my eyebrow. He just made me feel more curious. "Great? It still was tasteless." I told him. I actually didn't know what to reply when asked how was a water.
"That's great!" He beamed.
"Yeah." I said with an awkward laugh.
The atmosphere got a little awkward after that. I guess Ed realized that he asked a stupid question.
Mom coughed. "Let's have dinner!" She suggested. Ed and I nodded.
...
"I heard you're a songwriter now?" Aubrey asked while I was putting my books on my locker. She just immediately popped out of nowhere. Like a bubble. Only a bubble is fun and she's a nightmare.
I closed my locker door and faced her with my bitch face. "Who told you?" I asked with my arms crossed.
She looked at her nails like what girls usually does when they have new polished nails. Hers was in mint green. She was wearing a sleeveless purple dress that wasn't long enough to cover her knee. Mint green and purple? She looked like an eggplant.
"I have sources." She said, not even looking up at me. Yeah, like I needed to see her plastic face.
"Oh," I only said.
I turned around and started to walk away but I stopped when she said, "You're still a loser you know."
My blood boiled. I wanted to rip her head off. I wanted to push her in a pile of thumbtacks. I wanted dump her in a toilet. I just had enough of her. Even though she's prettier than me, I am still a lot better than her. I wasn't going to back down.
I turned around and faced her. I gave her a sarcastic smile. "Atleast I'm not a talentless wannabee." I snapped at her.
I almost saw fire and rage in her eyes. She walked closer to me. She pointer her finger between my eyes. "You are a worthless bitch, Sidney Stewart. You are nothing, and I am something. Best of all? I have Ed and you don't."
She turned around and walked away in her super high heels. She made quite a exit, but not for long. She tripped only about two meters away from me and fell flat on the floor. I laughed and so did some of the students who saw her.
I should've been angry and insecure because of what she said, but her being embarassed was enough for me to get over her words. Atleast I wasn't the one who tripped in front of everybody. I wasn't the eggplant who fell and got embarassed.
I turned around and walked towards my next class with victory. Well, not really because she still had Ed, but she did made a fool of herself so I was still a victor.
While I was walking, I couldn't help but look at my side. It was empty. I was alone. Again.
A few months ago, Ed was always with me walking to class because we have the same schedule throughout the day. He was always with me during lunch. He was always with me walking towards class. Now, with Aubrey, we barely see each other.
Yesterday, we did have dinner together, but I still couldn't help but miss him. Miss everything about him. Especially his smile, his laugh, and the way he makes me smile. He doesn't even pick me up on mornings anymore, because he's always with Aubrey. Everything about him now includes Aubrey. Aubrey Aubrey Aubrey. Blah.
But he could still make me smile, though. Even if we don't see each other much anymore, we still always make sure that every time we're together, we make the most of it. Everytime we're together, I would always smile just by looking at him. Everytime I look at him, I get lost in his dazzling blue eyes.
So what if we only see a few times a week? Atleast when he's with me, he's happy. Real happy.
Everytime he's with Aubrey, I always see a pinch of sadness in his eyes. Like he's not happy. It's a fact that I couldn't understand because he always had a crush on her. He had always talked about her. He had always loved her.
But why wasn't he happy with her now that they were always together?
I felt someone started walking beside me. I looked at who it was, and I saw Kevin. "Hey!" He greeted with glitters in his eyes. Not literally.
"Hey." I greeted back. "Isn't your next class on the next building?" I asked, stopping my tracks, pointing on the building that the opposite way of where I was heading to.
He shrugged. "Yeah," he said. "But I saw you and now I want to accompany you to your class." He smiled at me.
There he was again, smiling too much. Since the day before, he was happier than he'd ever been. It was like he won a lottery ticket worth a million dollars.
I looked at him skeptically. "You're really joyful today, you know," I told him. "Is there any big news or something?" I asked.
He chuckled rocking his head back and forth. Again, it was weird. "Nothing, really. I'm just glad to see you."
Here's another weird thing. I felt butterflies in my stomach. It's like I want to hear him say those words again for a hundred times. I didn't know why I felt those. Usually Ed was the one who makes me feel them and not Kevin.
I smiled at him. "Well, we're going to be late. Maybe you should just head to your class. I can walk by myself, you know." I told him.
