Rewrite The Stars

Chapter 7

I went through hell that night in order to force myself to sleep, but I finally managed to do so. Although that state didn't last long and my peace was torn apart with my phone ringing under my pillow.

     I could barely open my eyes. So hurriedly and without looking at who it was, I answered the phone. “Hello?” I said sleepily. I guess it was a good point that Lauren was a heavy-sleeper.

     “Hey, Zoe.” I immediately recognized the voice. “It's Zach.”

     “What do you want?” I groaned and threw a glance at the clock on the wall, which was lightened up by the moonlight. “And why are you calling me at three a.m.?”

     “Listen, my guilt was killing me. I shouldn't have let you leave like that when you were obviously mad at me.” Said Zach. “So I wanted to apologize.” He said the second sentence in a whisper for some reason. “I really want to make it up to you.” He kept talking in a hushed voice. “What's your dorm-number?”

     “What?” I said, confused. “Why?”

     “Tell me.”

     “Number twelv– hang on! No! I'm not telling you!”

     “Too late.” I could feel that he was now grinning to himself. “Second floor?”

     “Zach... oh, God. Don't tell me you're here.”

     “Okay, I won't tell you that. But come outside your dorm. I want to show you something.”

     “What?”

     But he ignored my question again and said, “Oh! And bring your ballet shoes.” And by that, he hung up.

     Well, he didn't have to say he was here, I thought, rolling my eyes.

     As quick as humanly possible, I got out of bed and changed out of my pajamas. I grabbed my backpack and put my phone, keys, wallet, and my ballet shoes in it. As I exited the room, my eye immediately fell upon Zach Walter's feature, leaning against the corridor's wall, humming a song slowly under his breath.

     “Hey.” I said, grabbing his attention.

     He was quick to walk away from the wall and near me, smiling gently at my sight. “Hey.”

     “So where are you planning on taking me?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

     “You'll see.” And by that, he started walking down the hall and I followed him out of the dormitory building.

     “You know,” he started as we were walking through the campus. “Technically, you're not allowed to be mad at me.”

     “Why? Because what you said was true and I shouldn't have overreacted?” I confessed.

     “Actually I was going to say because we shared ice-cream; that's pretty special.” He joked and I laughed but then we fell silent again. We were walking side by side, our hands constantly brushing against each other. Each time a shiver ran through my spine and I hoped to God that it was just because of that chilling night.

     We reached the main building of the school, yet I was still clueless of what this crazy boy was up to. Zach reached the big door to open it, but as it seemed it was locked.

     “I guess that leaves us with the option of breaking in through one of its windows.” He announced, looking around.

     “Oh, hell no!” I argued. “We could get into so much trouble if they catch us breaking in here on their cameras.”

     “Oh, and you're all about rules, aren't you, Miss Coleman?” He said sarcastically, obviously referring to the fact that I'd run away.

     “I'll kill you if they recognize me in my live audition for this.” I hissed at him teasingly as we walked around the building.

     “Here.” He pointed at a window on the first floor which was slightly open.

     He pushed it completely open and jumped inside with difficulty. Sighing, I followed his actions and climbed through the window, ending up in a dark and empty classroom. None of us uttered a single word as we walked through the silent halls, trying to be as quiet as possible.

     “I think this is it.” He stopped at a big door, eyeing it up and down. “Please be open. Please be open.” He said under his breath, pushing against the door.

     And to his luck, it was open.

     As soon as he pushed the door, my jaw fell and I stared around in awe. It was Juilliard's grand theater; the Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

     “Wait here.” Said Zach, walking inside. But I really didn't pay attention to where he went. My breath hatched inside my chest and just when I thought this place couldn't get any more glorious, in a matter of seconds, all the lights of the hall were turned on. Just then I realized where Zach had gone.

     I closed the massive door behind me and walked inside, staring around and taking in the image, trying to save this moment in my mind forever.

     This had always been my dream...

     “Well...?” Zach started, looking at me. “What are waiting for? Get on stage!”

