Sidney's POV

Three days had passed. We didn't see each other and we didn't talk either. I stayed inside my room the whole weekend, trying to be away from the world even just for two days. I barely even ate and just watched some animated movies on my laptop to let the time pass.

It was hard ignoring Zoe during those three days. She always tried to talk to me, and God knows how many times I tried to wave her off, but she just couldn't seem to understand that I didn't want to hear whatever she wanted to say. Every time she was inside our room, I would cover my ears with headphones with the highest volume so she wouldn't talk to me. The volume was too loud that I couldn't even hear my own thoughts, so it worked with ignoring her. Last night, she gave up and just slept without saying a word to me.

It was Monday, the start of the Baron University Week. Baron was a college, not a University, so it was supposed to be College Week. But hey, I didn't choose the name.

I was too lazy to go to the opening ceremony. My eyes were tired, and so was my body. They were tired of doing absolutely nothing. I was so convinced to stay inside my room for the whole day, maybe for the whole week if given the chance, but the school bell was too loud and protesting that I stood up in defeat. Attendance was going to be checked anyway, so I had to come.

Zoe already left that morning early at about 6:00 because she was needed in school. The play was a great success so she was asked to be the star of the float parade as Cinderella. She told me about it the day before, even though I snubbed her, and informed me that it was supposed to be Ed and her, but he refused. I wanted to say that it didn't make everything better, but I couldn't because honestly it did make me secretly breathe in relief.

But even just thinking about the play
and about their kiss made my heart break into a million pieces.

Honestly, I expected them to have a kiss even before the practices for the play started. It was a classic fairytale, and it was a college play, so it was kind of expected. But, it was also the thing that I was scared of most. What kind of girl would ever want their boyfriend to kiss with another girl, fake or not fake? Especially if that girl is damn beautiful?

I asked Ed about it. He said that they won't have a kiss, and I believed him. When he told it to me it was like all the worries inside me was released, and it felt really good that I smiled while sleeping that night. He made me believe that there won't be any. BUT HE LIED TO ME.

I was just gone for a week, and when I came back, them happened. Standing there at the side behind the curtain, watching them kiss, it was the moment that I felt my whole world break down. It was like I was a bunny walking by the shore, and was swallowed by a gigantic wave. If only I was a turtle who could live underwater, but I wasn't.

They kissed in front of me, our parents, and the whole school. It hurt like a plane crashed over me. Like I was drowning in the Mariana Trench. Like he was pulling my heart out of my chest with his bare hands.

Maybe if he just told me about it, the pain would've not been this big. Maybe I would still be heartbroken, but at least I wouldn't be drowning with anger because of his lie. Maybe if he just said that, "Hey, Sidney! We're having a kiss at the end of the play. But don't worry, you're still the person I love," I would be at the school that moment, all happy and mingling with my schoolmates.

I finished shower and got into my clothes as sluggishly as I could. It was such a lazy day for me. I didn't do anything, yet it felt like my body ran a thousand miles.

Before I left the room, I looked at myself in Zoe's full length standing mirror that was glued to her closet door. My hair was a bit messy, but I didn't really mind it because as what I have heard it was a fashion statement. My eyes were a bit groggy as well, but it was because of my too much sleep so I just decided to wear sunglasses. My outfit was simple as usual, a white statement shirt paired with black ripped skinny jeans and a pair of white converse.

I looked at myself for the last time and told myself, "Thanks to weird fashion, I don't think I look like a lazy person at all."

I walked away from the mirror and headed to the door. But just as the moment I was holding the door knob, someone on the other side tried to open it too. I jerked back in surprise and felt afraid that it might be Zoe. But it was impossible. She was probably on the parade that moment, so she could not be on the other side. Was it Ed? Maybe, but if it was him, what would I do then?

I just stood there thinking those thoughts, but the person on the other side decided to open the door again and revealed himself.

"Harry?" I asked in surprise. He was lowering his head, which I didn't understand, and he was wearing a beanie so his curly hair was like sprouting out of it. He raised his head a little just enough for me to see his eyes, and what I couldn't understand was that instead of the glint I usually saw in them, what I saw was fear. "What's the matter? Is anything wrong?" I worriedly asked.

His pursed his lip and looked at me straight in the eye. "I need to talk to you." He said like a command. I opened the door wider to let him in and offered him to sit on the bed because I only got one chair for my study table and I didn't have any plans of borrowing Zoe's.

