Chapter Twenty Nine: Broken Hearts

We won the football match against our rival school. As expected, the stadium was filled with cheers & claps from the stands. A good lot from people from various schools had come to witness the match. And the spectators weren't disappointed. It was indeed an edge of the seat match with a lot of cutthroat playing so much so that the scores were neck to neck all throughout the match. There were a lot of fouls & goals too. At the end of the regular playing time, the score board projected the scores of both the teams to be equal. Penalty shots were played. At the very end, it was all up in Daniel's hands to block the goal so that we could win the match. There were a lot of hopes & expectations pinned on him. But inspite of all the pressure that was there, he delivered excellently by cleverly blocking the smart penalty kick by the player of the rival team.

It was a jubilant time for our school. Everyone was congratulating our team like crazy, especially with Daniel receiving compliments for his quick act. Even the rival team showed sportsmanship by shaking hands with Drake & rest of the boys.

It was a thrilling match altogether & now here I was at a lounge for the most awaited after party that evening....

It was essentially dark with the dimmed lights flickering. Loud music was blaring from the loudspeakers. People were boozing & dancing like there's no tomorrow. And what about me? I was sitting at one of the round tables at the side watching the madness. For the record, I was wearing a little black dress & silver wedges. For my face, I just put a bit of mascara. My accessories included long silver earrings & a bracelet around my wrist. I left my hair loose to fall over my shoulders.

I noticed Sophia close dancing with a red haired guy in the crowd. She tried pulling me twice to get me to dance but each time I walked back to the table.  I waved at Daniel when I saw him but he, for some reason, looked extremely nervous & conscious and didn't even look at me properly. That's strange!

And then I saw Drake at the cocktail corner, gulping some sort of drink. He hadn't danced yet. There were girls swarming around him like bees. Somehow that gave me an uneasy feeling. I looked away. When I looked at his direction again after a while, he had his hand around a brunette's waist, holding her closely. I can't define how miserable I felt seeing them. What the bloody heck is happening with me?

"That might be the girl with whom he would be spending the night with." Soph said, dropping down on the couch next to me. She knew I was watching Drake.

"Dancing is such a tiring thing to do."I heard Soph mutter as she took a tissue to wipe her face & neck.

"And you said he had a thing for me." I gave a humorless chuckle.

"Well, I saw Drake staring at you a couple of times when you weren't noticing. "Soph shrugged.

That baffled me.

"I need to be back on the dance floor." Soph said looking at the crowd. I followed her line of vision & saw the same red haired guy gesturing her. My friend happily rose to her feet & went to join him.

I saw that Drake was now being guided to the dance floor by that brunette. She was trying her best to charm, or rather seduce him. I rolled my eyes out of irritation & looked away.

I was startled seeing none other but Laura at the entrance looking here & there with a confused face. She had worn a simple cream colored frock with her usual thick black framed spectacles & hair tied in a pony tail. 

What is she doing here?

"Hey! I thought you weren't interested in coming here." I said in surprise, approaching her.

"Hi, I thought maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea after all to be here for a while." she smiled nervously.

"Aww! I'm glad you're here!"

She joined me at the table. We didn't talk cause the music was too loud for us to be audible to each other. Drake was now close dancing with that brunette. And when I shifted my gaze, I saw Mark grooving with a brown haired girl. They seemed really into each other. Laura looked shattered seeing them that way....I could see it hit her terribly. What we saw next was my brother & that girl kissing. Shit!. I glanced sideways expecting the worst & indeed Laura had grown paler, her shaking fingers had formed a fist..Suddenly she rose to her feet & started hurrying towards the exit.

"Laura wait!" I rushed outside after her, "Laura wait, what happened?"

I asked her even though I knew the matter. When she faced me, her eyes were crowded with tears that were waiting to roll down her cheeks. I was shocked..

"I..I shouldn't have come here on the first place..." she choked.

"Laura please don't--"

"Someone like me doesn't deserve to be here!!" she turned her back to me & was sprinting away.

"Laura wait!!"

I tried to stop her but she got into a cab & zoomed off...

I was pained to see my friend like that...

"Laura's heartbroken." I heard Soph coming up to me from behind, "The sensitive that she is, it will take her a good while to come over it."

"We've known this all along that she had a thing for Mark, yet we couldn't do anything." I said sadly, "And by the looks of it, it seems he is the first guy for whom she has any feelings."

"Can't you fix this?" Soph asked, "I can't imagine what Laura is going through right now."

"What is there to be done Sophia?" I asked disheartened , "Laura is a Nobody to him."

"You're right...Mark never notices Laura, let alone like her. You can't force anyone to like somebody." Soph said in a small voice...

We walked back into the lounge. It was such a crappy feeling to not be able to help your best friend. I've heard people say that the pain caused by a heart break is as dark as hell...

"Stop the music please!"

I heard Drake's voice in the microphone. The DJ immediately obliged & turned off the music. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing & turned their attention to him.

"Thank you everybody." said Drake, holding the mike, "I've a rather important announcement to make. As we all know that we won the football match majorly because of Daniel. So huge cheers to him!"

We all clapped at that. Daniel gave an embarrassed grin. Drake continued,

"And now we have Daniel here who wants to say something to someone. All yours, man!"

All attention shifted to Daniel when Drake handed him over the mike,

"Thanks Drake." he said.

The crowd gave way as Daniel started walking towards me, his gazes not leaving me even for a moment. And then smiling at me, he, well, began to sing on the mike as he walked,

Baby you light up my world like nobody else,

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,

But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,

You don't know, oh oh,

You don't know you're beautiful,

If only you saw what I can see,

You'll understand why I want you so desperately,

Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe,

You don't know, oh oh,

You don't know you're beautiful, oh oh,

That's what makes you beautiful

I turned wide eyed while he was singing that. Everyone clapped in chorus as he sang. What the hell is happening? What's wrong with Daniel? 

