Max Hidedross
Mel is my girlfriend, but I’m in love with Stacy Maidren. Yeah, Ally Filter’s best friend. I am aware that Stace is in love with Clay now. I mean, who wouldn’t. That guy is like…. ‘The Man’. If I could be somebody else in one day, I would choose to be Clay. I mean, seriously? That dude live in the life of heaven. He’s loaded, dating Dolly, a hottie, and he’s the everything. I mean, I hate him for being Clay and not appreciating himself as Clayton Cabot.

Chapter 7

Still on day two: Clay left me hanging around in his room and left for about 20 minutes. His parents weren’t in the house. They went for their fourth honeymoon. Such a lovely couple. My parents never even go for a second honeymoon.
When I think about my father, I could feel the pain in my heart. It hurts so much. Felt like somebody stab on it, constantly. When I was a little girl I always wondered what it feels like to have a father. To have somebody comforting you when you are afraid of the sound of the thunder. Or somebody to teach you to ride a bike. I never blame my mom for not being there for us. She had to work 24/7 for the money and she didn’t have much time to keep us company. You can say that, I’m living in a loveless world. Less love given by my mother. No love given by my father. Loveless world. I’m amazed that I could manage giving fake smiles to my friends these years. Everyday, I went to school, laughing my asses off, went back home, and cried to myself.
“Think you could fit in this high heel?” Clay suddenly asked. I quickly wiped the tears flowing from my eyes and nodded. Yes, I was crying. I didn’t want to cry but every time I think about my father, I never have the energy to stop the tears from flowing. I stood up from Clay’s bed, not facing him. Still thinking and trying to find a way to cover up my rheumy eyes. Technically, it’s never easy to hide your red-coloured eyes. I could hear his footsteps coming near me. “What’s wrong, Al?” he asked, softly. I looked at him, trying to look all happy and asked, “Where you get THAT from?” I pointed at the black high heel. “Oh, it’s…. Dolly’s. I went to her house and took it. Don’t worry, she won’t know about it. Dolly only wore this once. She’s too rich to even wear it twice. She would just buy a new one.” I nodded. Clay didn’t even bother to ask me about why I was crying. It was like; he didn’t even wanna care about me. I was like….. nothing to him.

Clay took my hands and placed it on his shoulder. I pulled away. “I can’t dance…. I…. never even dance. Plus, with the heel.” He didn’t care. He took my hands and placed it back. The radio was playing one of my favourite songs, I’ll be by Edwin McCain. “Then, let this be your first dance then. It’s okay, Al. I’ll lead.” Clay mumbled.
He slowly touched my waist, holding it softly with his nice and warm fingers. Chills raced through me. He slowly moved, step by step and before I could realize it, I was actually dancing with him. My body was so close to him, a distance of five centimeters to his. We looked into each others eyes. He was so charming. So extremely charming that I could not take my eyes off him. He has the perfect jaw, the kind of jaw that I would love to place my fingers on. His nose and…… lips. I would give up everything just to kiss those sensual lips. God, he is the perfect creation by God.
My heart skipped a beat when he slowly pulled me to him. Our cheeks touched and I felt like I was electrified when he placed his chin on my shoulder. I couldn’t catch my breath at the moment. And I could tell that Clay couldn’t too. I wrapped my arm around him, and slowly laid my head on his shoulder and danced to the song. I felt comfortable with him. It was my first time dancing with a guy and I was actually enjoying it. Enjoying every single step and touch. It was like heaven. Wonderfully like heaven.
He faced his face to me and smiled. Even with that light smile he sent shivers down my spine. He slowly touched my face with his right hand and my neck with his left hand. He slowly leaned his face towards mine. Is this it? Is this going to be my first kiss with Clay? Am I in love with him? Am I in love with Clayton Cabot? I asked myself at that very moment. I slowly closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to touch mine. Maybe when he kisses me, I could find the answers for my questions.
“You need to practice more on your steps. You’re a little clumsy, Ally.” Clay suddenly said and pinched my cheeks. I just stood there, speechless.
“No wait! Were you thinking that I was going to kiss you?” Clay asked sarcastically, holding his breath from laughing. I faked a laugh and protected myself from drowning into the shameful moment, “No, asshole! I was counting my steps. What makes you think that I was waiting for your kiss? I was holding my breath from smelling your smelly breath!” Clay didn’t continue to laugh. In your face, Cabot! I laughed to myself.
“And please…. Please don’t talk too loud. And you might not wanna mention the word asshole anymore. It’s beauty suicide.” Clay shot his bullets-words to me. He might be thinking, In your face Filter!

