Song: Rewrite The Stars by Zac Efron and Zendaya from the movie; The Greatest Showman

Chapter Twenty-seven: You're going to get us hauled over the coals

I pushed him away from me and rushed to her. 

She looked like she was on the verge of crying. "Why Char?"

"It's not what you think."

"When someone says that, it's exactly what the other person thinks."

"I'm not just someone. I'm your friend. I'd never betray you like that. You know me."

She shook her head. "I'm not so sure about that anymore."

This can't seriously be happening right now.

From trying to defend my best friend to that jerk, I hurt her.

"Leyla, no." I walked up to her to grab her hand, but she recoiled in disgust. Okay, that hurt. I'm not a terrible friend, right?

"Stay away from me, Charvi! I never want to see you again. I can't believe you'd do this to me." She wanted to walk around me, but I came in front of her. She looked at me with so much hatred, I almost shrunk back at the intensity. She pushed me away, hard. Right where it hurt. I hit the lockers with a bang and sank to the floor, clutching my torso. Unconscious tears were slipping from my eyes due to the pain.

Double ouch.

She was stronger that I gave her credit for since it seemed like a hundred bricks came crashing down on me.

She didn't even look back to check if I was okay. She just walked up to Axel.

"I loved you!" She screamed at him. I could see the tears in her eyes now. "You used me! You cheated on me with my best friend!" She looked at me on the floor, and quickly glanced away. 

I pushed myself up and began walking towards her. As fast as I could. Which was not very fast anyways. I was practically gasping for air. It seemed like all the air in my lungs had been knocked out.

"Leyla I can explain-" He started, but she cut him off. "I thought you loved me too." She said that softly.

"Leyla." I called out to her. "You don't understand."

Her eyes flashed to mine, tears brimming in both mine and hers. "I understand perfectly. You two deserve each other!" She yelled before she stalked away. Probably out of school.

I would have chased after her, but my side hurt so much I had to rest on the lockers. So much for not putting pressure on it. I shut my eyes and let the tears fall. Not only from the pain, but from the frustration, the anger, the world. Things are not going my way at all.

"Charvi, are you okay?" I didn't have to open my eyes to see it was Axel who had rushed to my side.

I gnashed my teeth in anger and breathed out. "Go after her, you dickhead. Go and apologize to her."

"But you're crying."

I opened my eyes and glared at him. "So is she. And it's your fault. This whole mess is all your fault."

He looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry I can't help the way I feel. I love you, Char."

I blinked at him in utter disgust. "And that gave you a reason to use her? To make me jealous? Stay away from me, Axel. I literally just lost my best friend because of you. I'm tired, in pain, and I just want to be left alone."

"In pain?" That seemed to be the only part he caught in that. His eyes searched my body and zoned in on my hand on my torso. He raised my shirt forcefully and his eyes widened at the rib belt. "What happened to you Char?" 

I started walking away. He grabbed my hand to pull me back.

I winced from the grip. "You're hurting me." He released my hand and I continued on my way.

"If I make it up to her, would you forgive me?"

I turned to him. "Are you freaking kidding me right now?"

He ruffled his hair. "I don't know. Just please don't be angry. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I regret what I did badly."

"Do you really?"

"Since it made you this angry at me, of course I do."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "That's the problem. It's not about me. You hurt Leyla's feelings."

"I'll apologize."

"It's not enough if you don't mean it."

"Then what should I do?"

"Leave me alone, Axel. That is what you should do. It'd do all of us a lot of good." I turned around, and this time he didn't call me back. I cleaned my tears and walked back into the cafeteria. I didn't want to, but I needed to get away from him. I dropped my hand from my torso, no matter how much I wanted to clutch it.

Why are you back here?

I can't run away from everything. Leyla left school, I can't chase her like this.

Go back to the hospital.

It's not a big deal.

I forced a smile and walked up to my table. Xander, Kai and Zahra were sitting there. Zane had probably gone back to his table.

I sat down beside Xander and went back to my food, even though I could feel their eyes on me.

"Leyla went to look for you to give her condolences about your mother. Did you see her?" Zahra asked.

I nodded.

"Where's Axel?" Xander asked.

I shrugged.

"Okay, your mood is duller than a rusted piece of metal that has not been polished in years." I looked up at Kai who said that.

"I'm fine."

"Char, we're your friends. Don't lie to us." I looked at Zahra.

I huffed. "It's a long story."

Xander gave me a small smile. "Good thing lunch's not over yet."

I smiled at him, tears brimming down my eyes. I couldn't hold all this pain anymore. For the sake of my well being, I needed to let it all out. "Everything's going bad. First of all, I have a couple bruised ribs from an incident, and I keep putting so much pressure on them the pain's getting worse."

"Oh my God, Char! What happened?" Xander exclaimed.

"She fell down the stairs." Zahra pointed out, probably must have been told by Kai.

"A lot of stairs with sharp teeth." Kai added.

I couldn't help the smile that landed on my face through all the tears. I must look crazy, crying and smiling sadly, if I must add.

"My mum got hit by a car, and I'm glad she's alive, but sad it happened in the first place. My dad is back, with his new family, and it just feels like someone's using a knife to cut open a wound that was finally closing. And I have to stay in his house." I sniffed.

