Seeking The Truth

Players Can't Play Me

Chapter 5
Narrator's POV

The next morning Maddie woke, put on her makeup, and slid into Jean shorts and one of Jessie's old pink tops. She looked fabulous and she knew it, but it didn't seem like herself.

When it was time she arrived school with a bright smile, ready to greet the day. "Hey Maddie, looking gorgeous today!" Her new friend Ashlyn smiled as she walked down the hall. Maddie smiled and nodded to accept the compliment and waved to a few of her other new friends. It felt strange to be so social, considering last year Maddie was a nobody.

She reached her locker next to Jake's and opened hers quickly. A few of Jake's friends came up to talk to him, but left. Only one of his friends stayed behind as Jake left and Maddie was grabbing the books she needed.

Maddie turned around to be face to face with Kale Vice, one of the most popular boys in school. "Uh, hi Kale," she murmured trying to get around him. Kale was the school's biggest player, it takes your brain 1/10 of a second to decide if you trust somebody, and Maddie had already decided she didn't trust him.

"Hey beautiful, wanna go get a smoothie with me after school?" Maddie backed away, She had to say no. She just couldn't risk having her heart crushed into tiny pieces. However, she knew one of this school's biggest survival rule was to never reject Kale. "Sure, but no funny business I won't have my heart crushed." "The player couldn't play me, I'd just have to keep it safe" Maddie thought. "See you then gorgeous," he winked as she walked away. It was no wonder that Kale was popular. He was your typical middle school heartbreaker, brown hair and green eyes, the one that your brother would murder when he broke your heart. Oh no...brother. Jake would just have to live with Kale being her friend whether he liked it or not.

The day dragged on slowly and when it was finally over, Maddie texted her mother that she'd be coming home late because she was getting a smoothie with a friend. "Hey Kale," Maddie grinned as they started walking to the smoothie shop down the block. "Did you happen to tell my brother about this?" she asked uneasily. Kale laughed and said, "I'm standing here alive aren't I? He's been acting weirder towards you then usual, you think he's hiding something?" Maddie felt her throat develop a lump at that question. She knew Kale was right, he was hiding something, but she didn't know what. "No, he's not that type a person, usually an open book... Oh look we're here!" Maddie exclaimed excitedly as the two rushed into the smoothie shop.

Maddie sat down in a booth as Kale slid in across from her. "I'll have a strawberry banana smoothie with extra banana," Kale and Maddie said simultaneously and then burst out laughing as the waiter left. At first, when they both began their order Kale assumed he did y have to be a gentleman since it was a friendly date, but when their orders began to match up neither of them stopped until they laughed. They had a fun time and Kale walked Maddie home and they agreed to meet up everyday after school and have fun at the smoothie shack. Once Maddie got home, she silently ate the food her mother left out for her then slipped upstairs to get changed for bed.

She was exhausted, but most importantly glad that Jake hadn't questioned Maddie's absence. Once she changed into her pajamas she slipped into bed and turned out her light as she drifted into a deep, dark, sleep.

The couple walked slowly up the creaky wooden steps and knocked on the door. No answer. The woman clutched the basket in her hand, as a noise sounded, but this time, the noise was distinctive. It was a cry, a cry of a child. The sorrow and sadness rose as the wind blew. The woman turned to the man and cried into his scarf. The sobs were like the sound heard earlier, distinct somehow. "Kurt," The woman whispered between sobs. "I-I can't do it." She glanced back down at the basket and it looked like a moving figure was inside. A cry sounded again and the woman looked away. This time, the figure was clear and for the first time in any of Maddie's dream, she saw a face. The baby had a few strands of a beautiful golden brunette hair that matched the big blue eyes they possessed. "Honey, we may not be together anymore and I know this is hard, but with baby #2 coming, we have to be strong." Kurt said as the woman sat down the basket and pulled out an envelope with a name written across it, Maddie couldn't see the name in its blurriness, but it was a name. "Stay strong Mads, we love you." She leaned in and kissed the child, while slipping the envelope in the basket. Then the two, non-couple, as Madison had now discovered they weren't together anymore, walked away while she sobbed, leaving the child at the doorstep.

Maddie sat up abruptly with tears running down the poor child's face. Many thoughts ran through her head, the baby was beautiful, and the eyes, the big blue eyes resembled her own so well, but Kurt wasn't her father's name, the woman did say they were divorced. Mads...it was a nickname, Madeline? Madia? Madelle? Madibelle? She hadn't considered her own name and decided there was on thing left to do, but she would have to wait to do it. The one thing that would tell her the truth.