Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you guys.
The good news is that this story is getting a lot of awesome reviews, which makes me soo happy! I'm so glad you all like this story because I've worked really hard on it and it's really nice when my work is appreciated by others :) Also, now that it's summertime, I'm going to be writing a lot more often, hopefully, because of all the free time I have.
However, there is some bad news: This story is almost done. I only have about a chapter or two to go, sadly. Also, my other story isn't getting a lot of reviews for some reason. It's called Trapped: Dazed and Confused, if you haven't read it already. If you haven't read it yet, please read and review- I desperately need the reviews! Not because I want to be loved like most people, but because I really need to know what I have failed to explain in the plot and what points I have left unresolved. It will help me become a better writer if you do this for me! Thanks, that would help so much!
So I don't know if this is the last chapter or not. I guess we'll find out soon.
Beep beep beep
The endless ringing noise from his alarm clock blared in his ears. He slowly opened his eyes, wishing that today wasn't a school day. He yawned and groaned loudly as he sat up in his bed and stretched his arms. He got up, shut off his SpongeBob alarm clock, and went to wake his friend.
"Rex, wake up! We have to go to school today!" He shook the puppet's shoulder vigorously.
"No, I'm staying in bed!" Rex mumbled. "Damn you Robbie, you woke me up from a beautiful dream!"
"Let me guess, it was about Northridge girls."
"Oh Robbie, you know me so well!" Rex sang with biting sarcasm. "Now shut your yapping and let me sleep, I gotta get back to my girls!"
Within a couple of seconds, Rex was snoring really loudly. Robbie rolled his eyes and left Rex in his bed. He changed into a red-and-white striped polo shirt his mom had given him for Christmas and a pair of dark jeans. He slipped on a pair of black Nikes and went into the bathroom.
He splashed some cold water on his face and washed the sand out of his eyes; the icy temperature made him feel wide awake and more alert. He dried his face, carefully situated his glasses on the bridge of his nose, and started to comb through his curly black hair.
As he did so, he looked in the mirror- and reality hit him in the gut and left him gasping for air. He was a junior at Hollywood Arts. In less than a month, school would be out and he would be a senior. He couldn't believe how fast the year had flown by; it seemed like yesterday that he had asked Cat to Prome.
He examined the dark circles under his eyes and nostalgia started to rise in his chest. So much had changed in a year. He wished that he could go back in time and appreciate the moments last year where he had had less schoolwork and a good relationship with Cat.
But no, he can't, because everything just started spiraling downhill after Prome came to an end. The next day, Cat had completely forgotten about that special moment between the two of them and acted like nothing had happened at all. Jade had given Cat a bored look as she told the story about how her brother broke the fish bowl and tried to eat the fish. Once Cat was finished, however, she had raised her eyebrows questioningly at Robbie, as if to say Why aren't you and Cat a couple yet? Why isn't she saying anything about Prome? Robbie had given her a disappointed look and shrugged his shoulders in defeat, like he was giving up.
As the year went by, he started to give up hope of him and Cat ever being a couple. Cat moved from one gorgeous boy to the next, thinking that he was "The One," as she now called it, and always got hurt in the end. And Robbie, being the loyal, caring friend he was, was always her shoulder (literally) that she leaned upon.
It was the same routine every time. She would cry into his shoulder, and he would rub her back and shoulders gently and whisper reassuring words in her ear. She would smile up at him, say thanks, kiss him on the cheek, then walk away. The next day, she would act like the breakup was no big deal and that she was perfectly fine. Somehow, she failed to see that the person who would never break her heart was right smack in front of her- and it depressed Robbie a lot.
He wondered how she could be so incredibly clueless sometimes. Did she really think that tall, muscular, handsome guys would care a damn about her constant fantasies of rainbows and unicorns and red velvet cupcakes like he did? All those douche bags ever cared about was getting her into bed with them. Of course Cat, being the innocent little angel she is, never went that far. She did the same thing to every one of them as she did with Tug a year ago- push them away and end the whole relationship in just two words: "We're done."
He didn't want to deal with all her heartbreaks anymore. He was tired of being her "fallback guy." So the next time another fiasco happened, when Cat got dumped by her beau of two weeks, Mr. Paul Simmons with the hard biceps and a skull tattoo on the back of his neck, he didn't answer her frantic texts and voicemails. Instead, he went over to Tori's house and watched movies with the rest of the gang, leaving his phone virtually untouched. He was officially done with Cat Valentine.
In order to heal his aching heart, he started looking at other potential crushes, mainly Trina and Tori. His interest in Trina ended before it could start, when she wouldn't help Robbie film his audition after he willingly helped her with her audition without pay. All she did was scream at him and threw his camera in his face, leaving him with a giant bruise on his cheek that didn't go away for days.
Tori was ultimately his bright light at the end of the tunnel. While he waited for Cat to change her attitude about guys, he focused on winning the heart of the youngest Vega sister. He couldn't help but be amazed by her perfection- the nicely shaped cheekbones, the pretty high notes that came out of her mouth when she sang, the way her hair bounced with each shape she took… she was breathtaking.
He dropped hints every time he was with her. He offered to be Tori's "boyfriend" on Sinjin's game show, he almost kissed her on April Fools' Day; he even wrote a song for her when Ponnie was driving her crazy! But nothing worked- Tori just thought he was a freak, just like everyone else did.
