Chapter 35: Tragic But True
Reina couldn't help it – her skin was crawling.
It was an instinctive reaction.
All because Matteo was smiling down lovingly at her while gently caressing her left cheek with the back of his hand.
Sure, it was something he always did. Back when they were a couple.
But Reina had found it annoying, even all those times then.
Her idea of affection was more straightforward.
A steamy French kissing marathon where two sets of lips and tongues meet hungrily, full of raw passion, allowing the entire world to fade into the background for just a while.
Or just a session of good old-fashioned sex. So simple and primal, never failing to render her breathlessly satisfied and comfortably exhausted.
But this silly cheek caressing nonsense? It did nothing for her. It was best left in cheesy and outdated romance movies that her grandparents would reminisce about.
"Finding that hand sanitizer was a genius move, baby," Matteo murmured at her.
Reina did her best not to move away from Matteo, willing her hand to continue clasping at his arm like a dutiful girlfriend.
Together, they watched as the tiniest fire began to grow from the trash can that Eric and Matteo had set up in the middle of the locker room, its flames licking the air greedily.
"So how exactly are we pinning this on Ander?" she queried casually.
Matteo chuckled. "Oh yes. This reminds me." He took a half step forward, and Reina had never been so glad for the distance between them, no matter how small it was.
Next, Matteo retrieved something from his jeans pocket and held it up for Reina to see.
It was Ander's student ID card.
Reina's eyebrows shot up. "Where did you get that?"
"Back when we had the dare at Vicalvaro Lake. Emilia saw Ander's backpack on the grass and poked around – then she decided to take the ID card as, uhh, piece of souvenir."
Emilia! How fucking sneaky of her.
"How clever of her," Reina spoke, even though she was fuming inside.
"Yeah she figured it might come in handy one day. And today's the day."
Matteo handed the ID card to Eric, who placed it on the floor, close to the doors.
"It's so careless of Muñoz to drop his ID, right in the middle of his act of arson," Eric commented with a laugh.
"Typical Las Encinas idiotic behavior," Matteo replied, then turned to Reina. "I don't know how you could stand being around those lame ass Las Encinas people for even a day. It's contagious, you know. I don't understand how your dad could have sent you to this school. Literally any dump site would have been better."
By this point, Reina was ready to punch Matteo. What right did he have to judge a bunch of total strangers who – with the exception of Ander – had never done anything to him?
I mean, sure, Christian could be too desperate and disgusting when it came to girls. But he always has your back. And he's the first to try and lighten up the mood whenever he senses something's off.
And Marina. She's the funniest, most genuine person I know. You know you can be yourself with her and she'd be absolutely fine.
Then there are Guzmán, Lu, Polo and Carla. So fiercely protective of Ander. With zero intentions of causing harm to other people even though I'm sure they all wanted to clobber me on more than one occasion – for what I did to Ander.
The best part though? This group was willing to socialize with me. No bullshit; they made it crystal clear where I stood with them, and yet treated me like a decent human being. In spite of everything.
So sue me. I actually enjoy being around them.
Reina must have revealed too much on her face because Matteo leaned in, his piercing blue eyes lit with curiosity.
"You agree, right?" Matteo asked her. The slightest hint of suspicion had crept into his voice. "Or do you actually care about any of them? About Ander?"
Oh shit. I'm going to mess this up if I don't snap out of this.
Reina huffed and rolled her eyes. "Babe. I was the queen of San Patricio. I don't even give a fuck about half the people at our school. What makes you think I would ever change my ways – especially toward the trash from our rival school?"
"Well, you did fuck Ander. While we were still together," Matteo reminded her.
Reina could tell that things were about go south, fast.
So she had no choice – she walked up to Matteo, tugged at the collar of his shirt so that he bent down toward her, and then she proceeded to plant on his mouth the deepest, most fiery kiss she could muster.
Ugh. This feels so fucking wrong.
Reina's emotions washed over her like the biggest tidal wave. If she had any doubts before, well, all of them were erased in this moment of lip-locking with Matteo.
There was no denying it anymore.
Reina did not want to kiss anyone... certainly not Matteo... and not any other person in this world.
No, she only wanted to kiss Ander.
It was tragic, but true. Nobody else would do.
And I need to tell Ander. How I feel. I have to try, at the very least. Who knows, he might just feel the same way about me. And this could be our chance at happiness – together.
Reina had been keeping her eyes closed as she remained lip-to-lip with Matteo, but they flew open as she came to a decision.
