?WINGLESS AND BEAUTIFUL?
?EPISODE 33?
“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay here?” Chaise
asked.
I nodded.
“If something happens, call me first before 911, okay?”
I giggled. “You play the guardian angel part too well.
Thank you. But don’t worry, I’ll be okay.”
“Good night,” he said. Then he leaned forward and
kssed the top of my head. “Sweet dreams.”
“You too.”
The next day, I felt more conscious when I walked the
halls. When my normal routine included dodging legs that
were meant to send me flying face first on the floor and
ignoring the snide remarks and insults thrown my way,
today my mind was actually on something else. I was on the
lookout for Hunter.
I didn’t see him all morning. We didn’t share any class.
And I didn’t know whether I should be thankful or sad about
that. Lunchtime, I was lining up alone to get food in the
cafeteria. Denise and Chaise weren’t there yet.
I noticed that Queen Chelsea and Witless Candy were in
the line in front of me.
“I don’t really understand why Chaise is with her!”
Chelsea said.
“Come on! Is he blind? She’s a monster!” Candy agreed.
I didn’t have to guess. The ‘her’ and the ‘she’ in those
statements, actually referred to ‘me’. I wonder if they
realized I was just behind them. Maybe they knew, but they
just didn’t care.
I took a couple of steps back to increase the distance
between us. I didn’t really want to hear what they were
saying about me. I was about to eat my lunch and I was a
bit hungry. I didn’t want to lose my appetite.
When I took another step back, I bumped into something hard and solid behind me. I spun around and found Hunter staring down at me with a frown on his face.
He looked like he found it literally annoying to have a little bit of physical contact with me.
“Are you going to collide with me every single day
throughout the entire school year?” he asked with a bored
expression on his face. “Let me know the program, so I’ll be
prepared.”
“I’m… I’m sorry,” I said in a weak voice.
He turned away from me and scooped himself some
mashed potato. I was frozen in my place, unable to make myself move. I just stood there staring at him with a dazed
expression on my face. When he turned back to me, he saw
that I hadn’t budged. He raised a brow and then as if
realizing I wasn’t going to move soon, he moved past me
and never looked back.
I stared at the food in front of me, not really finding
anything interesting to eat now. I had completely lost my
appetite.
“Hey, dude,” a guy beside me said. “You’re holding up
the line.”
I apologized and took a carton of milk from my tray then
I paid for it at the cashier. I walked to our usual table. I saw Hunter sitting in the middle of the cafeteria, where all the popular boys and girls sat. My heart sank.
I wondered if he was really like this before he lost his sight. He looked like he belonged there—to the group of privileged snobs, rich brats
and high school bullies.
I drank my milk and stared into space. I remembered
our first date. He treated me like a princess even though he
was blind. It was one of the best times of my life after I lost my family.
He made me feel like I mattered to him, that he would always stand by me. Even when he was blind, he saw what was inside me, spoke to my soul… got through to my heart. But now…
Are you going to collide with me every single day
throughout the entire school year? Let me know the
program, so I’ll be prepared.
It was almost like saying, Stay the he..ll away from me.
How could he say that when before he left he said, ‘I
want to see you smile, as much as I love hearing you
laugh… I want to build a future with you… where I can
protect you, where I am capable enough to chase your
nightmares away’?
Now, he looks at me like the rest of them… like a
vermin… like the mere sight of me boils his blood. How could he do that when he said he wanted to see the face of
his angel, that he wanted to see me the way that I saw him?
How can everything be upside down and inside out? For
more than a year… I have our love as my refuge.
I have the hopes of his return to hold on to. That it doesn’t matter what the other kids in school say or do to me. Because Hunter’s love was enough for me to move on and live each day with a smile. But now… what have I got?
Tears rolled down my cheeks and I wiped them before
anybody could notice. I took a sip of my milk. Just then,
somebody shoved a tray with an apple on it in front of me.
I stared up and saw Chaise sit on the empty chair beside
me.
“Milk is not enough,” he said. He settled his tray on the
table. “Just yesterday you have a headache. I don’t want
you to get sick.”
I smiled at his thoughtfulness. “You really make a great
guardian angel,” I teased him.
“That, I am!” he said dryly. “Unfortunately, I would
rather be called your boyfriend.”
I sighed.
Here we go again!
“Chaise…”
“I know!” He heaved a frustrated sigh. “You can’t,
right?”
I nodded.
“Alice… why not? Is it me? Is something wrong with me,
you couldn’t like me?”
“I like you,” I said. “Just not…”
“Not like me, like me,” he finished for me, sighing
heavily again.
I bit my lip. God knows how loveable Chaise could be.
He was really handsome, like a model who stepped out of
the covers of a magazine. He was sweet and funny and
when he wanted something, he worked hard for it… when
he cared about something, he did everything to protect it.
I should have fallen in love with him already. But I couldn’t. I was in love with somebody else. Remembering the
shattering pain inside my chest, I realized that I was still in love with that person.
“Chaise… you’re so good to me,” I said. “Even with the
way I look, you still liked me. But… I can’t.”
He raised a brow. Then this eyes went to my chest,
where my necklace was.
“There’s someone else?” he asked.
I didn’t want to hurt him, but I also wanted to be honest
with him. I nodded slightly.
“Where is he?”
About twenty feet behind us.
I wanted to tell him. But I didn’t know how to. I didn’t
even know if Hunter was still the same person he was when
he was blind. As I heard laughter coming from the table
where Hunter was… I realized that he belonged there.
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