"This is what she had become."
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Cleopatra Banks' last week in the small town of New Chelsea is nothing like she would have imagined it, but nothing could have prepared her for the stinging betrayal she's faced with and suddenly the prospect of...
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Cleopatra finally clicked the send button and watched as the email whizzed away to where it would finally reach Maxwell on the other side.
She slammed her laptop shut and let out a tired breath. It was late in the evening, almost early Thursday morning and although she was dog tired following the day's events she wasn't at all in the mood to sleep. How could she sleep when the thought of moving was hovering over her like a menacing dark cloud threatening to rain on her parade (not that her life was much of a parade)? But she had become accustomed to it nonetheless...way to accustomed.
Alexis on the other hand was purring gently on the bed with one foot half raised in the air and her arms spread across the whole span of the bed. Cleopatra smiled a bittersweet smile.
How was she supposed to be calm and just okay with leaving her best friend behind? She felt tears burining in her eyes and anger bubbled up within her. Why were her parents doing this to her? And this departure was scheduled to happen in less than two days. She'd be leaving Alexis behind, Shanice, Nigel and also Maxwell. This wasn't fair. She didn't have enough time to say goodbye properly.
She thought of Maxwell and her fingers travelled to her lips on their own free will. She had to do something, otherwise she'd never know what kissing him would really be like and it would forever be just part of her imagination.
I'mbeing stupid. She shook her head at the direction her thoughts had taken.
No, but I have to...otherwise I'll never know. She then nodded, thinking about what it would feel like to kiss Maxwell.
Her thoughts continued to play tug of war with her until she finally decided against it. The last few days had probably been an illusion. She was just Maxwell's partner, that's all...nothing to it.
And despite Alexis' theory from earlier on when she had told her about what had happened at the Benson residence on Tuesday evening, Cleopatra was sure Maxwell would never see her in that light.
She wasn't a blonde glamazon so Maxwell would never want to do anything "nasty" to her as Alexis put it. She narrowed it down to the simple fact that Alexis didn't like Maxwell because he was a play boy, but then Cleopatra knew something that Alexis didn't know about Maxwell. She knew that he could be sweet and funny and absolutely considerate and that the whole play boy thing was just a façade.
Yes, it was definitely a façade.
She had seen a true glimpse of the real Maxwell that day at his house when she reminded him of the eighth grade and how his cheeks had unmistakably taken on a darker shade of pink because he was remembering those cute pink roses he had given her on Valentine's Day. That boy was living in there, he was just trapped in the body of a hormonal soccer player.
"Cleo," Alexis' raspy voice called from behind her and Cleopatra turned her head to where her friend was standing.
"Come sleep, unlike some of us, you have school tomorrow. Stop thinking about the move so much hm?" Alexis asked her friend, yawning in between words with droopy eyes.
