The Cinderella | Wattys 2016

Chapter Seventeen.

Chapter Seventeen.

I was waiting by the lunch line, waiting with Maya for Emily to show up. I tapped my foot impatiently while Maya was biting upon her finger nail. That's when Em and Xavier entered lunch room, looking anything but happy. Maya and I shared a bewildered look before averting our gaze towards the couple. Xavier held Emily by her wrist, while Emily tried to squirm out of it.

"Do you think we should intervene?" Maya whispered to me.

"Let's wait. If it gets out of hand, then we should." I said as we observed Emily say something to him with irritation. Xavier let his hands up and placed a kiss on her cheek before sauntering away to his table. Em, however looked pissed as ever as she made her way towards us.

One thing about Emily; she is one heck of an actress. Her agitated expression changed into a cheerful one as she waved enthusiastically at us. "Hi, babes." She squeaked, as she pulled us in for a group hug.

We collected our lunch and settled down at our table. As Em devoured her chicken salad, Maya and I kept exchanging glances at each other.

"Should we ask her?" I whispered.

"Maybe, maybe not." Maya said lowly.

"What do you want to ask me?" Em intervened. I mentally face-palmed myself as I looked at Maya, who encouraged me to speak up. Letting out a sigh, I turned towards Emily.

"Are you and Xavier doing okay?" I asked. My question caught her off guard as her cheery bearing drained away, and her lips twitched down into a frown. She continued eating her salad without mumbling a word.

"Em, are you okay?" Maya questioned. She kept her spoon down, and took in deep breaths. I scooted closer to her, and put my arm around her torso. '

"You can tell us, whatever it is." I assured her.

"I heard Rosalyn and Lana talk about how Xavier was sexting Lana, and how he told her that he's gonna simply dump my pathetic ass." Emily gritted, as she held onto the fork, a little tighter than she should. Maya and my mouth were hanging down due to shock. The dude is simply foolish to overlook what he already has on hand.

"Are you sure that's what you heard? I mean, this can be one of Rosalyn's tricks to get rid of you." Maya suggested with an optimistic smile. I nodded my head in agreement as that is very a reasonable and a pragmatic possibility. Albeit Rosalyn Smith is junior, she is regarded as the queen bee of our school. She gets what she wants in a go, but in case she doesn't, she can go to any extent to attain it. That includes breaking up her brother and Emily's relationship and that also includes claiming Blake, who, she claims is in love with her. Just that thought reminded me of my encounter with Rosalyn and a couple of minions, few weeks ago.

I splashed some water on my face, as I was extremely sleepy. Those midnight cravings and back-aches devoid of me sleep. Wiping my wet face with a clean napkin, I was about to leave the girl's washroom when Rosalyn and a couple of girls walked in. No sooner did her eyes land on me than a scowl formed on her face.

"Look who is here, girls." Rosalyn whistled, "The boyfriend stealer."

"Rose, is she the girl who stole your boyfriend?" One of the chicks asked, looking at me with disgust, like I'm a piece of dirt.

"No way! She doesn't even have the looks or the body. And she's got a frigging pot belly for crying out loud." The other chick said, her voice floating with a mixture of surprise and odiousness.

Did they hit their head on their way here? Because from the sound of it, it certainly seems so.

Rosalyn stepped closer towards me, while the two girls surrounded from behind. "You should know that stealing something of Rosalyn Smith is pure lethal." She said pointing her index finger towards me. I stared at her with bewilderment. What did I steal? The dirt that accumulates under her manicured nails?