The Unusual Tales Of Winfrall.

Chapter 7 : Silver Friendships

Audrey’s POV.

Where is it?

I thought as I rummaged through my not-so-tidy wardrobe. Unfolded clothes were entangled with each other as I'd usually make a heap of them when I was confused what to wear. They were threatening to fall over me, trying to seek revenge but I pushed them farther inside the walls of the cupboard as I searched for a bracelet. 

It should be here somewhere.

Reluctantly, I shifted my attention to the alarm clock on my bedside table which gets beaten every morning it goes off. I looked at the time and my eyes widened in disbelief.

Fuck.Fuckfuckfuck.

I had exact 5 minutes to make a dash out of my penthouse apartment and take the lift which was like an old lady climbing down the stairs. And then revving the engine of my car and making 3 stops till I reached school. 

If only it wasn't my turn to carpool. I mean, it would have been easier to blame Janice, Bryan or even George for arriving a full 15 minutes late to my place. 

The frustration was filling up inside me like air in a balloon, and I finally burst as I banged my fists loudly on my wardrobe drawer which made everything in my room shudder for a few seconds. The impact caused the pile of clothes, which I tried to push away, to fall over me and made me tumble to the ground with the force. 

"Audrey Bennett!" My mother screamed from downstairs, her tone clearly signifying that she knew that I let my emotions dominate control over my ability.

"Coming right away!" I yelled back sarcastically as I got up and dusted my black jeans away from the mess of the clothes. However, as I was making my way to the bed to take my bag, I saw something wink at me from the chaos I made. 

I gingerly got closer to it, and my lips broke into a grin when I saw the shiny silver band which I was trying to find since the past hour. 

At least one good thing happened today.

I rushed downstairs and halted for a few seconds as I wore it on my right hand with care. The bracelet was very important to me as it was a sign of 'friendship and love.' Bryan had given it to me in junior year and said those exact words before he took my hand and tied it to my wrist. 

Since then, I wore it almost everyday to school, to show Bryan how much everything about him mattered to me.

My mashed thoughts made me lose track of time and I happily hopped to the dining area where my parents were seated. I leaned forward to smell the bouquet placed in the centre of the table, because I wanted to appreciate all the beautiful things, but later realised the flowers were artificial. 

Meanwhile, my parents exchanged baffled looks with each other and I raised an eyebrow to them. 

"Audrey, what have I told you about your ability controlling?" My mother thrust her round spectacles up her nose, and looked at me with pierced blue eyes. But before I could answer, she went on, "And what about being punctual, young lady?" Her slender arm pointed at the red wall clock and it made me snap back to reality. 

"s**t, got to go." I muttered as I picked up a buttered toast in a hurry from my dads plate, who yelled, "Hey! That's mine." 

I ignored his protests and kissed both of them on the cheek, before I ran the huge length of the hall towards the entrance door. 

"Don't think I'm letting you away with this!" Mother yelled at me the exact time I shut the door and ran towards the lift.

But I didn't realise that I ran into someone until I fell for the second time and my body ached with the collision. 

I looked up to see my neighbour throwing daggers at me and giving me a look that I did a big mistake by not paying attention to my surroundings. 

Looks like I wasn't the only one getting late for school today. 

As I got up, and pressed the lift button continuously as if it would accelerate its speed up, I inwardly wished I had a good neighbour. I recalled Sarah, my closest friend back in middle school, and also who lived next door to me. After some time, her whole family shifted to New York as her father was promoted. Since they were friendly with almost the whole neighborhood, we gave them the celebration as well as a farewell party, and after the last good byes, they departed from the town without giving it another glance. 

"Are you blind?!" I literally cringed when the voice of my neighbour penetrated through my ear drums and brought a finger to rub my ear for good measure. 

"I really don't have time for this." I sighed and looked at the digital board, which read 13, which meant it still had 17 floors to climb up. 

"Oh, and you think I have time for this?!" She crossed her arms and scoffed, "You nasty bit-" 

"Complete that word and my fist would gladly break your fake nose." I brought my curled hand to eye level and slowly twisted it in front of her. 

But before she could say something, her entrance door flung open and Mrs. Jones stood in the doorway.

She stood tall, around 5 feet 8 inches without heels, and had a crazy passion for styling her brunette hair. Her face was always caked with make up, which sometimes looked creepy and her eyes always had a shade of lens on it. 

