Song: Best Part by Daniel Caesar feat. H.E.R.

Chapter Forty-four: You brought the 'waking up to a trumpet' theatrics to reality

Everyday feels the same.

I sleep, eat, cry, watch sad movies, cry again, watch comedies, laugh through my tears, stuff myself some more then do some work while I'm stuffing myself and crying and then I go to bed. They're pretty long and stressful days.

As if.

After Monday, I decided I'm not going to school.

I guess being a janitor is not such a bad idea in that case.

Shut up! I'm not losing anything. My dad called in sick for me because that's what I told him. I doubt he believes it though, but-meh. My friends bring in all my assignments and missed work anyways.

You know you have to go to school at some point, right?

I could be home schooled.

This is ridiculous.

I heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?"

The door burst open and Rev jumped on my bed. "Why did I even knock?" She moved uncomfortably on my bed. "And why does your bed feel like this?"

"The trash can's too far." I gestured with my hand.

"Gross." She complained as she jumped off my bed.

"I wasn't actually serious. I just put extra bed sheets and blankets to drown in."

She raised her brows as she jumped back on my bed. "Are you making jokes now?"

I just shook my head.

"I don't like this." She mumbled.

"Like what?"

She looked up at me. "Seeing you like this."

"I thought I was behaving normal now. I'm used to this new life."

"You stay in your room all day, eat and cry. You need some exercise."

"You're so wrong."

She raised her brows in question.

"I do my homework too." I added.

"While crying and eating."

My eyebrows shot up in question. "Are you a stalker now?"

"No. I'm caring. Why don't you just go talk to-?"

"No." I cut her off. "I thought you were as angry at him as I was."

"I am!" She exclaimed. "I am." She said a little lower. "I just- Apart from missing him, I hate seeing you like this."

"We only dated for about a month. Don't worry I'll bounce back."

"But you've liked him and being his friend way longer than that." She pointed out and I just shrugged.

Then she continued. "How about you start by going to school?"

"But he's there." I whined.

"True." She stood up from my bed and started heading out, then stopped at her door. "For what it's worth, he only comes in the morning and then leaves later on. I think he only comes to see you."

"Or he's back to his usual self and needs more time with girls on his bed than in class."

"Charvi..." She scolded.

"What?"

"I think you're passing the sad stage and entering the mean and angry stage."

"I think I'm more of in the middle."

"Just think about talking to him." She offered.

"It's not going to happen Rev. My problem is I forgive people who don't deserve it because I ignore how they've hurt me but Zane is different. He was the one person who wasn't supposed to hurt me. He was the love of my life."

"Was?"

I looked down from her gaze.

"Is it because of that boy?" She asked, again, I must add.

I grumbled. "Would you stop bringing him into this? He's my friend."

She was talking about Jayden. Since Monday that Kai saw him around the entrance, he had stopped by my house everyday to see how is was doing. We'd talk for a while outside and then he'd leave. I don't get Rev's problem with that.

"Char, you have enough friends. I do not like him!"

"Well I do!" I exclaimed. And then I calmed myself. "He's easy to talk to." I said lower than before.

"You said Xander's easy to talk to. Why not talk to him?"

"He's in school half of the day and then he has football practice after. By the time he and the others get here-"

"You're closed up all over again." She completes for me.

"It's just easier to talk to a stranger."

"You said he was your friend."

"Now he is, but he's not always been there he doesn't know me like you guys do."

"He doesn't have anything to do with me not approaching Zane. You, of all people, should know how much Zane hurt me. I'm not going through that again. Once a cheater, always a cheater."

She took a step forward, probably noticing the tears now dropping from my eyes, and I held a hand up to her to stop her. "I'm sorry Char. I didn't mean to push you."

I blinked away the tears.

"Good night." She said, before entering her room.

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

I fell off my bed with a thud when a loud noise was blown in my ear. I didn't bother getting up. I didn't set an alarm, so I'm going to sleep for a year if I want to.

"You really brought the 'waking up to a trumpet' theatrics to reality. I mean, look at how you rolled and fell off." The voice laughed.

Wait! That voice.

I stood up immediately. "Xander! What the hell are you doing in my room?!"

He jumped on my bed, put a hand behind his head, put one leg over the other and stared at the ceiling, all mysteriously. "What is anybody doing anywhere?"

"What?"

He turned to me and said in a 'duh' tone. "I was trying to act out a Dr. Phil's scene."

