Lifeline

Chapter 2

The next morning, I have decided to attend the cheerleading practice. I believe that the girls will need me, though I think I will not be able to face the girl who was with Tom the last time. I've been with that girl but I am so dumb not to notice it by then. Now, it will be awkward for sure.

I start walking to the field and see the girls dancing. I also see Sarah with them. She is not smiling as usual but something seems different in her. She is not showing any weaknesses unlike before. She seems to try hard which is good. Now that people seem to not see and avoid me, Sarah seems to be free from her miseries. I am the one giving her all the miseries. I walk towards them and begin instructing when I notice that no one is paying attention to me. Now this is getting on my nerves. It is alright if they will not pay attention to me on the hallways or in classes but in cheerleading? That is something different! I still am the captain and they need to listen to me!

I am about to yell when Diane suddenly talks.

"From now on, I will be your Captain... so I hope you will listen to me." She begins to say.

What is she saying? She is the Captain? Do not tell me that even this is a punishment! I know I have done wrong but this is too much! I look at Sarah and she seems not to care about it. I begin to smile, maybe for her, I am still the captain.

"If you have suggestions, feel free to approach me. We are all in this together. I may be not as good as our previous Captain but I will do my best. Let us help each other."

The girls clap their hands. Previous Captain? Who is she talking about? Is it me? Or the one I replaced with? Does the time return to the past but everything has changed? Instead of me becoming the captain, Diane becomes the captain and I am still a nobody? Do not tell me that I am also not the Princess of the Night! In fear of losing my title I begin to run away from the cheerleaders. Nobody seems to notice me running away from them. I do not care. Now, all I care is my title as the Princess! I run back to the main hallway and look at the poster posted on the bulletin board. It is the poster of the upcoming College Night. The poster shows the last year's Queen and King and the Princess and Prince. There I am, the Princess, in my black and white elegant long gown. On my black short hair is the crown. I am smiling as I adore myself in the poster. I am still the Princess. I do not care now if I am not the Captain, as long as I am still the Princess, it is all fine with me. People begin to adore me after that night anyway. It is one of the nights I will never forget. I do still wonder though why the people act like I am a dead kid when I am still the Princess. Is it because of God's punishment? Yeah, it should be.

I am smiling alone like an idiot when someone tapped my shoulders.

"What is so funny with that poster?" a boy asks. It is the boy I saw in the hospital. It is the boy who debated my views during our Philosophy Class. It is the boy that no one seemed to know not until he stood up and voiced his opinions about Death. It is him.

"I just adore myself in the poster. This is me, look." I say as I point to myself in the poster.

"Yeah right. But you were not that adorable though." The boy says.

I look at him with an annoyed face, "What did you say? I was not adorable? Did you know that people loved me after that?"

"Loved?" He asks. He seems to notice the tense I used in my statement.

"It was all a thing in the past." I whisper to him sadly. I bow my head when I think of the things that happened to me these past few days.

"What about now?" He continues to ask me.

I look at him. I scrutinize his face. His black short hair is down. He has bangs that cover his eyebrows. His eyes are big and brown. He is white, too white that he seems to be pale. He is wearing a sweatshirt that seems to be woven by his mom or grandma. On his arms are books, different books of different subjects. By his look he seems to be a commoner that no one will take interest to. There is one thing I notice about him that took my attention. He has beautiful full lips. It is a rare thing on boys that is why I noticed it. His lips made him look a bit feminine but in a good way. He looks innocent because of it. No wonder he opposed my views on Death. I view Death as the end of everything while he views it as the beginning of something. He is sure the kind who will think that way.