He came & stood in front of me. To my utter astonishment, Daniel went down on his knees. All cheered with lots of 'oohs' n 'whoa'. Looking up at me he said,

"I really like you Andrea. Will you be my girlfriend?"

That shocked me to the bottom of my roots. Daniel proposing me was the most unexpected thing for me. I was blank & speechless, not knowing how to react to this. Everyone shouted in excitement for me to say a yes. I saw how delighted Soph was. I just didn't know what to do. I saw Mark standing stiffly. He wasn't favoring any of it but stood quietly.

"C'mon Andrea, Say Yes to him."

I heard Drake's voice in the mike. I looked at him. He was standing a good distance away. Drake's words seemed to pierce me in the most painful manner. I felt my heart sinking...

"Yes. I will." I said looking at Daniel.

The whole crowd burst into cheers & claps. Daniel rose to his feet, clearly overjoyed. He hugged me. I hesitantly hugged him back.

"I can't tell you how happy I am!" he whispered.

This all felt so weird.

"So Daniel is officially taken!" someone squealed from the crowd.

The music started playing again. Everyone went back to dancing.

"I'm so happy for you Andy!" Soph hugged me in delight.

"Thanks.." I said in a low voice when she broke apart.

"Whoa! That was awesome!" my friend exclaimed, turning to Daniel, "Believe me every One Direction fangirl would want to get proposed with a One Direction song. And you did just that! Did you know the song?"

"I didn't." he admitted, "Had to learn & rehearse it a couple of times. Hope it went good."

"You did a nice job out of it." Soph said, "Besides, 'What Makes You Beautiful' is Andy's all time favorite 1D song, right Andy?"

"Yeah..." I responded in a reserved manner.

"You guys enjoy!" Soph left us.

"Um, Daniel...Don't mind, will be right back..." I said.

"Yes ofcourse." he smiled, "Come soon."

***

I walked to the backside to gain some fresh hair. The atmosphere in the lounge was suffocating me...or rather the stark pain that I was feeling was hard to deal with. I still couldn't come to terms with what just happened. Moreover, I wasn't able to deal with what Drake said. Doesn't it affect him in any way to see Daniel & me getting into a relationship?

I spotted Drake sitting besides the fountain in low spirits with a glass of some drink in hand. His face resembled stone without any hint of expression. He finished the drink in one gulp. I clenched my fists, anger suddenly surging with me from nowhere...

"Why are you sitting here in such a depressed state?" I confronted him with a sour smile, "You're supposed to be extremely happy today, right? After all, the team won the match, you got Daniel & me into a relationship, then you have a sexy brunette to bed. With the perfect life you have, I don't see any reason why you should be dejected."

I saw him clutching the glass tighter & his face turning all the more wooden.

He rose to his feet & walked past me to leave from there.

"Answer me Drake!!" I blocked him with my hand, "what makes you awful?"

He looked at me. I realized there was hardly any space between our faces. I could feel his rugged breaths burning my lips. His intense blue crystal like eyes penetrated into mind, making it difficult for my heart to beat..

He averted his gazes off me. Pushing my hand down, he left without saying a word....

***

I came face to face with my brother at the lobby.

"I'm glad you kept your cool when Daniel proposed me & I accepted it."

"I already said I always want the best of the best for you and that I trust your capability to decide what is right for yourself." said Mark.

"Thanks."

"But you don't seem anything close to being excited or elated that you have a boyfriend now." he joked.

His light words did hold true for me...

"Can we go home? I'm really tired." I said.

"Okay." he shrugged but his face changed, apparently seeing something behind me, "Actually No...I'm kinda busy..."

Seeing the sensual glint in his eyes, I looked behind to see who Mark was staring at. I saw the same brown haired girl, whom he was close dancing with earlier, seductively smiling him.

"Why don't you tell Daniel to drop you home? I won't be coming home tonight..." I heard Mark say to me with a lopsided grin while looking at the girl.

I rolled my eyes. My brother joined the girl & went inside the lounge with her.

****

Daniel was dropping me home. We were in his car with him driving & me sitting on the passenger seat next to him. For the first time ever, there was nothing for us to talk. The silence was making me feel so awkward. Earlier, we used to talk, joke & laugh so much but now there is this dating thing which changed everything between us.

The car winded up in front of my house.

"Thank you." I said as I unfastened the seat belt.

"I really like you Andy." he said which made me look at him, "And I'm glad we are more than just friends now."

"Good Night." I smiled a bit, "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah."

I got off the car.

***

I entered my room & fell straight on my bed, hugging the pillow tightly. I don't know how a girl feels when a guy gets down on his knees & proposes her cause I'm not feeling what I'm supposed to feel-radiant & cheerful. Why do I still have Drake's thoughts in my head? Daniel is a great guy. He makes me smile & laugh all the time. I enjoy his company. Besides, who wouldn't want to date such a sweet & cute guy like him?

I've gotta stop thinking about Drake & concentrate on my relationship with Daniel instead....

~*~*~*~

So here goes the next chapter. I donno how many of you were expecting it but this is how the chapter ends! :p

The whole of next chapter will be from Drake's POV ;). Any guess how's its gonna be like? What are you expecting out of it?

Also, its high time that I decide a cast for this story. And I really really need all of your suggestions to this. So please do pick up celebs who would suit Drake, Andy, Mark, Soph, Laura!

Lastly, a big Thank You to all those who voted & commented on the previous chapter! You guys really make my day!