But apart from the fabricated look she carried, she really was the complete opposite of her daughter. She was sweet and considerate towards us, the Bennetts, which is why mom and her were best of friends. 

"Oh hello Audrey darling." Her thin voice emerged from the heavy cosmetic applied to her lips. 

"Hello, Mrs. Jones." I smiled affectionately.

After the quick greeting she turned to her daughter, "How can you forget your school bag, Mia?" She was shell shocked to acknowledge that and even I raised my own eyebrows in incredulousness. 

"Oh-um yes, thank you." Amelia was embarrassed at her own forgetfulness and cast her eyes downwards in the same emotion. 

"I hope you're going to be in your classes Mia..." Mrs. Jones trailed off as she didn't want to create a scene of her daughter skipping school like dresses.

The lift finally arrived, much to our relief, and we rushed into it without wasting further time.

After another excruciating 5 minutes, the lift doors chimed and slid open for us to exit and run to our destinations. We didn't acknowledge each other and pretended the other didn't exist, which is what we did most of the time.

The Jones family had bought the house a few months after we did. In the beginning, conversations were forced and greetings were exchanged every time we noticed one another. At least, this was the case for the parents, but even before I could walk up to Amelia and stretch my hand for friendship, she placed me in the can-never-be-friends category.

Of course I didn't wear heels for whole 24 hours, or didn't put make up on a daily basis. But that didn't mean I was under dressed as well. My choice of attire could be summed up as minimalistic. Whereas Amelia's choice was glitter, sparkles and unicorns, according to her. But for me, it seemed unrealistic and creepy.

I didn't exactly hate either of the words I previously used, but at the same time I disliked when it was overdone. Which was exactly Amelia's dressing. She would wear summer dresses to school, like there is obviously nothing wrong with that, but imagine one with her boyfriends face on it. 

I still remembered the gobsmacked look on Nicholas face, and broke into fits of giggles.

I pulled my white Porsche Panamera to a stop one by one, to all the three places, and every time my car door was opened, my friends made sure to slam it with force to show their anger towards my lack of punctuality. 

"Guys look," I sighed as I softly drummed my fingers on my steering wheel, thinking how to calm them down, "I'm sorry, something-something came up, so I was late okay?"

"I was literally going to take the bus!" Janice said incredulously and I rolled my eyes.

"But you're sitting in my car now, geez you're welcome Jan." I replied sarcastically.

"Whoa, who got up on the wrong side of the bed, eh?" Bryan asked as he shifted in his passenger seat so that he could see the both of us.

"Put some music on," George hollered from the backseat, "the car seems like I'm attending a funeral." 

Bryan rolled his eyes in response to his friends weird logic and put some punk music, which I didn't even know existed in my playlist.

Thankfully, none of my friends were mad at me anymore, and I drove in silence as my friends played some dumb game in the car.

********

"Your reason of being late?" Mr. Russell drawled as he reluctantly closed his book, and looked up at me and Bryan. 

"Car broke down." Bryan answered in one go, his slight panting, brushing through my ear as I stood slightly in front of him. It was hard to concentrate on what was going on, as my heart decided to draw attention by its crazy beating. 

I slightly shook my head, and focused back on our homeroom teacher, who now had his black eyebrows raised. 

He gazed down between us, maybe to see some signs of affection, like holding hands and then studied Bryan for a few seconds, probably making up theories of the reason behind him catching breath. 

My cheeks burned and I cleared my throat as Mr. Russell finally signalled us to take our seats. It seemed like Bryan didn't understand the suggestive looks thrown by our professor, and to make it look worse, he gave a dazzling smile and winked at me. 

And Mr. Russell noticed it. 

I cleared my throat again and began concentrating on a rough notebook which I retrieved from my bag.

There were no specific rules when it came to seating arrangements, so me and Bryan would take seats adjacent to each other. After Mr. Russell marked us present and left us with a warning, since we were occasionally late, he told us to quietly complete our homework, while he read Jane Austen in piece.

Janice and George, however had another teacher assigned to them, which also explained the reason of them not being here with us.

"Audrey!" Bryan whispered and nudged me after a few minutes but I didn't look up from my math homework.

"Psst, Audrey!" 

"Psssssst!"

"What is it?" I whispered back in slight frustration when he kept pestering me to listen to him. 

