STARGIRL

69. Revelations

There was no one else in the world who made her feel as loved and as protected as he did. But, there was also no one else in the world who made her just as insecure and as vulnerable.

Arabella had once envisioned their life beyond their current situation. Maybe they could've lived the life she had envisioned for herself which now included him.

A dream of a traditional gilded mansion in New Port and a summer home in Cape Cod. Two kids, a son and a daughter with tan skin and light brown gazes. A German Shepherd named something strong like Maximus. The garden would be full of red roses, blue hydrangeas, and white oleanders. They could watch the sunset on their sailboat and later at night make love on clean cotton sheets.

However, Arabella understood that was only a dream and in her reality, she had to face the truth, because she could no longer remain delusional.

Arabella relaxed in her seat and looked around the auditorium that was decorated like a fairytale garden party. She looked for her boyfriend who was wearing the plastic crown he won. Maddox was taking photos with the rest of the court for the yearbook as their king. The underclassmen clamored over his attention.

A sort of sadness dawned over her when she realized how much he could offer the world without someone like her to hold him back.

Arabella had lost all train of thought as she stared at him and became mesmerized by his sweet boyish grin. The flash from the cameras illuminated his face and contoured the already sharp lines of his structured face.

Maddox stole a glance her way and winked at her before going back to what he was doing. Arabella looked down at her lap to avoid letting anyone see her blush.

"Arabella, come take a photo with Maddox."

Arabella looked up to see Zoya Bakshi standing before her table with a dslr camera in one hand while the other one beckoned her to stand up.

Arabella shook her head, "I'm good."

"No, seriously. He wanted me to come and get you."

Arabella looked at her dismissively, "I'm fine. Thank you."

Zoya didn't insist after that and went away instead. Arabella got up from her seat and went toward the catering tables where she started to load up on finger foods.

"Arabella, hey," Angie greeted with a toothy smile.

Arabella didn't even acknowledge her or the crown on her head.

"I just wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be any hard feelings between us," Angie said as she grabbed a plastic plate.

Arabella glared at her, "For what?"

Angie had served herself a slice of the chocolate cake.

"Well, for winning prom queen."

Arabella scoffed, "Yeah, what does that have to do with me or him for that matter?"

"Well," Angie turned to her, "We're gonna share a dance. So, I hope that won't upset you."

Arabella cracked a smile, "X, is not going to dance with you."

"It's tradition," Angie countered, "Don't worry though. It's not like that."

Arabella took in a deep breath as she scoured her internal dictionary to find the proper way of telling Angie Nahmir to fuck off.

"Angie," Arabella started, "If you think I'm jealous, I'm not. You irritate me because your crush on him is so blatant and annoying. Like, he isn't gonna leave me for anyone. Especially you."