MICHELLE P.O.V
I was halfway towards Lee's table, the stern but yet friendly Asian that has turned out to be my only reliable friend at TRH smiled subtly at me as I drew nearer to him, I returned a bright smile his way when all of a sudden I heard Harold's firm and loud voice
'Michelle come sit with us' he said and all attention turned to us, I froze with my brain trying so hard to figure out the best and worthy option between Lee and Harold.
Weighing the importance of both individuals I figured out that Lee is much more valuable, and he actually qualifies as a friend unlike Harold's offer, but I figured out that saying 'No' to Harold in this public area just calls for more trouble to the one I have piled up before.
Truth was that I am also scared of what people might decide to say about me if I actually also sit at the Royals' table, things like;
'If she knew she was going to sit with TRP why all the attitude she has been giving them before?'
'She's got no shame'
'I can't believe that whore actually sat at the Royal Princes' table'
'Bitch'
I sighed unable to decide right away. I finally chose and decided to settle with my usual table, I was few inches to Lee's table when I felt a firm masculine grip round my wrist I glanced upwards and it was HAROLD.
'What?' I exclaimed shocked about his sudden persistent attitude of wanting me to seat with his guys
'Follow me without hesitating, I have my reasons' Harold said almost charmingly, I grumbled continuously as I followed him to his table.
Even Noah and the rest of the guys looked as shocked as I was, most especially Noah's junior cheerleader girlfriend and her team of misfits which includes Julienne eyed me suspiciously, and I was forced to fake a smile in the face of this adversary. Noah laughed as he cleared out a space for me next to him, I hesitated before I sat down although displeased.
'you guys meet Michelle, I am sure few of us know her to be the most popular nerd because of how troublesome she is but whatever our old fight was about, we are all over it. So, I want us to seat together and make up totally' Harold said before sitting in his seat that was at the far end of the rectangular table. The cafeteria suddenly grew noisier than usual with loud murmurings that I had successfully predicted.
I sat and chewed on my food as silently as I could so that they all could forget that I was even sitting in that seat, but turns out it wasn't as simple as I thought it was. It seemed as though everyone was using their eyes to shoot daggers at me from all across the hall.
Noah patted my shoulders lightly and spoke into my ear,
'You know what Harold is up to? Don't you' Noah asked masking his inquisitions maturely,
'Truth is that, I don't know a bit of what he is up to' I returned the favors and spoke into Noah's ear in return
Jacqueline, Noah's girlfriend had this dangerous jealous glare in her eyes as she stared at us. I smiled when Noah returned to my ears,
'Are you secretly his girlfriend? I mean Harold does not just bring anyone to our sacred table without asking from me' Noah said, I figured out a hint of jealousy in his voice when he spoke
'I can swear that I would never be his girlfriend in this life and the one to come' I said again into his ear
'Noah what you saying into her ear' jealous Jacqueline asked
'Harold was secretly eyeing me from his seat while secretly eating his food.
Harold smiled at me while typing something into his phone, I heard a new notification enter into my phone, I checked the recent message that entered, and it was from Harold
'I brought you to the table stop acting all cozy with Noah' I read, I glanced upwards and stared at Harold who was frowning, I smiled as I texted him back
'Someone is jealous', I waited for him to read my message, he chuckled aloud and texted me back
'I am not, I am just worried that you might fall in love with him' I read his text and smiled
'Who told you I might not already be in love with him' Harold's eyes widened as he read the message
He typed furiously next, 'your jokes are quite extreme, Michelle' he wrote
I stopped and said a joke into Noah's ear, Noah laughed loudly whispering another joke into my ear I laughed equally as loud as Noah did, Harold had anger and jealousy written all over his forehead. He arose from his seat and walked up to the seat next to me he sent Sebastian away politely before sinking into the seat, that attracted everyone on the table's attention
'Harold why are you seating here?' I asked in a sotto voce so that only he heard, but it seemed as though Noah heard us also.
'It's a large table, I can sit anywhere I want' he said childishly, I chuckled enjoying the childish part of my old time best friend
I typed swiftly, 'did you tell the guys about my true identity'
'I couldn't, I didn't have the right opportunity yet' he replied staring me in the eyes
'Should I do it myself, should I tell them now' I texted
'don't' he texted back and shook his head in disapproval, I let out a sigh as the bell went off signifying the end of the lunch break, I stood up at once.
