A.N: Ok, so this is a sequel for my old fanfic, 'Romeo and Cinderella', so if you guys haven't read that yet, I recommend you to read it so that you can understand what's going on. But as said in the summary, this will revolve around Chelsea and Vaughn. It's short but I hope you all enjoy reading it~
A Wintry Promise
-Secret Base-
The gang was all gathered in the secret base, as always. They were talking about random things before Chelsea proclaimed,
"Hey guys, let's talk about the good memories we've all had when we were kids!"
" That's a wonderful idea. I have a few I'd love to share!", Jill agreed.
"Me too, though it's only the ones when I was with Cliff.", Claire answered.
"How boring is that! Can't we pick another topic?", Jack argues.
"No point arguing about something if Chelsea's the one who proposed it.", Vaughn said to Jack. Cliff nervously laughed and then Chelsea began her story,
"As you all know, Vaughn and I are childhood friends, and we used to play in the local playground a lot when we were kids. So, I have a lot to share about Vaughn's embarrassing moments!"
"Hey, that's not fair. I have my share of embarrassing moments about you too!" Vaughn retorted.
As they shared their childhood moments, Chelsea's mind was going back to the days when she and Vaughn played in the playground, and remembered that promise they made with each other.
-Flashback-
"Hey Vaughn, let's build a snowman!", little Chelsea proposed.
"Eh, sure. How about we make it separately and see who makes the bigger one?" little Vaughn asks.
Chelsea seems to think about his suggestion before agreeing to it. After a while, both children were finished with their snowman. Then stepped back to see who made the bigger one. It was hard to notice, but Vaughn's snowman was larger by a couple of inches.
"Well, I won this round!" Vaughn cheered.
"But only by a few! I'll beat you next time!" Chelsea declared.
"Oh, I like to see you try." Vaughn teases.
Chelsea huffed as she didn't have any smart comebacks. Then she went to looking at the snowmen they made. She noticed that both snowmen were placed far apart and she was sad at this.
"Hey Vaughn, let's move our snowman close together. I don't like it when they're far apart."
"Uh, sure."
Then they somehow managed to move their respective snowman together.
"There, now they're together, just like us. I didn't like it when they were far apart, it seemed like they were not friendly with each other at all!" Chelsea confessed.
Vaughn was quiet for a moment as he seemed to be thinking about something. Then he turned to Chelsea and said,
"Hey Chelsea, when you grow up, would you marry me?", his cheeks was red.
Chelsea was caught off guard by the sudden question before she stammered her answer, "O-of course. Yes, I will. I want to marry you too!"
Then they looked at each other and smiled, both cheeks aflare as the snow begins to fall down gently.
-End of Flashback-
'Do you remember? Vaughn? The promise we made that day, because I still do…', Chelsea thought.
-Time skip to another day, Secret Base-
"So Cliff, how is it working as Claire's guardian?" Chelsea asked.
"Well, I guess it's nice. We get to be together and Mr. Regison approves of me too, so things are fine." Cliff answered, as he blushed a bit.
"Maybe together a little too much though. Why are you even there when night falls?" Skye interrogated. All eyes were on Cliff and Claire now.
"W-well, we need to have a strategy meeting without anyone knowing!" Claire defended, blushing.
"Oh? What kind of strategy meeting?" Jack asked, his mischievous face on.
"Things about Che- mmph?!", Cliff's mouth was muffled by Claire's hand as she shushed,
"Don't let the secret out yet!"
"You two are getting suspicious…" Jill commented, fake glaring.
And before Claire or Cliff could answer, the door opened and Vaughn entered the room and greeted,
"Hey guys."
"Vaughn, welcome! We're just getting Claire and Cliff here to confess, join us!" Jack invited.
"I'll have to decline. Actually, I came here to tell you guys that I'll not be coming over for some time."
"Huh? Why's that?" Chelsea asked.
"Need to help Julia with something. Well, I'll be seeing you guys around." Vaughn said and then he left the room.
"What's up with Vaughn these days? He hardly comes by the base anymore." Jack commented.
"Do you perhaps think he has a crush on Julia? She's very pretty and I head that a lot of guys are falling for her." Mary asked. Then as quickly as she said this, she was shushed by Jill. Mary quickly realized that she said too much and quickly shut up.
Chelsea was quiet for a moment before brushing off the thing Mary said as,
"Haha, I don't think that's the case. Maybe she just wanted his help on some projects or something? Anyway, I need to go and check on my little brother, Mark, to see if he's not making any trouble. So, see you guys later!", then she left the room.
