Ann was sitting in her room when the maid knocked on her door. Ann opened it and was informed that a Miss Stacey was at the door. She told her to say she wasn't home.
Ann closed the door and leaned against it. She raised her hand to her heart and felt it beating real fast. She got angry at herself. Why did the mere mention of Stacey's name still have such an effect on her?
Especially after all she had done to her. Why was she here? Did she come like Kate to laugh in her face too?
Ann felt a lump in her throat as she held back from crying as she remembered what had happened yesterday.
She was in her car running a few errands before she had to go home and get ready to meet Stacey later. She had been thinking about her the whole day. She couldn't believe she had told her she loved her. Her feelings towards Stacey were very clear in her head and in her heart, but she had been holding back from telling her how she really felt out loud.
Convincing herself that it was always never the right moment, but in truth she was afraid from Stacey's reaction. She didn't want to scare her off by proclaiming her love so soon, and she was afraid that it's exactly what she had done.
Anyways she would find out in a few hours. Right then, she saw Stacey sitting at a table by the window of Morning Blend. At first she thought she was imagining her cause she had been thinking about her constantly, but then she realised it was actually her and she also noticed Kate sitting next to her, even if it was from a distance.
Suddenly she saw her throw her arms round Kate and hug her. Then she saw Kate turn her head and kiss her. Ann felt her heart stop beating. She turned her gaze back to the traffic and then quickly looked back to make sure that what she had just seen wasn't her imagination.
She caught a glimpse of the two girls laughing and looking tenderly at each other just as she was turning the corner of the street. She felt her head suddenly get cold. Her hands felt numb and she was finding it hard to breath. She didn't notice that the traffic had stopped and she rammed into the car in front of her.
She just sat there in a daze as everyone scurried around her. She suddenly came to as the paramedics made her smell some salts. It was then that she felt the pain in her head and raised her fingers to her forehead. She winced from the sting and as she lowered her hand saw the blood on her fingers.
Thankfully it wasn't very serious, so the paramedics cleaned the wound up and took her home. She called her parents who were away on a trip and told them she had an accident but was ok. She then called her aunt who told her to switch off her phone and to get some sleep and she would be over in a couple of hours.
She took her advice and also told the maid to tell anyone who called that she wasn't in. She managed to sleep for a while and then woke up still in a daze, her head hurting a bit. She heard a slight knock on her door. It was the maid checking in on her and she informed her that her mom and dad had called and also that a Miss Stacey had called twice.
Ann's head cleared a bit as everything came back to her. Stacey, Kate, kissing. It all played back in her mind and it was too painful. Her eyes welled up and she started crying. She didn't hear her aunt knock and walk in. Mrs. Carlson thought that her niece was crying form the shock and pain and quickly went to her side to comfort her.
Ann let her think as she wanted, glad that she had a shoulder to cry on as she slowly felt her heart getting ripped to pieces. Thousands of absurd thoughts went through her mind. Each one crazier than the other: Kate and Stacey were long time lovers. Stacey was using her to get Kate jealous. That's why she didn't want Kate to find out.
And they must've made up the next day after Kate had seen them together. Now they were both laughing at her. Those crazy thoughts hurt her head even more than the wound on her brow. Later she and her aunt were going to sit on the patio to get some fresh air when they passed next to the phone and it rang.
The maid answered and turned to Ann to see if, now that she was awake, she would like to take the call. Ann told her to say she still wasn't home. When the maid hung up she told her it was Stacey and Ann wondered if she had heard her. But then she decided that she didn't care.
As she sat with her aunt, Ann could tell from the looks her aunt gave her that she knew something was bothering her other than the accident and she was grateful that she didn't try to inquire. Ann's aunt knew that she was a very careful and good driver. A silly distraction like that from her part was quite unusual.
Ann cried herself to sleep that night, and the next morning decided to let the family chauffeur take her to school. She hoped that the routine of school would get her mind off Stacey.
Her head wasn't hurting her that much anymore, unlike the pain in her heart and being cooped up in her room with her thoughts wasn't going to help at all. She switched her phone back on and she received a message that recounted to her the calls she had missed.
Stacey's name dominated the list. At school Ann's phone kept vibrating with phone calls from Stacey. She felt the slight pain in her head increase and now wished she was back home.
During lunch break she went to a quiet corner and called her mom to tell her she was fine and as she hung up, her phone rang. Ann didn't recognise the number but answered none the less. She froze when she heard Stacey's voice.
She couldn't believe the nerve of her acting like she had no idea what she was talking about, and above all that she was calling her from Kate's phone. When she had hung up she suddenly felt dizzy. A student passing by saw her swaying and caught her in time and took her to the school's infirmary.
The nurse gave her a tablet for the headache and reprimanded her for not staying in bed. She dismissed her for the rest of the day and made Ann call her chauffeur to come take her home so she could rest. Ann slept for a bit and dreamt of Stacey.
She woke up and put her fingertips to her cheek. They were wet. She had even been crying in her sleep. The maid knocked on her door and informed her that a girl from school was waiting to talk to her outside. When Ann saw Kate she couldn't believe how stupid she was to fall for that.
Her crazy suspicions were further enticed by Kate's laughter when she confronted her about her relationship with Stacey. She understood that Stacey didn't love her but why was she also hurting her like that. Was everything that had happened between them that meaningless to her?
Now Stacey was at the door, no doubt to rub it in some more. Ann went and sat at her desk placing her head between her hands, she felt extremely tired. Suddenly, she heard light tapping. She looked around her in the room trying to figure out where the noise was coming from when she suddenly realised it was coming from the window.
She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Stacey smiling at her while perched up on one of the branches of the tree outside her bedroom.
