I Don't Deserve Love: Alternate Ending

Chapter 22: Picture Perfect

My morning classes went by quickly. I absolutely loved my Psychology class. At the beginning of the class the teacher, who looked like he was in his late 20s, had sat in the back of the class and not moved for the first five minutes of the class. When he did move, he jumped up and yelled, saying that the teacher was late and he wasn't going to sit here waiting for him. I had watched in stunned silence as he marched towards the door, walked through it, and then spun around and entered as himself. He told us that we had just become a part of one of his recent psychological experiments and explained in detail what a hypothesis was and how it was used in an experiment. His teaching style was incredibly interactive and as I left the class I flipped through the textbook with excitement.

"Oh, come on, Sato. You can't read in the hallway. It's lunch!"

I looked up to see Dajan had suddenly appeared next to me.

"Hey, Dajan. How are your classes?"

"They're fine. Nothing I can't handle. What about yours?"

"I like them!" I reported happily while walking towards my locker.

Dajan's locker was at the front of the hall so I continued to my own alone where Iris was waiting for me with a smile. We quickly put our books away and then met up with Dajan to walk to the cafeteria together.

"How was your summer, Dajan?" Iris asked brightly.

Dajan proceeded to tell us about the basketball camp that he had gone to in great detail. We both listened attentively until we reached the cafeteria. Dajan and Iris went into the hamburger line as usual, but I chose to get the chicken enchiladas. When I got my food I looked around until I spotted Rosalya's vibrant white hair and I noticed that she was sitting across from Melody. I walked over to them and set my tray next to Rosalya.

"Hey, Opal! How was your summer?" she asked exuberantly.

"It was great, how was yours?"

"It was AWESOME! Look!" Rosalya held up her right hand, showing off a sparkling purple ring on her pinky finger. "Leigh gave me a promise ring! Isn't that romantic?"

"Oh, it's so beautiful!" I exclaimed excitedly, admiring the little ring. I oo-ed and ahhed over the gift until Rosalya was satisfied and beaming brightly.

"How was your summer, Melody?" I asked into the lull of conversation.

"Fine," she responded without looking up from her food.

Just then Iris and Dajan sat their trays down with Brandon and Troy right behind them. Conversation sparked and I sat back, listening to everyone's stories. I deflected any questions about my summer with generic responses and turned the conversation back to the others since I didn't really want to tell anyone about my dancing lessons.

When I was finished eating I walked outside where my eyes immediately fell on Castiel who was standing alone, facing his tree. I took a deep breath and walked down the steps, moving forward until I was a foot from him then cleared my throat. Castiel turned and fixed me with his steely gray eyes. I stood silently, waiting to see what he wanted, but he stared at me for so long that I began to fidget.

Before I could ask why I was there, he suddenly thrust his hand towards me. His fist was curled around something small and angular wrapped in brown paper. I looked at the package and then at Castiel with bewilderment. Surprisingly he actually looked away from me but shoved the package once more towards me.

"Just take it," he muttered.

Slowly I reached out and took the package from him. I carefully unwrapped it and gasped in surprise and wonder; I was holding a glass statue. It depicted a red and orange fairy with arms over her head as if she was dancing. The detail was exquisite and I thought back to the open market where I had caught a glimpse of the blown glass sculptures. I had wanted to go and look but knew that I wouldn't have been able to pay for one after spending all the money on food, so I left them behind without taking a closer look. Gently I fingered one of the delicate wings, turning the statue this way and that and watching in delight as the sun made the colors shine before I looked up at Castiel with awe.