He smirked in triumph when he was successful to catch my attention and leaned closer which quickened my pulse. 

"I think it's time to confess my feelings." He whispered in my ear. 

"Why now?" I raised an eyebrow mockingly. 

"Because I want you to know, okay?" He nudged me and his cheeks turned a bit pink. He looked shy as his fingers were a bit fidgety and he looked down, not able to make eye contact with me.

Oh my God. Was he going to—

Am I dreaming? 

I curled my lips inside to stop myself from smiling. 

Oh my. He was finally going to say how he truly felt for me. I waited one year for him to show some sign that he might be interested in me, but right now felt like this moment would cover up all the time I spent in waiting.

"Who is it?" I teased and looked at him, but my eyes slightly widened when I saw the lack of distance between us. He now looked straight at me, our shoulders touching and lips a few centimetres away.

I didn't want to look away, as my gaze darted down to his lips. So I closed my eyes and anticipated the kiss I fantasised about a million times, not caring about the location as my mind was transported to a happy place altogether. 

I waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. 

I slowly opened my eyes, to find my crush now scribbling something in his notebook. 

"Bryan?" I nudged him and he looked up after a few seconds when he seemed to be done with his activity. 

The smile never left his face as he slid his notebook to my side of the table. I propped it open where the pencil was placed and read, "Had to write it down, Mr. Russell has laser beams on us."

I giggled silently and looked at him with affection. Maybe, he wanted to take things slowly, I reasoned with myself. He didn't want to rush, and my feelings for him increased 10 fold at this conclusion. 

My eyes were about to well up with the joy that he was finally going to ask me out, but I pushed away the tears and the increasing lump in my throat down and away, as I didn't want to look dramatic in front of him. 

He gestured me to turn the page of the notebook, and I just couldn't stop smiling. 

Maybe he must've written, You're my moon in the world full of stars. I like you so so much, Audrey.

Or maybe something like, Marry me? No that's too soon. 

Or how about, What are the Auds that you'll say no to my proposal? Oh my, a pun on my name! So romantic. 

My smile was intact as I slowly turned the page, but it froze and my whole body went numb when I read the words written on the page. 

I am in love with Amelia Jones. 

*******

I stood by my locker alone, as I removed my Chemistry book for the next period and waited for Janice to show up. 

I breathed in and out heavily as I didn't want to start my waterworks in the hallway filled with students. 

I tried to control my emotions which were gradually filling to the brim of my mental bucket and gulped when my powers terrorised to surface. 

How could I be so stupid?

Bryan never liked me, and I kept dreaming about the opposite all along. His sweet gestures were platonic from his side and I mistook his closeness and affection as romance. 

I briefly closed my eyes, and pushed my head slightly in the locker, to hide my contracted face. 

I guess a tear or two won't hurt.

I let a few drops slide down my cheeks but took a deep breath and recollected myself as I heard the warning bell go off. 

But there was no sign of Janice. 

I closed my locker and turned around as I watched my school mates go up and down the passage, to their classrooms or to their lockers. 

My mind travelled back the homeroom class, where Bryan waited for a response and my frozen smile gave the wrong message that I was happy for him, to which he looked relieved. 

However, he made me swear to not tell it to Janice or George yet, as he would break it to them himself. 

He knew how Janice and I disliked Amelia, which is why he decided to tell me first, since I was hardly angry to him. He gave me a bone-crushing hug after class that he was thankful I appreciated his choice and how I'd be useful in calming down an agitated Janice when she'd learn about the same. 

I sighed and looked here and there to see if I could spot my friend and get away from the heart broken thoughts, but my regard for her halted when I saw Nicholas. 

He had a post-practice look, with parts of his basketball uniform stuck to his body due to sweat. His hair was damp, and he ran a hand through it, his bicep bulging in the process. 

Even in this state, he managed to make it one of his signature looks where he still looked perfect. A few girls standing on the opposite side of me were checking him out and giggling amongst themselves. 

My eyes darted back at him, and a tiny hope in me said that he would look in my direction and give me a smile of acknowledgment, that the girls standing there probably wished would be exchanged with them. 

I already had a smile ready on my face, and expected him to look now, or maybe when he walked a bit closer to me, but his eyes never met mine.

Instead they looked right past me, before he continued walking to the other end of the hallway and disappeared. 

******