Thanks a bunch to aiandren12 or Mia :3, for being the first reviewer!! Honestly, if you hadn't come, I would have ended up deleting this story....but as, atleast -_-, someone wants to read what I got to write *snif snif* I'm publishing the second chapter of my story.....
A Gift...
2.
He was the new boy in the collage and…..it was all like a nightmare!! Everyone was goggling at him; the guys watched with disgust and bewilderment while the girls looked at him with pity! He was transferred to this institute in the mid term because of his father's bickering and was quite--no--exceptionally scared. Twice he had been walking, bewildered, in the corridor (with no one helping him and all) and twice he had knocked two teachers. One actually asking: 'Are you looking for your brother little one?' Though she had asked this in a kind and caring voice, deep down he wished he could strangle the teacher that made everyone around him snigger…
Vince Evans didn't think he looked too young for his age. He was seventeen, but he understood--or rather--was made to understand that he looked like a girl!
Low on testosterone, his uncle used to say…..but he knew his uncle didn't even know what testosterone was in the first place!! But no one teased him about his educational position (!!!), nope! He was the smartest in his whole family and his father had the most confidence in him than any other member of his family (his mother had passed away). That's why he sent Vince to this prestigious collage, because he thought--grudgingly--that it would provide "the best stage for him to shine", even if his previous one provided him with scholarships and job opportunities that no other collage would offer (he being the top student and all), but his father ignore it all! Vince had tried to reason with him, make him understand the pros and cons, but--again--his father remained unconvinced! He even went to the point of emotionally blackmailing him: 'If mom were here she would understand!' If you can call that blackmailing that is!! His father was obviously better at it than him, so he gave in at last and left all his kindergarten friends to this sad world where he was viewed as a leech!
While he was so busy in finding out how many people hated him on how many terms, he didn't bother to notice the olive green pair of eyes staring at him; when he did, eventually, he went pink!! 'Stop acting like a girl!' Shouted his uncle's voice inside his head and he knew it was right, but…what would be the manly thing to do? Hmm…avoid the eyes, brilliant!! As brilliant (??) as it seemed, it was quite difficult! The olive pair of eyes would stare after him just about everywhere and frankly…they were quite beautiful and so unavoidable. Finally, at lunch, he decided to talk to her and thus, he did.
"Ok, what is your problem?" He asked the girl just as abruptly as he put his food tray on the table. The girl who was surprised to hear the brave and demanding voice behind the timid looking figure in front of her replied:
"Huh?"
"I'm not on display you know--or--", he wondered for a second if he actually was, found the answer and chose to ignore it "-whatever! The last time I checked, it was still considered rude to stare at people!" When the girl looked bewildered, he pointed his finger at him and said "People!"
"Oh! Ah--well--you fascinate me." She replied flatly. "Its like you're a house bred kitten who was dropped in a jungle! I'm in the newspaper department you see, and I'm supposed to write a short funny story about modern man being stuck in ape world---so I'm observing you." She ended with a smile.
He stared at the girl for a few minutes, trying to figure out the nerve of this girl, but as she was the only one to talk to her the whole day, he ignored the last bit.
"Well, this place is nothing less than a jungle; I never thought any place could be so hostile! I mean, my uncle calls me names and teases me a lot whenever I visit his house but at least he talks to me!" He said the last part a little louder than he intended.
"You can't actually blame them you know. They think you're one of those brainy, know-it-all transfer students who skip grades. I mean--even 13 year olds look older than you! I'm Emily by the way, Emily Windcroft." She casually extended her hand to shake his, as if she said nothing what so ever insulting.
" Heey!!! That's a mean thing to say!" He countered pouting up, "And for your kind information I'm 17 years old and I'm not saying this so that I could cheat my way to getting a driver's license, if you don't believe me, I could show it to you!" Hearing this, the girl's mouth fell open slightly and her hand moved back an inch. Vince ignored her reaction and continued their absurd conversation, "And I'm Vince Evans." He concluded shaking her not--so--extended hand. And so began a very straight forward friendship and Vince finally found a tiny and insignificant, yet "counts-for-something" reason to stay at Oxford High, though….he could not pin point exactly what it was!
Pretty soon they started to do everything together, eat lunch, do classes; home works and occasionally, Emily would give him advice on how to act a little manlier. Vince thought some of the advices were a bit silly (one of them were to cockle like a rooster at 5a.m. in the morning), but he chose to ignore since he felt it was actually working; people started to treat him like a normal student, that is-he was ignored!
As he started to hang out with Emily more and more, he started to notice how beautiful she really was. Her hair, he realized, was normally jet black but in sunlight gave a soft purplish glow; her chicks were rosy which perfectly suited her soft honey colored complex…..even if she did wear make-up, she had to be credited for using it exquisitely! Her lips were red and full…which was always smiley…her smiles made him part his lips into a full grin…involuntarily…automatically….And he also noticed that even though some guys would stare at her, she would give a dimple smile only when she saw him…. Shish, its all in your head!!That's what he believed.