After we sat down, there was a moment of silence. Neither of us talked, and all I did was play with my nails. I even noticed the little dirt on my thumb which I guessed was from the book that I tried to read the other day. It was a bit old and was full of dust.

When it looked like a year of silence, I spoke up. "So," I started with a smile. "What was it again that you wanted to talk to me about?"

He clasped his hands and took a deep breath like what he was going to tell me was a matter of life and death. "I... Sidney I need you to know that... That uh..." He stuttered with his hands shaking like a blender.

"That what?" I asked.

He paused, probably taking all the courage that was inside him and said, "I tried to sabotage you and Ed."

I just stared at him and froze like an ice cube. It was even like I forgot how to breathe. It was funny how that was possible, forgetting how to breathe, because ever since I was born it was the thing that kept me alive. To make it short, I felt like dying. "What?" I asked when I finally regained my senses. I said it with a scoff like he was joking and I wasn't falling for it.

He closed his eyes and pressed his thumbs on them. "I paid Zach to get close to you and kiss you so Ed would break up with you. I also paid Ben, the scriptwriter, to not put the kissing scene on Ed's script so Zoe would kiss him without her knowing that Ed had no idea at all. I even tried my best to not let the practices get to the kissing scene." He explained without taking a pause to breathe. "And now, seeing you both like this made me feel guilt all over me. It's awful, and I regret it. I'm sorry, Sidney. I really am, and please don't punch me in the face." He crossed his wrists in front of him, making a body shield.

His words processed inside my mind slowly. Zach kissing me because he was paid? Ed actually not knowing that they were having a kissing scene?

Ed...

"So are you saying that Ed was telling me the truth this whole time?" I asked with my heart pumping so hard. He nodded in response. "Shit." I cursed, running my hand through my hair.

I only believed what I thought I saw. I never gave him the chance to explain. He and Zoe tried to tell me, but I shut them out. I spent the whole weekend isolating myself because I believed on something that I only thought when I could've spent it with romantic dates and movie marathons.

I felt a burning sensation on my eyes, and I knew what it meant. I was going to cry. "Why?" I asked him with a shaky voice. "Why did you do that? Of all people, why you? I thought you were our friend?"

His eyes softened when he saw the first tear drop from my eyes. He was guilty and ashamed, I saw it in his eyes. I wanted to yell at him and strangle him, but somehow I couldn't. He became a friend and it was still too surreal for me to accept it. I treated him as a friend because Ed trusted him and treated him as his best friend. There was anger in the deepest part of my heart, but with the way I saw how sorry he was with what he did, I somehow couldn't stand being angry with him. He admitted it himself that he did it, but somehow I still saw him as a friend.

"The truth is, my girlfriend blackmailed me into doing it." He closed his eyes and I swear he almost cried.

"Your girlfriend?" I asked. "Wha.. Why would she do that to you? Who is she?" My head suddenly became a mess with what he said.

He raised his eyebrow and studied me like he was a scientist and I was his experiment. "Why aren't you punching me? Why aren't you shouting at me? Why aren't you trying to kill me?" He said in confusion.

Even though I felt mixed emotions inside my chest, I still managed to smile. "I don't know. Maybe I just think you're not capable of doing those things, and I was right. You were only told." I said truthfully. Somehow, Harry did that to me. I couldn't stand being angry with him. Maybe inside me I sensed that he was a good person. "Why did your girlfriend make you do that?"

He sighed. "You see, before college started, she and I had a fight. We broke up, actually, but I still loved her. I tried to win her back, despite her mean attitude towards me." He smiled while saying those words. "When college started, we talked on the phone. Then, when I mentioned you and Ed, she changed. She insisted me on doing certain things to you, and honestly Sidney, you wouldn't want to know most of them."

"She knows us?" I asked.

"I don't really know. When I first mentioned to her Ed's name, that was when she told me things. My guess is, she likes Ed. Maybe they both knew each other, but I'm not really sure. All I could sense was she hates you, and liking Ed was the only reason I could think of, since the sabotage included both of you." He explained with his palms on his lap.

I paused for a second before asking another question. "Why did you still do it? Even though you thought that she liked him?"

