Mia POV:
As I walked up to grab a cookie, I came face to face with Lily. Oh god. I was in for it now. Why had Tina betrayed me?
"Spill it Mia. I want the whole story."
I stood frozen, the chocolate chips in the cookie melting in my uncomfortably warm hands. What was I supposed to say? From the brief glimpse I had of Michael, I could see that he was in extremely bad shape, and although Lily always pretended that she hated Michael, they were siblings, and she would be mad that he was hurting because of me. And Lily can be very unforgiving when she's in protective mode. So you can see why I didn't exactly want to tell her what had happened.
I glared at Tina, cursing myself for believing that she would give me a shoulder to cry on.
"I'm really sorry Mia! She just turned up and forced me to let her stay until you came over!"
And from the look on her face, and the hysterical way she was speaking, I knew she was telling the truth. On top of that, I knew how persuasive Lily could be.
I turned to Lily, my face calm. "If you want the story, you have to promise not to interrupt no matter how much you hate me."
She nodded silently and out of the corner of my eye I could see Tina quivering. "Tina, why don't you go get me that series of romance books that you wanted me to read to make me feel better?" She had of course never suggested this.
"Um…." And then she caught on. "Well, they're in the attic so it might take a while; is that okay?"
"Sure, go ahead." And she scampered off, like a rabbit from a wolf. In fact, Lily did look similar to a wolf at this time; quite a bit more ferocious than her normal pit-bull face.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. If I was going to tell her the story then I was going to tell it calmly. I was not going to cry; I was not a weak rabbit like Tina.
I stared down at my feet, suddenly very interested in the linoleum pattern that adorned Tina's kitchen floor. I shakily began.
"Um, well I guess I'll go from when I ran into you, that Friday after we got out for break." This was good. No emotions so far.
"You know you were asking me if I wanted to sleepover…" I paused as she nodded.
"And then I ran off. Well I ran off because I was looking for… um.." God it was harder to say this then I thought.
"Well I was looking for.." I paused again. How hard was it to say his name?
"Well. Michael." I said, and then continued to blabber to cover my emotions.
"Because you see well he had talked to me the night before and we had agreed to meet by my locker when school ended. But you see I had been daydreaming in algebra." I coughed as a blush rose on my cheeks. The floor was awfully interesting.
"And I was late see. That's why I was running." I took another breath.
"And then after I had ran by you, I made it to my locker. And there was this guy there, but it wasn't… Michael. It was George from my biology class. You know the one who moved here this semester?"
She nodded, her eyes dark with anger. Michael had obviously mentioned George.
"Well I came up to him and he said hi, so of course I said hi back. And I didn't see.. well.. Michael anywhere, so I asked him if he had seen him. He said that he had seen him in the computer lab, so I assumed he was finishing up something for Computer Club."
"Well I quickly started putting my books away, because I wanted to surprise Michael. But then George started to ask me a question so I turned around to face him and-"
I couldn't go on. My throat was constricting and tears were welling in the corner of my eyes. I had swore I would not cry!
"And well he just pushed me up against the locker and forced his lips onto mine and I couldn't push away because my hands were caught behind my back-"
Lily's face contorted with rage and almost reminded me a wolf when it bares its teeth at its rival like on those nature shows on the Discovery Channel nature programs. I assumed the rage was directed towards me, the one who had hurt her brother. But she didn't know the pain I felt telling this story, the anger I felt at George's firm grip on me and the coldness I felt as I saw Michael's disappearing form. I felt a tear begin to fall, and quickly stared at the floor.
"And I… well… then Michael was coming and he saw it just as I managed to free my hands. And well he ran off and he said-"
The tears fell as I stared at my white folded hands and red knuckles. The coldness washed over me. It felt like I would never be warm again.
"He said- well he said that he didn't want to hear my excuses and that he thought that I loved him."
My knees gave in as I sunk to the floor and softly touched the linoleum. It was cold, just like my hands, just like my heart. The small blue diamond patterns stared back at my face, and I watched as my tears flooded them, making small puddles, isolated on the large plain that I knelt on. Water flowed along the ridges on the patterns and traveled, spreading their sadness. I was like a disease. I made happy people sad. I ruined people's lives.
