Song: Just Wanna Be With You by Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron (& Ashley Tisdale and Matt Prokop) from the movie; High School Musical 3 

Chapter Forty-one: Don't you need more stars in your galaxy?

"Reveka.."

"And you didn't tell me? You kept it from me for two years?"

"I just found out a few weeks ago. I was going to tell you, I just didn't know how."

She turned angry eyes to him. "And you, you make me sick."

"Nora please." He walked up to her, but she held a hand to stop him. He ignored and kept going. "I am really, truly sorry."

Why do I feel so guilty? I didn't do anything bad, right? 

Everyone deserves a second chance. He said he's sorry.

"We can't keep on fighting guys." I turned to dad. "I'm sorry I lashed out." I turned to Reveka. "Rev, I'm hurt and tired. And I just need my family right now."

She turned to me, and then dropped her hands to her side. "I miss Mum."

"Me too."

She walked up to me and we both sat on the couch. Reveka started crying. "Dad," She looked at him. "I missed you, dad. I can't believe you left."

He came to sit down at her other side. "I was an idiot. Please forgive me. I am being honestly sincere. If I could go back I would change everything I did."

"I don't know if I can forgive you. I just know I missed you. I missed your jokes. I missed your laugh. I missed your hugs." Reveka sobbed.

We were all in tears at this point. He left our family broken. A family I thought would stay strong for the rest of my life, he broke it, and yet here I am, ready for him to just say he loves us. I couldn't help but love him too.

He took us in a big hug. "I love you guys so much. That time, I was very disoriented and confused. I had just lost my job, and I just wanted to drown in my sorrows. And the only thing I felt could do that was drinks, and so I drowned in them. I didn't expect it to go that far. I barely even remember what I did. The time, when I almost came on to Nat, I remembered. She couldn't even come close to me. The scared look on her face broke me. I regretted everything I did to her and your mother. I was ashamed so I left. I couldn't wait until you guys were back, because then I would feel worse."

"You were selfish." I didn't realize I had thought those words until they came out. 

"I was. I didn't think about how you guys would feel. I thought I could move away and start a new life. But then, I missed you guys and decided to come back. That was about 2 months after. That was the day I bumped into Amelia. We sort of fell in love. I didn't understand that at first, but then we started going on dates. She introduced me to her family. She even got me a job at the company she was working at."

"Did you forget us then?" Reveka looked up from her palms to his face.

"No, never. You guys were always on my mind. The nagging feeling I was missing something was there too. When the job transferred us here, I was so happy. I thought I could start over with you guys, make things right. And I promise that is what I would do. I have more money now. And I know I left your mum nothing but the house. I'll fix all that. I'd buy you a bigger house. I'll pay all your bills. All your tuition. Nothing would stop me from performing all my fatherly duties."

What?

It took a while for that to register in my head. I'm going to college! I'm going to freaking college! I put my face in my hands and let it all out.

"I'm so sorry guys. I'll never leave you stranded again. I promise."

And that promise just made this one of the happiest days of my life. No more lonely nights, doubting my worth. No more Avery Adams. No more long hours of work. No more crying, doubting everything that I am and I will get to be. No more problems. He has his faults, but he came back to fix what he had broken. Although the pain of him leaving us will still be there, the solutions we got when he came back will also be there. And that was good enough for me.

***********************

I went to my room that evening with a smile on my face. No one, not even Skyler and her clones could put down. That's what I thought until I got a call from Zane.

My phone rang as I came from the bathroom. When I saw it was Zane, I was so happy. He's finally calling. I mean, it's been a freaking day since I last heard his voice. 

"Hello Cherry."

"Oh so now you remember me. Don't you need more stars in your galaxy?"

I heard his rich laugh from the other side. "I didn't tell you that to make your head bigger."

"Well, it's too late for that additional information now."

The other side was silent for a while. "I miss you Cherry."

My heart melted.

"I miss you too. Can't we meet up?"

"Unless you want to get on a plane and fly for 10 hours." He teased, but I wasn't finding that funny.

"What?"

"I'm in Paris with Serena."

What's the opposite of melted? 

Froze.

Oh yeah. My heart froze.

"You're where with who? And why?"

"I'm in Paris with Serena. She just got hired for a modelling gig and it's in Paris. Isn't that great?"

I sat on my bed with a very deep frown. "Very great."

The other line was silent again for a while. "Is there something wrong?"

You're all the way in Paris, the city of love, with the most perfect girl in the world, so yes there's a problem. But I couldn't tell him that because if I did I'd have to explain to him that I'm jealous and tell him I love him and it'd go down very badly, so I just said, "No."

"Are you sure? You sound a little upset."

"And you should know me better." I tried to tease, but it just came out as an accusation.

"I do, that's why I could tell something's wrong."

I just want you to love me. Was what I wanted to say. I'd just sound like Axel, and I don't know if I can take the kind of rejection I gave him.

Come on! That's different.

Is it?

"Cherry tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing. Nothing. So how's Paris?"

He hesitated. "It's okay. It's a beautiful city."

And you're all the way there with freaking Serena Davis who just got hired to be a model. How could I compete with that?

You don't have to compete with anyone. Like Carlos from Descendants said, 'If he doesn't love you for who you truly are, then he is not the one.'

"That's nice. I wish I could see it someday. How's Serena doing?" I forced myself to ask.

"She's fine. She's sleeping. The flight was by 8, and we just got back, so she's tired."

She's sleeping. In your room or hers?

"Oh." Was all I said.

"Yeah. The shoot starts tomorrow so she needs the rest. It'll carry on like that for the rest of the week."

"You're gone for the rest of the week." It was more of a statement than a question, but he didn't see it that way.

"Yeah. I'll be back on Sunday."

"That's nice... I guess." And then I asked the question that has been pulling at me since. "Why did you go with her?"

"Uh. I guess because she asked me to."

I figured.

"You went all the way to France with her because she asked you to?"

"Yeah. She needed the support."

I nodded, fighting the tears in my eyes. "I see."

I don't know why this hurts like hell. Maybe I'm just being a pathetic lovesick puppy like all the girls going after him. Maybe he loves Serena, but just doesn't know it yet. Maybe I'm becoming the female version of Axel, obsessive and annoying. Maybe I'd be alone for the rest of my life because I won't get over him. Maybe...

Maybe you should stop thinking too much.

"I guess I should go now." I said.

"Okay. I'll call you every night because I need to add more stars to my collection." He teased.

I laughed a little. I hoped it didn't sound too forced.

"Just know that if there's any problem, you can come to me."

I wanted to tell him all. I wanted to tell him about Jayden, Axel. My dad. Skyler and the clones' tricks again. Everything

"I know." Was all I could bring myself to say.

"Good night."

"Night."

I cried myself to sleep that night. I just felt so torn. I'm such a baby.

************************

"Don't say it. I look like I've been eaten and thrown up by a walrus."

It was just lunch time the next day, and I was throwing myself a pity party.

"Exactly. You're practically being swallowed by that hoodie." Xander commented.

"That's the point. I want to drown in my sorrows."

"That's deep."

"No, it's not." Zahra shook her head at him before turning to me. "Is it because of your absent doting boyfriend?"

I didn't bother to correct her because we all knew he wasn't my boyfriend. "He's all the way in the city of love with a beautiful, flawless model who's in love with him."

"Model?" Leyla asked.

"Serena Davis. She's a friend of Zane from childhood. Just got hired by some company to be a model. He followed her to Paris for the gig. She's beautiful, flawless and so much better than me."

"No one's better than you." Kai encouraged.

Zahra cleared her throat. 

"I mean no one is better than you to yourself. Like that's what you should tell yourself." He tried to correct, but Zahra cleared her throat again.

"No one except Zahra."

"Better."

I gave him a smile for attempt.

"Why do you let your problems affect the way you look?" Leyla asked.

"Because how I look is nothing compared to my problems so it doesn't matter." I replied her.

"But you're showing the whole world something is wrong."

"I am just wearing a hoodie, joggers and sneakers. What's the problem?"

"I'm talking about your eyes and face. It's very obvious you cried last night. It's all puffy and red." She gestured with her hands.

"How am I supposed to hide my face? I tried to with the hoodie, but you guys still noticed so there's nothing I can do. Plus, don't talk like you didn't look like that when that thing with Axel happened."

"Are you talking about me?" I heard Axel's voice from behind me. He sat down in between me and Xander, and I tried my hardest to ignore him.

"You know, you're like a bee. You keep buzzing around and stinging our calm aura."

"Like always." He commented smoothly. "Just to crosscheck, no hard feelings on the table right?"

Choruses on the table of zero, zilch, nada rose.

"None." Zahra

"Zero." Leyla. Like really?

"Zip." Kai

"Zilch." Xander

I was quiet, and could tell they were all looking at me. This is peer pressure in the highest order.

No, it's not.

"Nada." I said through gritted teeth. Since they were okay with him. I should too. He's an...acquaintance.

"Perfect." He stood up. "Well I'm going back to my table now. Bye guys. See you later Char."

I looked up at him. "See you later." I said before returning to my food.

"What went down between you two?" Leyla asked.

"Nothing important."

"I'm no longer pining over him. I'm leaving all that excess baggage behind so don't not talk to your friends about something that's bothering you because you think it may affect me."

I looked up at her. "It's really nothing."

"Charvi..." She dragged.

"I liked Axel a long time ago." I corrected myself. "Actually it was just 4 years ago. It's not a big deal."

"What happened?"

"He found out about it and started proclaiming love to me. Nothing serious."

"Someone proclaiming love to you is nothing serious?" Kai questioned and I just shrugged. He turned to Zahra. "We've just been insulted."

"Can you believe it? The audacity."

I rolled my eyes at their teasing.

"What did you tell him?" Xander asked.

"That I plan to get past the whole thing and try to be his friend and he refused. I don't know what all that was about." I referred to him speaking to us like we're old buddies.

Xander shrugged. "I guess he's changed his mind."

"I guess so too."

"Now who's up for some cheeseburgers?" Zahra asked as she rubbed her hands together.

Xander and I shared a look then at the same time said. "Who's up for some chili cheese dogs?"

Groans and complaints about eating the same thing over and over again erupted from the table. Xander and I just laughed.

I love my friends. I guess this year won't be so bad after all.

What I've learnt from recent activities is to forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.

End of school is almost here. Nutella, here I come!

************************

I hope you guys liked the chapter, and the road the book is taking so far.

Some of you may think that her forgiving her father and Axel is stupid, but I learnt that "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." 

If you're fighting with someone and having trouble forgiving I have a few quotes for you, but the one by Lewis B. Smedes, the one above, is the one that inspires me the most. Here are some more:

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." -Mahatma Gandhi

"Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours." -Philips Brooks

"Forgiveness isn't approving what happened. It's choosing to rise above it." -Robin Sharma

"I think the first step is to understand that forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator. Forgiveness liberates the victim. It's a gift you give yourself." -T. D. Jakes

"It's not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you." -Tyler Perry

"Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die." -Anne Lamott
(I personally found this one funny.)

And last, but not the least;
"Throughout life, people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too." -Will Smith

I think there's no more need for quotes because these ones should help you understand the importance and advantages of forgiving someone who has wronged you. You too one day would need that forgiveness.

Sorry for the long A/N.

Please vote, comment and share. Thanks :D