Pretending

~8~

Rachel's POV:

It's been half an hour and Ace hasn't done anything. I am great full for that. The movie is scary but not as scary as the man sitting beside me. I am so conscious that I am turning my head every second to keep a check on him seeing if he is not pulling something up. My heart is beating awfully fast because of the nervousness and fright. Now I wish I never came here. I am surely going to die of heart attack.

"You won't know when I will take my revenge." Ace mutters in my ear. A cold shiver runs down my spine. Cold beads of sweat form on my forehead and trickles down. I gulp and turn my head to look at the devil. A big scary smirk is gracing his red lips. Even though his brown eyes are trained on the big screen he knows he made me scared. I so have to make a plan to escape this wrath. I am not ready for getting hurt very badly emotionally and physically. Well physically I am not sure but emotionally... I am damn sure. There is a rumor that Ace can just crush your heart with his big fudging mouth. Whatever comes out of his mouth is either insult or threat. And I am going to have to hear them both.

"You should stop staring. And why do you look so pale? Is something scaring you? Or rather someone?" he teases. I snap my head to the screen and tears of fear form back in my eyes. My hands tremble and my heart is beating violently in my chest. I know I have met him just today and I shouldn't be so scared. But what can I possibly do? I have seen him destroy people's life. I have seen him make people's nightmare come true. And I know I am the next person on his list. He is already making plans to make my life miserable. 'It's your fault. You should have apologized. He is gonna crush your self-respect and you wouldn't even have the value of a shoe. You knew not to mess with him of all the people. Just because of your stubbornness you didn't say sorry. You could have avoided this. But no you had to make it worse. What are you gonna do now?' my mind taunts me. Traitor... my mind should be encouraging me and supporting me instead it taunts me? 'I am saying the truth and not feeding you lies. You are no stand for him' my mind counters back. No I am not going to let him do this. I will try to fight him. I know he will not keep this from Prince for long. But as long as he doesn't know I have to find a way. Should I tell this to Zahara? She may help me. 'And what makes you think that?' my mind questions me. I don't know. There is this feeling inside me that I should tell her the truth. I can hope that she will support me. And she may feel bad that I didn't tell her about this. She may come to know from outside. And she might feel bad that I personally didn't tell her about this matter. Though we met only a few days back but there is something between us. Some bond I feel like I can trust her, like I trust Maddy. I have to do this. I can't fight this alone. I need someone and I have a feeling Zahara will be there for me.

I clear my throat and lean near her ear so that only she can hear me. "I have to tell you something really really important. Please and it has to be now." I say nervously.

"Fine, as it is I am really getting scared. And I don't want to have any nightmares. So let us head out and talk." She says not so quietly. I grimace at her little loud voice. She realizes and smiles sheepishly. "Hey guys we are gonna head out 'cause we have something really important to talk about. We will meet you in 10." She says to the two boys. Prince nods looking over at us and then continues watching the movie. Ace looks over at me in confusion as if thinking about my plan. I just give him a blank look. He narrows his eyes trying to read my mind but I give him nothing. I know he might have some idea about my plan but he will not be able to guess fully. Heading out of the theatre to Zahara's bedroom I try to think of ways of telling her. She heads towards her bed and plops down on it. She lets out a heavy sigh as if she is saved from something. I take a seat besides her. My panic starts to settle in. What if she isn't happy? What if she chooses Ace? What if she hates me? Huh I hate 'what ifs...' 'It's too late anyways. Just get it out of yourself. You will feel lighter.' My conscious tries to encourage me. I close my eyes and take in deep breath. "Is everything okay?" I hear Zahara's voice. I open my eyes and force a smile.