Is It A Crime?
Hold on! I'm so sorry! I accidentally left one chapter out and I forgot to upload it! (I don't what happened to me) However, I already put it in the right sequence. Again, I'm sorry! It's two chapters before this, "The Offer." If you haven't checked that out, please do as it plays an important part to the story. Thanks!
"Hey, Val..." Kai nervously tries to say something to her.
"Yeah, what," Val answers with her eyes still on her phone.
Kai takes a deep breath and says, "Hey... do you-" but gets cut by Val.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm late for practice! The band is performing for homecoming! Gotta go, bye!" Val rushingly says. She kisses Kai's forehead and rushes to the practice room.
Between the six of them, kissing each others' forehead and cheek is a normal thing.
Kai sighs and whines to himself, "How am I supposed to ask her about homecoming?"
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Felix walks out of his classroom and accidentally bumps into Emily, the girl that keeps being friendly to him. He startles and struggles to greet her causally.
He smiles awkwardly while thinking of a word to say to her. He chuckles a bit and stutters, "H-h, h-hi..."
She stares at him with a surprised smile and bursts to laugh. "You are so awkward huh. You're cute," she casually says while patting his shoulder and then leaves.
Felix stands there with perplexed eyes and a calmer heart since he's not talking to her anymore.
His eyes are suddenly on Beca who's holding back her tears right now.
Beca who was rushing suddenly stops when she sees Felix. After seeing a familiar face and a safe person to talk to, she breaks down in the hallway.
Felix, startled and surprised, grab her arms with worried eyes.
"Beca, what's wrong?" he asks her worriedly.
Felix just sighs and hugs her tightly. Seeing his best friend crying is probably one of the things that he hates the most.
Beca cries loudly in his Felix's chest to let out all the frustration and pain in her heart.
-Bleachers-
The bleachers are probably one of the safest place to talk in Seaside high. With those benches, they can get as many space as they want when, of course, no game is being played at the moment.
Felix and Beca sit there under the gloomy sky. It seems like the sky is turning grey as Beca's bright aura disappears.
Beca cries as hard as she can while trying to catch a breath in between.
She stops for a second and Felix starts to stare at her.
"You wanna talk?" he asks her worriedly.
She looks at him for a second and starts to sob again. "Huaaaaaaaaa" she cries uncontrollably that the tears can form a river.
Felix sighs and pats her in the shoulder.
"Oh, stop crying and talk!" he whines to her.
She lifts her face to see Felix and starts to cry a river again.
Felix moves closer and warmly hugs his best friend.
"Just cry. You can talk after you let it all out," he says with a bit of annoyed voice to hide his worries.
Beca cries harder and she hugs him tighter.
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"So... you got a crush on Nicholas and were about to be kicked out of the team?" he stops for a second and continues, "and Caleb knew already?"
Beca pouts and shouts, "This is a betrayal! A betrayal, I repeat!"
Felix shrugs it off and says, "I'm sure he has his reason, right..."
Beca just scoffs and looks away, knowing that Felix is right.
Her annoyed self is still not ready to talk to her twin brother, just yet. Her pride is still too high to come down and sort things out with her twin brother.
Felix breathes heavily and yells, "Why do you have to like him anyway! Dating sucks! You'll just get heartbroken in the end! Don't!"
Beca glares at him and shouts, "I can't choose who to like! It's not something I could decide!"
Felix lets a heavy breath out of his mouth and gently says, "You were about to get kicked out of the team and you still like him?"
"Yeah... I still like him! Is liking a person some sort of crime?! These people are so unreasonable! Urgh, I'm so mad, I can just kick them all in the ass!" Beca passionately shouts like she's going to burn the school down.
Felix stares confusedly at her and starts to laugh.
"Hahahaha! You were sobbing like crazy and now you're talking bad about them. I guess you're okay, now...." he warmly says while pushing her off of the bench casually.
"W-WOAH-"
She almost fell down had she not hold on to him fast.
"What the hell, dude? You were trying to kill me?!" she screams while still getting panicked from almost falling down.
After looking at each others' shocked and panicked expressions, they both burst out to laugh.
"HAHAHAHA! LOOK AT YOUR FACE, BECA!"
"YOURS WAS FUNNIER, GO TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF! HAHAHAHA!"
In the end they both just laugh under the gloomy sky with warm and relieved hearts, trying to accept, to understand, and to forgive.
Sometimes, a short talking session with someone that you're comfortable with is a remedy for a heartbreak.
