CHAPTER 14: He Kissed Me
Charlie's POV:
3 Days after the party:
Ms. Jane Doe
XX, Lombard Street,
San Francisco,
California
August XX, 20XX
Mr. John Doe
Dorm room XX,
New York City,
New York
Respected Mr. John Doe,
APPLYING FOR A BREAKUP
This is to kindly inform you that we are no longer best friends. I'm sick and tired of you. Hence, the need of a break. I'm unofficially breaking up with you.
In reference to your last letter, while pointing out line no. 3 of the third paragraph, I'd just like to say- Are you DUCKING MADDD!!!??? You can't just say bad stuff about people you don't even know.
Don't even try to make this about me. It's not about me or what I do. I've always told you everything. No matter how scared I was. I did it anyway. No matter how big or small anything in my life happened was, you've always been the first person to know. Or second at most. But it's not my fault Mia lives with me and you don't. Nonetheless, I tell you even the littlest details of my life.
You, on the other hand, don't tell me anything, anymore. I thought that we were friends. I thought you trusted me enough to tell me anything and everything. Since when did it become like this? Since when did you start caring about what I'll think? Since when did you start thinking that I'll judge you??!! Since when did you start keeping secrets from me?
And dont think that I didn't notice how you have stopped saying 'I Love You' to me. Cause I did.
Why are you doing this? To yourself? To me? Please don't do this to us. If I wanted these hollow conversations and these shallow chit-chats, I'd have been the queen bee at high school. I don't want this-this hollow friendship? Ugh... I'm so damn confused. I...I don't know what to think. What to do? And it's suffocating.
Thank you for your time.
Regards.
Ms. Jane Doe
I huffed out as I finished with the darn letter. This made so much more sense when I was a kid. I always used to write a formal letter to him whenever I was angry with him to let him know that I'm mad and that we are no longer friends. I remember reading his last letter. It was so hard to get through it all.
Dear Jane,
A guy kissed you?
A GUY KISSED YOU?
Yes. Yes, he did.
Are you breaking the holy code of dibs? How can you do this? I'm so damn pissed right now. I thought we had dibs on each other.
Well, technically I didn't break it. I guess.
Also, I never told you to not go to a party. I just told you, no, asked you to not get in with the wrong crowd because I care. I wouldn't want any harm to come to you.
I pouted as I realized that he was right. But that doesn't give him the right to alienate me.
What if the guy had tried to force himself on you? I'm not saying that the guy's a rapist, but he could've been. Also, the alcohol in his system could've impaired his sense of judgement. Not that he had any to begin with since he kissed a girl without her permission.
Okay, this is too much! This is unacceptable.
I wasn't mad because you were going to a party. No. I was mad because you didn't tell me until the last minute. You didn't trust me enough to tell me something so important to you. What did you even think I was going to do?
Stop talking to me? About which, I was so obviously right.
What's next? You won't tell me when you get a first boyfriend, you won't tell me when you get your first A.
The biggest problem is that I don't want you to kiss any other guy. I don't want you to have a boyfriend. I don't want you to go to college with him. I don't want any of it.
Why?
I just- I don't know, okay? I'm trying so hard but I simply don't know. I don't know what to tell you and even if I did, I don't know how I'd do it.
John
Why? Why is he doing this? What is it that he wants to tell me but couldn't. What is it?
One week before,
"I can't believe you waited until last minute to figure what you'd wear," Mia shouted as she went through my closet, looking for something decent to wear. She wouldn't find it. I made it a mission to hide my clothes before she came here. No clothes mean no party. I sat back on my bed in a bathrobe, relaxing.
"Wait, what the heck are you sipping?" She eyed the glass, "Is that wine? Can you hook with some?"
"It's apple juice, you want some?," I held out the glass.
"No!!! Let me concentrate on what we're going to wear."
I wasn't going to give it to her anyway.
"Wait what do you mean by 'we'? Don't tell me you didn't figure out what you were going to wear."
"Well..I-I didn't pick something to wear cause I wanted us to twin and unless I knew what you were wearing, how could I have chosen what I'm going to wear?"
"Uh-huh...that makes perfect sense"
"It does?" She looked at me skeptically.
"No, not really," I shook my head and she nodded.
