Hatred With A Burning Passion (Completed)

Chapter 7

The next day at 5:00 in the afternoon, the doorbell rang. Charlotte ran downstairs, looking through the peephole to make sure it was Lola and Thomas.

"Hi Charlotte!" Lola exclaimed, her face bright with excitement.

"Hi Lola," Charlotte opened the door to let them in.

"No hello to me then, huh?" Thomas said, annoyed.

"Well, I just saw you at school," Charlotte mumbled, avoiding his blue-eyed gaze that made her heart beat faster. "Thought it wouldn't be necessary."

"Fine then," he said, walking into the house. He put the his bus tickets in his pocket while Lola looked around in awe.

"Wow! I didn't know you lived in a castle, Charlotte." Her mouth gaped open. "Are you a princess?'

Charlotte chuckled. "No, I'm not. If anyone would be a princess, it would be you."

Lola squealed, "Can we play princesses after my lesson? It would be so much fun!"

"You still have homework to do, and Daddy will be home soon," Thomas said sternly, but once he saw the fallen face of his sister, her jaw trembling almost to the brink of tears, he quickly said, "But maybe you can come back to Charlotte's soon." He eyed Charlotte. She got the hint.

"Of course you can," she said softly, "What about tomorrow?" Charlotte kneeled down to the same height as Lola.

Lola nodded her head, "Okay."

Charlotte took her hand and led her upstairs, "Come on, let's start our lesson."

"Wait, Charlotte!" Thomas called down from downstairs. "I need to talk to you for a second."

Charlotte left Lola in her room, and walked back downstairs. In any other circumstance, if she were wearing the right clothes of course, it would have seemed like Charlotte was walking down to meet her date for the prom. Thomas stared at her as if she was the prettiest girl in the world. Her shock caused her to trip on the last stair, almost falling down. Thomas caught her before she could, and they stayed like that longer than expected, Charlotte in Thomas's arms, their eyes meeting and just staring.

"Charlotte! Are you coming up?" Lola called from upstairs. Charlotte and Thomas were jerked out of their stupor, and Thomas quickly let his hands fall from Charlotte. Was this her imagination? Why was Charlotte so intrigued with Thomas all of a sudden?

"Yeah! One sec!" Charlotte called back. She took in a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Thomas scratched the back of his neck. "Look, I just wanted to apologize for being so rude the other day at the park. I just don't like talking about that part of my life. It's embarrassing to be on scholarship at Westchester High, especially when everyone else around you flaunts their wealth. Rich people, no offense, have it so easy."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. And trust me, the rich don't have everything they want in life." Charlotte clenched her hands in fists. "I want to just beat your mom up to say the truth, hearing that she left you guys. And poor Lola."

Thomas widened his eyes in surprise. "My mom didn't run away or anything." He looked down. "She died from cancer two years ago."

Charlotte's face burned with embarrassment and remorse. She internally slapped herself. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I thought--" She stuttered over her words. "Oh God," She actually did slap herself. "Wow, I'm such an idiot."