I clutched my tray and walked away from the table, Harold seemed extremely pleased as e and the guys walked past me, I was no doubt a little bit thrilled from the familiar feeling of been seen with a popular group.
I smiled as I walked into the classroom for the next subject on my timetable, Mathematics. I sighted that familiar face, it was Harold again. I figured out that he was trying to be everywhere where I am so he can keep an eye on me, I surprisingly loved the unwarranted attention that I am getting from him. I endured his continual tailing throughout the whole school hours.
The moment the last bell for the day was rung, I ran away from the school as fast as I could.
********************************
The next morning, I woke up early although I was a bit dizzy from the alcohol I had drank, I recalled that I had passed out on the kitchen table yesterday I figured out that Harold had brought me up to my room and the thought of that got me blushing. It seemed weird remembering sharing a few of my past memories with Harold, recalling all I had said to him I realized that he might make fun of me today.
'Aishhhhhhhhh' I grunted while clutching my head tight in pain. I picked up the Advil tablet that permanently stays in all of my last drawers, I swallowed a pill and arose from my bed. I walked into the shower naked
HAROLD'S P.O.V
I hardly got any sleep throughout last night, images of drunk Michelle spouting out truths about her to me without thinking twice got me awake and smiling to myself.
'10:35PM'
I had gotten home this late like I normally do weekly, especially on busy Mondays when we have a lot of gang duties piled up after the weekends. I stepped into the Kitchen and found Michelle quaffing down on a bottle of French red wine, I lazily slipped into the empty seat next to her and poured myself a glass.
I downed glass after glass within a limited time. We must have sat like that just drinking wine for about twenty minutes in absolute silence, Michelle was the first to break the persistent silence with her voice
'I am sure when you figured out I was pretending to be a nerd you had a lot of questions running through your mind' she paused and took a sip out of her wine glass
'Why is she pretending?
Is she ashamed of been the President's daughter?
Was she expelled from her former school?
Is she mad?
What is she gaining from pretending to be who she isn't? And so on' she continued, I nodded relating on the highest level to all her questions. These where questions I had asked myself at night and day for a lot of days
'When you asked if I remembered who you were? Can you guess what first came to my mind' she asked
'The young boy with lousy chestnut brown hair and loud mouth' I said and smiled, Michelle laughed almost to tears
She looked into my eyes before she said what shook my entire mindset, 'truth is, nothing came to my mind or head, no image…no key word or moment came to my head. I can't recall anything that happened to me before I was nine years old, eight and a half years of my fucking memory seemed to be lost temporally although it seems permanent to me' she was crying as she spoke
'Do you know how sad it is to have an incomplete memory of your life?' she questioned me, my mouth was too dry to part open and say anything
'I badly want to remember moments about you, about Noah about everything and everyone that I seem to have forgotten, but I just can't' she said and paused laughing sardonically
'Then I met Roberts Morgan…' she paused and downed the entire content of her glass at a go.
I tensed on hearing that familiar name, I remembered where I had heard and I cringed. Roberts Morgan, a popular playboy and jerk of St. Catherine high school, he and Noah had gotten into a bloody fight after he forcefully kissed Noah's ex, the head cheerleader of Roseville high.
'I felt as though I had found a lost part of me, I had thought the relationship would last forever. I had high hopes and high expectancy from this one year relationship, it felt as though we were made for each other. To mark our one year together I decided to sacrifice my virginity to this relationship, turns out that was going to be my undoing' she sobbed hard and hesitated to continue
'The next day after I gave up my v card, I got the nastiest message from him. It turns out I was the only one in a relationship to him it didn't seem so. He had been dating my female best friend all along, the relationship had just been a ploy to steal my virginity away. The bastard said he wanted to feel the thrill of using and dumping the President's daughter' I felt as intense hatred exuded from her' I didn't know what to do to ease her mind off the matter, reality was that she didn't want to stop talking about the saddening moment
'so that's the reason I did what I did, I didn't want anyone becoming friends with me because the PLOTUS is my father, I didn't want to attract any bad boys attention, I just wanted to hide and be plain old Michelle, who is a boring nerd' she sighed and drained the last bit of the wine before slumping into the table, I thought she was exhausted but when I heard her snore I figured out she was fast asleep
'Oh! No!' I exclaimed as I recollected how hard it is to awake Michelle from her sleep, it is something anyone that knows Michelle really well always figure out soon enough. Whenever Michelle goes to sleep nothing can prompt her to snap out of her sleep.
