A/N: Hello amazing people! How are you all? I'm very excited! Yay! And you surely know why! Yes, you just have to read the title of this new chapter! Finally we're going to find out who W is! I'm sure that you all have been waiting for this moment to come since a long time ago, and it finally came! It's a very important thing for this story, isn't it? I'm so excited for that, I really want to know what you'll think! You know? I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you can enjoy reading it! This chapter is a mix of several things and for sure you'll read parts of action. Unfortunately, I can't answer each one of your reviews because I'm in a hurry and I have to attend a party; that's why I updated earlier. But I promise that in the next chapter I'll answer each one of you as usual! Sorry, sorry, sorry! Okay, back to the chapter... I don't wanna screw it and I don't want to spoil you anything; but I just want to say that the end of this chapter is really shocking and it's the most shocking end of all the chapters already written. If you thought that the others were terrible cliffhangers, then you'll realize that those were nothing compared to this one; at least for me. I must say that I enjoyed very much writing that ending; I was really cruel, I must admit. Yeah, just that. I think you'll be very shocked, but I don't know... I'd really like to know your opinion after you finish reading this new chapter! Ahhh, I'm excited! Okay, okay, I'm done. I'll let you read this new important chapter! Enjoy guys; enjoy as long as you can! haha. Have an awesome week and... Until next Saturday!
Teenage Dream – Part 26 – Uncovering W.
You were very nervous when you entered in the dining room and everybody looked at you; but when Darren squeezed your hand and he said 'This is my girlfriend', you put your nervousness aside and you started feeling excited instead. It felt good to be called like that in public. But when you looked at them again, you felt nervous again. Everybody seemed to be puzzled and they said nothing. Chuck, Jen and Mandy were surprised because you said in public; they looked at Darren's parents and your mom nervously, wanting to see which their reaction was. Then you looked at Darren's parents: they seemed to be confused and very stunned for the notice, but they smiled. Then you looked at your mother: she was looking at you and then at Darren very fixedly, she seemed to be worried and confused, but after a while she smiled slightly, looking down; she couldn't opine about this, because she had no idea how Darren was or how you were feeling. You looked at the entire table again. Your father wasn't there, he didn't come. You looked down feeling disappointed; you still had hopes that your father will come sometime to apologize, but that day wasn't coming and maybe it wasn't going to come. But then you felt how Darren kissed your cheek and you looked up to see him; that made you feel better, his bright smile and happy eyes made you feel better. Darren's dad was the first to talk.
"Welcome to the family." Bill Criss said smiling cheerfully and you smiled shyly but happily. Chuck looked at him amazed and bewildered but you couldn't get why.
"That's a good sign." Darren whispered cheerfully in your ear. "It took a long time to my dad to accept Chuck's ex and he never accepted her as part of the family." He whispered and you looked at him curiously. "I told you that my dad likes you." He whispered shrugging and you chuckled softly before looking at Darren's dad.
"Thank you, Mr. Criss." You said smiling politely.
"Oh please, call me Bill. We're family now and it's ridiculous if you keep calling me Mr. Criss." Darren's dad laughed and Chuck looked at him even more amazed.
"Well, Darren, when you told me that you had a girlfriend and you were going to invite her tonight, I never thought it could be this pretty girl that is next to you now." Cerina Criss started saying, smiling sweetly. "With your father always suspected that your friendship was peculiar; it shouldn't surprise me that you fell in love with each other. But it did surprise me and I'm glad that you decided to share your love with this girl, because she's a very nice girl." Cerina kept saying and you started to feel thrilled while Darren was looking at his mother with a wide smile. "As my husband said, welcome to the family, sweetheart." Cerina said looking at you in a very sweet way and you smiled shyly. "And do not call me Mrs. Criss, call me Cerina." She said laughing and you laughed softly along with her.
"You know my opinion already, Freckles. I heart you girl, and I admire you because I can't get how you do to stand my little bro." Chuck said laughing and you noticed how Darren rolled his eyes, shaking his head as if he was resigned at his brother's comments.
"You also know my opinion guys. Finally!" Jen exclaimed exaggeratedly and you and Darren laughed.
"Yeah, thanks Darren for making my sister as happy as she is; and I'm happy for you sis, you found a good guy with who you can experience new things. And you both are amazing together, everything told." Mandy said sweetly. She was completely different now since you and she talked and it was good.
"Thanks, Mandy. Your sister makes me happy and I hope I'm doing the same as you said." Darren said smiling kindly at her and she only nodded. The only one who wasn't saying anything at all was your mother. After a while she finally spoke.
"Darren, right?" She asked and you looked at her very intently and serious.
"Yes, ma'am." Darren answered politely.
"Call me Natalie." She said also politely and smiling slightly and Darren nodded. Damn, what would your mother say? "Unfortunately, we never had the chance to meet. I wish I could have met you before this unexpected announcement, but different circumstances wouldn't let me." Your mother said and both you and Darren looked down. You knew he was nervous, so you caressed his hand with your thumb slightly. "I honestly don't know you so I don't know what kind of person you are or how your relation with my daughter is. But you're Cerina' son, so I know you can't be a bad person as I've been told. I know Cerina and I know what kind of person she is, so I bet her children are just as good-hearted as she is." Your mother said with a polite smile, placing a hand above Cerina' hand while Darren's mother smiled back. You and Darren looked at them frowning. So, she indeed knew Darren's mother. How come?