Last night had been a sleepless night for Robbie. He had a huge Physics test he had to ace today and had spent all of last night studying for it. Not only was he worried about getting a bad grade, but thoughts of the three girls (minus Jade) swirled around in his mind as he fell asleep and his subconscious stayed awake. In his first short dream, Trina had smacked him in the face with a frying pan. In his second dream, a little longer than the first one, Tori had taken him out to a fancy restaurant, then ended up getting angry and pushing him into a fountain because he couldn't pay the bill.
His last dream, however, was the icing on the cake. He and a certain little redhead had frolicked in fields made of candy canes and had eaten a picnic on top of a cotton candy cloud. He told her jokes, and she laughed like he was the funniest comedian to ever exist. Then, she gave him a long, passionate kiss, and they made out for at least an hour.
By the time Robbie woke up, he was certain about one thing- no matter how hard he tried to ward it off, his crush on Cat would never go away. He would just have to face the music and wait for who knows how long for Cat to realize who she really wanted to be with.
He sighed and set his troubled thoughts aside as the bristles on his toothbrush glided along the enamel on his teeth. He finished getting ready, ate a quick breakfast of a piece of buttered wheat toast and a small glass of orange juice, kissed his mom good-bye, and headed off to school.
Cat watched from behind her locker as Robbie walked into school, Rexless and whistling with a smile on his face. She wondered why he was in such a happy mood today and figured that it was because Rex wasn't there to constantly make fun of him.
Her palms got sweaty and her heart beat against her chest as she watched him put away his books and head to his first class. She missed him like crazy. Robbie barely talked to her anymore since her breakup with Paul.
Despite her ever-busy and mistake-riddled love life, Cat had matured over the past year. She still said random things at the worst times and told everyone stories about her crazy brother. However, she now knew what she wanted to do with her life- she wanted to be on Broadway. Instead of chatting on Splashface with Tori and Jade and writing in her diary like she used to do all the time, she started taking vocal lessons and dance classes. Her legs and arms were now tan and toned and she had also grown a few inches.
Like Robbie, she was getting tired of the heartbreak routine as well. She hated how all the boys she dated were always the same. What was it with good looks and bodies that always made guys so freaking cocky? They were always so possessive of her and took her for granted. She wanted to be treated normally for once, to be cared for like a girlfriend should be in a healthy relationship.
She wanted to go talk to him so badly, to figure out why he had been avoiding her for almost a month now, but she was scared. She didn't want him to become angrier with her than he already was. So she observed him from afar as he skipped happily to Sikowitz's class, which they had together anyway.
Today, Sikowitz put them in pairs and had them make up a scene in which a person got hurt and another person had to be the shoulder the person leaned on (ironic, right?). Cat was paired with Beck, Tori and Andre were paired together, Jade was out sick (again), and Robbie was paired with some other blond chick she didn't know- a "shrugger," as Tori had dubbed them, the people who did nothing but "react."
Cat and Beck had gone first. Beck had pretended to be recently dumped by his nasty girlfriend and Cat had been the one to console him. It was very dramatic and they got lots of applause at the end, which made Cat feel loved. Tori and Andre were next- Tori had gotten into a bad car accident and Andre was the brave firefighter that saved her. The scene was extremely intense and they were so good that they got whistles and hoots and hollers from the rest of the kids.
Then, it was Robbie and Veronica's turn. Veronica was an elderly woman trying to cross the street, and Robbie was helping her. He steadied her and made small talk with her as she wobbled across the street, helping her find her balance whenever she almost fell.
For the first time ever, Cat noticed every move Robbie made- the way he held Veronica as if she was a fine piece of china that had to be handled with an extraordinary amount of care; the soothing tone his voice had as he whispered words of encouragement in her ear; the way he supported her, physically and mentally, as they made their way down the imaginary street.
The scene was merely a minute or two long, but it had a lasting impact on Cat. Even though it only got a few measly claps from the other kids, she cheered loudly for Robbie in her mind- because at that moment, she realized something.
That girl used to be her. She used to be the girl Robbie held whenever she was down. She used to be the girl Robbie cared for the most. She used to be his special "little red thing," as he had once called her.
Tears came to her eyes as she realized how stupid she had been- she had never really "seen" him- all she had seen before was his nerdy appearance and his smart-ass sidekick Rex. She had neglected to see how nice Robbie was to her when the others weren't. She realized how cute he looked with his glasses all askew and his hair tousled everywhere. She didn't know what to think- she was just so confused. Was he just a friend- or something more?
The butterflies in her stomach gave a sudden impetus to her curiosity and she started to form a plan. She wanted to explore the connection she had with Robbie, even though it was currently a little more strained than usual.
By the end of the day, her plan was concocted. She happily chatted with Andre and Beck about how awesome it was that the 2nd annual Prome was coming up soon. Soon, however, the conversation moved into who was bringing who as a date. Since Beck and Jade were still broken up, Beck wasn't going this year and neither was Jade. Andre agreed to go with Tori because she wasn't in charge of handling the Prome planning this year.
"So who's your date to Prome?" Beck asked Cat after she told them that she was going.
Cat stole a quick glance at Robbie, who was playing with a Rubix cube he had just found in his locker. A sneaky smile blossomed upon her lips and her eyes twinkled with an excited anxiousness. "You'll find out soon."
Sorry that the chapter didn't really have any action in it, but for all you know, the last chapter may be really awesome! At least you know how both Cat and Robbie feel about the whole thing now ;) What the heck is Cat up to? Find out in the next chapter- which will be the last. *Cue dramatic music and gasps of dismay.* Reviewssssssss! Pronto! Hahaha :D
