Ivy's Second Shadow

CHAPTER 5: I'M TAKING A RISK

"Miss Wilson," I said to myself, "she's following me?"

I stood there pensive in thought and silent by words as my candy floss pink hair fluttered in the wind. My lips uttered Miss Wilson as my face twitched blinking at a tremendously quick pace. But this didn't sound unequivocally true. Anyways, I was starting to believe that I was living in some kind of delusional life for a second even though it was in a threateningly vulnerable position. I mean who gets the opportunity to get stalked by two handsome boys or even by their elegant English teacher? Here's how I could like picture my life just like living inside a novella or some kind of film-

1. Me- Ivy Cooper

I am a little, pretty(not bragging) girl in high school who looks quite fragile and my eyes are mahogany brown. I also scored good marks at school aiming for a scholarship in the big city- New York.

2. Kash Myers-

He is the strikingly handsome new guy at school who apparently wants to go to the prom with me. He's tall with an attractive British accent which just sounds so elite and breathtakingly swoon worthy.

3. David Bostick/Dave-

Dave is the popular guy at school with a muscular built and he probably could be the stalker. Moreover, he's overwhelmingly good-looking and plays basketball.

4. Miss Wilson-

Miss Wilson was a slender, enigmatic picture wearing somber shades of makeup and her getup was usually uniquely eye-catching like she would look different standing in a crowd. She had those perfect cat eyes wearing off-white cardigans. She spoke really eloquently and she gave me CEO vibes. Maybe she could be the villain too.

See, I mean, it's rare to get stalked by these types of villains, right? At least for me...But now my life was seeming to become something like math. It's like how in geometry, they show us a triangle ABC and then ask us to prove AB=BC. Math knows the truth but still desires a long written, plodding explanation. It needs that "Hence Proved". Same here. I needed it too. I was in the same boat just like Math but in my case, the truth could be a lie. Ugh. This was turning so complicated.

But shouldn't Miss Wilson be the stalker? Her handwriting was the same just like the stalker. It should be her, right? Okay, enough with questions. I am going and getting answers. I'd decided to go and directly ask Miss Wilson about this stalking issue.

I couldn't handle it anymore. I rolled up the sleeves of my dress and walked up with my bubblegum pink hair curling up and down like swirls of clouds at the time of dusk as they got frizzled up slightly looking like a picture of an aesthetic mess. 

I marched up to the spot where Miss Wilson was standing but I guess she went home or she was busy watching me or something if she was the stalker. So, I decided to interrogate her tomorrow but still there was a possibility of Kash and Dave being the stalkers because of Kash's weird phone call and Dave's repeated appearances like again when I was standing, Dave passed by me again. Ugh! Why did I get stuck in this in this? Anyway, I just shook my head and decided to follow Kash today and deal with Miss Wilson tomorrow. I mean even if he's not my stalker, he's still my crush who could be my villain but also could be my date to the prom. He could be anything and everything to me. He makes me feel infatuated but I'm still scared of falling for him.

He could be the best thing but also the worst thing if he turned out to be my stalker. I was perhaps liking a bad guy who I hoped would be good. He could be my hero in a denim jacket or my antagonist with that perfect evil smile. He gives me butterflies but then he breaks me down because I couldn't risk dating an obsessive stalker which I hope he's not.

He is like a sticky note on my fridge on whom I've pinned my hopes about how I wish that he's good. But sometimes I think about tearing the sticky note but I cannot. He is like that one pretty rose in a garden and if I picked it up either its petals would majestically entice me or else my fingers would bleed on getting pricked and it would ache like a dagger of stone ricocheting inside me.

I pitied myself so badly. It is every high school girl's dream come true when their crush likes them back especially a new charming popular guy. But even though I know that he likes me, the risk of him being a stalker crushed me. What if he stalks others too? How was I to know? That's why I needed to stalk Kash. I couldn't judge him based on only his looks. Looks are just a perception but the nature of his heart was the truth of a person. It's like a sticky note here again.

The look of every sticky note is different. Some of them are plain blue, fancy pink or even have cartoons drawn on their margins. You cannot guess what the sticky note means to a person by just taking a glimpse of its color or design. A sticky note can be a silly reminder, a grocery list, a quote or even some urgent message. That's why I needed to know what Kash could mean to me.

I needed to know and the only way was to stalk him. I took a deep breath as my eyes closed and then opened to the sight of Kash looking a little lost on the pavement under the row of streetlights. His fingers were wrapped around a bouquet of roses which seemed to have shriveled up. They seemed to have been bought a while ago. I guess for me. My heart soared up in my throat forcing my lips to widen into a smile. He bought me roses?

This is not the sign of a stalker at all. Stalkers have cameras and guns in their hands but all he had were roses and candy. I looked at how he was walking but so stiffly, how he clutched onto the roses but still let their heads shiver in the cold wind and how he exhaled so softly but with a heavy heart. I could feel that he was unhappy. Maybe it was because I didn't agree to go with him to the prom? That was it. I decided to go with him to the prom. No stalker could be like that. He was meant to be a good guy. I know that. I ran up to him and he looked back at me.

"Is that you? Ivy?" he asked.

"Yes, Kash," I said.

"Wait, since when did you get pink hair?" he asked.

Wait, my costume was still making me recognizable?

 I thought to myself and then I awkwardly said, "Well, just a fun makeover."

"Nice. You look like a fairy queen," he said.

"Aren't you mad or upset with me for not going to the prom with you?" I asked.

"No, it's alright," he said.

"Oh, because I want to go to the prom with you," I said softly.

"Really?" he said as a smile involuntarily popped up on his face.

"Yes," I said.

He stood there silently for a minute looking at the ground and then said, "I knew you liked me. And these roses were for you but I'll get you new ones. Come on along with me!"

I went along with him walking down the pavement knowing that I had taken a risk but it was him. So, I guess its worth taking one, right?

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