"I wish I could have met you before, Ms. Natalie." Darren said very politely, he was still nervous. "And I'm sorry that you've met me in a very inopportune moment and now I'm saying that I'm your daughter's boyfriend before we had the chance to talk sometime. It feels wrong, but..." He said with trembling voice because of his nervousness.
"I understand, Darren. I've also been through this situation in my life. There are lots of different ways you can show love to someone else, none of them are wrong or right, so you shouldn't feel like that. Yes, I do think is weird the fact that my daughter is in a relationship with a boy I don't know; but we have time to meet each other and my daughter seems to be happy with you; so I can't complain." You mother said smiling at Darren and you were really amazed and perplexed. You couldn't believe that your mother could accept someone so easily unlike your father. Then your mother looked at you and she smiled slightly but with sad eyes. That felt weird.
"Thank you, Natalie. I promise to take care of your daughter; I'd never do something to hurt her." Darren said politely smiling and your mother smiled back at him.
Then Darren and you sat next to each other, right in front of your mother and Darren's mom. During the dinner, your mother and Darren's mother told the story of how they met.
"We were friends at college." Your mother said, smiling widely and looking at Cerina. Everybody looked at them very surprised. You never expected this.
"Best friends." Cerina corrected with a smile, looking at your mother. "We were all the time together and I can't understand why if we weren't studying the same."
"I think we met in one of those parties of college. Yes, you were drinking something alone and I remember you were looking at a boy in the distance." Your mother laughed.
"Bill. At that time he didn't know who I was, but I did know who he was; I was all the time looking at him and too shy to go and talk to him because he was always with friends." Cerine said laughing and Bill and your mother laughed along. You chuckled when you thought that that situation wasn't so different of yours with Darren.
"And I was alone; I have no idea why I was at that party; so I just went to talk to you. Since then we started talking all the time about everything. I remember we planned the way you could talk to Bill." Your mother said giggling.
"And it worked. I became his girlfriend." Cerina said smiling widely. "And I owe all to you, Natalie. Then I wanted to find a man for you. You were a really beautiful woman, all the boys were in love with you, so I couldn't get why you weren't dating someone; but then you explained me that you didn't want to be with someone, your excuse was that you were so busy studying; you needed to graduate as fast as you could." She said smiling sadly now and you looked at them confused.
"Yes, for economic reasons." Your mother added smiling faintly and looking down. "We shared a lot of things. You made my stage in college a pleasant one; I don't know what I'd have done without you and all of your advices and support." Your mother said looking at Cerina with a thrilled look.
"And why have you grown apart if you were best friends?" Mandy asked very curiously. Everybody wanted to know it, but no one dared to ask before. It was a very uncomfortable question, because both Cerina and your mother looked down distressed.
"I was forced to leave college. It was a tough time, both economically and familiar, so I couldn't afford the college. We tried to keep in touch, but it was hard." Your mother answered still looking down and distressed. Cerina looked at her and placed a hand on her shoulder, and then they looked at each other smiling faintly. "When I came back at college I tried to find you, but it didn't work. I thought that you moved to the Philippines again because I couldn't find anything about you. I never suspected that the reason of why I never found you it was because your last name was now Criss."
"I tried to find you too and I never could." Cerina said.
"Yes, I remember she never gave up. You were really good friends and I knew it when I looked at my wife trying desperately every day to find you." Bill added looking at them. "It was my fault that the last five years she didn't try to find you. I told her that maybe you moved to London; that was your dream, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was. Oh, those times when I was used to dream a lot. So silly." Your mother said laughing softly but you noticed she was kind of sad. "It wasn't your fault, Bill. Eighteen years looking for me? Yes, it was too much. Well, now you know the reason why you never found me. I got married too." Your mother answered raising an eyebrow and apparently disgusted. "Who would say that our children were going to bring us together again?" Your mother said with cracked voice and teary eyes looking at Cerina who had the same teary eyes.
Wow, that was so thrilling. There were a lot of things you still didn't know about your mother and you felt bad. You didn't know that she was forced to leave college, which would have been the real reasons? You didn't know that she had a best friend because she wasn't so sociable. You didn't know that she had dreams such as going to London; you didn't know she was a dreamy person; that all the boys in college were in love with her. You didn't even know that your mother was able to cry, because she was a strong and cold person. What if your father changed her? What if she was a nice and lovely person before? What could have changed her?
"I believe that when two people met and their connection is special, then they would never grow apart, even if the other isn't here anymore; the other would be in your mind and heart. I believe that destiny, in the most unusual ways; will bring those people together again; because they're meant to stick together." Cerina said with a very warm smile looking at your mother as your mother let out a tear. You looked at Mandy and she was also looking at you; she was thinking the same than you: that was weird. "Our children maybe brought us together because I do think they have the same special connection; I do believe that the nature is wise and not for nothing they met each other. You should see them, Natalie; their bond is so special, they remind me a lot of us. All the time together as if they were one, all the time sharing things, talking, hugging, laughing, crying, joking, getting into mischief." Cerina laughed and so did your mother. You and Darren also laughed. It was weird that Cerina was mentioning all of this. Your mother was like you? Your mother, a very serious person, was used to get into mischief? "And they do that odd thing we were used to do, Natalie. Every night they go outside to lie on the grass and watch the stars while talking. The first time I saw them doing so, I thought about you. And when I first saw your daughter, she reminded me to you. She has the same eyes than you and she has got your same virtue. She can do exactly the same than you, she doesn't utter a word but you can understand what she's feeling or thinking because she talks with her eyes. Since then I've been thinking of you." Cerina said very thrilled and also shedding tears of joy like your mother. Darren looked at you amazed and raising his eyebrows. Maybe your mother and you weren't so different.
