Song: Gitchee Gitchee Goo from the cartoon series; Phineas and Ferb

Chapter Fifty-nine: I thought you were on my side

"A Ferris Wheel. Wow." I said with a lot of sarcasm and less enthusiasm.

It was around 6 pm and the sky was already getting dark. Xander had rushed to me like there was a problem, claiming he wanted to show me something. Only to bring me to a Ferris Wheel with a sign that said 'Out Of Use'. It still had a worker standing in front though, but the area there was empty. Except me and my friends. Maybe they hadn't read the sign.

Zahra rolled her eyes. "So enthusiastic."

"What did you expect me to do? It's just a Ferris Wheel. I saw it when we entered."

"We brought you here because you said every other ride makes you sick, and a Ferris Wheel is slow so you're getting on this one."

"But it's closed." I pointed out.

"Leyla's parents are really rich."

"I know they're rich, but I didn't think they would pay only for us to have the Ferris Wheel to ourselves."

Leyla bit her lip. "I made a negotiation."

"I see." I gave her a weird look before turning to Xander. "Do I have to?"

Xander nodded.

"I'm afraid of heights." I lied.

Xander and Zahra shared a knowing look, smiles forming on their faces. 

Before I could ask what's so funny, Jordan brought out a scarf out of his bag. "They had a feeling you'd say that."

"Now that's just creepy. I could choke with a scarf you know."

"That's why it's a kerchief." Kai pointed out.

"A bandana?"

"Yes, that."

He handed the bandana to Xander who just came closer to me.

"I do not need to wear a bandana to cover my eyes."

"Yes, you do. You're afraid of heights, right? We don't want you to see the distance and then puke over people's heads."

I grumbled and crossed my arms. This better be fun. Xander came behind me and tied the bandana around my eyes.

"Yay. I can't see anything." I muttered.

"You need to stop being so grumpy." Mia commented.

"I would stick my tongue out at you angrily, but I don't know where you are exactly."

She snickered. When Xander was done, he grabbed my hand and started leading me towards the Ferris Wheel.

"This better not be an assassination attempt."

"We're tired of you like this, but we would never plan to kill you." Kai replied.

"Not intentionally." Zahra said.

"Gee thanks for the support."

"Is this sarcasm going to end?" Mia asked.

"Sarcasm is an art. You all should be grateful I'm sharing it with you. You ingra- Wait, why are your voices so far away? Aren't you guys coming?"

"Uh... It's just the two of us. I needed to talk to you about something."

"What about? I think I've had quite enough of you this past week."

He just laughed.

I heard muttering in the back, but it ceased at a point. When we got to the seat of the Ferris Wheel, we stopped. Xander was probably giving the worker there some tickets or something.

"Up you go." He said helping me onto the seat. I shifted to the edge. And then I heard no movement.

"Xander? Xander!" I called out to him. "You better not be playing a trick on me. I am not going on this alone." I put my hand behind my head to take the bandana off, but his hand stopped me.

"Better." I commented as I crossed my arms. "Now please let's get this over with."

I felt the Ferris Wheel start going up as we pushed the handle over ourselves. 

I groaned. "I can't believe you convinced me to come to an amusement park. Especially at a time like this. You know I have a schedule. You took out of my crying time, and now I have to cancel out my comedy time. The worst part is my dad says I'm going to school tomorrow. What if I see him?" I shuddered at the thought.

"Who?"

My hands shot out to take off the bandana and this time no hands stopped me, and once the bandana was off my face. I knew why.

"You." I accused. I looked over the Ferris Wheel to see my friends smiling at me, but my eyes shot to Xander's as I yelled, "I thought you were on my side!"

He cupped his mouth so he could yell. "I am!"

I grumbled as I settled back in my seat. What does he mean he's on my side? That sneaky coward. When I get back down there, I would rain down like hell over him.

"I am going to jump off this thing if you say a word to me."

"If you jump off, you would die."

I turned to him and glared. "I rather die than have to deal with you."

This time, the look on his face didn't sadden my heart because my heart was already in pieces for myself, I didn't intend to break some more parts feeling sorry for him.

"We are going to go through this ride in silence, and when we get down, we are going to go our separate ways. Do you understand me?"

"About that..." He trailed off.

I turned to him with a questioning look, but my question answered itself when we got to the very top and the Ferris Wheel stopped.

I tried to push it to go forward. Anything to prevent from sitting here with him.

He grabbed my hand to stop me and I yanked it away. "Cherry-"

The sound of the name from his lips pierced through me like a Samurai's blade. I cut him off. "Do not call me that. Don't you understand I don't want to see you?"

"I don't understand. You never gave me a chance to explain."

"So you can feed me more lies? Tell that guy down there to get this thing moving again."

"I can't do that."

I grabbed my phone from my back pocket. "I'm calling Leyla and I'm going to tell her that if she doesn't pull off her parent's work dogs, she's got another thing coming."

"Why would you call Leyla?"

"Because her parents are the ones that got them to let us be alone on the Ferris Wheel."

"No they didn't. I did."

I dropped my phone in my lap as his sentence hit me. "Of course you did. Your dad works with them, doesn't he?"

"He owns a sector, yes."

"Of course he does."

"And we are not getting down from the Ferris Wheel until I explain to you what really happened. Don't you wanna know?"

I turned to him, tears already stinging my eyes. I do. I want to know so bad that it was a lie. But hope is almost the same as stupidity, it's like wishing for something to happen. It might happen or there may be no light at the end of the tunnel. And it's only luck that picks the side you're on. I don't want to be stupid hoping that it's a lie, but in reality, it's actually the truth.