He shook his head. "I want to accompany you. I want to walk you to class. Please let me." He pleaded.
I sighed. "Okay." I said.
While we walking, some girls were looking at us, and I knew those girls very well. They were the gossip girls.
One was looking at me like she wanted to rip me into shreds, and another looked like she wanted to eat me alive. They were about 7 girls hanging out together to do nothing but gossip about people's lives. They all rolled their eyes at me.
"First Ed, and now Kevin? I hate her." A red head gossiped and it was obvious that she intented to make her voice louder for me to hear her.
Are they going to hate me everytime I'm with someone? Even my mom? Even the Janitor?
I really couldn't understand the minds of the gossip girls. Surely there's gossip girls in every school. They will hate you for this, and when you stop doing it, they'll still hate you. Like, what should you do? Become a statue?
Kevin saw my face. "Are they making you uncomfortable?" He asked, his face really worried.
I bit my lip. "Well, yeah, but..." He didn't let me finish. He walked towards the gossip girls. I just stood and listened.
"Girls, don't you have anything else to do? Something that could actually make you have a future? If you're going to keep gossiping about people for the rest of your lives, you should just probably drop out. Try making Sidney uncomfortable again, and you'll regret you ever had a mouth." He threatened at them and left.
My mouth hung open. I stared at them. Kevin stood in front of me and smiled at me.
I wanted to hug him. I wanted to thank him for talking to those girls for me. I didn't know why, but I couldn't help but feel so happy.
I smiled at him. "Thank you," I said.
He only nodded. We started walking towards my next class.
When we arrived, many of my classmates were already there, which means that the class was about to start. I was about to thank Kevin for accompanying me, but then I saw Ed sitting alone in his seat with sadness in his face.
I almost forgot that Kevin was there if it wasn't for him saying goodbye to me first.
"I'll see you around, Sidney. Good bye for now." He said. I smiled at him as he started to walk away.
I walked inside the room and sat beside Ed. I placed my book on my table and turned to look at him. "Why so gloomy?" I asked.
His sad face suddenly vanished and was replaced by a smile. A fake smile. "Nothing. What do you mean?" He asked, obviously lying. I wanted to say that I could tell he was lying, but decided not to.
"Nothing." I only said.
Mr. Johnson suddenly entered the room. He stood in front and looked at all of us like he had a thousand eyes. (Percy Jackson fans, it's Argus! *shocked face*)
"I have two announcements." He suddenly said, his voice echoing around the room. His voice was so deep, so it really did go together with his tux. Like the tux wasn't already intimidating.
"First, it's about your poem project," he started. "I had picked one poem from all those who had passed on time and the winners will get to read it in front of everyone at the Promenade on Friday." He said.
Murmurs already spreaded around the room. Everybody wanted to boast their works.
"So, the winner is..... Ed and Mikayla."
Everyone including me started clapping. Some were clapping but disappointed that they didn't win. I clapped because I was happy for him. What did they even expect? Of course they'll win. The best poet and the smartest guy in class combined? That's just impossible to beat.
"Congrats!" I whispered to Ed.
He smiled. This time, I could tell it was real. "Thank you." He said. I smiled back.
"Second," Mr. Johnson continued. Everybody kept their mouth shut. "Classes tomorrow will be suspended due to a teacher's seminar. So for those who still needs some extra preparations for the promenade, this is your lucky day."
Everyone started clapping again, but this time louder. Nobody liked going to school a day before an important event. Girls needed beauty rest, and guys needed to play video games, errr... I mean prepare as well.
The rest of the day wasn't much. Just normal school days. But I couldn't wait for a rest day tomorrow. I can watch Masterchef all I wanted. Beauty sleep? Nah. I'll just stick to food.
With Ed going shopping with Aubrey and Kevin needing to get his "other needed things for prom", I walked home alone. But I didn't mind it though. I liked the peace and the alone time especially that in just two nights, the night that I've been dreading the entire year will finally come, and I'm actually excited about it.
Funny how fast your feelings towards something changes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heeeeeeey!
Sorry if it's just a short chapter. The next chapter will be full of revelations! *gasps*
So, 'til the next update!
Z.
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