:)
Derrick looked at Massie. She looked ravishing with her long curls in a high ponytail, the ends curling. She was wearing a white BCBG blazer and a red Marc Jacobs dress with a band around the waist. You could tell she was uncomfortable in her wardrobe.
"How does it feel being ten years old?" Derrick asked her. They were near the bushes in the backyard of Massie's Northampton mansion. They were being blocked by the three huge apple trees that Jack, the Blocks' gardener, had planted.
Massie looked up at the starry night. Each star glittered back at her.
Derrick stared at Massie's gorgeous face. The white moon shone down on it, making her even more angelic. She was so captivated by the stars. He was so captivated by her. To him, she couldn't get any more perfect.
"Do you ever wonder if that stars get jealous of each other?" Massie asked suddenly.
Derrick chuckled. "Of course not, stupid. Why would they?"
Massie sighed and scooted away.
Derrick debated on moving nearer. He thought not to and to just leave her alone.
"Why do you always insult me?" she asked quietly. "Why do you always call me bad names and do bad things to me?" Massie asked quietly.
Derrick gazed at Massie. Because I like you. "Because it's true. I guess. I don't know."
"You do know. Tell me. Please?"
"Why should I?" Derrick dragged, not wanting to tell Massie his true feelings.
"Come on, it can be your gift to me." Massie smiled softly.
"Ew. Then that would mean I'd have to be nice to you forever. I wouldn't like that."
"Come on, Derrick, just tell me and I'll never bug you again." Massie looked up at Derrick with pleading amber eyes.
"No way," Derrick stubbornly said.
She pouted. "Why not? Is it you deepest darkest secret?"
"Yes, it is, so leave me alone."
Massie became quiet after that. Derrick felt bad that he was so mean to her. To be nice, he asked her, "What did you wish for when you blew out your candle?"
She bit her cheek before answering, "I wished for two things, actually."
"Oh? What were they?"
"Why should I tell you?" She turned her head and looked at him.
Derrick was speechless for a moment. He had nothing to say to that. "I didn't say you had to. You don't need to tell me."
"Fine. I won't." Massie turned her head again. She was an extremely stubborn person.
Derrick leaned back. He stared up at the sky, thinking about Massie's wish. What would a ten-year-old girl wish for? He pondered. A pony? A whole set of Barbies? Or are Polly Pockets in now? Ugh, girls are so complicated.
"Derrick?" Massie whispered into the cold air.
He snapped back to reality. "Huh?" he answered.
She took a deep breath before saying, "My first wish was that Kristen and Claire to be here. I miss them."
Derrick stayed quiet.
"My second wish was that you'd be nicer to me," she murmured the last wish so that Derrick couldn't hear.
Unfortunately, he did. He pressed his lips together. "What a waste of wishing," he muttered.
"I need to tell you something, Derrick," Massie said softly.
"Why?" Derrick stuttered. "What is it this time?" He hesitated a little because he was scared of what she could say.
Massie inhaled and exhaled deeply, just to get herself calm. Her heart beat raced and her mind was telling her not to tell him. But her heart was screaming louder. In one breath, she managed to say it all. "Derrick, I know that you hurt me because you love me. I can feel it, I can see it. Don't ask me how or why, I just know. So why don't you be a man and tell me how you feel."
Derrick glanced at Massie, then at the ground, then at his hands and back to Massie. All these years that I thought she thought I hated her, I was wrong. She knows that I love her. She knows how I feel.
"Is it true, Derrick? Is it?" Massie prodded.
Derrick blinked. What do I say?
"Well? Is it?"
It's now or never.
"Come on, Derrick, tell me!"
"No, it's not. I don't love you, stupid. How can you think something stupid like that? God, you're such a dodo." He gulped.
Massie sniffled, a tear escaping her eye. "Let's just forget this whole sorry night ever happened, why don't we?" She stood up, managed to scowl at Derrick and ran away.
Both hearts broke. Like glass, it had cracked. Like an earthquake occurred, it shook. They both had loved each other too deeply. And in fifteen seconds, Massie's vision of Cinderella died.