I moaned dissatisfactory as I pecked Michelle off her chair princess style, I roamed ahead towards her room. Her room happens to be just across mine but it seemed so far away with Michelle's weight coupled with mine, after making it to the room floor I let out a heavy deep breath as I pulled open the door to her room and hesitated from entering into the grim room. Unlike Julienne's room that is all pink Michelle's room had a sense of maturity that I hadn't expected her to have, I stepped into her room and took in the savory scent of flowers and sand wood.
Michelle had a bigger library than I do, along with a bigger awards and medals collection. I chuckled enviously, I laid Michelle on her bed and hesitated before placing a caring kiss on her forehead, I rushed out of her room panting a though I had just committed a crime.
MICHELLE'S P.O.V
I had breakfast as normal with the Clusten's and just like on an average day, Harold didn't turn up for 'un petite dejeuner' until later. I smiled when he told in for breakfast, I couldn't reckon with the reason I was smiling when he entered into the dining area. Could it be because he was eyeing me with a smile on his own face or because he looked cooler than usual…or because you like him? My inner voice taunted.
Dissimilar to Harold's customary action of stealing julienne's breakfast, he stole my breakfast instead. I was shocked instead of been annoyed at him for pilfering my breakfast, he laughed as he chewed the stolen omelet swiftly. I twisted at the nick of time to catch the murderous glare in julienne's eye, she seemed as though she wished to kill me right there, I hurriedly averted my gaze from her. I let out a loud sigh when Ethel hooted loudly from outside, I grabbed my bag and sped out.
I ran into the car and Ethel pulled out the curb,
'Why the tense look?' Ethel asked when we conclusively pulled out of the cul-de-sac neighborhood
'I think Harold likes me' ii blurted out fast, Ethel looked away from the road and tuned to eye me
'What!' she exclaimed
'How? 'She added
'Since when did you figure this out?' she asked swerving past a slow car
'I don't know when but I figured it out, but I don't like him back' I revealed worried
'if he didn't say it out loud you can't just assume he does, he might just be caring for you cause you are his ex-female best friend' Ethel said and I reasoned with her, she was true I can't just assume he does because he has been extra caring to me, he might not even like me a bit but be caring because we were close in the past, something told me that my assumptions were right but my reasonability told me otherwise. I shut up throughout the ride to the slump.
HAROLD'S P.O.V
Silence occupied the car, Julienne seemed angry with me but she wasn't saying anything. The silence felt sickening, I was tired of it and having none of it again.
'If you are so angry with me, I mean it would be only reasonable if you spoke up about the reason you are annoyed and vexed with me' I said
Julienne yanked turned to eye me, her eyes red and her face wet with tears, snot slowly ran a slow course down her nostrils,
I felt bad that I was responsible for my seventeen and a half years sister's tears, I fetched my silk monogrammed hankie and gave Julienne to clean herself. She collected the hankie and mopped her face clean.
The eleventh grade high school student sobbed lightly as she spoke for the first time en route to school,
'I want you to answer me truthfully' she said
'You like Michelle, don't you?' she asked, I clutched the driving wheel tightly, I guess she had figured out although I had been trying to conceal it from her. I knew I couldn't lie to her any longer, she deserved to know the truth even if it was going to hurt her
'Yes, I do' I confessed, Julienne at once broke down into relentless cries
'Was she the girl with your heart all these years' Julienne enquired amidst tears?
'Yes' I responded truthfully, julienne gusted her nose hard into the handkerchief
'Did you ever love me as much as you like her' she asked and I smiled
'You are my half-sister Julienne, I love you as much as I love her' I mentioned trying to comfort her but Julienne refused to be comforted.