One month had past since the unpleasant incident. It was the last day of grade eleven, and I wandered around the school, bored out of my mind and by myself. Though I went through it on a daily basis, I felt like I could never get used to it. Eddie and Piper were inseparable, and their plans often only had space for two. Even when there was room for me, it was just a bit too awkward, being around them like that.
Chelsea dropped out of the play. She barely even showed up to any of the classes that we had together. Occasionally, I would see her, though. I'd pass her in the halls and see how much she had changed. Back when we were friends, she was vibrant and happy with a smile always decorating her face. I could look into her eyes and she a girl who cared. Now, she just looked dead. She made no attempt to fix herself up. Every morning, she looked as if something had run her over, and she couldn't care less…not that I cared. She didn't care about herself and neither did I.
I was always avoiding her as much as I could, and most days, I was successful. 'Why couldn't today be one of those days?' I asked myself as I turned the corner and bumped into her, sending the books that she had cleared out of her locker onto the floor. I looked at her as she scrambled to pick up her things. Maybe I should have apologized.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," she said. Chelsea paused as she looked up and realized that it me she had bumped into. "Raven…"
I looked down at her, not knowing exactly what to say. 'What should I say?' I asked myself. I thought back to that Friday night on the couch and suddenly all the emotions came back. This girl lied to me. She humiliated me in front of my family. What else should I say to her?
"Don't talk to me!" I said to her. She grabbed her books and ran toward the gymnasium with cheeks drenched from tears. I thought that would make me feel better, so why did I feel like crap?
"What is your problem, Raven?" someone asked me.
"Huh?" I turned around to see Scott's sister, Rachel. "What are you talking about?"
"Why are you so mad at Chelsea?" she asked me as she came right up to my face.
"Why shouldn't I be mad at her? Do you know what she did to me?"
"Yeah, I know. It must really suck to be you, Raven. To have someone who cares about you so much that they would even go spend all the money they had, just so that they could even stand a chance of ever getting together with you. To have someone who's willing to get knocked out cold on my living room floor, just to kiss you…"
"Chelsea lied to me! She made me think that there was really a Charlie out there. She made me think that there was really someone who was crazy about me," I said.
"There is someone who's crazy about you. Her name is Chelsea Daniels, and if you can't see that, then maybe you're the on who's crazy."
I tried to think of something to say in my defense, but I was speechless.
"Chels is in love with you, Raven. And right now, I…I just can't see why."
"Chels loves me," I whispered to myself.
"She's leaving," Rachel said in a monotone voice.
"W…what do you mean, she's leaving?" I asked, suddenly confused.
"Oh, what do you think I mean? Raven, she's depressed. She's embarrassed. Do you really think that she can last her senior year at Bayside with all that you're putting her through? Doubt it. She told me that she's transferring. I went to go cheer her up last night. You no what I found?"
"What?"
"I found Chelsea on her bed with razor blades. She was cutting,"
"No, Rachel, you're wrong. Chels just wouldn't do that. I know her."
"Rae, you spent, what, 17 years with her, and you didn't even know that she was in love with you."
"But she…"
"What does it matter, how you guys got together? When you were with Charlie, did you have fun?"
"Yes," I said looking down at my feet.
"Did he make you feel special?"
"Yeah but…"
"But what? Do you always have to go and make excuses? What are you one of those people who will never except…"
"Look, Chelsea and I just won't work out. We can't be together, because…because it's wrong and there's absolutely nothing you can say that'll make me change my mind!" I yelled.
"Well then, Raven, I'm not going to waste any more time trying." Rachel began to walk away. "Chelsea might have gone to the extreme, but all I can say is that love will make you do the wacky!" She left me standing there by myself in the middle of the deserted hall way.
Moments later, I found I wasn't alone. A boy ran past me and into the gym in a hurry. Then, a few more kids came running for the gym. These were the dedicated few who actually bothered to show up to class on the last day. Everybody else just stayed around the school until it was time for the final assembly to begin. Some kids prepared a routine that they would perform for the whole school. It was just a fun end of the year tradition at Bayside. As more and more kids came, I decided that it would be better for me to just go along with them, rather than get trampled.
Loud music filled the gym. There was already an act about to go on stage.
"Ok, and now our first act is a cover song performed by Jen, Strukey," Said Mr. Petruccelli.
"Um sir…It's actually Ben Sturky. You know that, right?"
"Ben Sturky? Doesn't ring a bell!" he said. Most of the kids in the audience were laughing at him.
"You taught me for the last three years. Y…you're my favorite teacher!"
"I'm sorry, Bill…"
"BEN!"
"I just don't remember you. You got a song you want to play for us?"
"Yeah," he said with his happy mood crushed. "Green Day. 'Time of Your Life'"
"Sure kid, knock yourself out!" Mr. Petruccelli moved off to the side. Ben pulled his folk guitar out of its case and began to play and sing the song.
"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go."
I looked across the room and saw Chelsea standing against the wall. She looked lonely and I was starting to feel sorry for her. A lot of this was my fault. I started to think about what Rachel had said before she left. I really don't know what Chels sees in me. I've been a total jerk. I hurt her. I didn't know where all of my anger went, but it wasn't in me anymore. I was so nervous. I just wanted to go over there and apologize. I was wrong, Not her. It was me!
My legs were moving at their own accord. My heart began to pound faster than I can ever recall it pounding. Chelsea looked up and saw me coming. I could see the fear in here eyes. 'What did I do now?' she must have been wondering. For me to come up to her and actually want to talk to her, she must have thought that there was still something atrocious in my mind that felt I had to tell her.
"So make the best of this test and don't ask why.
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time."
I felt myself being pulled back. I tried to move, but someone was holding onto my shoulder.
"Raven?"
"Devon, wh…what are you doing here?" I asked. I was shocked. I had no idea he was coming and I didn't think that this was the best time for a surprise appearance by my ex-boyfriend. "I thought you were in Seattle."
"I was, but I came here to see you, Rae." He smiled.
"Where are your parents?"
"Back in Seattle."
"So how did you get here?"
"I hitch-hiked."
"Devon…"
"What? I had to see you, but my parents wouldn't drive me. Look, Raven, I'm sorry about getting mad at you for not saying it back to me. Real love understands. Real love waits, and if you're not ready to say it to me, I'll wait the rest of my life until you are!"
He pulled me into a kiss. 'Anything but this,' I thought to myself. 'Is Chelsea watching?' I pulled away to see her looking hurt. The girl had suffered. The girl had suffered enough, and I refused to let it go on.
"I know you must think I'm crazy, Rae, but I had to come here to see you, even if I had to hitch-hike. You know what they stay about love…"
"I'll make you do the wacky" I said. I slowly walked away from him, never looking back. With tears in her eyes, Chelsea walked toward the doors.
"It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life."
"Raven?" I could here Devon call my name. I wasn't going to answer there was only one person on my mind.
"Love makes you do the wacky," I said once more. Chels was close to the door, but if I had anything to do with it. She would not be leaving…not without me!
"Chelsea, wait!" I said as I grabbed her arm.
"What? What did I do this time?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted the way I did.
I let my hands slide down to hers so that our fingers would intertwine. I saw her wince in pain. I had forgotten about the razors.
"Sorry," I said as I brought her wrists up to my lips and placed the gentlest of kisses on them. My lips then focused their attention on hers.
"Rae, what are you doing? You don't mind that people are staring at us?" I looked around and saw the hundreds of eyes that were concentrating on us, including Devon's.
"Let 'em stare. I don't care who knows!" I said. The song was seconds away from being over. Ben nodded at me from the stage as he smiled. It was as if he was playing the song just for us.
"I never expected this, you know?"
"Hey, I never expected this either, and I'm the psychic." My lips slightly brushed against hers, before pressing into them, slowly but intensely.
"It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life…"
It was weird how fast things changed. Before, I was mad at Chelsea. I hated her. I wanted to forget that I ever met her. But now, I wanted to remember ever thing about the moment we were sharing. I wanted to freeze time so that the kiss would never end. I wanted to look at Chelsea and remember exactly how happy she looked. I wanted to memorize her smile, that same smile that came back to decorate her face once more…the smile that I put on her.
"It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life…"
XXxxTHE ENDxxXX
A/N: Ok, I was supposed to write something in here about Chelsea being like the boy in the play, if you can remember (chapter3). He pretended to be somebody he wasn't to get the girl to like him. I couldn't find a place for it like I thought I would, but the intention was there.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this story, you just might like the sequel that I'm posting. It's going to be longer and it'll have a lot more drama (trust me). It's going to deal with a lot more stuff and I hope you guys take a look at it when it comes out (ok, that's enough shameless plugging of my own stories).
Anyways, I'd thank everyone who reviewed personally, but that would that would take too much time and the longer I take on this, the longer you have to wait to read this. So, thanks to everyone who reviewed. I never would have continued if it weren't for you.
Disclaimers:
I don't own these characters. They belong to Disney.
I don't own "Time of Your Life" it belongs to Green Day.
…Now go and review!!!