Mirror Girl (Editing!)

Chapter 18: Why Me

As predicted, at the end of school me and Luna saw Callum waiting for Lucy by the bridge on our way home. As soon as she appeared behind us, we saw a smile appear on his face. Then they headed off, and so did we. But soon our walk was interrupted by a tall figure leaning against the end of the bridge. It was Richard.

“Richard!” Lucy called to him as she saw him. She smiled and walked towards him.

“Hi Luc.” He said coolly, but sort of intense. This put me a bit on edge as that tone is never a good sign.

“Who’s he?” Callum asked, suddenly standing beside me.

“Lucy’s boyfriend.” I whispered, not wanted to miss a word of their conversation.

“So, what you doing here? Why weren’t you at school?” Lucy continued, questioning him.

“Well, we need to talk.” He said, changing the subject as he diverting his eyes from hers and looked at me. I quickly turned away, not wanting to be caught up in anything else.

“Ok, what about?”

“Well you know about this rumor.”

“Yeah.” She replied, her smile fading.

“Well….” He hesitated. “I think we should give it a break for a while, just until things calm down and no one remembers it.” He said quickly. I knew what this was leading to.

“What, so your dumping me! Just because of some stupid rumor that no one cares about any more except you!” She said, losing her temper.

“Well yeah but that’s not what I meant.” He said quickly, trying to calm her down. Then me, Luna and Callum just stared at each other in surprise. I knew I should feel happy that Richard had dumped her, but I didn’t. I felt the complete opposite as it was all because of the rumor that I was supposed to have started.

“Forget it! I won’t make this difficult for you!” She shouted, now storming away. But then he grabbed her arm. “Get off me!” She screamed.

“Luc are you ok?” Callum said stepping forward to intervene. Bad idea.

“Oh, I see how it is. You’ve already found yourself a new boyfriend even before our relationship was even over!” He shouted back, losing his own temper but letting her go.

“No! Richard, that’s not how it is!” She tried to explain stepping back, but he wasn’t listening. Then I could see that Lucy was nearly in tears and was edging further away from him.

“Forget it Luc!” He shouted, walking away himself. “I thought, I thought you hadn’t changed. I thought you were different. But no, you’re just like everyone else who gets new boyfriends every other week and forgets about their current ones. No, you can do it to him but not be! No. And it’s not all about that stupid rumor! Just, just go away and leave me alone! Go!” He shouted again. Now Lucy was in tears, but Callum was beside her, trying to comfort her. They both started to walk off leaving me and Luna in a stunned silence. But then she turned back to face us. I knew what was coming.

“This is all you fault Corelina! You and your stupid rumor! Now you got what you wanted there’s nothing to stop you! Have a nice time with him, even though you don’t deserve it!” She said spitefully, glaring at me with her tearful eyes.

“No! I didn’t want this and I didn’t start it! I know I can’t get you to see the truth but when you do, and you need my help, don’t expect to get it!” I said pushing past her onto the path.

“Oh yeah that’s it! Run! Run away from something that only you started and you can stop!” She shouted back. But I didn’t turn around; she’s not worth it, not anymore.

When I was sure she was out of ear shot, I stumbled to the ground full of tears of sorrow and deep pity. Luna had already gone, so it was just me. I thought I was alone, until I saw a tall, dark figure standing over me. It took me a minute to realize that it was Richard. He looked as sad as I felt.

“Hey.” He said sitting down beside me.

“Hi.” I replied, rubbing away my tears.

“Are you ok?” He asked. Why all of a sudden is he acting all nice and normal? Something’s not right.

“What do you think?” I replied sulkily, not looking directly at him. He then touched my cheek and wiped me tears away. I smiled at him. He smiled back and softly lent in and kissed my wet check. This made a bubbly excited feeling flow inside of me but the part was, I didn’t feel guilty about it. Then he stood up, helping me up as well and we started walking towards our road.

“So, that’s the end of you and Lucy then?” I asked, eager to know what was really going on.

“Yeah, it looks like it. But that’s not what I meant though. All I wanted was for us to just not go out for a bit while things cool down. You know. I didn’t know she was going to take it the wrong way did I!” He shouted, but not intentionally. I understood what he meant and why he said it. But I still think it was a bad thing to do. For a while we walked in silence. Until he carried on our conversation and said, “So, are you going to the disco on Friday?” He asked, smiling.

“Well, I was, then I wasn’t, and now I don’t know. I guess it all depends on whether I can get a date before Friday.” I replied, smiling back.

“How come? I didn’t know we needed a date to go.”

“No, we don’t!” I said quickly, in case he got the completely wrong idea.

“So, why do you need one?” He asked, sounding very interested.

“Well, this may sound totally stupid, but I know that there’ll be a part of it where there’s a slow dance and everyone gets with their partner and dances. I just don’t want it to be like last year where I was one of the only one’s not dancing as I didn’t have a partner. It was so embarrassing!” I explained.

“Oh, I see.” He paused. “Well, if you want, maybe I could be your date?” This made me really stop and think.

On one hand, I could say yes and have a totally gorgeous and hot date and have a brilliant time. But then on the other hand, there’s Lucy. I know if I let Richard be my date then it would make the Lucy thing a whole lot worse and I knew she would never forgive me. But right now, I don’t care about Lucy! So, what’s to stop me from saying yes and having a wicked time?

“Ok then, thanks!” I replied, full of excitement. We just smiled at each other and didn’t say anything else. We had soon reached my house and as I said goodbye, I could feel butterfly’s forming inside me and I was getting so excited! This is going to be the best night ever!