"You don't know what you're saying because I know for a fact that we haven't watched a single episode of that show before." I pointed out.

"It just seems right, you know."

"That doesn't answer why you're in my room." I walked over to the lights and flicked them on. "What if I was naked?" I asked, my irritation level rising.

"Well, you're not."

"But what if I was."

"I was pretty sure you won't. I knew you won't have even been awake."

"Who told you I didn't sleep butt naked?"

He scrunched up his face in disgust.

"Why are you here Xander? It's-" I turned to my alarm clock and my eyes almost fell out of their sockets. I grabbed my pillow and started hitting him with it over and over again.

He managed to scramble off the bed. "Charvi? Are you insane?" He whisper-yelled.

"You're the insane one. Who goes to someone's house at 6am on a Saturday? Who is even awake at 6am on Saturday?"

"People who jog." He started hopping on his feet.

"Well, good for them. Why am I awake then?" I jumped back on my bed.

"Because you're going to be one of them today."

I literally choked on my saliva.

**********

"Let's stop!" I beat his shoulder.

Turns out Rev had called Xander and told him I should be added to his morning routine. He had said he was glad to help. Monsters!

He scoffed. "So unfit."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How dare you? I am very fit."

"We've only been running for 30 minutes, at a very slow pace."

"You say 30 minutes, I say half an hour."

He tried, and failed to point out to me. "They're the same thing."

"No." I argued.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Are you trying to distract me so I continue running?" I asked, brows raised.

"No?"

"Yes." I argued again.

"No."

"Yes. Will you stop it?" I hissed.

"No."

"I am not falling for that again." I sat down on the ground.

He stopped and turned to me. "Are you really sitting on the ground?"

"My legs hurt. I can't move." I whined.

"Tell me you're joking."

I didn't reply.

"Can we just reach that park over there? It's empty."

"Of course it's empty. It's about quarter to 7."

He gave me a blank look. "People are usually awake by now."

"Probably in their houses."

"Come on Char. It takes about 10 minutes to get there."

"If I do 10 more minutes I'll faint." I smiled at him. "Just carry me."

He pulled a horrified look. "The last time I carried you I collapsed."

"You were just trying to be mean." I pouted.

He smiled before walking towards me. He lifted me onto his back and started walking towards the park.

"You know this is your boyfriend's job, right?"

I ruffled his hair and since his hands were busy, he couldn't swat mine away. "Well, I don't have a boyfriend, so I can just manage a best friend."

"Manage? What do you mean 'manage'? You're not managing me. I'm managing you."

"Sure." I stressed sarcastically.

"I'm serious."

"I know."

We had stopped by the park and bought some yoghurt and pretzels. We sat and talked for a long time without even noticing how much time was fleeing by. When we had decided to head back home. It was already around 8 am. I enjoyed my time with Xander, but I think my bed is more willing to meet my needs.

But, at least, you got out of the house.

Xander was supposed to follow me to my room because he dropped his bag and stupid toy trumpet there. We were talking as we were close to the entrance so we were sort of distracted. Until Xander looked up, "Is that-?"

I turned. "Serena?"

She was standing in front of our door, as if considering whether to knock or not. She hadn't noticed us approach until I said her name.

She turned towards where we stood a few feet away. "Charvi."

"No. I'm not speaking to you. Leave, please."

She was about to talk, but Xander took one look at my drained out face and then cut her off. "Now is not a good time."

"Never is a good time." I muttered under my breath, but they still seemed to hear me.

She cannot be here.

"No. I have to talk to you. It is very important."

"Don't you get it? I do not want to see you or hear from you. I thought I made it clear the last time we spoke."

I heard a door slam shut. I turned around to the car that had just pulled up in front of my house.

CeCe. And a guy following behind her with a huge camera.

I snapped my head back to Serena in irritation. "You brought her here? I do not want my life to be broadcasted on some stupid blog. Take your fame and fortune or whatever and get out."

"I didn't bring her here." She climbed down the stairs and towards CeCe. "I know I offered to give you interviews, but you can't follow me places."

"My readers are already really interested in this story. I have to get more." She walked around CeCe and towards me.

"What is your name?"

I glared at her. "Go to hell."

She gasped. "Why on Earth would you say that?"

Why on Earth would I say that? Does 'pathetic girl is not as pathetic as we think' not ring a bell?

She seemed to understand. "If it's because of the blog entries about you, no hard feelings. I just wrote what I saw."

