Moving On

Moving On (10)

Chapter Ten

Dear Diary,

I learned many new things today. The top two being that Vincent is actually a good guy, although he could be stupid and annoying most of the time, and that I should have never let go of Madison or her friendship.

I’m not sure what Vincent had in mind when he decided to reunite me with my best friend, but I certainly appreciate his efforts. A lot. I feel so… different. And refreshed. Like a completely new person. Other than Dani, I had not really interacted with anyone after moving to my new apartment. And Dani, too, I didn’t talk with her excessively.

Our relationship was more like two Hi-Bye Book Club Buddies. I think we don’t talk as much ‘cause of the age difference. Dani’s three years older than me, so she’s at a completely different stage in life than I am. She’s more mature, and just generally more serious with whatever she does.

Madison, on the other hand, I had known her since my high school days. Since before Cedric happened. Since before Cedric asked me out, actually. Madison and I were like the go-to girls for advice. Although our school had cliques and groups of the sort, it was like Madison and I were constantly travelling from group to group. We were able to help anyone and everyone from each clique.

We weren’t necessarily popular, but we were certainly well-known by everyone. They appreciated us for our efforts to help them. That is when I met Cedric Hill. He was the ‘new guy.’

Cedric was like us. He travelled from group to group to help the students out with whatever they needed. That’s what angered me the most. He came to our school as a new student and decided that he could suddenly take over our spot.

My anger fuelled into fire and Madison and I started to play pranks on him so he would stop his efforts to ruin our positions as the Go-To Girls. He didn’t succumb. He played pranks on us, too.

Then, one day, something surprising happened. Cedric asked me out. I believed it was probably another one of his pranks to embarrass me, but it wasn’t. He was truly genuine when he told me he liked me. So I said yes. Do I regret it? I’m not really sure.

Coming back to today, after Madison and I had that heart-to-heart conversation in the washroom, I planned to get Vincent back. So when we got back to the table, I did exactly that. I started to act more lovey-dovey around him. I played with his fingers, I leaned my head on his shoulder, I kissed his cheek.

I did a lot of bad things. Vincent was flabbergasted. I could tell that he didn’t understand if this was real, or if I was acting for the purpose of lying to Madison. What he didn’t know was that Madison had let me in on the secret that he hid from me.

Heck, I don’t know how he didn’t notice. Madison had told Damon about the situation so half the time that I was teasing Vincent, those two were practically laughing their heads off.

Vincent was either too flustered to grasp the situation or he thought they were laughing at something else. Anyway, we all know how dense men can be, and in the case of Vincent, they don’t get any denser than the man in question.

It wasn’t until we exited the restaurant that I finally revealed to Vincent that I knew. I still remember his reactions:

“That was mean,” He said, pouting and glaring at Madison and I.

“You deserve it,” I sang, trying to keep in my laughs.

“Oh, God, dude, you should’ve seen your face,” Damon laughed, pointing at Vincent and attempting to re-create the deer-in-the-headlights face he had seen on Vincent before.

“You knew, too?! Not cool, man, not cool.” Vincent shook his head.

It was so funny that even now when I’m replaying the scene in my head, I can’t help but to laugh. Vincent really was a funny, little creature.

Truth telling time, though. If it wasn’t for Vincent, I don’t think I would have ever learnt to respect myself properly after what happened. I wouldn’t be as confident as I am now about my appearance. I wouldn’t have reunited with my best friend. So thank you, Vincent. I know I’m technically writing this in you, so Vincent will probably never know how I feel about his helping nature, but I am never going to lose my pride and say it to his face.

Besides, Vincent is an idiot who would probably see the warning I wrote on the first page, “DO NOT OPEN IF YOU ARE NOT ALIA STAUGH,” read it through a few times, take it into his brain, and then forget it and flip through the pages anyway. He’s just a privacy-invading idiot like that. Speaking of privacy, I have to ask him where he got the key to my apartment, and if possible, I have to steal it. I still can’t believe he has one. He didn’t even ask before making it. How rude.

With conflicted emotions towards the one and only Vincent Nicholls,

 Alia Staugh