It was known between them except Vaughn that Chelsea has had a crush on said boy for a long time now.
Mary lowered her head and said, "Oh, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't think Chelsea would mind…"
"Don't worry Mary, I'm sure Chelsea's just feeling a bit flustered, she'll get over it soon." Jill comforted.
"That's right, if it's anything, Chelsea's the type who cheers up quickly." Jack adds, making Mary feel better.
Then Claire called over Skye and made a request,
"Skye, I need you to do a simple task for me.", dark smile.
"I do not like the looks of this…" Skye muttered, as he went over to Claire.
-Back at Chelsea-
Chelsea's P.O.V
Whew, I managed to get out of the room. Why? Because it was getting awkward, what with Vaughn's case and all. Besides, if he had a crush on a girl, he'd tell us right? Though I wonder who this Julia girl is, and is she really that pretty as Mary said?
As I went towards my classroom, I spotted Vaughn over the distance. I ran towards only to see him talking to another girl. She has curvy blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. Then I spotted one of my classmates, Lanna and asked,
"Hey Lanna, who's that girl?"
Lanna looked over to where I pointed and came to a realization and answered, "Oh, that's Julia from the other section. She's really pretty isn't she? Though I wonder if she can sing as well as I can."
I inwardly cringed at Lanna's mention on her singing, as I recalled that one time during the school festival where we all had to suffer to hear her sing, but no one could tell her that, she's so nice so no one at class, at least, didn't want to discourage her.
"So, what's up with you wanting to know who she is?" she asked me.
"No reason, I just heard that she's very pretty so I wanted to check if she really was Julia." I answered.
Then Lanna left me and I looked at Julia once again. I have to admit it, she's really got the charms to woo a guy any day. I felt my heart tighten at this and I wonder why. But I dismissed that and secretly hope that Vaughn's just helping her with projects and not try to woo her.
A week passed and Vaughn hasn't dropped by once to the base at all! I'm getting a bit annoyed yet I don't even have the right to!
"I wonder if Vaughn'll drop by today." Jack said.
No one bothered to answer; we all knew that he won't drop by again today as well. The thing is, it's not like its mandatory for us to meet in the base at all, we even hang out in the classrooms at times but even then Vaughn hasn't been with us at those times either. When the bell rings to announce break-time, he goes out of the classroom to meet Julia.
I kinda feel lonely now that he seems so distant… But suddenly, the door opened and Vaughn came in!
"Vaughn? What's up?" I asked.
"Why the cold greeting? Aren't I allowed in here anymore?" he answered.
"Of course, you're allowed here. It's just; you hadn't come by from quite a while now." Jack said.
"We were wondering what you'd be doing." Cliff said.
"Oh, yeah, I've been helping Julia with some things lately." He answered. I get the feeling he's not telling the truth at all.
"What kind of things?" I asked.
Vaughn paused for a moment before he answered, "Nothing much. Nothing you need to worry about."
What? If it's nothing much, then I don't get why he won't tell us about it. I'm pretty sure there's something he's hiding that he won't tell me, or us in general, and that makes me angry and sad at the same time. Does he not trust us or something?!
Just then, Vaughn's phone (Yes, we bring our phone to school) vibrated, it was an incoming call. He picked it up, and the others and I were just chatting about other things, after a while, he hung up his phone and turned to us and said,
"Sorry guys, Julia called saying she needs help. See you later.", then he left.
Right after he left, Mary said, "Um, I heard some of my friends say that he and Julia might be dating- oof!", she was elbowed by Jill. Mary seemed to realize what she was saying and looked so apologetic. I feel bad for her, but what she said repeated in my mind and I couldn't make it stop. I excused myself and left the room.
Normal P.O.V
"Oh, I did it again…" Mary wailed, looking downcast.
"Well, just be careful next time." Jill said, trying to cheer the shy girl up.
"But really though, is Vaughn really dating Julia?" Jack asked.
"I don't know yet." Claire said, she looked at Skye and he just shrugged.
"Well, if he was dating her, I think he'll probably tell us about it." Cliff said. The others nodded in agreement and changed the topic.
Chelsea's P.O.V
It's already after school. I bid my friends goodbye for the day as they left the class. Then Claire came over to me,
"Chelsea, I heard that there's going to be a shower this evening. Did you bring your umbrella? Isn't your house far from here?"
Ah, Claire, the ever caring. I answered,
"No, I didn't check the weather news today. Well, even if it did rain on my way home, I won't fall sick so easily. In case you didn't know, I have a very good immunity."
"Are you sure, I could lend you my umbrella. Cliff and I are going back to the same place so we can always share one."