"Your stupid blog is based on lies and gossip." Xander hissed.

She turned to him and smiled, "But to be honest, isn't that what people want?"

He just eyed her before grabbing my hand and dragging me inside.

"No!" Serena yelled as she ran up the stairs. "I really need to talk to you."

"Whatever you have to say, you can tell CeCe, I'm sure she'd love to include it in her blog." I shot daggers with my eyes at the both of them.

"I did not bring her here. I came here alone. Well, with my driver, but you know what I mean."

"Don't waste your time with me Serena. Zane is probably waiting for you."

Xander shut the door behind us and dragged me upstairs to my room.

"I thought since she hadn't written anything about you all week she would go away." Xander groaned.

"Seeing as I've not seen Serena or Zane in a while, and barely leave my house, I doubt she had anything to write about."

Xander snapped his fingers. "Maybe we could get Leyla to ask her parent's to pay them off."

I gave him a blank stare.

"Don't look at me like that. I just finished exercising, how do you expect me to think straight?"

"I don't think that has anything to do with it."

Rev walked into my room a few minutes later. "Why are there people and cars outside our window? It looks like they're crowding a celebrity."

I just groaned and lay back on my bed as Xander grabbed the trumpet to blow in my ears again.

Crap!

**********

There was a knock on my door.

Don't come in. It's our crying time.

"Who's there?"

The person didn't answer, they just entered the room. I turned around on the bed.

Serena.

"Who let you in?" I demanded.

"Your step sister." She held a hand up. "And before you kick me out, please let me speak."

I turned back around. "I think you've done enough talking."

"I am sorry about that, but would you just let me-?"

I cut her off. "Your presence here is tainting my happiness."

"Your face is clearly tear-stained." She pointed out.

"And how do you know they are tears of sadness? They could be happy tears."

"I'm not too sure about that."

Without turning around, I continued talking. "Are CeCe and her cameraman hiding somewhere?"

"No."

"After what happened this morning, I'm not sure I can trust you."

"But I-"

I turned around and sat up on my bed, my legs touching the ground. I exclaimed at her. "Don't you get it? You're the main reason I feel miserable and empty. You eavesdropped on a private conversation. Not accidentally, and you also videoed it. You blackmailed me. You exposed sensitive information. You slept with my boyfriend!" My voice became lower as I wrung my fingers together. "And the worst part is that, the same way it takes two to tango is the same way it takes two to cheat."

Memories of that night came flooding in and I tried to fight the tears that were already dropping. My heart squeezed in sadness. Squeezed so much, that it felt like it had shattered.

"Please just leave. Seeing you is not helping me. If you've come to brag about finally having Zane, don't bother. I am happy for the two of you."

"No you're not. And no, we aren't together. I came to tell you the truth."

I kept my mouth shut and waited for her to explain.

"I didn't sleep with Zane."

"I'm sorry if I interrupted." I bit out.

She raised up a hand. "No. That's not what I meant. Would you just let me finish?"

"You can't blame me. You made a dramatic pause. You welcomed my input."

She let out a sigh. "What I was saying was that he didn't come to sleep with me. I just wanted to make you think that."

"Why were you there in the first place?"

"I wasn't in the best relationship with my parents at that time so I stayed over at his place."

I glared at her. "Isn't it thrilling to find out that your boyfriend is sleeping in the same place as a girl who is crazy in love with him?"

She groaned. "Why do you twist my words? Você não sabe que é frustrante?"

I rolled my eyes. "Would you stop with the Portuguese already? I understand you speak it, but I don't understand what you're saying. In fact, that isn't so bad. I don't think I want to hear you talk anymore."

"It's easier to express myself in Portuguese. Você está estressando minha vida."

She knew I didn't understand what she was saying, and yet she continued. For all I knew, she could be cursing me.

"You just love to hear yourself talk, don't you?"

"You make it so difficult to like you."

I stood up. "I make it difficult to like me? And you're what? Just a ray of sunshine?"

She crossed her arms. "I regret coming here."

"Good."

"Good." She grabbed her purse and turned to open the door. When she did, an overgrown baby fell to the ground.

She just looked at him, groaned and walked around him. I watched her go then looked down at him. "Xander, when did eavesdropping become your thing?"

He stood to his feet and dusted imaginary dirt off himself. "I wasn't eavesdropping."

I raised my brows.

He shrugged and jumped on my bed. "Okay, maybe I was. But that doesn't matter now, aren't you glad?"

