Shadowteer

Chapter 30

Manon swallowed, feeling her nerves set in when Serena asked the question. She rubbed the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly.

"Uh... Chranon isn't a thing." The audience and the host seemed pretty unconvinced. Manon took a deep breath and folded her arms, basically saying that the conversation was over and Chris chuckled at her stubbornness.

"That's my doll-"

"Don't call me that." She leaned closer and whispered into his ear. "If you keep this up, they're going to think we're actually a thing."

"If you stay this close to me I just might kiss you and then we really will be a thing." She backed up, stunned. She attempted to hide her blush with a deadpan look.

"Ahem, let's get back to me people. You may say it's nothing but maybe you'll reconsider after you see this little slideshow, gotten from this new Instagram fanpage, @Chranon." A long slideshow began with tons of pictures where they were way closer than they should have been. Hugging, holding hands, cuddling, up close pictures that couldn't have been taken by anyone who wasn't close to them. They gaped at the pictures, quite frankly shocked by how many pictures there were. They looked away from each other, mortified. When the slideshow ended, Manon practically jumped.

"I'm sorry Serena, but who exactly owns this Chranon fanpage?"

"Oh, that would be these two girls Ella and Etta Cesaire. I think they're somewhere backstage actually." Manon leaned left and saw the twins giggling from the other side of the stage. She held in a glare and nodded instead. "So, a few of these pictures were released by a blogger named Alex. You two seem to have had a little history together-"

"If her showing up in my school and changing everything about herself, including her name and religion can be classified as history, sure." Manon nudged him. He unclenched his fists and cleared his throat, hiding his anger with a small smile. "Since you're not a fan of Chranon, maybe you're more into Chralex? It's becoming a bit of a competition on the internet."

"What?" He sat, shocked by the fact that people actually shipped him with that pretentious liar. "You're kidding, right? She lied about so much. I'll never be with a girl like that. For goodness sake, Chranon has a way better chance than... that."

He shuddered. Manon rolled her eyes. "Quite exaggerating, I really don't think it would be that bad. You two would make a cute couple, you know?" Everyone stared at her in shock. She frowned, rubbing her shoulder. "Uh... did I say something wrong?"

"No sweetie, it's just that after all she did to you and Chris, the lies and all, making you jealous, we all assumed you would hate her." Manon chuckled, her smile not reaching her eyes. Her voice was genuine and steady, however, as she spoke.

"First off, I was not jealous. Second, of course, I don't hate her. In the end, all she wanted to do was get a scoop. It's that drive to make it that led her to do it. I don't blame her at all, either. Bet my mother would have done the exact same thing."

"Your mother. Nadia Chamack, right? What happened to your father? He's never been seen before."

"I don't know much about him. She didn't tell me much, too traumatised I guess. All I know is that he left us and then died somewhere. Not too strong on the details." There was an awkward silence. People were throwing pity glances at her from all sides and she didn't like it. The host looked surprised, though.

"What? Your father didn't walk away, we did some research and he was a soldier, a hero. He died in battle. See?" A picture appeared on the screen. It was a black and white photograph of a dark-skinned man with a polite smile on his face. Manon got up without thinking and touched the picture, staring at the name tag on his military picture. It was slightly blurred but she could make out the name Orlando C written over it. She took two deep breaths and sat down. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm just... gonna have to speak to my mom... about this..." she held in a few sobs and pushed it away. She denied it but the picture was so clear and their resemblance was to a T. Chris held her waist for support, keeping his face straight so the audience wouldn't see how shocked he was.

"So guys, how about we play a game? I want both of y'all to gimme one word to describe yourselves then say a little something about it. Example, I'm Serena, I'm fAbUlOuS! Being fabulous isn't just about being slim or smart or talented or rich, it's about being you and loving it!" The audience laughed when she wiggled about in her seat, hands in the air. There was a brief applause and everyone stared at the two teenagers eagerly. Chris nodded and took the lead since Manon was still getting over the initial shock.

"My name's Chris, I'm strange. I don't think of strangeness as a negative thing, I think that everyone will always have something strange or weird they do and it's unique. It's you." He smiled at the audience leading to a collective release of awws, some fangirls arguing that he had been looking at them. "Manon?"

"O-oh. Well... my name is Manon. I'm insecure." A silence fell upon the audience. She bit her lip and carried on. "There's nothing wrong with it. It's something that happens to all of you in the audience and viewers at home, to all of us on stage and all those backstage. Everyone has their own demons, you know?"

"Interesting perspective. How about this. A word for each other." They looked at each other and grinned.

"On three. 1... 2... 3! Amazing/beautiful! Wait what? Stop that!" They shut their mouths to avoid speaking at the same time.

"Well yeah, I think he's amazing, deal with it. Not even as he is now, acting all bold and confident. The real him."

"And you're so beautiful you take my breath away. Inside and out. I... I've been wanting to tell you for a while anyway." She ignored her urges to kiss his pink lips and rose an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you?"

"With all that Zainab/Alex drama, I didn't really get the chance." When the host asked which songs they used to think of each other, Chris immediately muttered Oh Ms Believer, Friend, please and Scars to Your Beautiful before Manon clamped his mouth shut with her hand. He chuckled and kissed her palm, earning fangirl squeals from various areas in the audience.

Manon let out a sigh of relief when the show was over and said a quick goodbye to Serena, the hair stylists and makeup artists before rushing out of the door. Chris walked out after her and grabbed her hand. She squirmed but followed him to a music store. He walked in quickly, gesturing for her to wait outside and popped out later with a ukulele in his hands.

"What are you... Chris, stop it, not in public!" He chuckled.

"You're sad. I can tell. I want to see a smile on your face and I want the whole of Paris and the world to see it." He tuned it and sang Oh Ms Believer by Twenty-Øne Pilots.

She blushed, amazed by his voice as he sung it out while strumming the ukulele. A sudden realisation echoed in her mind. A voice that told her she was falling for him but she shoved it away, laughing all the way to her house. She walked up the steps and let out a small sigh. Back to being alone. With her thoughts. Yay...

"Nice singing dude. How the song relates to me, I am yet to understand though."

"It's simple really. You're depressed, your thoughts are dangerous like snow on the road. Then I try to tell you I love you but those earmuffs cover your ear- Manon, are you even listening?"

"No, actually. Thinking about 'Chranon'. How weird would it be if we were a thing?" She shuddered. He shrugged slightly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I don't know if it would be so bad an idea, I mean... well..."

"What?" He sighed and walked up the steps till he was in front of her. He reached out for her hand and held it quietly, tracing circles on her palm. She felt tingles trailing up her arm and ignored them with effort. She looked up in confusion, noticing that he was leaning closer and she was doing the same until she felt all her insecurities weigh down on her. She took her hand from his and slammed the door shut. She crawled up the stairs to her window, forcing the tears back and stared at his figure through the curtains. He looked up and she released them, cursing herself before collapsing on the bed.

"Bloody Chamack. Even when she's broken... still beautiful."