Battle of Hearts

Chapter 34- Fear

The argument between Ally and Cameron was unyielding of any result. Accusations were thrown from both sides neither of them willing to admit nor back down. She was sunk in gloom the entire weekend regretting saying anything to him. Although, she did care for him deeply it wasn't the right way of telling him. She hadn't heard from him the following days and she too didn't try to reach him to lay out her thoughts in the open.

On Sunday morning she had woken up feeling lethargic and gloomy like she had been for the past days. Her mother was busy in the kitchen hustling pans while listening to the radio. Ally poured out cereal and milk into a bowl and was lost in her trail of thoughts. A peppy song was playing on the radio which didn't catch her attention.

"I'm going to get some groceries today. Do you want anything?" Her mother's voice paused her thoughts.

"Um... We're out of Oreos." She named a lot of unhealthy snacks which had earned some incoherent words from her mother.

The music playing in the background stopped and a radio jockey’s voice grabbed her attention. "You're listening 93.7 KRQ FM with Andy. And today we have two special guests with us in the studio. Mr. John Miller and Mrs. Katie Miller of Miller Advertising Group, Welcome to our show."

Ally's eyes widened in surprise and she nearly choked on her cereal. She focused her attention on the voice drawling out of the old radio. It was definitely Cameron's parents.

"Ladies and gentlemen these two people have recently donated $50,000 to Tucson Academy." The jockey paused. "Sir, this is such a noble effort and I congratulate you for being a responsible organization."

"Thank you. I think it is necessary to raise the quality of education provided in our schools. After all children are our future." She listened carefully to the radio as it disclosed every achievement of Cameron's parents. She remembered he had mentioned a long time ago that his father owned an ad agency and his mother worked as a creative director. But he had never mentioned their agency was present in every major city in Arizona.

"They're doing such a great job. We need more people like that in our country." Her mother commented.

She urged to tell the truth. "Mom, they are my friend's parents." She said with pride.

"Oh really? Who?"

"Cameron Miller. The guy who I catch a ride with sometimes?"

Her mother thought for a while before her eyes shone in recognition. "Yes, I remember him. I didn't know that boy had such rich parents."

"See, I'm in a good company." Ally joked nervously. A part of her wanted her mother to approve of Cameron but the other part questioned why she even cared.

Her mom was hesitant initially but she gave a closed up smile nevertheless. She exited the kitchen to do errands. Suddenly the song break came to an end and again the energetic voice of the jockey was heard. "Welcome back, folks. Today we have the whole Miller family here in our studio. Mr. and Mrs. Miller and their eldest son Cameron Miller."

Ally looked at the radio utterly astonished. The jockey asked a few basic question about Cameron's life to which he responded smoothly. He was also asked to describe his parents. Being the loyal son he never spoke anything which could spoil the image of his parents.

"So I heard from a little bird that you have been offered a scholarship by UCLA and Berkeley?" Hearing the jockey's enthusiastic question was a thunderclap to her ears as she was clueless about any scholarships being offered to him.

Even though he chuckled, the microphone couldn't hide the strain in his voice. "Yeah. It's crazy."

"Have you thought which one you would like to go?"

Before he could reply his mother interrupted. "I suggested he should go for UCLA. He would be closer to home."

"But it isn't final yet. I'm going for a campus visit this weekend." He tried to redeem himself.

Fortunately the rest of the interview didn't bring anymore surprises. She turned off the radio after the interview was over and thought about texting Cameron. It was disappointing to hear such a huge announcement on national radio rather than from his mouth. She wondered whether anyone from her group of friends knew about the scholarship. Probably not.

She had applied to University of California Berkeley along with some other popular west coast universities. She hoped to get a scholarship based on her academics but she wasn't sure if that was enough. It was humorous how Cameron didn't even need any financial help to study in college but was showered by scholarships while she actually needed help which seemed a farfetched idea currently. It was just unfair but still she was happy for him. He deserved to be recognized for his outstanding performance in sports.

Monday rolled out and Ally found herself in a dilemma. She was debating the idea of congratulating Cameron. In the back of her mind she knew he didn't want to rave about the scholarships or he would have told about it himself. She thought of asking about it to her friends during lunch when he wasn't around.

"Hey guys… Do you know Miller was offered a scholarship by UCLA and Berkeley?"

"Yeah. He told about that." Haley said looking up from her soda. She eyed Ally with the why-didn't-you-know look.

"You guys knew? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought everyone knew." Becky shrugged. Somehow Ally felt lame for asking that question. It was evident she was the only one clueless about this new information.

"Well… Apparently everyone except me."

"Something's wrong between you two? You don't talk to him much nowadays." Haley couldn't guess the useless number of times she had tried talking to him.

"Yep. Did you have fight with him?" Becky joined in.

"I don't know…" Ally said after watching Cameron walk towards their lunch table with that girl beside him. But before he reached, Luke and Ryan occupied the seats and he had to drag two extra chairs. As soon as the girl settled in between Becky and Cameron, the others on the table joined Ally and stared confusingly at the new person. Cameron flashed a wide smile and looked at the girl beside him.

"Everybody this is Emily. Emily, this is everybody." He introduced. Everybody went back to normal except Ally. She was perplexed by her own behavior. She could neither understand what she was feeling nor why was she feeling it.

"I saw you the other day at Cameron's house." Emily pointed towards her.

"Yeah, I'm Callum's tutor."

"Oh that's nice." She showed off her perfectly white teeth. Ally noticed the modest yet stylish way she dressed; her manners too were complementary to her dress. She was definitely radiating the vibe of a girl whom any parent would love to meet.

The lunch time grudgingly passed as people on her table tried to make a small talk with the latest member of the group. The awkwardness and tension was thick but a silly joke every now and then was able to loosen it.

Ally was strangely quiet being lost in her thoughts. She was still pondering the type of relationship that existed between Emily and Cameron. And she knew she wasn't the only one thinking about that when the bell rang and the couple left causing a hustle in the group.

"So this is his new girlfriend?" Haley asked to no one in particular as they trotted in the hallway.

"Honestly, I don't know. He didn't tell me anything. My knowledge about this matter is the same as you all."

"Me too." Ryan agreed with Luke's statement. All five friends walked with the same thing in their mind. Suddenly Becky stopped to realize something they had all been forgetting.