"Why would I be glad?"

"Zane didn't sleep with her."

"How am I so sure?"

From the girl who said, 'This relationship is built on the solid foundation that is trust.'

You can't judge me for that. She's a lying snake. How do I know that this isn't also part of her elaborate plan?

"Charvi..." He whined. "Just go talk to him. Why do you insist on making yourself miserable?"

"Miserable? Why does everyone keep saying I'm miserable? I had a life before him, I'm pretty sure I can still have a life after him."

Really?

YES!

"You didn't know him in your life before him, now you do, and you just want to forget that?"

"Yes. I do. Let's even say, he didn't sleep with her. Why was he there when she was? He knows how uncomfortable their relationship feels. I know he knows she likes him, but he just chooses to overlook it. I don't want to be the girl that says he should choose between his girlfriend and his friend. And I didn't need to. He made his choice, and now I'm going to live with it."

When he didn't believe me, he made his choice. How could he think that I'd lie about something like that? So what, he just thought the breaking up with him situation was a stunt? And how does he think it'd look to me when I see him with her a few hours after? What is trust in a situation like this?

"What do you mean he made his choice? Is there something you're not telling me?"

I blinked. "Why would you say that?"

"Now I'm sure there's something you're not telling me."

"Xander, it's nothing. There's nothing."

"But-"

I cut him off. "Xander, just listen to me on this. If there's something I'm not telling you, I promise I'll tell you eventually."

He stared at me for a while. He hesitated, but then he nodded.

"Okay, so why are you here anyway?" Fear overtook me. "Don't tell me you also run in the evening."

He laughed. "Why do you look so mortified? Running is fun."

"Running is fun? Did you hit your head that hard?" I stomped on my floor to check it. "I mean, I know floors are hard, but I think mine has more of a bouncing back texture."

"Now I think you're the one that hit your head."

I rolled my eyes.

"Weren't you on the girls soccer team?"

"Yeah, because I wanted to try something new, but since the coach refused to pay us much attention because we're girls," I mocked his tone. "Jerk! Anyways, I gave up and look where that got me. I'm still unfit as ever!"

"We're going to work on that."

"No!" I screamed, way too quickly and loudly.

He just laughed some more. "I came here..." He started. "I came here because you're miserable and can't do without me."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I will. I bought us tickets to an amusement park for tomorrow. Actually, Leyla bought it, but it was my idea."

"Yay?"

He rolled his eyes. "With a little more enthusiasm please."

"YAY!" I yelled as I jumped up and down, fake-giggling and clapping.

He lay back on my bed. "Now, that's more like it."

**********

"That was awesome!" Mia screamed as she bit out of her cotton candy.

"Well, it is an amusement park." Zahra replied.

It was me and my friends and their dates. Zahra and Kai. Xander and Mia. Leyla and Jordan. Yup, they seem to be more than just friends now. And who is my date? Me. I'm my own date.

It's just me, myself and I.

"Too bad Char doesn't want to go on any of the rides." Kai pointed out.

"They make me sick."

They remind me of the fun rides I did with Zane on one of our dates.

"But, you love rides. Are you sure you're okay?" Xander whined.

"It's fine, Xander. I'm fine. You guys should just go on ahead without me."

"But the reason we brought you here is to cheer you up."

"And I appreciate it, a lot, Xander, but I think I'll just get something to eat."

Leyla put a hand on my shoulder. "We'll be back in about an hour and you better be ready for us."

I smiled at her. "Of course."

They all started leaving, but Xander waited behind. "Char..."

I punched his shoulder. "Don't be such a worry bug. I said I'm fine. I'm just hungry, as usual."

"It's only 4. You ate like about an hour ago." He caught me in my lie.

I gasped. "A whole hour? Shame on me."

You're not actually hungry.

He just rolled his eyes.

"Look." I pointed to where Mia was waiting for him. "She's waiting for you. You don't want to keep her waiting. You know how scary she can get."

"She is not scary." He smirked. "She's ferocious."

"You're calling your girlfriend ferocious?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Aww. Xandy boo is afraid of rejection..." I cooed as I patted his cheek.

He swatted my hand away and grumbled. "I get we're best friends and all, but you gotta stop reading my mind." Then, he stalked off to Mia.

I just smiled and headed towards the closest fast food restaurant.

*

I hope you enjoyed it. Please vote, comment and share, if you did, and even if you didn't.

Thanks and Toodles ;)