CHAPTER 21
The Best Friend and The Crush

Terra's POV

I got the familiar feeling of dissatisfaction as I stared at the mirror with my uniform on. The expensive material looked great on every student at school; except me.

Even the uniform says that I don't fit in. I wouldn't even have be able to afford it, if it wasn't for Cole.

I quickly brushed my long brown hair and tied it up in a ponytail before slinging my school bag over my shoulder.

"Hey honey!" My head snapped towards my mom who stood by the doorway, "Ready for school already?" She asked.

"Yes mom. I have to get to the library." I informed.

"Alright. I've kept the food ready for you in the kitchen." She kissed my forehead.

Anna, one of my mom's workmates, entered the room which I shared with my mom and four other maids.

"Terra, Mr. Cole's waiting for you in the kitchen." She grinned, giving me a wink. 

A smile appeared on my lips, and I looked to the ground, playing with my fingers before turning back to my mom. 

My smile fell on the sadness in her face. "What's wrong, mom?" 

"Terra, you know where we stand, right?" she asked. I nodded sadly, lowering my head. "I don't like reminding you how less we have, but rich boys will always remember and treat you like that." 

"Cole's not like them. I trust him," I said softly. 

"That's what worries me the most. What if he turns out to be different that the innocent boy you trust?" she asked.

"He won't be." I gave her a forced smile, kissing her cheek. "Bye, mom." 

I walked to the kitchen where Cole sat on a chair next to the counter with a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. Beside his plate, there was another which I guessed was mine.

"Cole, you shouldn't be in the kitchen. Your breakfast is served in the dining room." 

"But I wanted to eat with you today," he replied.

"Your mom will kill you if she sees you eating with me," I scolded, "that too inside the kitchen."

"Relax, Terra. She still hasn't woken up yet. Besides, when was the last time she entered the kitchen?" He asked.

"You've got a point." I sighed before placing my bag down and taking a seat next to him.

"Why are you carrying your bag? There's still an hour before we leave for school."

"I'm going to the library to do research for next week's assignment."

"Just use the internet like normal people," he said.

"I refuse to do that. It's a method for lazy people." I stated, "When you skim through a book for a piece of information, you learn so much more than what you were searching for in the first place."

"So much more that I don't want to know," Cole said and I did a mental facepalm.

"Knowledge isn't a burden when you're curious. Every fact in those books is the result of someone's curiosity."

"If you think it's fun—fine, I won't say anything. But let me drive you," he offered. 

"I'll take the bus. If you drop me, you'd have to wait unnecessarily at school."

"I'll just wait with you in the library. I don't mind spending a little extra time with you." He said and a smile found its way to my lips.

"But what if we get into trouble with your mom? I don't want to risk anything."

"If we do get into trouble, I'll come up with an excuse." He said.

"Cole, even a three-year-old can make better excuses than you."

"Ouch! You hurt my feelings, Terra." He said dramatically, placing a hand over his chest and I chuckled before turning my attention to the plate in front of me.

I picked up the fork and started eating my food until I felt a penetrating gaze pointed at me.

I turned towards Cole who still had his eyes trained on me. "What?" I asked with a soft smile.

He shrugged and gave me a grin before taking a mouth full of eggs.

"Slow down before you choke." I laughed and he rolled his eyes.

"Let me enjoy this. My mom would never let me eat like this and if I do this at school, I wouldn't have any friends left." He complained and I gave him a sympathetic smile.

His parents were the strictest pair that I've ever seen in my life. And his friends; they're probably the worst people I've ever met.

None of them have any sort of empathy towards people like me just because we don't come from money.

When Cole first introduced me as his family friend, I didn't really appreciate the lie. But once Addelyn found out about my mom, I realized that he had done the right thing.

Apparently, he had the whole thing figured out. He even practiced lying in front of the mirror to say it without stuttering. But all the effort went to waste when his parents bad-mouthed me to Addelyn.