So it was kind of hurtful….and a very weird emotion that Vince had never felt when a guy asked Emily out, right in front of him, and Emily said "yes", right in front of him.
"Why did you do that?" asked an astonished Vince in an accusative voice; but seeing the abashed look on her face he quickly rephrased his words. 'I mean-you never talked about him-you don't even know him!!'
"Well…"Emily continued sardonically, "For one-I don't have to tell you about every single person I met since I came to collage—"
"Oh just admit it---" He cut through.
"---for second," but there was no stopping her, "at least he had the guts to ask me out in the first place." Giving a 'a-ha I said!'--expression!
"---you don't know him do you!" It wasn't even a question! He felt his blood boiling for somee strange reason.
"Well-no-but at least he had the guts----"
"Well" he continued imitating her tone, "if a homeless guy asked you out would you have said yes?"
"Of course not!" She said sounding so offended that Vince got scared thinking he had pushed her button! But then she said--"he's FILTHY!!"—that made his anger surging back.
"At least the homeless guy had the guts to act." He snapped acidly and fumed away! The res of the day was spent fighting with his two selfs, one pleading and whining to apologize to Emily so they could talk again….but the other still cursing the guy who asked her out and wondering how she could agree….. Deep inside he felt that he should feel nothing what so ever about Emily's action, she was a free woman and could do anything she wanted, but all the same….he felt so…MAD. With that turmoil going inside his head, he walked to his first class, thinking of ways to apologize to Emily…..but at the same time thinking of ways to ruin the date. He could go to his uncle; he was very cunning and knew how to carry out the perfect plans for these sorts of things. It was right then…right that instant, he realized what that emotion really was…he could finally pin-point it, he loathed it so much, but now, he was feeling it…….Jealousy.
His mind had drifted so much after that revelation that he accidentally entered the principle's office thinking it was his Spanish class, managed to explain Einstein's theory of relativity when he was asked the simple question of 'what happened in 1709' by his history teacher! The teacher gaped at him along with the whole class; actually the 'explain' part was exaggerated a bit. He was very grateful that Emily did not share his History class that day, but there was no escaping the lunch hours…. He took his tray and stared down at it, he still couldn't accept that he was jealous. He saw how jealousy had deprived him of his aunt, his father couldn't stand his aunt because she was always favored by his grandfather, and this gave birth to the rivalry…. Vince only has a small toy car as memoir of his aunt, she gave up the entire inheritage, that Vince's grandfather had left for his aunt, to his father only to have their anger resolved…but only in vain….Time heals what reason can not, that's what his aunt taught him. But his father was too clouded by jealousy, and his aunt had little time……..she died in an accident 1 week after his grandfather's death…..she never got to hug his brother…..
"Hey, you okay?" Emily asked sounding a bit concerned. "You know that food isn't much interesting. I can't why you're concentrating so hard……well not unless you're planning to change the Dalton's theory by looking at arrangement of food particles! Are they even particles? You know-when they're whole like that?"
Vince laughed out. No, jealousy was one emotion that he refused to feel…..not if it meant hurting the girl in front of him.
"My mind isn't THAT cooked up Millie! And there's nothing to find out or-defy by looking at a pepperoni pizza! I was just looking at it because it looks delicious." He said looking at her lips and quickly looked below at his food feeling hot!
"What are you blushing about?" She asked skeptically, again point-blank, then she asked a little seriously, "Listen I hope you don't mind me going to the date—"
"It's okay." He didn't let her finish. "It's your life and you can go with whoever you want." He was a little unsure himself.
"Good, 'cause even if you did I would've gone out anyways." She said sourly with a matter-of-fact tone! Vice had no fancy reply…he had nothing to do or say…but only laugh humorlessly and say: "I know".
He spent the rest of the afternoon interpreting his own words to himself, 'it's her life, she can go with anyone she likes…wants…' He even had a very brief and formal conversation with her on their way home (Vince gave Emily a lift home), he was very grateful that none of the traffic police ever held his car again for under-age driving (!?) but felt pang of sadness inside….like the after affect of something ripe….he only wished the sweetness would come, but he realized it wouldn't when he arrived at his lonesome house leaving Emily safely at her house. All the same he kept repeating the sentence 'it's her life…..' But for some reason, the words had lost their magic…and Vice felt a strange sensation to go to the skating ridge (that's where Emily would go for her date). Making mental notes that he was only going there to try out his new skates and NOT to meet Emily…..even if he did it would be a wonderful act of fate and they would catch up for the morning…..yes the plan seemed all too perfect!! He ran to his car and drove it, at full speed ahead, to the ridge. On the way he discovered many loopholes to his plan…then he decided that he would say that his uncle ditched him after arranging to come….yeah, it was so like his uncle! But, that was a lie and he never told a lie to Millie before….now the first plan, however unreliable, was not a lie….okay maybe a little white lie but it was the best that he got and was he was getting very anxious to see her now. So he decided to stick to her original plan.