"No no, no need. I'll just rush home as fast as I can, before the rain can drench me. If that's all, then I'll be leaving now, bye!"
I said as I rushed out of the class. I'm grateful for Claire's offer, but I think I can get home before it rains. Maybe.
As I reached the school gates, I was stopped by Vaughn.
"Hey Chelsea, don't tell me you didn't bring an umbrella?"
"Ehehe, nope. I didn't check the weather today.", I scratched my cheeks.
"You're hopeless aren't you. Well, I'm heading home now anyway, so we could go back together. I brought an umbrella anyway."
My heart skipped a beat. It had been a long time since the both of us went home together, and he was the one to propose it as well. I was about to accept his offer when someone called out.
"Vaughn, hey Vaughn! Can you escort me home today as well?"
It was Julia… My heart that was beating so fast a second before just dropped. Why can't I just have a moment with Vaughn?
"But I was just going to-"
"It's ok, go with her. I can always rush home before the rain falls."
"But what if you get sick or something if the rain hits."
"Hey, you know me, I have a great immunity so I won't get sick easily. Just go!"
I ran ahead of them before he even had time to reply. I hate it, I hate that she got to him first. Even more so, I hate myself for believing and hoping that he even remembered that promise that the once childish minds of ours made up.
Just as Claire feared, the rain started falling when I was just halfway back home. Just my luck that it had to be pouring. Well, let this rain wash away my sorrow… Too drama-ish! Anyway, I finally made it home, all drenched and hoping my notes are all in one piece and the pen writings still there. That was quite a rainfall.
-Next day, classroom-
Normal P.O.V
Teacher Harris came inside the classroom and as he gathered the attendance record, he announced, "Today Chelsea called in sick. Now, you all know that the mid-terms are coming soon, so do be careful about your health. Especially during this time of the season when it's turning to winter."
The class answered with a monotone 'Yes, sir.'
-Break time-
"It's too bad that Chelsea couldn't come today." Mary started.
"Yeah, I vote that we visit her and see how she's doing." Jill proposed.
"I think that's a good idea." Cliff agreed, along with Claire.
"I'm also up for it!" Jack chimed in.
Just then Vaughn entered their class, he was in another section. He looked around and asked,
"Hey guys, where's Chelsea?"
"She's taken the sick leave. Apparently, the rain yesterday made her that way." Jill answered.
"Geez, that girl. I told her that we can go back home together yesterday, since I brought an umbrella. But she declined my offer and let me go escort Julia instead." Vaughn said.
"Wait, and you didn't chase after her then?" Claire asked.
"Uh, no..? Was I supposed to?", Vaughn answered, clueless.
"Hmm.. That settles it, as much as we all want to go visit Chelsea. Vaughn, you go visit her in our stead." Claire announced.
"What? Not that I mind, but why should I?"
"Yeah Claire, it's not like we're busy." Jack added.
"One, because he was the reason she got sick… Maybe. And two, he knows her best, so why not? We can all visit her tomorrow, if she's still not well." Claire reasoned.
Then, Jill understood Claire's plan of getting the two together and helped, "That's right. Vaughn, be a dear and visit her in our stead for today. Please?"
"Well, sure. I was planning to anyway." Vaughn accepted.
Chelsea's P.O.V
To be sick because of being drenched by the rain? My immunity must be failing me! I hate being bed-ridden in bed all day, but mum says that if I want to get better, I need lots of rest and not strain myself.
That evening, I was just looking through pictures from my phone when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.
"Chelsea dear? Are you awake?"
It was mum. I answered that I was, and then she opened the door.
"Dear, how are you feeling? Better? Well, Vaughn came over to visit you. Come on in, Vaughn."
Wait, Vaughn? Here? I felt my face getting hot and I know I might look like a sweet potato by now, or a tomato! I didn't expect that he'd visit.
Vaughn entered my room as he thanked my mum as she went to leave the two of us. We were both silent for a moment before he finally said,
"So, what was that about your great immunity?", he teased.
"Shut it, I didn't know it'd come pouring down."
"And that was why I said we should go home together."
'Well, you had to escort your girlfriend home.', was what I wanted to say, but I stopped myself in time. I instead said, "Yeah, well, it won't happen again. I'll bring an umbrella at all times now."
"Yeah, make sure you do. In fact, keep it in your schoolbag now when I can see you.", he folded his arms.
"Later, later. I still feel a bit weak to walk around." I lied, smiling.
"Liar."
"A girl needs to have some beauty rest to get better, didn't you know?"