Clay drove me home that night. He tried to cheer me up by bringing up weird subjects in our conversation. “We’re one of the winners. One of the sperm survival.” He said. I looked at him and rolled my eyes. Well, yeah, I was still mad at him for treating me like shit. Like I was being a slut or something. But I couldn’t lie to myself that at the moment we were dancing, I was drowning into Clayton Cabot’s world. I was being a slut because Clay’s not single. He’s Dolly Maggien’s boyfriend. I was such a slut for wanting him to kiss me. No one could blame me, Clay’s a hottie. Clay asked me, “Before you go back in, can I ask you something? Why were crying actually, before?” Finally! He does care about me, I thought. I looked at him and gave him a light smile, the kind of smile that I barely give to anyone and walked in to my house leaving him waiting for my answer.

Mom was sitting in the living room, apparently, crying. “Mom! What’s wrong?” I ran to her and hugged her. She was trying to hold her tears and tried to say something, but I couldn’t understand of what she was trying to say. “Your sister, Kelly. She….” I wiped the tears running down her cheeks. “Kelly…. She….. She ran away…”
“What?!” Wha…Wha…Why?...” I couldn’t believe of what she told me. It was for the first time in Kelly’s life she ran away from home. Apparently, mom and Kelly had a fight while I was hanging out with Clay. Kelly told mom that I was a lesbian. Mom was trying to protect me and that hurt Kelly.
I quickly ran out and saw Ben was sitting at his porch in a robe, reading a magazine. “Saw my sister, Ben?” I asked.
“Well, yeah. She told me she’s going to meet her ‘true’ sister. She even yelled at me, and I’m not sure why. What’s that suppose to mean?” Ben asked.
Dolly! That bitch popped out in my head. Kelly must be with Dolly now. Kelly used to tell me that she rather have Dolly as her sister. That she ashamed to have ME as her sister.
So there I was, knocking on the door, preparing to face my greatest nightmare, Dollien Maggien.
“What are you doing here?” Dolly asked, sarcastically. She was wearing a ‘sexy’ black nightgown with makeup on her face. Is she with Clay now? Are they going to spend the night together? Why would she dress up at night? Freak, I thought.
“Where’s my sister?” I asked, tiredly. Dolly came near me and did her evil-whispery-voice saying, “Are you kidding me? You’re here, in the middle of the night, out of nowhere, disturbing me from my sleep, just to ask me… where’s your sister??? She’s not here!!!! Now go back to where you belong!” she yelled. She was trying to make a statement that she was rich and I was not. “What are you doing here, Al?” Kelly suddenly appeared behind Dolly. I was right. Kelly was there. As a sister, I could sense that she was there from the very beginning. I took her hand and pulled her out. She shoved me. It hurts, not externally but internally.
“Kelly, mom’s waiting for you. Please,” I begged, “Please consider her feelings.” I could feel that Kelly was thinking about dad. About how our life had been since dad left. I took her hand once more. This time, she didn’t shove me. We went back home, holding hands. Another hope grew in me. A hope that she would love me back.
Desperation occurred in me. Why did Dolly dressed up in her slut-nightgown? Are they seeing each other tonight? Are they going to sleep together tonight? Did they ever sleep together? Some say Clay’s a virgin, but really? I picked up the phone and dialed.
“Hello?” Clay answered.
“Clay… Um… It’s Al.”
Clay laughed. “The world is going to end!” he said.
“What??!”
“Why? This sudden call? You never call me,” Clay asked curiously but sarcastically.
“Well, whatever, Clay! I was about to ask you something but you’re acting like a jerk now! Whatever!” I hung up. Yes I did. Thank God he was acting like a jerk. Or else what could I say to him because I really didn’t have anything to ask. When you’re desperate, yeah…. You’ll do anything. But it was worth it. At least I got to know that Clay was not spending his night with Dolly.
I jumped to my bed, placing my head on the pillow thinking, what is this? What is this feeling? I couldn’t help but smile when I think about Clay. The guy that used to be in my I-hate-you list.
I haven’t been smiling for years, but I’m smiling right now, just because of Clay, I thought. I took a look at Ben’s room. He was there looking at me, but he was not smiling. “You’re smiling.” He suddenly said, “And why is that?” I looked at him and just smiled. “Apparently, Ben. I was not sure why, too.”