Chapter 8
"I love him." A stunned Sarah said to Alicia and Mr. Smith. "Well, I don't know about love, but I had a crush on him."
Smith did a double take. "You had a crush on him? Since when?"
"Since she first saw him." Alicia leaned causally against a locker.
Both Smith and Sarah turned their heads towards Alicia. "How do you know?"
"Just because I don't mention that I notice things, doesn't mean I don't." Alicia explained. "It was obvious, at least to me, that Sarah had an eye out for Billy."
"Yeah," Sarah leaned against a locker and slowly slid down to the ground. "I've learned my mistakes, only a lifetime too late. My teasing was the only attention that I could give him. When he started to pull away, I couldn't understand why, and I kept chasing and teasing him even more in desperation. I'm such an idiot." Sarah covered her face with her hands.
Alicia's harsh look seemed to soften. "You know what they say." She said quietly. "Love is blind."
Even Smith started to feel his eyes glisten. "Realization is the first step."
"Great, how do I stop myself from making the same mistake?"
"Use the tools and knowledge that you have." Smith said comfortingly. "You still have a little under two days left. Use that time wisely."
"How?"
"That's for you to decide."
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"You sure that watching rehearsals is okay?" The younger Sarah said nervously as they made their way to the theatre.
"You want to see how cool Billy is right?" Sarah pointed out as she opened the door. "Besides, since when have you been so afraid?"
"Since I began walking into unfamiliar territory." Was the nervous reply.
Walking into the theatre, nobody really paid attention to the two girls. Spotting Billy at the topmost row fiddling with more stage lights, Sarah led her younger self to the top of the stair case. "Hey Billy."
At first Billy smiled as he heard the friendly voice. But when he looked up and saw who was accompanying Sarah, his face quickly clouded over. "Oh it's you." He said dryly. "Just say what jokes you have and get out of here."
"Jokes? Is that all you think I am? A big joke to you?" the young girl's lip began to quiver.
Billy went back to adjusting the lights, and avoided her gaze. "No, but I know that I am one to you."
"To me? You don't even know what goes on inside of my head!"
"Neither do you!" Billy threw down his wrench and stood up, glaring at the younger Sarah. "Do you think I'm ignorant to all the teasing I've put up with from you and your so-called friends? If I didn't bother you, you wouldn't bother me, or at least that's how I thought things would work out. But I guess not, because you just obviously trampled in here, into a world that you consider leagues below your own. Well guess what, this is MY world. The place where I'm the happiest, where I had friends, where I smiled and laughed, and where I thought I was safe from you. At least that was the case up until this moment you decided to try and take it all away."
"Billy, I'm sorry!" The older Sara yelled desperately as he brushed past them.
Billy looked back for a split second. "So am I Tess. But only to you." He jumped on the banister and slid the rest of the way down before bolting out of the theatre.
What have I done? Sarah thought as she held her sobbing younger self in her arms.