Since I didn't reply, he continued. "I would never cheat on you. And I know it may be hard to believe because of the situation, but I promise you, if you would let me explain, you'd understand."

I looked into his eyes and nodded. 

"It'd be easier to talk to you if there weren't tears coming out of your eyes. It makes me feel horrible that I did this."

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and looked out as the evening sky got darker and just a little breeze was blowing my face. 

"After our conversation-"

I interrupted, "The one where you didn't believe me?"

"I did believe you. I just didn't want to believe Serena was that kind of person."

"So you were in the middle?"

"No. I was always on your side."

"Then why didn't you go after me? Why didn't go after me and you tell me you did?"

"I wanted to, I almost did, but I decided that if she saw us together she'd know you didn't do what she asked and I couldn't risk that."

"But I was already there."

"So why would I keep you longer?"

I turned back to him, and he was staring at me intently.

"I decided to get the evidence- the video you said she had. I knew she'd give it to me if I asked so I went to meet her. The reason she was at my condo was that when she was in Spain she had a fight with her parents, and wasn't ready to go back home."

"She's a rich celebrity. Why doesn't she have her own house?"

"She does, but her parents would see her there and she wasn't ready to face them yet so she asked me to let her stay with me."

"Is she our age?" I mean she looks young, but you never could tell.

"What do you mean our age?" He sent me a small smile. "I hope you haven't forgotten that you're still 17."

"How could I? People like you are very insistent on making me remember."

"That's true. She's 19."

"Before you continue, I have one question for you. Do you know she has feelings for you?"

He rolled his lips inward, but didn't answer.

"You knew, didn't you?"

He hesitated. "Yes, but I didn't want to believe it. She was like an older sister to me. She was always there. She was here when we came to America, and our parents became friends. She was always there when her classes were over to play with Zaiden and I. And she was there when Zaiden..." He paused. "She was there when he died."

I couldn't help the forces that placed my hand on his shoulder. He put his hand over mine and sent me a small smile. We stared at each other for a while, but then I broke the eye contact and looked out again.

"I went to see her about half an hour after you left, but she wasn't free. She was preparing for her interview with someone."

"Do you know who?"

"No. Why does that matter?"

"You've never heard of CeCe Ryder? You've never seen the blog entries?"

His brows creased. "What blog entries?"

"She has turned our lives into a reality show. Not fully yet, but she plans to. So you haven't noticed her following you around?"

"Someone follows me around?"

"It'd be easier to show you than tell you, so just continue with what you're saying."

He gave me a weird look before continuing. "When I got there, she was getting ready for the interview and she said now was not a good time. So I went to Wren's house to talk to him, but when I got there, they said he had just left and that they saw him arguing with a girl outside before he left. I had figured out it was you. I was so angry with Serena that I went back to tell her, but she was in her interview and even if I was angry with her, I didn't want to embarrass her so I waited downstairs until I saw the interviewer leave. When I went to meet her, she took in the look on my face, and hers drained. She let me in and before I could say anything, she accidentally broke a vase that was on the kitchen counter. The water in it spilled all over her clothes and she was so upset about it and felt so bad about the vase. I told her not to worry about the vase, but she was still so upset. She wanted to go take a shower because the plant water wasn't good for her skin or something like that. So I let her go while I waited because I didn't want her whining throughout my yelling and accusing. When she was done, she-"

"Why was she in your shirt?" I interjected as I turned to him.

He didn't miss a beat, "She had left her clothes in the room, and she said she didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable prancing around in a towel, so she just put on one of my shirts that were already there."

"And she didn't see any pajama pants to add to it?"

"I didn't bother asking. Plus, she distracted me by telling me the shower was having a problem. It was when I went to check it out that you were at the door. I was in the bathroom for a long time trying to figure out what exactly was the problem. It was when she told me that someone was at the door that I eventually left. When I got there and saw you leaving in the elevator, I knew everything was wrong. You were crying and looking at me like I was a monster. I took the stairs and chased after you. I couldn't bear the thought of losing you, but I did. And I was disturbed with the thought of what I would have done differently if I went back in time. A way to make it right. I had to keep myself from coming over to your house, but I came to school every morning hoping to see you there, but you weren't. This whole week was torture for me."

I wanted to believe him.

He's telling the truth.

How can I be so sure?

It's Zane. We know Zane. This is the only thing that makes any logical sense.

I blinked away my tears, but they were already dropping like a rainfall. He raised his hand to my cheek to wipe off my tears. He kept his hand there and the pulled me into a hug. I squeezed him tight and sobbed into his shoulder. "I missed you so much."

He pat my back and nuzzled his face in my hair. "This week felt like hell without you."

We released each other. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. At that moment, everything felt right. It all felt perfect again. Everything was better with him by my side, but I needed to apologize.

I kneaded my fingers and rolled my lips inward, trying to figure out the best way to put this. "I'm sorry for not listening, I mean not believing you. I should have just calmed down. If I had just let you explain then we won't have gone through such a tough week."

He placed his hand on my cheek. "It's okay. We live, we learn." He smiled at me. "I'm guessing we're back to Cherry."

I chuckled through my tears and then kissed him. 

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How was that?

I'm so glad this chapter is finally out. I couldn't wait to write it. 

He's back babies!

I hope it was worth the wait and well put.

Please vote, comment and share. Thanks and Toodles ;)