"Terra!" Cole called snapping me out of my thoughts. "I'm done with my food. Finish yours fast. I'll be waiting in the car."

"Alright." Before, he could get up, I placed a kiss on his cheek and making it tinge red.

I chuckled as I watched him quickly turn around and speed walk out of my sight.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Lunch was the worst period of the day.

I walked into the cafeteria only to immediately run into a hard chest, hurting my head in the process.

"Watch it, bitch!" The guy scolded before giving me a nasty look and walking away.

I took a step back only to hit another person.

I turned around to look at the next person I bumped into and realized it was that friend of Addelyn's who drugged me and took advantage of me.

"Sorr– Oh it's you." He grimaced, seeing my face and gave me a nasty look before walking away.

Talk about arrogance.

I watched as he walked towards his table where the richest of the rich sat. The table where he sat.

Blake laughed at something one of his friends said and slowly covered his mouth to choke the laugh. His blue eyes shined with amusement as he spoke back, only increasing the beauty of his face.

How could someone be so good looking?

If only his personality was as great as his face.

I actually thought that he was a great guy. I thought that maybe he would be different from the rest of them and that he would have an actual heart.

I trusted him, despite all the rumors. Every time I heard someone talk about him having a girlfriend, I told myself that those are just gossips because he told me that Addelyn was his best friend.

I was shocked when I saw them kiss at the carnival. But I kept telling myself that there was an explanation to it and that he would never lie to me.

So, I finally built up the courage to ask him about it at the bonfire and texted him to meet me, still holding onto the hope that he didn't lie. But when he didn't show up or even reply to my text, I realized how much a fool I was.

"You're staring again." I turned towards the voice and saw Amelia, one of the scholar ship students, standing behind me with her gaze following my line of sight towards Blake.

She gestured me to follow her as she walked towards our table and I did as she wanted. Our table was the one furthest away from the popular's table, filled with all the scholarship students.

Although this table was filled with scholarship students like me, I still didn't feel like I fit in. They weren't poor like me. Most of them came from middleclass families or wealthy families who are rich, but not rich enough to afford a school as expensive as this one.

Most people like me would never even dream of going to a school like this. The only reason this place grabbed my attention was because of Cole.

I never really had any friends in my old school, so every time I listened to Cole talk about his amazing school and his wonderful friends, I always wished that I could live that fairytale. But only after joining here did I realize that this was more of a nightmare than a fairytale.

"You know he has a girlfriend, right?" Amelia asked as I sat down opposite to her.

"Who?"

"Blake", she said, "He has a girlfriend."

"But he said he didn't." I whispered, lowering my head.

"That's what they all say in order to get in your pants. You being too dumb, fell for his lies." She said nonchalantly as if this was all normal.

"Or maybe, Blake and Addelyn planned the whole thing to make a fool out of you." Ava, another scholarship student, suggested.

I didn't know what to say to her because all that she said could've been true. Those people are capable of doing anything, no matter how heartless.

I thought that Blake genuinely wanted to be my friend. He showed me kindness when no else did. He always jumped in to help me and I thought that he did that because he cared about me.

But he has been avoiding me like the plague since the bonfire and that made me realize that he didn't care at all.

All heads turned as the cafeteria door was thrust open, causing it to loudly bang on the walls and then entered Addelyn Frederick, followed by her two minions.

Must she always make such a grand entrance?

She smirked as she glanced at a few guys gawking at her, creating an entire aura of pride and arrogance around her.

"Speaking of the devil." Ava muttered, "And I mean it when I say devil."

Addelyn and her minions walked over to the front of the long queue, not bothering about all the poor souls waiting in line as if they owned the place.

Well, they probably did own the place. With the amount of money their parents give the management as donation, they could buy the entire school.

Addelyn gave the lunch lady a fake smile before a tray holding the most expensive meal served at school was handed over to her.

I watched her as she strutted towards her table before sitting down next to Blake and placing a small kiss on his lip.