_xoxoDDLSG_
Massie had turned ten that night. It was the first time she cried on her birthday. Derrick had turned ten three nights before her. She looked up at the sky. Inside, her house was empty. Inez and Isaac both left for the weekend and weren't coming back until the following morning.
Massie was engulfed by her sleeping bag. Watching the stars, she couldn't have felt any better. To Massie, they were the best thing created. They always held the answers for her.
But tonight, the stars gleamed care-free and answerless. "They don't care anymore. No one does," she mumbled to herself.
She re-positioned her arms, folding them over her stomach. Massie was crying over Derrick. All these years, she thought she hated him. She was deeply and madly in love with him.
It was why she cried when saying she hated Derrick. All those times she said it and it felt wrong, it felt wrong because it was wrong. So terribly wrong. If only she had seen it earlier.
Then again, she did see it earlier. Letting herself drown in sorrow, she closed her eyes and reminisce the better memories. Memories she'd kill to relive again.
_xoxoDDLSG_
Derrick stared up at the sky, his hands folded behind his head. After Massie told him that she hated him, he buried himself under covers of darkness.
Does Massie really hate me?
Derrick closed his eyes and pictured the auburn-haired girl smiling and laughing. He had ruined a beautiful love-hate relationship with the most wonderful person created. But then again, it was a mere mistake. He was jealous.
Okay, yeah. Connor and Massie did date. They had pet names for each other. Kissed with passion. Maybe they even had…
No. Massie's way too smart. She wouldn't be pressured. And even if she were… Massie's just too smart for that. No way. She's way too smart. It'd be weird… Nah. She's still awkward and stuff.
Derrick sighed. The reason why he was outside was because he had an urge to watch the stars. To see them glittering and calling to each human being like it was destined for them. Like each star was made for one person and one person only.
Derrick remembered a night that he and Massie shared two months after her birthday.
_xoxoDDLSG_
"What are you doing here?" Massie asked Derrick who plopped himself down next to Massie's sleeping bag. "Ew, why are you here, you stupid dingdong."
Derrick rolled his eyes, ignoring the stupidity of her comment. "Nothing, dumb bum. Why are you out here?" He crossed his legs and glanced her way.
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Why are you being so… stubborn now? Two months ago you were so insistent on pestering me with dumbass questions. And now you're so… bleh."
"Yeah, well you've been bleh your whole life, so don't even try and get me out of my stubbornness."
"Ooh, what now, Massie? You think you're so sassy? Well I'll tell you what; you're too classy to be sassy Miss Massie," Derrick teased.
"Well, Derr-ick, stop being such a big—"
"Hey, hey, hey, no need to be so touchy."
Massie snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever."
"What, no sass?"
Massie narrowed her eyes and glared at Derrick. She craned her neck back and planted her hands on the ground behind her so that she could recline on her arms. Her satin pajamas were soiled with earth.
Derrick always knew she wouldn't care about her clothes. It was one of the reasons why he loved her. Derrick sighed and watched the stars along with Massie.
"Why do you like doing this?"
"What, this?" Massie outstretched her arm to gesture towards the ground around her.
"Yeah. Staring at the stars; I don't get the fun of it."
"Of course there's no fun, stupid. Staring at stars just relaxes me. Like how some people look at water and it calms them. That's how I feel."
Derrick crinkled his nose. "Does listening to music count?"
Massie, who was too engrossed by the glittery shine, nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah, it is."
"Then why don't you just do that? It's normal." Derrick tore his eyes away from the dark, flowing sky and looked at Massie, patiently waiting for her answer. Seconds passed before her mouth actually opened.
"Because music has lyrics and a rhythm already made. When you look at stars, one always glows after another one. You make your own beat. You get your own lyrics. But that's not what I love. Music is so loud, so in-your-ears. With stars"—she closed one eye and pointed to three stars that twinkled right after the other—"there's no sound, unless you make it. They're just there to marvel at, to wonder their being. I believe the stars are jealous of one another." She half-smiled softly.
Derrick opened his eyes. He hadn't even noticed that they were closed. "Why do you believe that?"
Massie was silent again. "Only those who believe will understand it on their own." She adjusted her neck to grin at Derrick. "You need to believe." And in a flash, she got up and ran back to her house, sleeping bag flying behind her.