After reaching the ridge he parked the car in lot and got out of his car…only to see…only to see a very familiar figure leaning at fence with her back on him. Wind danced around the majestic figure and the moonlight bounced off her to her a magnificent angelic glow….Millie!!
Without even thinking twice, he ran to her shouting out loud cheerfully, "Hey Millie!! What's up? Why aren't you in the ridge?" But when she looked towards him, the pale moon reflected off her face to reveal a sad expression on her face…the very first time Vince had ever seen her frown at him.
"What's wrong?" He noticed that there was something strange about what he said which made Emily's eyes round and her eyebrows shoot up! 'Did he do something to you?' A strange kin of fierceness took over him, a fierceness he never felt before….he felt he could break the guy's neck in two.
"No-no", she said quickly turning on her cheery expression, "He was really nice. But I said he should go to the ridge and skate with other girls who were more interested in him."
Vince could only stare, by now he should've gotten used to her straight-forward attitude. But he wasn't.
'Wow! I would be surprised to find him here! How did he react to that?' His eyes narrowed reflexibly.
"Umm-he stared blankly at me," Vince wasn't surprised, "and…asked me why."
Vice waited a few minutes and when he didn't answer, he asked, "Why did you do it really? You know! Turn him down like that!"
"Hey don't look at me like that…its better it's early than late, he's likely to get less hurt now."
"What did you say to him?" He asked impatiently before Emily could dodge his question again.
She groped for words, looking very serious now; it was strange for him to see her with her brows furrowed! She bit her lower lips and said in one single breadth:
"I said that I was in love with someone else and I can't go out with him. and that he shouldn't waste his time asking for more information while some of the girls who would actually spend time with him are getting stolen by more handsome, quicker and obviously more charming males!"
But Vince….he had lost her when she said he was in love with someone else. In love? In LOVE?? That was more than he could handle…he was barely getting through the prospect that she started dating other guys, but now she says she's in LOVE?!?! Was this some kind of sick joke destiny was playing with him? Send him to a collage with abnormally unfriendly people, then giving him a ray of light to stay…glorious light…..only to make cloudy days more MISERABLE??
He opened his mouth and said something like "WHO?" very scathingly, gritting his teeth, as if he could murder the person she would name…Emily's brows shot up again but she did not stutter this time….but was rather angry….
"You know Vince I thought you would have grown up by now! You look grown up, you talk grown up but you think funny!!"
"Will you just tell me who he is?" He said acidly.
"NO!! Figure it out for yourself! The answer's staring at you right in the face—"
"I know you love yourself but WHO—"
"— I can't believe you!! Of all the brains you have you can't even calculate this stupid-senseless ting??"
Vince did calculate…calculate very hard….but she hardly ever talked to any boy…..with the exception of her cousins…yes…cousins…cousins have friends and those friends could be….he looked up at her accusingly as if she had tried to cut her hand…
"Oh for heaven's sakes Vince!!" She yelled with exasperation. "Its YOU!!!! YOU!-you-stupid-stupid idiot!!" She said slapping his arm at each gap. "Oh! I can't believe I confessed to a boy!! That an all time low-my mother is going to be so…so…argh! I don't have a word for it!!...."
As she continued to bicker, Vince Evans was left in a trance… he was not sure if he was more surprised at whether she could slap so hard or the fact that she loves HIM!! HIM of all the people!! Butterflies started to attack his whole stomach, threatening to take his feet off the ground….HIM?!?! The absurdity of it all!!
'Why?' He managed to say.
"Why?" she asked bemused, "because you're the first boy who saw the real me Vince Evans….the first boy who never rejected the real me. You're different-different from the lot at school. You don't look at me like I'm some food!" A flashback of the moment at cafeteria made him go even redder, that was something he would always keep to himself…., "Frankly, I have fun with you…I feel happy…happy more than anyone ever made me feel….ever…when you're around the world seems so nice and…perfect and—"
Vince needn't hear more; he flung his arms around Emily and gave her a bear hug. He was surprised for a second to know that he could! Then Emily broke free…
"You know Evans, you really do think funny", she said as she pulled him to a kiss…
[continued until further typed ]
You know, I have to put my foot down on this one :( *stomp* If I don't get more then five comments then I'm soooooo ditching this story!! Please kindly spare a few seconds to write about how you felt reading this story. You hated it? You don't want it to contineu? Got any critisism? Saw anything where I should improve at.....anything!! Just let me know that my story was good enough for you to spend a few minutes worth of reading ~_~.....my heart depends on it!!!!!