I felt my heart clench as he smiled at her before pulling her head back towards him and crashing his lips against hers, knowing that almost the entire cafeteria was watching them.

"Told you." Amelia said, "They're all like that. You can't expect much from them."

"They're not all like that." I muttered, "Cole isn't."

"Yes, he is. You say that he's a nice guy, but his actions don't show it." Ava said.

"What actions?"

"Didn't you hear the rumors about him sleeping with Addelyn?" She asked.

"They made out once and they were drunk."

"Those are just excuses that he's giving you. Besides, Addelyn has a boyfriend and your perfect best friend helped her cheat. He's one of them and he's just like them."

"No, he isn't." I said angrily before standing up from my seat, causing the chair to scrape on the floor. Suddenly, I lost all my appetite and I just wanted to be alone.

I exited the cafeteria and went to my locker before taking out a book that I had been reading. I slid on to the ground and crossed my legs as I leaned against the lockers before opening my book.

I hadn't even finished the first paragraph before I heard footsteps coming my way. Lifting my head up, I smiled when I saw Cole walking towards me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, "I saw you leaving the cafeteria."

"Nothing much. Those people are as annoying as always and of course, nothing is better than the company of a good book." I smiled as I lifted the book up to show him.

"Wrong!" He said, "My company is better."

He slid down next to me and mimicked my position as I laughed at his words.

"Terra, if you feel lonely during lunch, just come sit with me."

"I can't, Cole. I don't want to know what your friends would do to me if I go anywhere near them."

"I didn't mean with them." He said, "I meant, we could start sitting outside. It's going to be just the two of us. What do you say?"

"That sounds amazing." I said, "But I don't want to take up all of your time."

"I'd be glad to give you all of my time." He said, making me smile.

"I know. But you need your other friends. I don't want you to get rid of your social life just to be with me. Besides, we get to spend enough time together when your mom's at work."

"Yeah. But you don't like any of these people and I don't want you to be alone." He said.

"I'm not alone. I know that I'll always have you even if you aren't around me. Also, this book is way more fun than you." I joked and he gave me a playful glare but chuckled anyways.

I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his chest as he wrapped a protective arm around me, pulling me even closer to him.

"Cole", I called and he hummed in response, making his chest vibrate under my head.

"I love you." I said and I felt him stiffen just as his heart started racing faster than before.

"Umm.... I-I... t-that's g-great." He stuttered and I lifted my head with a frown.

"Why don't you say it back anymore? We used to say that to each other all the time when we were kids."

"Terra, we grew up since then." He said softly, "It has a different meaning now."

"No, it doesn't." I said, "You love someone when you want to be with them in the happiest and saddest moments of your life. It's called love when you wake up every morning, hoping to be the reason that someone smiles. You are that someone for me, Cole. And I love you."

A smile appeared on his lips before he pulled my head back to his chest and wrapped his arms around me again.

"I love you, Terra." He said, every word sounding like an immense release of emotions, "I love you so much." And I smiled, feeling my own heart racing faster inside me.

Author's Note

This chapter is dedicated to milesaway404 who started supporting my book even BEFORE I uploaded the prologue. She loves and understands each and every single character of mine, including TERRA. And she probably ships Colerra more than Blynne, Caddy or Blerra. I got the idea for this chapter when she asked me to show some Colerra moments. So, I hope this is what you wanted.

Okay, this was a one-time thing. I wrote it just to try something different. There will no more Terra's POV. There are plenty of books on Wattpad from the good girl's POV that you could enjoy and you don't need me to write it.

Hehe Terra's more oblivious than Blake........ Poor Cole.

So, if you liked what you read, vote.

If you want to keep reading, add this to your library so you'll know when I update.

If you have absolutely anything to say, good or bad, feel free to comment and let me know.

And if you made it till the end, thank you for reading and I love you so much!

Okay, have fun, enjoy life.

Signed,
Me