Daisy-dotted Doc Martens

Chapter Four

RECAP:

She took in my confused expression and went on. “Oh, you must know Kyle Eberhardt! He’s like, the coolest dude ever. He appeared in so many blockbusters and has THE sexiest voice ever. And he’s only 23! I wish I could have a piece of that…” She sighed longingly, and just like in a cheesy movie, the girls seated in the centre around the magazine sighed along.

Um. Weird, much?

I decided to go and check it out myself. The girls handed me the magazine and I flipped to the cover to see just who they were talking about.

My eyes bugged when they landed on the man featured on the cover of the magazine.

Wasn’t that…?

**

I gaped at the glossy cover of the magazine, hoping that I was seeing things. The face smirked back at me, with the same bright eyes and tousled hair that I had loved so many years ago. Or rather, that I had thought I loved.

Something was wrong -  my Kyle wasn’t an Eberhardt; he was a Bennett. But as I scrutinized the photo, I noticed the little things that I remembered from before, like the little mole at the side of his jaw, and the small scar poking out from under his hair, right above his left temple. This was definitely my Kyle - unless he had been cloned, I don’t think anyone would bear such close resemblance to him.

“So he’s famous now?” I mused to myself, an indescribable feeling washing over me. A sort of sadness, perhaps, that we’d lost contact for so long, and shock at his sudden appearance before me as a successful man with an entourage of fans.

“You know him?” Allison asked, a strange expression on her face.

Know him? I bit my lip. I’d known him. I just… didn’t know him anymore.

“Of course she knows him, he’s famous, like DUH!” Eliza scoffed, twirling her perfect blonde hair with her finger.

The girls all looked at me expectantly as I racked my brains for something to say.

“I… I don’t know a Kyle… Eberhardt.” I stuttered, looking back at the man on the magazine cover, feeling a small twinge deep in my heart.

Allison looked at me suspiciously, a small frown on her face. She opened her mouth and was about to say something, but the bell rung just then, and the students all filed out of class to their first period classrooms.

It took me a while to realise that I was still standing in the middle of the classroom, alone. Breathing a sigh, I walked over to my desk and slumped down in the swivel chair, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling.

Kyle…

The only guy I had ever loved, the guy who had dumped me to boost his popularity by dating a cheerleader. I laughed humorlessly to myself. Who knew that he’d come back and haunt me this way?

Shaking my head free of those thoughts, I slapped myself awake. Literally. After clutching my aching face in pain and checking in my compact mirror for signs of redness, I sat up resolutely.

So what if he was famous now? He was living his life, and I was living my own. I had forgotten about him for so long - my life definitely didn’t revolve around that jerk anymore. Bitter as I was about his success, I wouldn’t dwell upon it. With his elevated status, it was unlikely that I would ever have to meet him again, anyways.

Picking up my red pen, I focused back on marking the kids’ papers, dispelling all thoughts about a certain dark-haired, blue-eyed pop star.

**