"Oh, I know all too well." He grimaced, as if remembering something that tired him out.
Then we talked about this and that. It was fun being able to talk to him without anyone interrupting us, or so I thought. After a while, his phone began to ring and he picked it up.
"Yeah, Julia?"
I felt ten times worse than before. Can't this girl stop interrupting my precious moments with Vaughn?
"Right now? But I'm visiting a friend and-"
'A friend'… So that's what he thought about me. I felt so foolish to have, for a moment before, believed that I was someone special to him. I felt bitter, and wanted to be by myself right there and then.
"Go to her." I said.
"Huh? But Chels-"
"Like I said, she needs you. Just go."
Vaughn looked reluctant to answer Julia, but then he told her that he'll be over after some time. He said his goodbyes and left my room. I felt sick all over again. I think my heart broke into pieces, just thinking that I was just 'a friend' to him. After a while, I resolved myself to try and put away these feeling I have for him. I don't have a chance anymore anyway.
-Days later, Secret base-
Normal P.O.V
Chelsea is finally able to go to school again after recovering from her sickness. They were all together in the base, like they used to, with the exception of Vaughn and Skye who were not present at the moment.
"Guys, I've decided to try and forget him." Chelsea announced, making everyone present in the room stop what they were doing.
"What? Why?" Jill asked.
"Chelsea, are you sure you want to?" Mary asked as well.
"Yep, I could never be more certain. He belongs to someone now, how can I go against that?" she replied.
Just then Vaughn entered the room and Chelsea made up an excuse and left the room.
"Chelsea?... Why do I feel like she's avoiding me?" Vaughn asked.
"What are you talking about, must be your imagination." Claire answered.
"I guess… Anyway, I came over to tell you guys that I'll be with Julia helping her out again, but this time will be for the last so I can come over or hang out with you all normally again soon." Vaughn said, and the others were skeptical.
"So, you mean to say you were really helping Julia out and not anything else?" Jack asked.
"Yea, why? Is there something else I was going to tell you?" he asked back.
"No no, its just…" Jack paused.
"Well, it's good that you will be able to hang out with us again soon." Cliff said.
"Same here, anyway, I'll take my leave for now. See you guys later.", he said.
"Vaughn, before you go. Promise that you'll talk to Chelsea after your work with Julia is over." Claire said, Vaughn nodded confused then left the room.
"Uhm, should we tell Chelsea about this?" Mary asked, concerned for her friend.
"I don't know. But I do wonder what kind of thing he's helping Julia with." Jill wonders.
Just then Skye came inside and walked over to Claire. He handed her a piece of paper and Claire smiled mischievously.
"Well now, I don't think we'll have to help Chelsea at all. She needs to confront Vaughn by herself." She said.
"Why's that?" Jack asked.
"Oh, you'll all know soon enough." Claire replied, as she gave them the paper she was handed for them to read.
"You sure can be evil sometimes…" Skye commented, Cliff laughed.
Chelsea's P.O.V
Well, so far, I've been able to avoid any confrontations with Vaughn. Though I don't know how long that will last at all. And these feelings of mine always come back whenever he's around, and I told myself to give up on him!
A week later, and it was already winter. There are weather reports saying that the first snowfall will happen anytime soon. I was walking home from school when I saw Vaughn and Julia from a distance. I felt my heart act up once more and I rushed to get them out of my sight.
As I passed by the playground, I figured that I'd relief old memories one last time before I completely bury them forever. So I went over to one of the swings, it was a cold day even without any snow yet, so the park was quite empty, except for a few students making a detour.
I looked around, there was the slide we used to slide together on, this was the swing we took turns to get on, that bench was where our mothers sat when they came with us. And… That place beside the oak tree was where we build our snowman and made that promise… Ah, wrong move, I'm feeling my eyes sting from the tears that were warning to flow at any moment.
As I wiped away the tears from my eyes, someone grabbed the chains on the swing. I looked up to see the one person I didn't want to see at the moment.
"Why are you here?" I asked, hint of bitterness in my voice.
"I saw you as I was heading home and came over. Is there a problem?" Vaughn answered, looking me in the eye, I was flustered, but I didn't want to surrender to my feelings again.
"Yes, there is. Aren't you supposed to be with your girlfriend?"
"What are you talking about? I don't have any girlfriend."
"Don't play dumb. We all know that Julia's your girlfriend. You're always with her, escorting her every evening, and coming to her side whenever she calls. I see no other reason for you to do that except if you were her boyfriend. Now, just leave me alone!"
"Chelsea, you don't make any sense. And I'm not leaving.", I could see he was determined to stay.