The rest of the evening you talked a lot about lots of things. You got to know more about your mother and her unknown past with Cerina Criss. That was crazy, the way they met, the way they were best friends, the way they met again; everything was crazy. But the night was being better than you expected. You thought it was going to be an uncomfortable night; but everything was very pleasurable and natural, as if everyone already knew the other one since years. This was really special and you never thought you could fit so perfectly somewhere like this. You thought that maybe this was the place and the people with who you belonged. At one point in the night, Darren looked at you with bright eyes and a sweet smile for a while and he placed his hand above yours, under the table; as if it was a secret thing to do. You turned the hand so you could intertwine your fingers with his and he smiled even brighter. He was thinking the same than you: This was definitely the perfect night, everything was natural and everybody seemed to be happy; but most importantly, everyone accepted you as a couple and that was the best thing that happened after the tough times you had to go through.
"I love you." Darren muttered with his lips, without making any sound.
"Love you too." You muttered with your lips, smiling fondly at him as he smiled back, squeezing your hand under the table.
It was really late but everybody was talking very entertained. You looked around and you thought how happy you were being right in that moment. Wow, you had a lot of good things around you, how come you never noticed it? Everything was beautiful, life was beautiful despite all the bad things; those bad things weren't important in that moment because you were feeling good. Months ago, you never thought you could actually feel truly happy. Life is weird, you thought happily in your mind. You were so distracted thinking and seeing everything you had, that you haven't noticed that now everybody was looking at you.
"Teens. It seems they live in another planet. I had my very own planet, I remember." Bill joked and you laughed.
"Sorry, I was distracted. What happened?" You asked smiling.
"I was saying that Amanda and I have to leave because it's late, but I'd like to talk to you first." Your mother said kindly. You looked intently at her, she had something different in her eyes; she had sad and tired eyes, but at the same time she seemed to be happy, and you couldn't remember the last time your mother was really happy.
"Yes, of course." You said nodding. You looked at Darren before standing up and he smiled at you, squeezing your hand.
You walked with your mother and Mandy to the entrance and opened the door. You walked outside with them and your mother stopped and turned around to look at you with a smile. You looked at her frowning; it was still weird for you to see her so smiley.
"This boy, Darren... He seems to be a nice boy." You mother said and you smiled, nodding.
"Yes mom, I told you he's the nicest boy and he's very friendly and funny. You should stop listening what dad says, he doesn't know him." Mandy said frowning, apparently a bit upset. When Mandy mentioned your dad, your heart skipped a beat; you've forgotten about him and all he has done.
"Have you been talking to dad about this?" You asked curiously.
"Yes, she has been talking. She arrived yesterday night and she found out that her daughter wasn't in home; so she started asking and our father told her a bunch of lies." Mandy said now really upset.
"Such as?" You asked worried.
"That you were a rebel girl and escaped from the house to go after a guy. That Darren was a scoundrel guy and he was taking you astray. He said that none was his fault and you were the one to blame because he couldn't even recognize you as his daughter. She tried to convince mom that you were sick and that we should banish you from our family because you were a shame for us. He said that now you were a lost case and Darren was a criminal." Mandy said angrily and you felt how your heart broke. Goodbye to all of those hopes you had of your father apologizing to you to be fine again. You looked down feeling really despondent and trying to hold back your tears.
"That's not true. Darren isn't a bad guy, he was the only one who was there for me when I had no one, he was the one who gave me a place to stay when I was homeless because dad kicked me out because I told him I didn't want him to make with my life what he wanted. Darren was the one who supported me, who gave me the affection I needed that time; he was the one who comforted me and who gave me a hand when I needed the most. I didn't escape from home, he kicked me out." You said with teary voice, still looking down and Mandy walked next to you to wrap an arm around you and rub your back to reassure you.
"I know, honey." Your mother answered also with teary voice. You and Mandy looked up at her, she had also teary eyes. "Your father is sick and I thought I could control the situation, but I failed several times. I tried to play fool and pretend that everything was alright, because I still had hopes that he could get better and be the man he used to be. But it never happened. And the worst thing is that I couldn't notice that my children were suffering, that you weren't doing fine and every time I think about it, it breaks me." Your mother said now breaking into tears. She seemed to be very vulnerable, different of how she was. "I'm very sorry to have disappointed you as a mother. I'm sorry for not having been there when you needed a mother's comfort. I'm sorry to have let you down, I'm sorry because in my concern to try to find a solution for your father I forgot about the most important thing I have: you, my children. I've failed as a wife, but what it hurts me the most is that I've failed as a mother. I'm so sorry; I never meant to hurt you." Your mom said crying disconsolately and it was heartbreaking. Both, Mandy and you walked to her to hug her.
"Mom, you haven't failed as a mother." Mandy whispered.
"That's right. We understand that you had to do a lot of things by yourself and you were under a lot of pressure. You had to work hard to give us a place to live and something to eat, so we understand you couldn't be here with us all the time; you had to deal with dad's disorder by yourself, we know you tried to solve it to protect us; you had to deal with two teen daughters, we understand it's not an easy thing to do. Besides all of that, you had to put aside all your dreams, all your friendships and all the things you liked to do only because of us; so don't say you've failed as a mother. You tried your best and we know it; yes, maybe we'd have liked to have a mom with who we could spend more time and enjoy certain things in life, but you're our mother and we wouldn't love you any different." You whispered still hugging her and resting your head on her chest as a little girl. "Sometimes it makes me feel bad that we haven't shown you affection and I know it may be destroyed you. But if we never shown you affection, is because dad was all the time telling us that showing affection was something for weak people and we were too young to understand that it wasn't like that. Mom, we love you, we really do."
"That is true. We love you, mom." Mandy assured also still hugging her.
"You're the most important thing I have, you're the people I love the most." Your mom said still sobbing, but caressing your hair and rubbing Mandy's back. "That's why I decided to divorce your father." She said firmly and Mandy and you looked at her horrified.
"What?" Mandy asked with trembling voice, stepping back.
"Yes." Your mother said now feeling nervous. "He's gonna still be your father and you'll be able to see him when you want, but your father and you cannot be together any longer. I'd never accept the fact he kicked one of his daughters out without even talking to me first. He's out of his mind and I can't keep dealing with it; I had to stand a lot of things. He's a violent person and I don't want him to live in the same house than us, because everything could end in a bad way. It's time for me to admit how things really are; and this is the reality, I cannot be with your father any longer."
"Is this my fault?" You asked looking down, feeling very guilty.
"No honey. You have done nothing to cause us to divorce. It's not your fault. This is between your father and me." Your mother said placing her hands on your cheeks and caressing them with her thumbs. "This is a decision that I should've made a long time ago. A married couple not always work; I tried to work things out but unfortunately it hasn't worked for us. Parents can divorce each other, but they don't ever divorce their kids. We will be your mom and dad forever. We'll always be there for you just as before. You'll always be taken care of. You'll always have a home. Each of us will be with you, just usually not at the same time. We will still be a family, but we will be a different kind of family."
"What are you saying, mother? We won't be a family! What kind of family is that? You should try harder! This is so unfair!" Mandy exclaimed angrily and you looked at her bewildered. You knew she was feeling pain just as you, but you didn't want to make feel your mom even worse, because you were still thinking this was your fault.
"We couldn't find a way to work out our problems or to make things any better. We've made mistakes and we're sorry that we're causing you pain. I want you to say what you feel and think. You may feel worried, angry and hurt. I understand because adults often have these same feelings too." Your mother answered looking distressed at Mandy. "I know it seems unfair that these problems cause you pain and unhappiness. I wish things were different, too, but they're not, and we all have to work at accepting the changes in our family."
"I don't want to accept it." Mandy said very furious.
"I'm sorry this is my entire fault!" You said in tears, feeling really bad.
"Separation is a grown-up problem and you are not to blame. It is our problem." Your mother said kind of desperate. This was being something hard for her and you felt bad that she was the only one who was telling this, because your father never was there to solve problems. "Your father will live in his mother's house and I'll live in the same house than now. You can choose with who you want to live, I won't feel rejected, I'll understand it if you want to live with your father. I'll quite my actual job to get a new one, so I can have more time to be at home with you; we'll have to live without many comforts but I'll make it sure that you can have a safe and full of love place to live. I'll try my best to give all you need and to make you feel as loved as you are." My mother said trying to be quiet, but she was still kind of nervous. You wouldn't stop feeling guilty, no matter what she was saying; and Mandy wouldn't stop feeling upset.
"Honey, I've talked to Cerina and she would let you live with them until your father and I finally get divorced, so then you can come back at home, safe. And Mandy..." Your mother said now looking at Mandy distressed. "I'm not asking you to understand this decision now, because I know it's hard. But this separation doesn't mean that we don't love you."
"Whatever, mother." Mandy said looking away and crossing her arms and you noticed how your mother tried hard to hold back her tears.
"Mom, we're just confused right now. We never expected to hear such a thing, we weren't expecting a divorce. Give her time." You answered because it was breaking your heart to see your mother so anguished. Mandy looked at you on the sly, apparently she seemed to be thankful.
"Please, forgive me." Your mother said with teary voice looking at the two of you. Mandy finally looked at her and she felt bad, so she hugged your mom again.
"It's okay; we actually know that thing with dad didn't work out. I'm just... This is... This took me by surprise." Mandy said shedding silent tears.
And like that, your mom and your sister left, leaving you there in the front porch. You were very stunned by the notice, everything happened so fast; a lot of different things happened really fast. You recently had to experience how Darren was kidnapped and you couldn't do anything to stop it, so you were feeling guilty; you recently had been ambushed by W and you had to show to the principal all the harassing text messages not to be expelled, so you were feeling guilty for telling something you shouldn't have told; your mom and Darren's mom happened to be best friends at college and your mom had a lot of dreams and problems you never knew, so you felt guilty for never had asked her how she was in the past as if you weren't interested on her; and now your mom was getting divorced to your father, and you felt extremely guilty because this was because your father kicked you out for your rough attitude with him. Geez, you've made a lot of mistakes and now people were suffering the consequences of something that was your entire fault. You stayed there for a while to calm down, and you shed all the tears you had. Yes, you were feeling bad. But you needed to move on, so you just wiped your tears away and tried to convince yourself: Everything will be all right. You decided to go to your bedroom, so you wouldn't have to pretend that you were fine; but when you opened the door, the Criss family and Jen were right there in the living room, talking and laughing. You stood there and you felt as if you couldn't move; you didn't make any kind of sound, so you'd pass by unnoticed. But Darren looked away and saw you. He was still laughing at some joke of Chuck; but when he saw you, he frowned slightly, confused, and his face of joy turned into a concerned face. Without saying anything at all, he stood up and ran to you to hug you tightly. You hugged him back, finding comfort in his arms. You buried your face on his chest but you didn't cry; there were no more tears to shed. Darren didn't say anything, as if he understood that you didn't want to talk in that moment.
"Let's go outside." Was the only thing that Darren whispered in your ear.
So then you were sitting on the grass. Darren sat behind you, placing his legs on your sides and wrapping his arms around you, while you rested your head on his shoulder. You knew he was looking at you, but you didn't want to look at him, you still didn't want to talk and he understood you, even if you haven't said a single word. After a while you finally looked into his eyes, he wasn't looking at you anymore. You took your time to look those stunning hazel eyes and long eyelashes. And you started to think... What if Darren someday will grow apart as your mother and your father did? What if someday you stop loving him? What if someday Darren doesn't love you anymore? What if someday you find out that you aren't meant to be together, that your relationship doesn't work after a long time you were together? What if all of this love vanish someday just as the love your mother and father had? When you thought about it, tears started to stream down your face. A tear dropped on Darren's hand so he immediately looked at you. He said nothing; he placed a hand on your cheek and caressed it lovingly with his thumb, right after wiping your tears away. And you told him everything that happened. He only looked at you in silence, always comforting you with his sweet caresses. He made you feel better without saying anything at all; maybe words weren't necessary, sometimes these sweet gestures were more effective than any kind of nice words.
"Everything will be fine because you have a mother who loves you with all her heart; you have a sister who loves you and is trying to get you back; you have friends who will do even the impossible to see you smiling; you have my family who loves you as if you were one more of us; and you have me. You have me and I'll never leave you alone and I'll take care of you always. You have me to lean on; remember that, baby." Darren said kissing your lips sweetly. "When you stop to think about it, you realize that you do have a family. Family isn't always a matter of blood and DNA. Family is what you feel in your heart about someone. I wish you could consider me as part of your family."
"You're my family, Dare. You're more like my home." You whispered fondly and meaningfully. That was weird but true.
Four weeks kind of flew by and now we were in May. Next month was going to be the prom dance and everybody was like crazy, including me. I was super nervous and I was having a lot of ups and downs. The time to go to college was coming closer and I was excited because I was going to start studying that I wanted, but at the same time I was feeling really down because it meant that I was going to leave Freckles. Man, I didn't want it, how the hell was I supposed to do it? Now that she was living with her mother and I couldn't see her as often as before was like killing me because I missed her like hell; I didn't want to imagine how I was going to feel once that I start college. I tried to keep my mind busy so I wouldn't think about it, but it was hard. It was even harder because I couldn't even talk to her in school. Yes, all of us were doing the plan that Freckles had. Jen was all the time with Dean to get information of W, I found out that Dean was indeed part of the W team as Freckles said; Mandy couldn't get to be with Jim because Jim didn't want to see her, so she was with Freckles all the time, and all the people was treating her like shit. And I was pretending to hate her to be with Karen, therefore to be near Susan. I couldn't get any kind of important information, but yeah, Susan was kind of suspicious, she wasn't a good person and she said a lot of nasty things and I had to pretend I liked her. My friendship with Karen grew and that was the only positive thing about this. But I hated the idea of pretending to ignore Freckles, and more now that she has changed her look and she looked amazing; so more people, boys particularly, were talking to her. I talked to her about this, I told her that I didn't like this; but she would say me that I was overreacting. Overreacting my ass! I couldn't stand seeing guys flirting with her and not being able to stop it; of course she never did something, but still. I missed her and I wanted to be with her; and the plan was good, we got to know that Dean was definitely involved, Susan was suspicious, and no one suspected that this all was a plan and we were pretending; but we weren't getting so much information and I didn't want to go on with this plan because I wanted to be able to walk holding hands with Freckles. Damn, I missed that and my time with her in San Francisco was coming to its end and I wanted to fully exploit my time with her. The other positive thing of this whole situation was that W hasn't harassed us since that time Freckles talked to the principal about this. I wondered which the reason could be. Maybe W was feeling helpless now; maybe W was scared now, or maybe was planning something worse. I didn't know, but for the moment I was just enjoying the absence. Now I was at Math class and I was alone in that class, so I was super bored, not paying attention at class at all and thinking about Freckles. Man, I really needed to see her.
To Freckles: Hey baby, I miss you like hell. Would you meet me in the men's bathroom in fifteen minutes?
From Freckles: I'm not risking anything, Criss.
To Freckles: Oh come on, no one will see us; everybody is at class. I want just to see you, and maybe hug you, and touch you, and kiss you... Just a little bit, and then we come back to class.
From Freckles: Fine. You've got ten minutes to arrive there.
I smiled widely when I read her response and of course, I stood up instantly to leave the class. The teacher didn't even notice it; he was too busy writing something in the blackboard. I checked that no one was seeing and when I was sure that the hallways were empty, I ran to the men's bathroom. When I arrived there, Freckles wasn't there. I closed the door and I decided that I was going to open the door only if it was Freckles and lock it when she gets in here. That way, no one was going to see us. I sat on the lavatories to wait for her. I started thinking about her and how our relationship grew tremendously the last four weeks. I never thought I could get along so very well with someone; not only with her but also with her family, except her father of course; and she with my family. It was like, whoa, it was great. Even though I couldn't see her all the time, our relationship was going perfectly amazing. Suddenly I heard a sound coming from one of the bathroom stalls that scared the crap out of me. I thought I was alone, man.
"Who is in there?" I asked gingerly, walking slowly right to where the sound came.
Everything happened so fast. When I reached the bathroom stall from where the sound came, someone opened the door and pulled me inside, locking the door. Someone wrapped the arms around me and started kissing me passionately and desperately: Freckles. I laughed in between the kiss when I realized it was her and then I pulled her against the wall to kiss her even more fiercely. Shit, I loved this so much. I rose her, wrapping my arms around her hips to hold her, as she wrapped her legs right above my hips and wrapped her arms around my neck. Yeah, we were in the right position now and I could kiss her even better, deeper and very fiercely. That was a new thing about our relationship; we still had those moments of sweetness and fondness, but now we also had moments of passion and fierceness. More than once I had to stop kissing her abruptly because my body was responding to those arousing moments and I didn't want to turn that amazing moment into an uncomfortable one. And right in that moment my body was reacting to that arousing moment. Fuck, I was so turned on, the way she was like devouring my mouth and touching me. And she was wearing a fucking dress, so the feeling of my pelvis against hers was more perceptible and intense. I placed my hands on her thighs and I squeezed them while I was still pulling her against the wall. And she placed her hands on my hips, underneath my jeans. Fuck, fuck, fuck. It was too late, that touching was a very big turn on. I was getting hard and I needed to stop right in that moment, but I simply couldn't. Instead, I rubbed my hand on her naked thighs, going up to her buttock. And fuck, she let me do it; not only she let me do it; she rubbed her hands underneath my jeans from my hips to my pelvis. Oh no, that was it, I couldn't contain myself any longer. Now I seriously needed to stop.
"Wait, wait, wait." I whispered weakly in front of her lips and she looked at me kind of lustfully. "I can't... I... I need to stop, you know..."
"Just a little bit more." She begged lustfully, kissing me fiercely again. Hell, I loved those kisses.
"No, no!" I whispered desperately, breaking the kiss. "I.. Fuck, I love this way too much, but I can't keep going. Really I can't, I'm way too turned on."
"Dare please, I miss you. I miss this." She begged in front of my lips and this time it was me the one who kissed her fiercely.
I was turned on and she was begging me to keep going, and I really wanted to keep going, so my desires betrayed me. No, fuck, no. This wasn't going to end in a good way; I knew my body and my jeans were suddenly very tight.
"I miss you too, a lot. But, right now... No. It's... it's different in a man, you can't just kiss and touch like this without having a... you know, a sort of reaction in your body." I whispered awkwardly.
She looked at me with a sensual smile and that aroused me even more. She was about to say something but then we heard something that scared us. Someone entered in the bathroom. How come if I locked the door? Shit, surely I didn't do it right. We both recognized the voice and got even more scared. It was Jim, talking on the phone. I looked at Freckles who had now a terrified face. I placed a finger on her mouth to indicate her to be silent. Silently and very slowly I stood up on the toilet, still holding her in my arms with her legs wrapped around me. I indicated her in silence to stand up on the toilet just as me, because I didn't know for how long I was going to be able to support her in my arms. She did it and she wrapped her arms around me in complete silence, burying her head on my chest, feeling scared.
"I'm telling you that today is the day. Listen, it's now or never. The end of the year is coming and we've waited a lot already. Yeah, yeah, I know that it was because that bitch showed the principal the text messages. Yeah, I also wasn't expecting it; but we have this new plan now. We're gonna destroy that bitch today, she and all of her pathetic friends. Oh come on, they'll never suspect that you're the one; they're so fucking stupid. Yes, exactly. Yeah, I noticed it too, the bitch got hot suddenly, who would have said it? Maybe I could play with her and her body before destroying her; she'll scream in pleasure when she feels a good cock in her ass." Jim said laughing archly and I got so mad.
I felt how the anger ran through my veins. And I completely screwed it. In my anger, I did a bad movement and one of my feet slipped and touched the toilet's water, making a low but noticeable sound. Crap. Freckles looked at me very terrified and I looked at her apologetically, but it was already too late. Jim noticed it.
"Hold on, I heard something. Someone is in here, shit." Jim said upset and I closed my eyes in horror. We were so screwed; he was going to find us. What would we do now? "Who's there? Get out of here, piece of shit, I heard you, whoever you are." He said very rudely.
"Here you are, Jim. Finally, I've been looking for you." A woman's voice said. I recognized it too: Susan. Freckles looked at me very fixedly and serious.
"Hey, hot stuff." Jim greeted her and there was a silence. Were they kissing?
"Today is the day, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, today we're gonna fuck them up." Jim said laughing archly.
"Good, we need to let our team know it. We all need to act now and no one can regret at this point. That's your job, Jim. Tell everybody that we're gonna do it during the performance of the cheerleaders today. Everything needs to be as we've planned, Jim." Susan said nastily. Damn, Freckles was right. It was more than obvious that Susan was W.
"Don't worry hot stuff. Today they'll regret to have been born." Jim laughed viciously. "Let's go, we have job to do."
I heard some steps and then I heard how they closed the door; they finally left. I got off the toilet and so did Freckles. She looked at me very terrified and stunned.
"I told you it was Susan." She said with trembling voice.
"I'm sorry, you were right all this time." I apologized feeling terrible.
"You heard that, they're gonna do it today; not sure what they're gonna do but it isn't something nice for sure." She said very concerned, she was very edgy.
"What are we gonna do now?" I asked feeling very helpless and worried.
"I don't know!" She exclaimed desperately.
"We need to tell Jen and Mandy." I said trying to keep calm, but it was impossible.
"Yes, we need."
And then both of our phones buzzed at the same time. For the first time after four quiet weeks, W appeared again.
"Hey suckers, I have news for you. The end of the year is coming, the graduation is close, and you still don't know who I am and this cannot keep being like this because is boring, so I propose something. You know that today we have a cheerleaders' performance; well, we will play a game. During the cheerleaders' performance, you have to find me. If you get to find who I am, then I'll set you free; but if you don't, then I'm gonna destroy you and all the people you love. Ready to play? Ready to find out who the winner is gonna be? You have forty minutes to find out who I am or your entire life will be fucked up. Good luck, suckers. -W-"
I only exchanged a terrified look with Freckles. Dammit, I was so nervous; I didn't know what to do.
"All right." Freckles exclaimed firmly, looking at me. "I have a plan." She said self-confident. "We're gonna tell Jen and Mandy all of this. Then, when the entire school is in the gym to see that performance, we're gonna go separate ways to find Susan faster. Now we're sure that Susan is W, we only need to find her. If we find her on time, then they won't do anything. We can do this, Darren. We can finish this macabre game." She said encouragingly in this tough time. I loved her for that.
"Yeah, yeah. We can do this. We're finally going to be fine." I assured, trying to feel more relaxed now.
"Good. I'll tell Mandy and you tell Jen, right now. We'll meet in the gym and we're gonna go separate ways to find Susan or Jim." Freckles said trying to sound positive.
"Yes." I assured and then I looked deeply into her eyes. "We're gonna make this." I said nodding; now convincing myself that we had a chance. "I love you." I said looking intensely into her eyes after she encouraged me.
"Love you too." She said smiling and then we kissed passionately. "Okay, I gotta go to find Mandy."
"Yeah, I gotta go to find Jen." I said nodding.
It wasn't so hard to find Jen, she was with Dean. I took her by the arm and I pulled her away from Dean. I looked at Dean coldly before I turned around to walk with Jen another way. I didn't know where to take her to talk, so I just took her outside. That was when I heard the principal's voice starting to ring over the loudspeakers.
"Students, you all have to go to the gym to see the last performance of the cheerleaders while..."
I didn't listen anymore; crap, I still needed to tell Jen everything. So I told her everything as fast as I could while I was seeing how all of the students were walking cheerfully to the gym.
"Do you mean that right now we have to hurry up to find Susan who happens to be W; we have to do this and everything will be all right? Right now, in the gym... And we're wasting our time." Jen said with trembling voice, very edgy.
"Yes, right now, in the gym, we must search Susan." I said placing my hands on Jen's shoulders to reassure her. Usually, it was always she the one trying to calm me, but this time she was really nervous. "Jenny, we can do this, we really can. Now we have to go separate ways, but everything will be all right. If someone tries to hurt you, just call me. You don't need to talk, you just call and I'll know it's you and I'll find you, okay?" I said looking deeply into her eyes and she nodded with scared eyes. I hugged her very tightly. "Nothing bad will happen to you, I won't let it happen. You know, this could be the end, we can be fine again as before when W didn't exist. Wouldn't it be cool?" I said smiling slightly to try to cheer her up. She smiled faintly.
"Yes, it'd be. But I'm scared right now." Jen said with trembling voice now looking down.
"I'm scared too, like hell. I don't know what's going to happen now; but I do know what I want: this game to end. I don't know if they're gonna win or if they're gonna hurt us; but I do know what could happen if we find W and it's pretty awesome, so I'm doing this, so I'll gamble. I want us to be as tranquil and good as we used to be, imagine us being without W; that's awesome and for that I'm risking." I said still looking deeply into her eyes. "If you feel too scared to do this, you can stay out, Jenny; and everything will be all right, I'll understand. You don't have to do this."
"No, I'll do this. As you said, we need to find Susan." Jen said now more self-confident and I smiled at her. "Let's go find that bitch."
And we walked to the gym, it was a mess there. I tried to find Freckles and Mandy, but I couldn't see them. There were a lot of people and everybody was talking loudly and very excited. Jen and I were still trying to find Freckles in that crowded place. We wouldn't find them this way, so I looked at Jen.
"Jen, you go that way and try to find Freckles, Mandy or Susan. I'll go that other way. Otherwise, we won't find them quickly and we don't have so much time." I said edgy, still trying to see them. Jen nodded in silence and went away.
Well, I was alone now and I tried to move in between all those people. Shit, it was as if W had planned to make this even harder; I never had a problem with crowded places, but this time I was going crazy. A lot of people tried to get on my way, stopping me or pushing me, but I tried to ignore them because I was so busy trying to find Freckles or Susan.
"Having difficulties to find me, Criss? Are you really that naive to have thought that you could find me so easily? Twenty minutes left. Hurry up! -W-"
Fuck you, Susan; I thought in my mind very annoyed. I tried to keep walking but it seemed that people were concentrating on my way. A lot of times I stopped walking to stand on tiptoe and see Freckles' face. Where the hell could she be now? I tried to call her, but her phone was turned off. I couldn't find Jim or Susan; I couldn't find Brian or Dean; no one was there. What if they weren't there? What if they were somewhere else? Now I couldn't even find Jen and when I called her, her phone was also turned off. Then suddenly everybody sat and got silent as the principal started talking, I kept walking until a teacher scolded me and forced me to sit. Fuck, I was so annoyed and nervous; I didn't have so much time. The cheerleaders' performance started. I tried to keep moving, this time crawling on all fours so no teacher was going to scold me. Lots of people made fun of me for what I was doing, but I ignored them; lots people slapped my head while I was passing by them, but I ignored them. And this was being hard because I couldn't see a damn shit like this. And then I saw her, I saw Susan. An anger and fear ran through my whole body. I acted by instinct: I stood up and I started running to her, feeling the adrenalin in my veins. Teachers yelled at me, telling me to sit up and behave; people tried to punch me when I passed by them, because I was kicking them because there wasn't so much room to run; I noticed how now the principal was walking to me very upset, I saw how teachers were going to help him to catch me, I noticed that a lot of people were looking at me bewildered; but I ignored it all, I needed to catch Susan. When I was about to reach her, she finally looked at me and smiled very archly and then... Fuck, then everything was dark: A power outage. Oh crap, I couldn't see anything at all and I needed to catch Susan; everybody started yelling and running like crazy. I needed to catch Susan but it was impossible because I couldn't see, everybody was crossing on my way and a lot of people were pushing me in their desperation to get out of this place. I tried to light the way with my phone but I couldn't see Susan anymore. Damn, I was so nervous and edgy; my whole body was trembling. I watched the time, I only had ten minutes to find her and this was a complete chaos. How was I supposed to find her in this chaos? But I kept running in the direction I was running before. Someone ran against me and made me fell into the floor; and I let out my phone to put my hands on the floor and make the fall less painful. Crawling on all fours and still not being able to see, I tried to find my phone patting the floor; some people stepped on my hands and it hurt me, but I ignored it. I needed to find my phone, I needed to light the way, I needed to find Susan, and the time was running. Then I saw my phone and I tried to go directly to there; but when I stood up, someone stumbled into me and hit my head with the elbow accidentally. Actually, it was a very strong hit. I tried to keep walking but I was feeling weak and very dizzy. And someone hit me on my head again and this time I couldn't do anything. I just fainted.
"He's waking up." A voice said.
"No, he's still like dead." I heard another voice.
"Look, he's opening his eyes." The first voice said.
My head was aching and I wanted to see who the people who were talking were. I tried to open my eyes but I couldn't focus my sight, everything seemed blurry. Where was I? What was this place? The smell was weird, super weird. I was feeling uncomfortable; I knew I was on the floor. I tried to rub my eyes to see clearly, but I realized that my hands were tied. I got very scared and my heart started beating fast. Where was I actually? Who were those people? I tried to move my legs, but my legs were also tied. Now I was starting to see clearer. I was in a very small room, a room full of brooms, scourers and cleaning products; it explained the smell. I couldn't talk; they covered my mouth with a bandage. I looked around, there they were: Brian and Jim. They were looking at me very intently and then Jim looked beside me. When I looked where Jim was looking, I saw Jen. She also was tied like me and she also had a bandage in her mouth. She was looking at me, she was crying and she seemed to be just as scared as me; she seemed to be desperate. I looked around again; neither Freckles nor Mandy were there. We've been caught by W. We have lost the game, I failed, and we failed. Fortunately, they haven't caught Freckles. But what if they did and they had her in another place, hurting her? I tried to get off the ties, but Jim punched me on the face, making my nose bleed. I heard how Jen tried to scream, but she couldn't. I tried to clean my nose with my shirt and then I looked at Jen, she was crying disconsolately. Then I looked at Jim and Brian in anger.
"Call her, Brian." Jim demanded and Brian nodded, walking outside the room. "Well, well, Criss. This is interesting. You've lost the game, now you are completely fucked up. How does it feel?" Jim asked archly and I looked at him in a rage. "Oh, I forgot, you can't talk." He laughed wickedly. "But we're cool people. We want to let you know who W is. Are you ready to find out who this mysterious person is?" Jim asked looking at me in a very macabre way. "You'll get surprised. I'm more than sure that you've never suspected of that person; you stupid idiot. It's so easy to trick you."
I couldn't believe that we've lost; I couldn't believe that I wasn't the fast enough to catch Susan right when I had the chance. I saw how Brian opened the door and got inside again. Now Susan was going to get in.
"She's ready to see you all." Brian said quietly and he looked away. "Uncover his mouth, Jim."
"Good." Jim uncovered my mouth rudely and I looked at him in anger. I didn't utter a word, I was too furious to talk. "Let me introduce you to W." Jim laughed viciously.
Brian opened the door again and I tried to see who it was the person who was going to enter the room. I knew it was Susan, I was completely sure of it, but I needed to see it with my eyes. I heard steps of heels coming closer, it was woman; yeah, of course. The first I saw of the person were the heels of the girl. Then I started looking up, she was wearing black tight leather pants and a black tight shirt. Then I finally looked up to see Susan's face. But it wasn't Susan. I looked at her and I felt how my heart skipped a beat. My body started trembling because of the surprise and the fear. I was so confused, I was so puzzled, I was in shock. This wasn't possible. I looked at her deeply into her eyes, trying to understand what the hell was going on. She walked to me and kneeled in front of me. Now I could look into her eyes even more deeply and intensely; her look wasn't the same, her eyes weren't the same. I frowned in confusion and she smiled viciously, that wasn't her smile. She wasn't the same person.
"Hello, Criss. I bet you never imagined that I was W. Astounding, huh?" Freckles said laughing wickedly and ruthlessly as my heart broke into million pieces.