*No More Tricks*

Small World

Ruby’s POV

_“You don’t know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.” For some of us, that strength is discovered while in High School. Four years of my life I will never get back. Four, wasted years. I met Edmund in our junior year. That’s when I decided to go to high school and truly know how it felt to be a normal person. He was a football player, but unlike the others, he was actually nice. He and I had English together and we always with each other whenever our teacher said we could work with a partner. I had already read all the books our teacher made us read, so technically, I did most of the work. But to me that didn’t matter. Ed and I became friends the first day we met. We just had so much in common. Before I knew it, he was my best friend. I would tell him everything and I knew I could always rely on him. I would go to his house everyday after school and we’d watch Netflix marathons. At the beginning of our senior year, I realized I had feelings for him. We’d text and he would compliment me, and send me the cutest texts ever. I had never had a boyfriend so I did not understand certain things. I did not know if he actually liked me back or if it was just a game to him. Boys will be boys.

The football team was having the Homecoming game and that night, I had decided to tell Ed how I felt. The game was about to end. The cheerleaders were as energetic as ever. I never understood how they managed to jump and dance and cheer for the guys. I did not have that amount of energy. Once, I ran a mile in...under 20 minutes. When I was done I felt like I was dying. To me, running was a dangerous thing. I could never be a cheerleader.

The game was over. We won by 20 points. I looked around me and saw people laughing and clapping, whistling and smiling. It’s amazing how a silly game could have such an impact on people. That’s when I knew, the game had ended. I was going to tell Ed how I felt. He took off his helmet and looked in my direction. I waved shyly and he smiled. He started running towards me and my heartbeat increased. Every beat said his name. He stopped running and hugged the cheerleader who was now in front of him. He hugged her very tight. When they both let go, she kissed him. I was not bothered. I would have kissed him too. But he kissed her back. He would have never kissed me back. I gulped. For 2 months I had been struggling with the realization of the fact that I had feelings for him. I was nervous about tonight, but I was ready. I was prepared to tell him that I liked him, that for a year now, he had been an amazing friend and I wanted him to be more than that. I wanted to tell him that hearing him laugh made me laugh, that even if it hadn’t been on purpose, he made me feel like a princess, like I was living my own fairy tale. The problem with fairy tales is that they set a girl up for disappointment. In real life, the prince goes off with the wrong princess. He pulled away and looked at me smiling, but I didn't smile back. I wouldn't deal with him anymore. He may have liked playing with me, but the game was over. I sighed and turned around. Looked up, and started walking towards my apartment.

************************************************************

I was now sitting next to him at a bar. He had offered to buy me a few drinks but I said no, and bought them myself. One of the good things of not being human, is that I could drink a lot and only feel a bit buzzed. Tonight I had only had a few drinks, and I felt normal. I looked at him and I actually saw him. He had not changed.

“Small world isn’t it?”

I raised my right eyebrow. “Huh?”

He sighed. “You didn’t talk to me for...most of senior year. You wouldn’t even look at me the night we graduated. And I was sitting right next to you!”

I looked down. Ed’s last name was Swanson. I didn’t know that when I made up my name, but it was one of the many things we had in common. He was right. I had avoided any conversation with him since the night before Homecoming. I didn’t miss much. The next monday, everyone was talking about it and how he and his cheerleader girlfriend had been king and queen.

"I liked you Ed."

He smirked. "I know. I liked you too."

"You- you did?"

"I'd have to be crazy not to like you, but I knew from experience that getting in a relationship would ruin a friendship.  I appreciated you too much to ruin the friendship we had"

He sighed again. "Seems like you decided to do it nevertheless."

"I guess I wasn't mature enough to understand."

"It was high school. Nobody was mature."

I chuckled and he smirked.

So maybe it's not New Year’s Eve, but it definitely feels like life will get better.