CHARLOTTE

CHAPTER 18

Cedric's POV

I see Charlotte approaching our classroom and there is a boy walking beside her. She is talking to him. As she notices me, I see that her expression has changed. She looks nervous and bit uncomfortable as she approaches the door. I have seen that boy in our class. I don't know his name.

The boy notices that she is nervous. She is still looking at me. 

"Hey Charlotte, what happened?" he asks her.

"Nothing" she tells him.

I will talk to her today no matter what. I straighten up and walk towards her. She turns towards the door. 

"Charlotte, can we talk?" I ask quite unsure if I'm doing the right thing.

"Sure" she says taking me by surprise and walks inside the class.

I wait for her and she finally comes out. I check the and it is quarter to 8.

"Shall we walk?" I ask her again.

She moves her head in approval and follows me. We climb down the stairs and walk towards the back lawn. She doesn't speak by the time we reach the lawn. I finally stop and turn around to face her.

"I am really sorry for everything I've done" she says.

"Please don't be" I say.

"No, I could have sorted things out when they were getting complicated" she says.

I don't know what to say. I decide that I'll let her speak first.

"We were best friends. When we moved to the 10th standard, we would hardly get time to see each other. I had no idea what you were going through at that time. I only thought about myself and became selfish" she says and takes a deep breathe.

"I had started to like you and I allowed my heart to overpower my mind. I shouldn't have pushed you into giving me time. When the rumors grew, I could see our friendship falling apart. You were quite sad but I never got to know the reasons. I did as other's told me our friendship ended" she continues.

"I started ignoring you. I would notice that you were looking at me. I could have sorted things out but I was too hurt and blamed you" she says and finally looks at me.

"Do you know when did I realize that it was my fault?" she asks looking at me.

"When?" is all I manage to say.

"When our exams were over and I spend a month crying" she says and I can see that her eyes are filled with tears.

"I tried approaching you many times. I even borrowed your number from Declan but you were unreachable. I finally gave up the idea but for me you were still my friend whom I had lost due to my own stupidity" she says and breaks down and starts to cry.

"Charlotte, please don't cry" I say.

She continues to cry and I take her hand with both of mine.

"I am really sorry, I should have trusted you than the rumors" I say still holding her hand.

"I am really sorry for breaking your trust as a best friend" she says still crying.

"Please stop crying" I say and release her hand.

"You used to look at me whenever I passed by or was talking, why ?"she asks wiping her tears.

"Because I couldn't forgive myself for saying no when you asked if we could still be friends" I say.

"Can we be friends now?" she asks with a weak smile and extends her hand.

"Yes of course, why not?" I say and take her hand and shake it.

"Shall we go now? it's time for our class" I say.

"Yes" she says and smiles.

We walk to our class and I feel so relieved and I promise myself that I won't lose my friend again and I won't do anything to hurt her.