"Ok, so we have nothing to wear for our first high school party. Great!"
"Um, sweetie, have you started getting ready yet?" Mom poked her head through my door before walking inside.
"What does it look like to you?" I pointed towards the bathrobe I was wearing and then to the rugged t-shirt and shorts Mia was wearing.
Mom gave me a look,"Ok sorry." I apologized.
Mom gave me a smile before showing us two bags.
Mia gasped before putting her hand over her mouth, "Ohhhh, you got us dresses to wear to our first high school party."
Mia opened the bags to see a blue and a pink dress. They were simple off the shoulder with frills, about knee-length and cinched at the waisy before flowing out beautifully. It was basically a modified version of Cinderella's ball gown. It looked so damn beautiful that it almost made me want to attend the party. Almost.


They looked absolutely breathtaking but I knew what was going on here. Mom wanted to select what we were going to wear, what we were going to look like. Basically, she was the one choosing our first impression. But I didn't mind, mostly because it was awesome. Mom, not so surprisingly has been really supportive. Huh, guess that parenting book I casually put between her magazines worked.
Dad, on the other hand, has been crying since I told him that I'm going to a high-school party. Again, not a surprise.
"Also, honey. Why are your clothes stuffed in my closet?" Mom raised a brow and I looked at Mia who gave the stink eye.
"That's not important. What's important is that we have new dresses!!!"
"Honey? Honey? Can I-" Dad walked in after we finished getting dressed and stopped midway after seeing us. He put his hand before walking out and closing the door quietly behind him. The sound of him sobbing his eyes out was very much audible even then.
"Why god? Why? I thought we had a deal. Don't let Charlie grow up. Never let Charlie grow up," His muffled voice came through the door and mom and I looked at each other before rolling our eyes.
*******
"Have you heard about Aries' bitch. I think her name's Carlie or something,"
Not even half an hour into the party and here they come, the bitches. And that too in the bathroom.
Right now, I was trying to pee peacefully but as it turns out, I couldn't. I came here so I could stay away from the loud noises and the unbelievably sweaty people I don't know.
"Leave that, did you know the slutty cheerleaders are coming?" Another voice came through the door.
"Ughh, really?! I can't believe them. Always prancing around in those short skirts, with those crop tops. Did you know, Emma, the head cheerleader fucked the guy at the saloon to get blonde hair so that she could look like a cheerleader."
"And Ava? I'm pretty sure she spread her legs for the coach to-"
I walked out the door to see the freshmen girls who were talking shit about, "Don't say shit about people you don't know."
"Of course, sluts cover for sluts." The blonde one scoffed.
"I'm not a slut," I stated quietly, my hands in fists by my side.
"Bitch please, you think we don't know why Aries, the hot jock, is chasing after you? It's because you seduced him with those short skirts. I bet your little slut friend, Mia-"
I slapped her in the face.
Bitch had it coming.
No one calls my friend names and lives to see another day.
And that is how I got into my first ever cat fight.
Mia and Aron sat on either side of me on the porch of the house we were having the party at. For god's sake, I don't even know whose house this is. What am I doing here?
"This was a bad idea, I'm so sorry for forcing you into this. We can go home right now if you want. It's just that lately you've been so M.I.A. that I wanted you to have fun, for us to have fun. I'm such an idiot," Aron cursed himself.
"That you are," Mia added "But he's right. You're not enjoying your life. You need to know that this time will never cone back. I just want to ask you a question, is this what you really want? When you look back at yourself after five or ten years, is this how you wanna see yourself? Sitting on the porch of some guy you don't know or sitting on the porch of a guy you do know?"
"That is the worst anology I've ever heard."
"Look my point is that I don't want you to miss out. Wait. Is this beacuse of Ace? See, I think that this whole dibs thing you guys got going on but-"
"I'm not missing out and can you leave him out of this? He's been unbelievably supportive this whole time." I half-lied through my teeth.
When I told him I was going, he didn't go nuts like I thought he would. No, he just stopped talking to me. And not like you think. He wrote me a letter everyday but it got a little emptier everyday. It's like he didn't want to talk to me but at the same time some part of him couldn't stop writing to me and between all of this, I have no idea how to feel. Should I be devastated that he won't talk to me or should I be happy that he didn't pull away altogether. I have no idea what this feeling is. It's new to me. I've never felt it before. I don't know if it is good or bad. All I know is that I'm scared.