"Well, if you're not going, then I will.", I stood up and tried to leave. He grabbed my arms and I struggled to break free. "Let me go! Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Stop trying to run away and listen to me for a sec will you!" he half shouted as he grabbed my shoulders and made me face him. We had eye contact and I could see that he was serious, I tried to break free but with his determined look that showed that he wasn't letting me go anytime soon, I felt myself get weak. After he knew I was listening, only then did he started talking.
"Chelsea, let me get one thing straight. I'm not Julia's boyfriend. She's my cousin for goodness sake. I don't know how you came up with that conclusion at all."
Wait what? Cousin? Then, all this time I was just misunderstanding everything?
"C-cousin? Then why'd you follow her around everyday?"
"She told me she had a stalker and that she wanted me to act as her boyfriend and make the stalker give up on her. That didn't work so well, so we decided to catch the stalker and make him stop."
"O-oh… And, did you succeed?"
"Yeah, after a few menacing warning and such. Luckily, he didn't put up much of a fight."
"I-I see…", he let go of my shoulders.
"See? I kinda figured you were jumping to conclusions again."
"I did… I'm sorry.", I was ashamed of myself. I always knew my biggest flaw was that I jump too quickly into conclusions, and this was one of those times.
"Well, you're forgiven. You've made worse mistakes before." He smiled at me, I blushed.
"But, not that I'm jealous or anything, but how did you come to help Julie with this stalker guy?"
"Well, you know, sisters; be it cousins or blood-related, they can have their way. She threatened me that I can't go to the stables if I don't help her, and you know how much I like tending to the horses and animals in general."
"Ahaha, I think I can relate with that, in a way.", I did remember him telling me about this relative of his that had a barn and that he occasionally go there to help them with their animals.
As the both of us stood there, the uncomfortable tension when I was near him was gone now, since my conclusions were deemed incorrect by him. I felt at ease again, like a heavy weight had lifted off my chest. Just then, I heard the voices of the children playing in the garden suddenly shouting in excitement.
"Look, the snow's falling!", "It's the first snow of the year!", they shouted, then I looked up as well to see the slowly falling flakes.
"This is nostalgic…" I muttered, to myself. Then I turned to Vaughn and said, "Soon the park and everything else will be covered in a white layer of snow again, I can't wait to see that!"
Vaughn smiled back and said, "Yea, it'll be just like that time."
"W-which time?", I wonder, does he mean that time from way back then? It couldn't be, right? As I was thinking about it, he spoke.
"That time… From when we made that promise….", then I saw his face start to take the shade of the faintest blush. Maybe it was contagious, as I felt my cheeks heat up as well, he remembered! He looked at me, his eyes more serious than it had ever been and stared into my eyes; it showed his nervousness, but also a hidden passion that was waiting to be voiced out, then he opened his lips and said, "I had not forgotten the promise we made, and I'm sure you still remember it too.", he took a deep breath, "Chels, I love you, from way back and I still do to this day. And I hope, although this is a bit early, that we will really get married someday when we're more mature than this."
Vaughn's face was so red, though I think I could say the same for myself. His confession caught me so off-guard that I couldn't reply right away, a tear threatened to escape. He looked at me, confused at my sudden silence. I knew I had to reply to him soon, then without thinking more on what I planned to do, I pulled him closer and landed a small peck on his lips as I quickly buried my face in his chest. The kiss was short, just a slight peck, but it felt like eternity to me, and I think it might be the same for him as well. He was shocked by my sudden actions, and after a while, I felt his arms wrap around me in a gently yet firm embrace. Then, after a while, I finally spoke,
"I love you too, Vaughn. Now and forever."
-The next day, Secret Base-
Normal P.O.V
"WHAT?! You mean to say you guys knew it all along?! Then why did you leave me like that? You guys knew I was suffering!" Chelsea shouted, after hearing that her friends knew what was going on with Vaughn and Julie.
The others merely laughed and it was Claire who spoke first, "Well, we, or I, wanted to see how you'll cope with it."
"Be careful, Claire can be evil sometimes." Skye warned.
Chelsea let out a frustrated noise as she glared at her friend, who only laughed harder.
"Calm down, Chels. At least things ended up well in the end." Vaughn said, as he hung his arm around her shoulders. Chelsea blushed at his action, but seemed to calm down. After a while, she joined in the laughter as the others shifted their laughter to teasing the two new couples.
~Fin~
A.N: Well, that's it. I really hope you guys enjoyed this story of mine. Reviews and advice (if you want to give some to the way I write the story or other things) are greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading!