Chapter Five: Complications
Anastasia's eyes flew open. "What time is it?" She looked at her clock. 8:15. Her alarm had not buzzed, failing to awake her. She jumped out of bed and rushed to the closet. She threw numerous outfits aside. "Cassie!" she cried out frantically.
Cassie lifted her face out of her pillow. "Huh? What?" she asked drowsily.
"Cassie, it's 8:15 and class starts in 45 minutes!"
Cassie bolted upright and stared up disbelievingly at her frantic friend. "What!? Did your alarm malfunction again?"
"Yes.... Where is it?" Anastasia wailed.
"Where is what?" Cassie asked, jumping out of bed as she started combing her frizzy, blonde hair.
"You know, the pink sweater that my mom knitted for me."
Cassie walked over to where Anastasia was standing, stared for a moment at the closet full of clothes, then outstretched her arm and pulled out Anastasia's prized sweater. She turned to her friend and held the sweater on her pinkie.
Anastasia gawked at her friend in disbelief. "That is not my sweater."
"Uh, yes it is, Ana."
"No, it isn't," Anastasia replied with great conviction. "I'm sure of it."
"See for yourself," Cassie said as she removed the hanger and pulled out the tag. Cassie read aloud, " 'To Ana, love Mom. 2003.' It's as clear as the nose on your face...."
Anastasia snatched the sweater and studied the tag as her eyes filled with tears. "That detergent must have ruined my sweater!"
". . . or maybe not," Cassie finally finished her previous thought. She sat on the edge of her friend's bed and motioned for her friend to do the same. "Ana, we need to talk."
"Okay.... What about?" she asked, taking her place beside her longtime schoolmate and best friend.
"Ana...." Cassie mistakenly hesitated, searching for the right words.
"Cassie, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing's wrong..."
"Well, something is."
Cassie sighed, realizing her friend knew her all too well. There was no way out of it now. "Actually, you're right. I don't know how to tell you this gently, but...Ana...." She held Anastasia's hand, looking her in the eyes. "You're colorblind."
"What?"
Cassie's face flushed. "You're going colorblind," she said again, only not as strongly as she would have hoped.
"O-oh, really?" The realization finally struck Anastasia like a bolt of lightning. "You're serious?"
"Yes, I...you're not concerned?"
She patted Cassie's hand. "Cassie, sweetie, I don't have anything to lose. I just have everything to gain...." The truth was that deep down inside of her, Anastasia knew there was reason for concern. She had everything to lose—and nothing to gain.
The girls' walk to the university was anything but interesting. Anastasia found herself pondering how this disease could have occurred. Whenever she got to thinking, her eyes focused on a vast nothingness. And that's exactly what happened.
Cassie noticed her friend's distinct gaze. Trademark Ana. "Ana, I thought you said you weren't worried about it."
"Huh? Oh, I'm not," she replied quickly. They continued on for a few steps. "What am I not worried about, Cassie?"
"You know perfectly well. Your colorblindness."
"Okay, okay, it does bother me!" Anastasia cried, throwing her hands high in the air. "But it's just.... What did I do wrong? I mean, how does colorblindness just all of a sudden appear out of nothing...and nowhere?!"
"That's easy: It didn't. You've gone through a lot of stress recently. You've been too hard on yourself. I believe your problem comes from those things. Distress can do weird things to a person.... Stress, it's a killer."
"But...do you think I will ever be able to see colors again? I mean, see like I used to? Cassie, I'm so scared.... Could this be permanent? I don't want to live in an existence where all I see are different shades of the same color: A world of varying grays would suck! My Monochrome Existence, Story of my Life will most certainly be the title of my autobiography...that is, if I can even see enough to write!" Anastasia took a quick breath before rapidly continuing, "Will it develop so that soon I won't be able to see at all?" Anastasia's face was turning red as she peppered her friend with questions.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ana, calm down, will you? We don't even know for sure if you really are going colorblind. You should see an eye doctor, get some input and credible opinions."
"I suppose you're right...as usual. If I keep stressing over this, who knows, it might just get worse."
Both girls sighed. As they were passing the white blanketed park, they happened to pass by a group of students. There were about six girls bunched together, all chatting excitedly. Anastasia found her gaze traveling to the magnetic center of the group, who was a tall, brown-haired man. He was laughing, and latching onto his right arm was Crystal. Anastasia's cheeks flushed and she pointedly looked away.
"Right.... Ana?" With no response, Cassie focused her gaze on her friend. She studied Anastasia's expression, which was one of mixed disappointment, sadness, and realization. Then Cassie noticed the students. And finally everything clicked. Anastasia secretly liked Dimitri. At the sudden realization, Cassie swore under her breath.
Cassie didn't intend for Anastasia to hear her, but she did, and Anastasia realized her friend knew. Her gaze traveled to her shoes and her eyes betrayed her efforts to conceal her misery.
* * *
The girls entered the main corridor of the university.
"Ana," Cassie said rather uncomfortably, "what you need is a vacation."
"I know," Anastasia replied softly. This time she was not denying the fact of her need to escape.
"You can move in with my family for a while.... I did talk to my parents, and they're fine with it," Cassie added.
"I just may finally have to take you up on that offer," Anastasia replied, life finally returning to her voice. Cassie smiled at her friend.
Their sentimental moment was shattered by a shout. "Anya!"
Cassie turned to the owner of the voice; Anastasia's cheeks reddened. She knew that shout well enough. Finally, she turned as well. "Yes?"
Dimitri's trademark smile appeared. "I'm so glad I could catch you before class. I have something really important to ask you." His gaze lingered on her for a moment before suddenly flying to Cassie.
She took the clue. "See ya later, Ana."
"Yeah, see you," she replied as her friend ran to meet up with Crystal. She saw Cassie's blonde curls bounce, an obvious sign that she had shaken her head in disagreement. Anastasia found herself giggling as she turned back to Dimitri. "Yes?"
"Anya, I've been thinking a lot, lately, and I think that..."
"Oh yeah, the project! I almost completely forgot about that," Anastasia exclaimed, placing her right palm to her forehead, and bashful smile forming.
"Um, yes, the project. Actually..."
"Hey, Anastasia Greene, gonna try out for Drama today?"
Anastasia did not recognize that voice. Furthermore, she had no idea what the guy was talking about. She turned and stared questioningly at his bespectacled face.
"Pardon me?" she asked politely.
"You know," he replied, pushing his glasses up his nose, "you can sing your heart out and then fall of the...whoa!" The dweeb was interrupted and sent flying, only to crash to to the floor.
Anastasia's shocked eyes traveled from the dweeb to the jock who had pushed the nerd out of the way. "What he means to say is that you'll get up there, act like a hotshot, take one too many steps, and fall on your nose!" His tone was not joking; it was harsh and cruel.
His comment sounded far too familiar. Could he possibly be referring to that? Anastasia's eyes flashed in anger as she growled menacingly, "How do you know??!"
The jock started laughing in her face. "It will look a lot like what I just did to Four-eyes...even better, what happened to you when you were, what, six?"
Clear that he knew, Anastasia clutched the jock's jacket, jerking him down to her height. "How. Do. You. Know?"
"Hey, hey, don't get so grabby," he whined, pulling her hand off his jacket, forcing her to release him. He straightened out his jacket, making Anastasia all the more impatient with him. Looking past Anastasia to Dimitri, he sneered, "Ask your boyfriend."
Suddenly it clicked. She twisted around to face Dimitri, her eyes piercing him with a dangerous intensity. She seized his sweater. "I gave that to you out of confidence!" Her yell was crossed with chocked-back tears.
"Anya, I..."
"Aww, what's the matter?" the jock smirked. "Are you guys breaking up? Poor Anya Greene, how many people have you lost this month?"
His mocking tone stung her. How could he mock such a sensitive subject? Yet, what surprised her most was that Dimitri's betrayal stung even more deeply. Confused, she loosened her grip on Dimitri and spun around, flailing a punch at the jock. Of course, she missed his face, bashing her fist into his shoulder instead.
"Ooh, little Miss Anya Greene is challenging me to a fight?"
Anastasia was about to give him a piece of her mind when unexpectedly Dimitri stepped in front of her. "No, I am."
For only a second, Dimitri's challenge seemed to surprise the jock. But just as quickly he regained his pompous composure. "Okay, sure, New Guy. I'll even go easy on you."
Some students of forming crowd gasped. This caught Cassie's attention, and she saw Anastasia and Dimitri talking with Chris, the school's number one quarterback. Without thinking, she started pushing through the crowd toward her friend.
"First, let's make it clear what we are fighting over," Dimitri stated calmly, rolling up his sleeves. "You have no right to hurt Anastasia. She did nothing to you. And yet, you feel the need to ridicule her? You have to talk about her parents with no compassion....as if they don't matter? You act like people should bow down to you just because you're on the football team. But I think we can all see what you really are...a pompous jerk who makes up for his shortcomings by picking on innocent girls."
As Dimitri was calling the jock out, Cassie was finally successful in pushing through the bystanders. She reached her friend and hugged her tightly.
"Honestly," Dimitri continued, "your IQ's probably the lowest in this school. You're only here because of your ability to play just one darn sport."
Some of the brains, like the dweeb, snickered.
The jock's nostrils flared. He charged Dimitri. The fight began. For the first few moments the two wrestled with one another, their eyes glaring.
As this was happening, the crowd formed a circle around the dueling boys. Most were cheering for Dimitri, the underdog. The few cheering for Chris were his bum teammates; they were outnumbered seventy-five to three. Chris was much bigger and fiercer than Dimitri. Anastasia watched in horror as Chris sucker-punched Dimitri. Anastasia found herself shouting at the jock. Cassie had to pull her friend back from getting her face punched.
For both boys, blows were thrown and received. Finally, Dimitri was knocked to the ground.
Anastasia escaped her friend's grasp and started pounding on Chris's back. Chris turned to push Anastasia aside. She was suddenly happy that her parents made her take a self-defense class last year; it was coming in handy as she jumped on Chris, causing him to lose his balance. This gave Dimitri the perfect opportunity. As Chris tried to throw the girl off of his back, Dimitri charged his legs from behind. Chris landed with a thud. Anastasia hopped off and joined Cassie and Crystal, who were in the midst of exchanging high-fives. But Anastasia wasn't paying attention to her friends; her eyes were riveted on Dimitri.
Dimitri had pinned Chris to the ground. The Russian was about to give him a good pounding, but something came over him and he stopped in mid-punch. He released the jock. "You're not worth it: My time, or my energy." Dimitri stood back up, positioning himself in front of Anastasia just in case the jock was to start flailing at her. Chris pushed himself up, and to everyone's surprise, broke through the circle of students without a look back. His cronies exchanged scared glances and then chased down their leader. Several students applauded and shot smart remarks at the retreating Chris and his teammates. Students swarmed Dimitri, congratulating him as he panted, trying to regain his breath. Yet, he payed no attention to them. His gaze traveled to a girl who was standing with her friends on the outside brink of the celebrators, having been pushed out when the crowd rushed him. Anastasia caught his gaze and held it. She smiled and mouthed a thank-you. He nodded to her. And then the girl turned away, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"Wow!" Crystal exclaimed, almost spitting out her gum in the process, "Ana, I didn't know you had it in you!" She then proceeded by hugging Anastasia, something that was very uncharacteristic of the actress.
"That's my girl," Cassie praised as she wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. Anastasia hugged her friends briefly, then quickly slipped out of Cassie's embrace. "Ana, what's wrong?"
Anastasia didn't answer. Cassie stared questioningly at her friend hastening out of the university without even one look back.
Dimitri saw Cassie and Crystal embrace their friend before his view was momentarily blocked by some of the cheering students. Once some of the crowd had dissipated, he could again see Cassie and Crystal, but Anastasia was nowhere in sight. He followed Cassie's gaze just in time to witness Anastasia exit the college.
Dearest readers;
My sincerest apologies that this chapter is so late in being posted. I guarantee the next chapter will be posted much more quickly. I could go on and on with excuses, but I doubt you would want to read them. However, I did experience a writer's block, and it was very hard to find the desire to want to keep working with this chapter. After all, it was primarily a filler. The main points of Chapter Five were to show how Anastasia discovers she is colorblind and to make Anastasia angry with Dimitri. As you can see, Crystal is going to be a bigger part to this story than may have been expected. I was questioned as to the part Crystal would play, and I believe it is now obvious. For fun, I tried to include personalities/characteristics of some of the classmates in this chapter, and as you can see, many are stereotypical. I hope you found this chapter worth the wait. Again, my sincerest apologies.
P.S.: Because of the long wait for this chapter, I found it only fair to reveal a little of Chapter Six. If you don't want it spoiled, do NOT read anything beyond this point!
Anastasia will have a chance to bond with Dimitri, and he explains how Chris and the dweeb knew about the picture. In addition, they visit Starbucks and go motorcycle riding! However, Anastasia's hurt feelings still do not allow her to view Dimitri as anything more than her Biology partner. And of course it ends with a classic Cassie/Anastasia moment.
Thank you for reading, and kudos to you for not giving up on me!
Sincerely,
Stefie~