Miss Make-Believe

Chapter 6

Now Noel looked like he’d lost it completely. Maybe he was having qualms about walking over and confessing his undying love for me? “I’m not lying. I like you, Whitney. Like really like you a lot!” Doubt still hung in the air but even then, a small smile crawled up my lips. “May’s my step sister anyway.” He added the detail as an afterthought.

Okay now, imagine you’re walking down a street carelessly all by yourself, minding your own business and all too soon, Freddy Krueger jumps out from a deserted alleyway and brandishes his deadly claws in your face. What will you feel exactly? Well, whatever it will be, I can understand because right then, I was going through the same emotions.

It was like Noel had marched towards me, thrown sand in my eyes and punched me in the stomach so bad that it had shocked the heaven out more than it had hurt me. I felt drenched in cold water, even though I was far away from the sea and its strong tides. My eyes were wide, mouth gaping and breeze was whipping through my hair, feeling less than pleasant all of a sudden. I managed not to gasp audibly or hurl in front of him at the eye-opening bit of information.

My shock was short lived when I remembered something else. “Whole school knows about it?”

His gaze travelled over my face suspiciously but at that breaking point, I couldn’t care less. “No! Nobody knows about it actually.” I immediately sighed in relief and smiled timidly up at him.

The beach trip was supposed to be the best experience of our senior year but I was making it the worst for him. He looked tired of waiting. He wanted an answer and he wanted it soon, preferably now. But what possible answer could I give to my admirer?

All I was certain about was the fact that winning the bet was of utmost importance. I’d never lost and I wouldn’t lose then too just because of a stupid misunderstanding. With that concept in head, I brushed my hand against my forehead and answered sadly. “I like someone else, Noel.” He seemed let down.

Something notified me that he was expecting that reply from me beforehand. “Who is it?”

I shrugged aimlessly, simultaneously flipping through the manual of my brain in a frantic trend to find a suitable boyfriend material guy and stick the name in Noel’s inquisitive face. But why was it always that nothing would pop inside your head when you needed your brain the most? I looked around surreptitiously for help, finding a few guys and girls making out wildly. A shiver of repulsion elicited down my spine from the shameless sights and I looked away back at him, only to determine that he was eying me down studiously, impatient for the name.

Well, there goes my chance!

I wanted Noel to back off. I needed him to lose his poignant feelings for me and keep pretending as if he were in love with May Sanders, who was apparently his step sister. As if all my prayers were heard by the higher power, Manuel came into the contours of my vision, walking silently on the beach. Hope bloomed in my chest again and without thinking, I blurted out. “Manuel Wilkinson.”

My head swayed in Manuel’s direction and I watched him halt and scrutinize the expansive waters of the sea again. To keep up the act, I put my dramatic skills to work and pasted an enamoured smile on my face, trying to make it look convincing. Noel saw me making googly eyes at him and he scowled at Manuel, probably hating him at the moment.

How much desperation had flooded me for accomplishment of my on-the-spot planning and plotting got to me at that end when I broke all barriers of impulsiveness and became unscrupulous. When and how I decided to play dirty, don’t ask me but even though I knew shame and guilt were going to be a part of my cluster of emotions in the long run, I was cognizant of the certainty that victory and joy were going to be the major share in that said cluster. Therefore, I didn’t think about right or wrong, just sprinted toward Manuel, turned him around to face me and kissed him.