He laughed sarcastically. "The exact same thing I asked myself a thousand of times. But you see, Sidney, it's what I only think, right?" He asked and I nodded. "So there could be a chance that I'm wrong. So I still did it, hoping that if I do get to break you two up, I get to win her back." He explained.

I didn't say anything. I just sat there, and tried to think of a reason for his girlfriend to do it to me and Ed. Harry was from Canada and I didn't know anyone from Canada. Maybe Ed knew someone, but he and I had been friends since we were kids. If he had an enemy, I should have known.

"What's the name of your girlfriend?" I asked. If I was going to ask Ed about it, knowing the girl's name was an important detail.

He sighed again. "Her name is Hayley Jones." He said.

If I was shocked when Harry told me that he did it all, I was more shocked when he said her name. I laughed inside me. Of course. Who else could it be?

"Of course. It's Hayley. After all this time, after everything that happened, it's still her." I laughed sarcastically.

Harry raised his eyebrow at me. "Wait, you know her?" He asked and I nodded. His face was full of shock. "H-how?"

I sighed and explained to him everything. I told him about Hayley being my half sister, about how she had blackmailed two of my classmates just to separate me from Ed, and about how she had almost ruined my life.

"But she said she was from Wisconsin. That was what she told me when she moved to Canada last year." Harry scratched the back of his head.

I shrugged. "We thought she's in Texas right now. I guess she lied to all of us." I sighed and patted his shoulder. It must've been hard for him since he was in a relationship with her for a year. "Maybe you love her, but honestly Harry, she doesn't deserve someone like you. You are a great person, and she isn't deserving enough to have you. Someone else is meant for you." I told him truthfully. Harry is someone who deserves a girl who will be honest and caring for him, and Hayley is far from the girl.

"You're right, Sidney. Thank you." He gave
me a faint smile. "I have to move on. I always knew she was evil like Voldemort, the way she was a sadist girlfriend, but I guess I was blinded by my love for her. But now, I'm enlightened. I now see that loving her is wrong."

I smiled at him. "Speaking of wrong, I have to apologize to Ed."

"He's going to sing, right?" He said and I nodded, even though I really didn't know. Ed never told me about it. "Maybe we can make it and watch him sing. Let's go." Before I could ever protest, he dragged me out of the door.

When we got to the gymnasium, it was packed with people raising banners, balloons and flags of different colors. I was included in the Green team, but I didn't join in any of the activities.

The view of the different colors was astounding that I couldn't help but smile, but my smile was quickly turned into shock when I saw her face near the stage. "Harry, why didn't you tell me that she's here?" I asked him with alarm.

He looked at the direction where I was looking and his reaction was the same as mine. "I- I didn't know." He said, stuttering.

Hayley saw us and gave us a mischievous smile. She then went to the back stage.

"Uh-oh." Harry said. "She's planning something. Let's go before she does anything." He said and dragged me again. It was the second time he had dragged me and my wrists weren't loving it.

When we reached the back stage, we tried to find her, but we couldn't. "We should separate." He suggested with his head looking side by side, hoping to see her.

"What? Are you sure?" I asked him and he nodded. "Okay." I said. He ran to the left and I ran to the right. I searched the bathroom, the dressing room, but she was nowhere to be found.

I stopped for a moment to catch some breath because I ran out of air. But then, I heard a sound of a metal hitting another metal. I looked to the direction of the sound, which was the control room, and saw her fighting with a guy. She looked like she was yelling at him.

I hurriedly went inside and tried to stop her from tearing the guy to pieces. "Stop! Hayley, stop!" I screamed and pulled her away from the guy.

She tried to pull away from me, in which she succeeded, and faced me with rage in her eyes. The guy ran away immediately, afraid to get torn to pieces for the second time. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Sidney oh ms prom queen." She crossed her arms and gave me one of those mean girl looks.

"Why are you here, Hayley?" I asked her. "After being sent to Texas, you still managed to come after us? Do you really hate me that much that you would make your boyfriend your follower just to separate me and Ed?"

She laughed wickedly and rolled her eyes at me. "Why wouldn't I make your life miserable? Dad didn't only leave us, but also moved back in with your mom. How do you think I should feel? I'm miserable and you should be too." She spat at me and all I saw on her face was pure anger.

I wanted to hate her, to tackle her to the ground, but I couldn't. Somehow, I couldn't blame her. If I was in her position, I would be angry too. Maybe not as crazy as what she had become, but I will feel bad if my own father doesn't love me.

