The Shy and the Popular

Chapter 12

'Carter! CARTER!' I yell continuously as I weave my way through the throngs of people. It has been over twenty minutes since his rather scary departure and I'm getting worried now. What if he already went home? Or even worse, committed an act of rebellion? All because of me. Suffice to say, I feel very, very guilty.

I march ahead so fast and lost in thoughts, that I do not notice the figure in front of me until we bump into each other. Alex. He smiles briefly at me, but a frown takes over, mirroring my expression when he sees it. 'What's up Lily?'

'It's just... oh never mind...um...,' I can't explain to him what happened. It's a private thing between Carter and I. A secret. It's a bit like your own diary, I guess. You could gush all about it to one person, your closest friend, but you can't let everyone know. So, instead I settle for a much needed question, 'Hey, do you know where Carter is?'

A gentle, knowing smile takes over on his face. A flicker of hope ignites within me, but extinguishes almost immediately, upon hearing his reply.

'Well, uh- he was...Lily, last time I saw him, he was with,' he deliberated nervously. 

Who was he with?

'Kylie,' he finally says softly.

'Oh.'

***

I walk lifelessly around. I was the only person with no one to hang out with. I was a loner.  I tried, again and again, to stop images from flowing effortlessly into my mind. Images of Carter and Kylie, perhaps at a toy booth, with his arm wrapped around Kylie's dainty, little waist. Both of them are laughing at something he said, her, showing of her perfect set of pearly, white teeth. Heck, I don't even have pearly, white teeth. How could he ever like me?! Woah. I'm jumping ahead of myself. I don't like him, right? It's just a small...attraction. 

My thoughts are easily cut short when a certain scene comes right before my eyes. It's them two and yes, they are at a stall.

But it's not at all like I had imagined. They were not holding each other and certainly not laughing happily at jokes. No, no, they were doing much the opposite- they were arguing. I could vaguely hear their loud voices, even from my distant position. Kylie throws her hands up in the air and stomps. She looks livid, to say the least.

'I thought you finally saw the good in me Carter! I thought you liked me!' She yells, causing anyone in a five mile radius to hear. 

I snort. Seriously? 

'The good in me'. What rubbish. There is no good in Kylie. Maybe she looks good, even great on the outside (to some), but on the inside, she is a witch. You could even replace the 'w' with a 'b' in 'witch' and boom, you have her.

I don't hear Carter's muttered reply, but from the shake of his head and Kylie's deafening scream, I guess it's not all that good for Kylie. Oh, and then Carter storms off in the opposite direction. I start to run towards him but fate has other plans.

'You saw,' Kylie states, as she suddenly appears in front of me.

Uh-oh. It's not a screaming Kylie but a low-pitch, growling, look-I'm-a-carnivorous-grizzly-bear Kylie, which is very scary. Trust me.

'You stole him from me,'she continues, her lips quivering. 'You stole my man.'

At this, I resist the urge to snort again. I admit, the situation is pretty tense and I'd probably be killed by Kylie sometime now, but 'my man'? Come on! That's hilarious! Who even says that any more?

'Look Kylie, I did nothing,' I say in vain. 'I'm sorry for your unrequited love and that 'your man' doesn't like you back, but even I'm not his favourite person currently, so go snag someone else.'