Yes, the moment she could get out of here, she was going to confess it all to Ander. He was going to listen to her. He just had to.
As if on cue, there was a loud squeaking sound followed by a major blast of water raining down on everyone – Reina, Matteo and Eric.
"What the fuck?" Matteo yelped, looking upward.
"The water sprinklers. Someone activated them," Eric grunted.
"The fire is still burning. I think we're good. Let's leave before we get caught," said Matteo urgently.
"Alright, let's go," Eric agreed.
Matteo reached to grasp Reina's hand, but she pulled it away.
It made Matteo pause and peer at her quizzically.
"I'm not coming with you," Reina intoned.
"What do you mean?"
Just then, a loud commotion outside stole their attention.
"Hey! What are you doing here? Fucking assholes!" Noel was shouting.
In the next instance, the doors opened with a bang to reveal the smirking faces of Ander and Guzmán.
Noel came barreling right behind them, ready to swing his fist at the two boys.
"Whoa, easy there," Guzmán said, raising a hand. "The police is on their way. You wouldn't want to give the officers even more reason to detain you."
"I think arson is already a pretty good reason, no?" Ander quipped.
Matteo's expression was a blend of rage and smugness. "We were just innocently hanging out here, until we saw you start the fire, Muñoz."
"Cool story, bro," Ander responded coolly. "But is that the truth? Let's ask Reina."
Everyone swiveled, and suddenly all eyes were on Reina.
"I could answer..." Reina began, "But I won't bother. Because there's a spy camera in here that's been recording everything. So we'll just let it do the talking with the police, yes?"
Eric let out a string of expletives, while Matteo shot Reina a wounded look.
"You were in on this? With these loser scums?" Matteo pronounced each venom-dripped word slowly.
Reina glanced at Ander, staring back at her with those sincere brown eyes that she adored so much.
Then she turned to Matteo with a sardonic smile. "They're not the losers, Matteo. You are. And like I said – I can't deal with pathetic losers. Remember?"
Matteo's face fell, the last shred of his confidence disappearing.
"Speaking of losers..." Guzmán cleared his throat as he removed the backpack he was carrying from his shoulders. He went on to unzip the backpack and pull out a winged statue – the school trophy that had meant to be the goal of the dare that night.
"Looks like we won this part of the mission too," Guzmán continued, a grin spreading across his freckled cheeks.
"Fuck this. We better go," Eric growled.
"Bye guys." Reina waved. "See you again never."
Noel sighed as he walked out. "Whatever, traitor."
Matteo spat on the floor, right where Ander and Guzmán stood, before making his exit too.
It wasn't until Ander was by her side, touching her wrist gently, that Reina realized that she had been holding her breath. The physical contact was the trigger that she needed to exhale – and it was a huge, long breath of relief.
"Hey, you okay?" Ander wanted to know.
"I think so," Reina answered, aware of how shaky she sounded.
It didn't go unnoticed by Ander either. "You did great. And it's all over now," he assured her.
"Yeah, good job, Reina. We got those dickheads right where we wanted them," Guzmán stated, pleased.
"It was a team effort," she said.
Guzmán threw her a friendly gaze. "It was."
Once the fire was put out, the camera was retrieved, and the police was done with questioning, Reina resumed her main task of the night.
Her confession to Ander.
She was nervous, of course. She had never done this before. Usually she would be on the receiving end of a romantic confession.
How would she even bring up the subject? Reina had no clue.
But first things first. She had to locate Ander.
Her feet carried her across the school grounds, and eventually she found herself nearing the swimming pool.
As she got closer, she spotted Ander standing in one corner. But he wasn't alone.
Omar was with Ander, and he had just pulled Ander into an embrace.
Reina felt like an intruder as she witnessed this moment of intimacy. She saw Ander's eyelids flutter close as he buried his chin into Omar's shoulder, a picture of peace, and that snapped her out of her delusional state.
I've been stupid. And selfish.
Obviously Ander had already found his person. His happiness.
And obviously she had no part to play here.
Sure, it remained a fact that Ander was the only one who had a hold on her heart.
But unfortunately, it also remained a fact that Ander was the only one that she could not have.
Talk about the world's biggest irony.
Was this karma? Probably.
Did Reina deserve this? Definitely.
Her heart was threatening to shatter into a million pieces, and she so desperately wanted to run to Ander. To collapse into his arms. And have him tell her that everything will be okay. That he would always be there for her.
But no. She needed to be strong enough to walk away. Because it was the best thing for Ander.
So...
So this is what love feels like.
Reina whirled around and left in silence.