I felt Xander's comforting hand on my shoulder. Kai and Zahra came to sit on the other side of me. I smiled at them and wiped the tears.

"And last, Axel told me he loves me."

"I knew it." I heard Xander mutter under his breath, but I ignored it.

"What? Axel? As in Leyla's boyfriend Axel?" Zahra questioned slowly as if processing it.

"I'm not sure about that anymore. She saw him try to kiss me, and now she's so mad, she hates me. I'd never let him kiss me. I'd never do that to her, you guys know that right?" I looked at all of them.

"Of course not." Kai said. "She was probably sad and angry and overwhelmed with all her feelings. I'm sure if you explain it to her, she'll understand and forgive you."

"That's not what I care about now. She's hurting really bad. I need one of you to go comfort her. She probably doesn't want to see me right now."

"Where did she go?" Zahra asked, looking around.

"I'm not sure." I admitted.

She stood up. "I'll go find her anyway."

"Thanks." I muttered to her as she walked away.

"You're a good person, Char. I'm sure Leyla knows that. And for Axel..." Xander trailed off as his eyes roamed around the cafeteria, leaving the threat to hang in the air.

"Dude." Kai warned, incredulity in his voice as he swatted Xander's shoulders. "Not on school grounds, at least."

"Not at all." I countered. "I'm not coming to bail your ass out of jail."

He turned to me and smiled. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

***

"Psst!" 

I turned my head to Zane who I hadn't spoken to since lunch. I guess he was tired of following me around and wanted to end the rumors. I was fine with that, but I had to admit I missed his presence.

"You're going to get us in trouble. Again." I glared at him before facing the front.

"I expected you to say something like 'You're going to get us hauled over the coals'." He mocked me.

I glared at him again, a hint of a smile on my lips.

"I knew with a little shove, I could get you to smile again."

"It took a lot shove." I argued.

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Tell me what's wrong with you."

I knew if I said no, he won't quit until we got caught, so I just said. "After School." 

He let it go. 

I had a lot to do after school. First, I was going to see my mum with Reveka and stay there until someone kicked us out. Then, if I still had time I'd go to Tate's dressed as Avery with Zane to explain to Benny why I missed yesterday, and would miss the next two weeks, so I wouldn't be fired. And last, I'd go to Leyla's house by myself. I'd explain the situation to her, apologize and then comfort her. I just hope she'd listen. Without pushing me this time. I needed my friend, now more than ever, and I wasn't going to lose her because of some asshole.

Aren't you going to dwell on the fact that Axel said he loves you? Axel Brown? Your childhood crush?

What does that matter? It's not like I feel the same way. And even if I did, which I don't, I can't be that selfish to do anything about it. That's not even important right now.

I had things to handle, and I'm not even sure if I'd be able to do them all today. That's what's important right now.

Or listening in your Spanish class.

Unimportant.

***

I smiled at his attempts at bribery. It seemed I smiled at everything he did these days. To put it in simple words, he made me really happy.

We were walking towards Zane's car in the parking lot. I already told him my plans for today and he agreed to take me to them even though I told him there wasn't much need to and he didn't need to go out of his way for me. At first, he was hesitant about my quick stop at Tate's feeling that Jaxon may still be lurking around, but I assured him that he could play hero if he wanted to and that just made him smile sheepishly. 

I told Kai and Xander that I'd be going with Zane, and they just smirked at each other. Weirdos! Now, I just had to wait for Reveka to meet us in the parking lot. She had cancelled her ballet classes with Madame Pristine yesterday when she rushed home, now nothing was stopping us from seeing Mum.

"If you tell me, I won't tell your secret." At that one, I turned to him with raised brows.

He just smirked and shrugged.

"You wouldn't dare."

"I most definitely would. You think I didn't see you practically hobble into the cafeteria when that your friend went to see you. I also noticed Axel didn't come back. But that was because he's on my table."

I tried to hide my smile at the fact that he noticed that.

"Nosy or observant?" I asked with a gesturing with my hands the weight of each option.

He rolled his eyes. "Caring. Now tell me what happened."

I hesitated, because although we'd been friends for a while, he might not believe me and end up taking Leyla's side.

As if reading my thoughts, he gave me a small smile and said, "I don't judge."

I nodded. I narrated the whole story. From my conversation to Axel, to his confession, to Leyla thinking I was going to kiss him, to her pushing me and to her being so mad she never wanted to see me again.

I was even willing to tell him about the deal. Something about him just made me want to tell him everything.

He just clicked his tongue and the roof of his mouth. "If she believes you could really do that, she's not your friend Cherry."

I was about to reply. I literally opened my mouth then closed it back up. I had a planned answer in my head because I had already guessed the various things he could say, and this was not one of it.

I wrung my fingers together. "She is."

He turned to me with an arched brow. "Oh really? What happened to trust? Did we suddenly toss it into the garbage? Because if I recall, it's one of the requirements of friendship."

He was right! But she was confused, and angry and so hurt, I couldn't even be mad at her for it. She's heartbroken, and I don't know who's to blame between Axel and I. He may have been the one to cause it, but I had been the one to initiate it. He would have never known she had feelings for him, if I had just minded my damn business.

"She has a right to be angry, Zane. It's my fault."

"How-,"

"Zaneeeee!" A loud shriek attacked my ears followed by clacking of heels.

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

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