     I was still too shocked to move. So swallowing, I walked my way over the stage as Zach disappeared from view. I threw my backpack down after taking my ballet shoes out of it and started wearing them. As I stood there on stage, I thought about all the nights I used to think about this moment to sleep.

     And now I was here...

     Not a minute had passed that I heard Zach's voice echoing from the loud speakers of the theatre.

     “Ladies and gentlemen! Give it up for Zoe Coleman!” I started laughing at his silliness, but shortly my laughter faded away when Zach started playing a song. Not even five seconds had to pass from the song for me to recognize it.

     It was I won't give up, by Jason Mraz.

      I was stunned. Suddenly for no reason tears were gathered in my eyes. I felt a familiar feeling of warmth in my stomach, and I smiled.

     “What are you waiting for, Miss Coleman? Show us what you got!”

     And that was all I needed to start.

     Immediately my arms left my body and I swayed myself harmonically with the music; this was just the way I always imagined it would be. For the first time, I didn't care if my T-shirt wasn't going with the dancing shoes. I just did it. I just danced. Because I felt free. My elbows sprung through the air and I swung around as the beat picked up pace. As my arms outstretched, my waist jerked outward vivaciously, and I finally got control of my thoughts... and I danced.

     The song was over and left me a mess as I breathed along with each rapid heartbeat. When silent again fell upon the hall, my attention was quickly grabbed by Zach Walter, who was now clapping from one of the audience's seats.

     He was smiling.

     And so was I.

     “That was amazing.” Said Zach.

     After turning off all the lights and closing the door of the theater behind us, we climbed back out of the same window we had gotten in from. We decided to take our time as Zach walked me back to the dormitory building.

     “You know; you've never told me what your passion is.” I said.

     “It's... nothing.” He tried to shrug it off.

     “Oh, c'mon.” I insisted. “Tell me.”

     “Well... I like books... and you know...” he then muttered something I didn't hear.

     “What was that?” I asked.

     “I... I write sometimes.” He repeated himself louder this time.

     “Really!? That's amazing!” I said with excitement. “What genre? Fantasy? Thriller? Poetry?”

     “Romance, actually.”

     “Sounds great! I really want to read one of your works.”

     “Yeah... I don't think so.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down. “I never show my writings to anyone.”

     “But I'm different! Do you know why?”

     “Why?”

     “Cause we shared ice-cream.” I shrugged, using his own words against him. “I think that's pretty special.”

     He laughed. “Yeah, sharing ice-cream is a clear sign of someone being trustworthy.”

     We finally reached the building and knew this was where we had to depart. But we stood there before each other for another minute, lost for words. I guess neither of us wanted to go.

     “Thank you, Zach.” I dared to break the silence. “You have no idea what it meant to me.”

     But in respond, he only gave me a sad smile.

     “What?” I asked curiously.

     He hesitated to answer for a few moments before saying, “I don't like goodbyes.”

     “Then you don't have to say goodbye.” I said. “Maybe we should just hug and say nothing. Good enough?”

     “I guess I can work with that.” He nodded and stepped forward.

     It was the first time we were standing this close to each other, face to face, eye to eye. My heartbeat sped up when he leaned over and brought me into the warmest hug I was ever given.

     “You're cuddly.” I laughed, trying to save my mind from going places I didn't want it to go.

     But I was no help. Because my heart had finally made its decision. It was trying to feel again.

     The moment was over sooner than I wanted it to. And so we didn't say goodbye and left the memories of that night like that.

     It was almost five a.m. and I was nowhere near falling asleep. So I stayed awake and let myself review every single moment I'd spent with him in my mind. I let myself think about his smile and how warm it felt to hug him.

     I knew if I'd told this to Lauren, she would give me a weird look, thinking that I'm crazy to feel this excited about a simple hug. But I couldn't help my feelings. They just happened.

     But I was snapped out of my thoughts when my phone buzzed next to my pillow. I picked it up and a goofy smile spread across my face as soon as I saw a text from Zach Walter:

     All my life I was trying to convince everyone that perfect doesn't exist and nobody's perfect. But tonight you proved me wrong, Zoe Coleman. You're the devil (: