The Other Twin

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

*Disconcerting Truths*

"Taryn, Taryn wait up!"

Despite my natural instinct to flee at the sound of his voice, I stopped in place and waited as the other students pushed past me to their next period. I'm not quite sure what made me stop, maybe it was my desire to rid my life of drama and start facing my problems head on. Then again, I might just have been tired from all the homework I had to catch up on yesterday and my brain was slow in processing what was happening.

"What do you want Dale?" I asked tiredly as he raced up to me with an expression of urgency and one hand behind his back. Dale stopped in front of me, panting slightly before flashing a grin. With a flourish, he brought out his right hand from behind his back, "Ta da!"

My gaze dropped to the ivory white rose he held before me; with the fresh green stem wrapped in a printed glossy cone, the velvety petals of the flower glittered with fresh drops of dew in a brilliant display of pure beauty. I blinked in surprise at the sudden turn of events, rendered speechless. "Uh... hey - thanks?"

I accepted the flower, admiring its simplicity and grace - white roses are my favorite kind of flora. I glanced from the rose to Dale, Karyn must've tipped him off.

"You're welcome." He replied with a grin. I watched as he began to fidget under my gaze and nervously wring his hands together, seeming to work up the nerve to tell me something important. I cocked as eyebrow with slight shock, this was all unexpected and unlike Dale; bringing me roses and actually seeming unnerved was the opposite of the normally cocky guy with an immense supply of obnoxious comments. I was intrigued.

A reaction I never associated with Dale, since I was generally repulsed by his overall existence.

"Dale?" I questioned, prompting for an explanation for the sudden change of heart. Dale raked a hand through his brown hair which I noted to be combed back neatly, as he cleared his throat and slowly met my inquisitive gaze.

"So I know that you don't like me very much," he began with a slight chuckle. Oh, so he'd noticed. "But I was hoping if you'd give me a second chance?"

"A second chance?" I repeated dubiously. Dale nodded, apprehensively tugging at his button down shirt.

"Yeah, maybe... maybe, start over? I know I've been kind of a jerk and I don't blame you for thinking so but I was hoping you'd give me a chance and we could start out on a clean slate." I stared at him incredulously as he hurriedly continued. "I also wanted to ask if you'd like to be my date to the Big Bash on Saturday?"

I automatically knew which party he was referring to; it's been a recurring topic in the past few weeks, conversed in whispers during class, after gym in the locker rooms and was also the reason why Karyn's cellphone's been dinging nonstop with text after text of party dress shopping and prep time. The Big Bash is an annual event hosted by the all sports captains of Ellington's teams to celebrate our championship wins for the season.

Being a star player of Ellington's girls soccer team, Karyn has a VIP spot reserved on the guest list since freshmen year, and being her sister I was invited by association. Not that I planned on going. Parties of that caliber - I'm talking about a big blow party lasting into the early hours of the morning - complete with alcohol, loud music, and dancing, were not my scene.

"Sorry Dale," I began apologetically feeling sympathetic when his face clouded with disappointment. I mean he went all out, the white flower and wanting to start off with a clean slate, I felt bad for turning him down. But it's not like Dale is lacking in the date department if he needed a replacement; I'll deny saying it but Dale wasn't exactly hideous. He was reasonably attractive okay? Girls will be flocking to him for a chance to accompany him to The Big Bash, so I wasn't worried.