"And Harry?" She scoffed. "I did love him, but he's too nice that he's boring. He's too desperate. I would leave him and not answer his calls anymore, but when he told me that his roommate was no other than Dylan Edward Matthews, I just gotta make use of him, right? And so, tada. Welcome to the Hayley Revenge Plan 2.0."

Suddenly, I didn't feel guilty anymore. If she was angry, I would understand. But she was crazy, mad, out of her mind. A normal person wouldn't get into that much trouble.

She reached for the rope that was tied to a metal beside her and untied it quickly. I would stop her, but I didn't know what the rope was for. "See this?" She held out the rope for me to see. She was holding onto it tightly so it must've been really heavy. "Connected to this is a big bag filled with stones that is above the stage of the gymnasium. Who is singing later again?" She asked me but I got the feeling that she already knew the answer.

I gasped. "Don't you ever try to do that to Ed." I warned her, but my voice was shaking. I was scared. I didn't want to see Ed lying on the stage floor lifeless.

"He'll be on the stage any minute from now, and all I gotta do is just let go of this rope." She waved the rope in front of me.

"Let us now have Dylan Edward Matthews for a song number!" The emcee said over the microphone.

I looked at Hayley and glared at her. "You wouldn't."

She laughed. "Oh really." She slipped the rope and grabbed it again, but my heart felt like a thousand bass drums when she did it.

I took a breath and tried to take the rope away from my her, but I tried my best not to let the rope complete slip away from her hand. I tried everything. I tried to smack her, to punch her, to take the rope, but every chance only made me fear that the rope will completely slip off.

I was running out of options. I only had one choice.

I ran outside and went to the stage. I could hear her screaming that she'll let go of the rope. Run faster. Run faster. I told myself repeatedly. I gave all of my energy just to get to the stage as fast I could. I heard the rope slip off and the metals moving above me.

I was on the stage. Ed was standing in the middle. Me just being about two meters away from him, I saw the bag dropping in a rapid distance.

I ran faster, like flash, like the cartoons which had wheel-like legs when running.

Then, just a few inches before the bag hit him, I managed to push him to the side.

When the bag fell down, I was slightly hit on the heel, but it was only a bruise. The bag hit the floor with a loud sound that caused everybody to stop moving. My hands were on Ed's chest as I breathed in and out.

He was okay. I was okay. No one got hurt.

I saw Hayley ran away but got caught by the police. Harry was beside them grinning like a maniac. Thank you, Harry. I mentally said.

"Are you okay?" Ed asked with worry. "What happened? Where did that come from? How'd you know it was going to fall?"

I cupped his face. "It was Hayley. It was her all along."

"What?" He scrunched his eyebrows. "What do you mean? She's here?" He asked in surprise and looked left and right.

I nodded. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later, okay?" I told him. "But, I just have to tell first that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. I'm sorry that I acted like stupid girlfriend." I explained and sighed. "I'm so sorry. I've been so preoccupied worrying about how I might lose you that when you and Zoe kissed, I freaked out." Tears were already forming on my eyes.

Ed smiled at me and cupped my cheeks back. "It's okay. I understand. Just remember that I always love you. I always will." He said and I nodded. He then offered me the microphone. "Mind accompanying me to this song?"

I wiped the tears away from my eyes. "Okay. But, what song is this?" I asked.

He took another microphone for him from a guy beside the stage and dragged me to the center, just a few inches away from the bag that fell. "Our song, of course."

A music started playing, and I recognized it very well. It was our song. The song that we wrote for our music class.

I saw Zoe in the crowd smiling at us, and I smiled back. She was a good friend, I can't believe I actually suspected her for trying to steal Ed away from me. She and Harry had been great friends to us, despite the things that had happened.

I looked at Ed again. How he had understood me despite my stupid actions. How things had changed since we were in High School. How he had once been my best friend but then he became the person that I love with all my heart.

Things had changed. But like our song, the past would never change, and would only remind us on what we had been before.

. . .
The End?

Hmmm. Not yet. 😂

Epilogue coming up!

By the way, I'm really sorry for the very long update. This probably took more than a month, right? I'm really sorry. I've been so busy. I hope you understand. But I promise that the epilogue will be up in a few days. 😊 Thank you so much for your patience 💕

Z.