"And he didn't even look back.", I continued in a strangled voice, "He just kept on running. He just ran."
I stood back up, resolved to not cry anymore. I shakily regained my balance and furiously wiped the tears from my eyes. I took a deep breath and straightened my shirt. I tried to act as if nothing had happened.
I painstakingly removed my eyes from the floor and faced Lily whose face was still angry. I once again wiped my cheeks and quietly whispered, "Well, I'll just be leaving now. Tell Tina that I'll get those books later."
I turned around, walking towards the door only to come face to face with Tina, who had a stack of dusty books in her hands varying in different colors from pink to yellow.
"Mia! You didn't tell her what happened after Michael left! You know what you did to George!"
I let out a shuddering sigh and stared longingly at the door. I faced Tina, and hissed, "Great Tina. Do you really think that Lily wants to hear what happened? She already hates me and thinks I lied enough as it is. I don't need to tell her what happened next because she'll never believe me!"
A terse voice sounded directly behind me. "Tell me what happened Mia." Great. Why do I always have to whisper so loud?
I mumbled what I thought was incoherently under my breath, "I called him a bastard and slapped him."
I was surprised to see Lily's eyes widen in shock; I hadn't thought she had actually heard me. I was surprised to see her smirk; probably imagining me slapping a guy.
I made a beeline for the door, not wanting to get caught in such an awkward situation. I cringed as a firm hand grasped my upper arm. Great.
The Almighty Lily had captured me and was holding me prisoner. I don't suppose anyone would be kind enough to put together a rescue team?
I didn't think so.
Micheal POV:
I quickly grasped the piece of paper and stood straight once again. I took at seat by my computer and flattened out the paper so I could read it better. It was smudged at the bottom and the whole sentence seemed to have been written hastily.
I started reading the beginning, " I, Amelia Thermopolis-", but a sharp knock on the door interrupted me and I hurriedly folded the paper and shoved it into my jean pocket.
This was beginning to annoy me. Why couldn't people just leave me alone?
I strode towards the door, expecting Lily. On second thought, when does Lily ever knock?
I opened the door to find my mom staring coldly at me. Uh-oh. Now my mom is a nice person and she makes good lasagna, but seriously you don't want to be in her path when she is mad. If you are, you finally realize where Lily gets the ugly side of her personality from. Although I don't know if there is a good side to Lily; it's mostly ugly. At least my mom has a good side.
Anyway, she calmly pointed at the door and said tersely, "Out Michael. I don't want to see you wallowing in your room all day."
Well I sure wasn't expecting that. But from experience, I knew it was best to follow her orders. The last thing I needed right now was an angry mother scolding me.
So calmly, I once again removed my key from the hook at pulled on a thick coat, noticing that the clouds had covered the brief sunlight that had appeared right when I had encountered Mia in the hallway.
I calmly strode down the sidewalk, heading for the park. Remembering that I still the note that I was reading when I was interrupted, I pulled it out of my jean pocket. I squinted to read the smudged writing.
"I, Amelia Thermopolis, swear to not think about a certain Michael Moscovitz-"
I was shaken as I bumped into a passing pedestrian who yelled, "Watch out where you're going man!"
I ignored him. This was turning out to be a very informative slip of paper. I reached the park and sat down on a bench in order to prevent any more yelling pedestrians.
"- or how much I love him for the duration of Winter Break, because I broke his heart on accident and as a result, he does not love me anymore."
My breath caught in my throat. Mia didn't break my heart on purpose?
Mia still loves me?
AN: Please don't hurt me! Sorry for the lack of updates! Below are some responses to reviews. Thankyou so much for all of your comments and please continue to read and review! If you have any suggestions for the story or on how I could improve it I would appreciate them!
Zfustar: Thanks! I feel honored!
SAXandCLARINETgrl: Thanks for the encouraging review! Its always good to hear from people who like my stories
Laur: thanks for your review! I hope you enjoy the story as it continues!
VIP86: I really hope you do keep reading! I'm sure many of us would like more reviews! Oh well! Thanks for yours! It is very encouraging! And I'm glad you liked the part about the photo album; I wasn't sure it would work with the story!
