Cinderella's Twist

chapter fourteen: you're our sister. boom, legit reason

The emotions that are running through me are absolutely everywhere. I don't know if I should be mad at myself for not noticing and going with my gut. I'm completely shocked that it's him after all this time. I hate how he's completely two faced. The difference between him when I met him in Idaho and when I met him here are completely different. The only that's changed about me is that I have no mask on. He's the two faced jerk who's been wearing a mask.

I run out of the restaurant and sit down at a bench on the sidewalk. I hear footsteps approaching me and I look up and Noah is there.

"Lynn, let me explain," he says.

"What do you mean explain? There's nothing to explain," I say shaking it off and acting as calm as possible.

"No, there is. Trust me there is plenty of explaining," he says and sits next to me.

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

He takes a breath and looks back at me. "I've known."

"Known? Known what?"

"I've known you were the girl from the ball. Since the day I drove you home for. practice that one day," he admits and my heart feels like it sinks.

"Y-you've known? This whole time you've known! Well now i'm even more mad at you. You are such a two faced jerk, you know that?" I ask him as a rhetorical question and stand up. "You have the nerve to just come here and be as rude as you want when you meet me but when you met me back at the ball, you were nothing but a smooth talker. That's such a jerk move! I was still the exact same girl. And giving me the exact same nickname? That's low. How many other girls have that nick name, huh? Five? Ten? The whole state?! I mean this is ridiculous," i say running a hand through my hair.

"I knew when you told me about your ring. That's why I had you cover your eyes and smile. I knew I would be able to tell if it was you by that smile," he says and smiles a little. "I wanted to tell you but I didn't want you to act like this and think i'm some completely different guy. I didn't want you to be disappointed," he tells me and rubs the back of his neck.

"I need to go home," I say pulling out my phone.

"I'll take you home," he offers.

"No," I say quickly and sternly. "I'm calling my brother. Go back inside."

He looks at me like he wants to protest but he doesn't. Instead he looks at me one more time and turns to walk back into the restaurant.

I pull up Sanders name on my phone and click call. It rings twice before he picks up.

"Aren't you supposed to be on a date? Why are you calling me?" he asks me.

"Sanders, I need you to come get me," I say.

"I'll be there baby sis," he says. "Where are you?"

"That super fancy French restaurant mom and dad always go to that I can't pronounce," I say.

"I know what you're talking about. I'll be there soon don't worry," he says and hangs up.

I sit back down at the bench and put my face in my hands. I should've trusted my instinct. I knew it was him. I had a gut feeling but I ignored it because there's no way some guy who is so kind could be Noah Reed. And he knew! He knew this whole time and didn't tell me. He never even thought about telling me.

"You're depressing to look at."

I look up and see Sanders who's there with Ricky, Derek, and Lucas.

"Pretty," Ricky says with a shrug

"But depressed," Lucas adds.

"We brought you ice cream," Derek tells me and sits next to me. He hands me a cone of vanilla ice cream. Boring I know, but my favorite

"So, what'd Noah do?" Lucas asks.

"You guys wouldn't get it," I tell him shaking my head. "It's a long story."

"We have nothing but time. We can go for a drive. Mom gave us her SUV," Ricky says.

"Plus we won't leave you alone until you tell us," Sanders says and kicks his foot with mine.

My lip lifts up into a smile and i stand up. "Get comfortable in that car then because it's a long story."

***
"I'm going to drive back to that restaurant and punch him in the face," Derek says keeping his eyes glued to the road while Lucas cracking his knuckles.

"You don't have a legit reason to," i remind him.

"You're our sister. Boom, legit reason," Sanders says.

"This is something I have to deal with myself, guys. I love you for wanting to take care of this for me, but its my issue. He didn't tell me. Not you guys," I explain. "But I really never want to talk to him unless I have to."

Derek pulls into the driveway and shuts off the car and none of us move.

"Lynn, you're right. This is something you have to deal with yourself," Lucas says.

"But..." Ricky chimes in. "We're not saying that if we happen seeing him around we're just going to ignore him."

"Go inside," I say rolling my eyes.

I get out last and shut the door. I slowly walk up the driveway and to the front porch. I open the door and walk inside. It's late so I know my parents are in bed. I can hear the twins and Brian in the back room arguing over some video game. I don't bother saying hi to them and walk upstairs to my room. I change into shorts and a tank top, wipe off all of my makeup, throw my hair into a bun and get into bed.

I look over at my nightstand tibet my laptop but instead I spot a package with my name written on it. I pick it up and shake it to see if I can hear something. There's not much of a noise but there's still a noise. I grab the pencil that's there and rip it through the seal. I open the box and see a ring box, my mask from the ball, and a piece of paper.

I open up the ring box and see my moms ring inside and my heart jumps in my throat. I quickly take it out and put it on rubbing it like I usually do. I take out the mask and look at it before setting it down. Then I pull out the piece of paper and open it up. There's a collection of almost illegible handwriting inside.

red,
i should've told you the minute i found out. i should've been nice to you when i met you. i shouldn't have been a two faced jerk to you when you were nothing but nice to me. there's nothing i can do to fix what i did. i care about you. more than i have cared about any other girl in my life. these last few weeks have been great and i would do them all over again if i could. i hope you find it in your heart that's filled with an infinite amount of love and compassion for others to forgive me.
with love,
noah

i fold the note up. He just has to be sweet doesn't he? Such a smooth talker.

I put the note, ring box, and mask back in the box. I pull out my phone and pull up noah's text thread.

jaclynn @ 11:45 p.m.
     i got your note

He answers almost immediately.

noah @ 11:46 p.m.
     and?

jaclynn @ 11:46 p.m.
     and i forgive you

noah @ 11:48 p.m.
     so i'll pick you up fro school on monday?

I smile and bite my lip.

jaclynn @ 11:48 p.m.
     yeah. you will. goodnight noah ;))

noah @ 11:49 p.m.
     goodnight red ;))