_xoxoDDLSG_
"Okay. Now I believe, I know what you mean," he muttered to himself. And he did. Staring at each star, he searched for something. Something that screamed "Derrick". But there were more than a zillion stars that night. But Derrick wouldn't stop looking. There was a reason why he needed to look for his star.
Because if ever Massie asked him that question, he'd know how to answer.
He'd know exactly how to answer.
_xoxoDDLSG_
Kristen looked at herself in the mirror. Her long honey blonde hair was tangled and her face was red. He soccer clothes were rumpled and one knee seemed to be swollen.
"If I'm going to get Derrick to like me, I'm going to need to change myself," she said to her reflection.
"And how do you suppose you're going to do that?" a husky voice asked from under Kristen's doorway.
Kristen jumped. She turned around and saw her father, Nicholas. "Dad, you don't sneak up on girls like that. You could die, especially if they were holding a hair straightener."
Nicholas laughed. "True, honey, very true. That's how I met your mother."
Kristen raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Nicholas nodded and made his way to Kristen's bed. "Yep. It's true. Your mother wouldn't admit it, though."
"Wait, she threw a hair straightener at you?" Kristen asked.
Nicholas laughed. He was a man of tall stature with bright green eyes and a hazel lining of his pupil. He moved from his place under the door. He slowly moved towards Kristen who was sitting on her bed. "It was freshman year of college and your mother was angry at her professor. He had overlooked her debate on Abraham Lincoln. Because Judi was straightening her hair when you mom came in, she dropped it and left it on. Your mom started throwing things out the open window, one of those things the hair straightener which she yanked from the outlet. So she threw it out the window and a devilishly young handsome—"
"Dad!" Kristen groaned, sheepish.
He chuckled and continued. "Well, I was walking a few feet behind the window when it flew out and landed right in front of my right foot. Judi looked out the window and spotted Massie's mom, Kendra. She was with William, of course, when she when she spotted Judi's hair straightener. She rushed over to me, called me a thief and marched me to your mother's room where she said she fell head over heels with me."
"Well, I thought I did," Martha giggled from Kristen's doorway.
Kristen and Nicholas both looked up from where they were. Kristen smiled as Martha flirtatiously walked strutted towards Nicholas. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered something in his ear. He turned red and his eyes widened.
Kristen wanted that. Someone to flirt with, to hold, to make someone's face red. She wanted what her parents had. And she wanted it with Derrick.
AN: :)
Perfection? Ugliness? Totally burned your eyes?
Well, this is your update:) I'm sorry if my updates aren't so regular, just really busy at school and all (and Dez, don't laugh at that). Anyhoo, thanks to all of you that read and review and alert and beg for my updates. Haha, I'm kidding:) Don't think I'm narcissistic, I'm not;)
Anway, there's this really funny story that I always seem to think about but only really laughed at it now. I realize that whenever Desiree updates, most everyone that I subscribe to update also. When I checked my inbox, I was like, "Oh, wow, so many stories..."
So... Yeah, it's not that funny, but it's just... Yeah. I'm not weird or anything! I'm just... Yeah, okay, I'm weird, but seriously, who isn't?
Oh, and Massie is so deep, isn't she? Actually, that's how I feel about stars. I think they're jealous of each other. -shrugs- Oh, and Behind Enemy Lines! Read that also! :)
Anyway... I don't know why I'm saying this only now, but I've always meant to say it, but whenever I remember to say it, I always already put up a chapter, so I'm gonna say this now:
THIS STORY, HOPE THIS DOESN'T HURT, IS NAWT (heehee) OWNED BY ME AND IS DISCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE STORY.
Your welcome, Lisi:) Yeah, she e-mailed me the other day.
...
Yeah right!! Okay, this is turning into a really long AN and it's extremely rambly (just the way I like it) but I hope you're not dead on the other side of the screen wherever you are reading this.
Okay, bye and thanks for reading and (hopefully) reviewing! :D
xoxoDDLSG
P.S. : Don't be afraid to send me a PM. Unless you really are afraid. Then if you are... Well... That hurts but fine then! :)