"I think I'll go inside," I nodded to myself but didn't make a single move to get up.
"We'll give you some time," They both walked away.
After what seemed like an hour but I'm sure was only minutes, I walked in after making sure my dress was in place. I first walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Wow, I don't look too bad, nor do I feel like an outcast. I feel....myself.
You rock, mom!
I navigated through the crowded space and settled on one of the couches, watching everyone.
Wow, I make myself sound like a peeping tom.
"Hi there!," A group of girls with incredibly hot style and chic clothes greeted me.
I think they're the cheerleaders.
"We heard what happened in the washroom tonight," I think Emma, the blond haired head cheerleader said," Thanks for defending us tonight. Not many people do that."
"I-" Ava cut me off.
"Yes, we like wearing short skirts and yes we like having blond hair but that definitely does not make us sluts. It's weird how everyone wants to be us but when they can't, they start calling us names. "
"I'll tell you what, if you want to be a cheerleader, anytime, you come to us. No tryouts. Also, if anyone messes with you, tell us and we'll show them how bitchy blond cheerleaders can be."
"But I-"
"Uh-huh, you know what comes after this, everybody GROUP HUG!!!," Ava called out and everyone hogged my personal space.
But I did that for Mia. I don't even know who these people are.
After that whole scenario was over, all the cheerleaders didn't leave my side once. Boy, can cheerleaders be great friends. Almost every guy kept trying to get close to me or to be specific, the cheerleaders. After a lot of failed attempts, I managed to somehow escape from there. I looked around for Mia and Aron, but it's like they totally disappeared from the face of earth, wiped out.
"So, I heard that you kicked those bitches' asses tonight? Great job! High five?" A voice that was becoming way too familiar by the day shouted in my ear before I even had the chance to settle on the kitchen counter. After a few moments, he put his hand down.
"Hey, you okay?," he sounded concerned.
"No," I responded and he walked around to the front of the counter and I got a good look at him. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with a plaid shirt over it and a rugged pair of jeans. Classic jock.
But damn, he's plain hot.
No. No. You're not supposed to think that way.
"Oh really?," He tilted his head," I'm sure I can lift your spirits with some great pick up lines."
"Yeah, they're way too cheesy for my taste," I commented.
"You sure? I've got some pretty great ones," He objected and I gave him my expactant face and a quiet smile.
"Did the moon come out yet," He looked outside the window, "or did you just smile at me?" He completed while staring into my eyes.
Definitely a player. And I'm not just talking about the field.
I blushed so hard at that.
"You're so cheesy, you'd put Brie to shame," I muttered.
"Woww," he whispered," Well, I've got another one for you."
"Do you like star wars? Because yoda only one for me."
And just like that, the spell broke.
"How many times have I told you not to call me yoda," I hit the back of his head.
"In my defense, I've never 'called you' Yoda. I distinctly remember calling you his twin the other day." He countered.
"It's. The. Same." I ingrained it into his thick skull with a patt on his head.
"Okay." He rolled his eyes at me before mumbling something under his breath.
He rubbed his head before extending his hand towards me, palm up, "I wanted to dance with the most beautiful woman tonight. But she's mad at me. So I'm stuck with you."
I gave him a look before I started getting up but he pulled me down by his hand.
"Please? Dance with me?"
I stared at his outstretched hand for a while before putting mine in his.
He pulled me up and twirled me around before leading me between the crowd. He put his arm around my waist and took my hand in his. I put my other hand on his shoulder.
I leaned in and giggled in his ear, "It's a fast song."
He leaned back and smiled at me for a moment before his eyes landed on someone behind me and after a few moments, a slow song filled the room.
It was my favourite song. Slow dance by AJ Mitchell and Ava Max crooned in my ears.
I smiled up at him before we started dancing. It was fun. We both didn't know the moves so we just swayed with the music, moving side to side.
I stepped on his foot a gazillion times and he somehow managed not to, even once. It wasn't akward or uncomfortable as I thought it'd be, it was soothing. I looked up at him and he smiled at me before he started leaning in and he kissed me. HE KISSED MY CHEEK!!!
*******