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Joanne who is not in the same group with Alfred in today's science club meeting can't help to search for him in the room. Her eyes keep going to his direction when her mind is telling her the opposite.
"Urgh, focus!" she shouts in her mind, trying to block Alfred from driving her crazy.
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The meeting has come to an end and Alfred is packing his stuff.
Joanne secretly peeks on him with a heart beating so crazy that she can hear the sound of it.
"Control yourself, Jo..." she whispers to herself.
She braces herself to come to him. She moves her feet closer to him, heavily and unsteadily.
She takes a deep breath and says, "Hey-", but a girl cuts her by saying, "So, You'll pick me up right?"
Hearing that, Joanne suddenly become self conscious and insecure at the same time.
Are Alfrend and that girl going together for homecoming?
Are they dating?
All sorts of possibilities are creeping into her mind. She feels like a huge stone is thrown upon her heart. Butterflies are not in her stomach any more this time.
Alfred just nods calmly to the girl, meaning that he will pick her up wherever and whenever it is.
The girl cheerfully leaves him and there are only Joanne and Alfred left there.
He looks at her for a second and smiles sweetly at her.
"What is it?" he asks her.
Joanne startles for a second, but she decides to ask him anyway, "Are you... going with her to home-" and Alfred suddenly goes closer to her face.
They're only inches away now.
Joanne can see his green, warm, and beautiful eyes very clearly. His freckles, nose, eyelashes, and lips. She closes her eyes from the nervousness that she can't bear to feel anymore.
She waits for something to reach her lips, but instead she feels something is touching the under of her left eye.
"Your eyelash..." he mumbles while smiling warmly to her.
"I'm sorry, you were saying?" he asks her while still smiling as sweet as a strawberry cake that they often have at their favorite cafe.
Joanne takes a deep breath and says with a heart throbbing so hard, "Do you already have a date for homecoming?"
Her stomach feels like it's going on a roller coaster, her heart feels like she's been running for 5 km, and her cheeks are so red that make her look like she's burning up right now.
After a moment of waiting that lasts like years, Alfred finally opens his mouth and says, "Y-yeah... That girl asked me to be her date..." with a guilty tone.
His answer feels like an arrow that shot her in the heart. Not just humiliation, she also feels the heartbreak.
Even though the first thing she wants to do is cry, she smiles.
She tries her best to put up a smile in front of him and says, "Oh... cool! You guys look good together... Well, I'll see you later then..."
She turns away from him. Tears start to fill her monolid eyes and she walks to the door.
Although her heart is screaming, "Don't give up on him!" her whole body is telling her the opposite. She leaves him alone in the room.
After meeting Alfred, for the first time Joanne knows how it feels to have a crush. The lovely and hearthrobbing feeling that can make her go crazy all the time.
But that isn't all, she also feels the heartbreak.
For the first time, she knows the feeling of rejection from a boy. It's annoying and it's humiliating. But the worst is, it's breaking your heart.
Will she give up on her, apparently, one-sided crush or will she fight for her feelings?
-Earlier, after Beca left the basketball court-
Caleb sighs heavily knowing that his twin sister feels so betrayed right now. However, he doesn't feel like to follow and annoy her any further.
Instead, his eyes are on Nicholas at the moment.
Nicholas is still sitting blankly on the bench while Stacy, the cheer captain, looks at him with an annoyed and disappointed look. She scoffs at him and she walks toward the door.
She meets Caleb who is blocking her way. Caleb looks at her with pain in his eyes. His devastated look is bothering her for a second, but she already made the decision.
"Did you really have to do that?" he asks with a depressed and sad tone.
She looks away for a second to hide the guilt in her eyes.
"I had to. I did it for them," she says firmly with a piercing pair of eyes.
Caleb shakes his head heavily and says, "No... You did it for yourself..."
He stops talking for a second and continues, "Just wait, the rules are gonna change," Caleb says with a determination filling his eyes.
Stacy just looks into his eyes with a confused and annoyed face. She looks away and decides to get out of the court. She pushes Caleb who's blocking the door and she walks away with her cheer uniform swaying around from her rushing feet.
Now that Stacy is gone, Caleb stares at Nicholas who is looking down to his own feet.
Caleb walks toward him and says coldly to him, "Do you really like my twin sister?"
Nicholas lifts his head up and he immediately stands up. He looks at Caleb and stutters, "I-I, I do! I like her! I like her a lot!" with suffocated voice.
Caleb takes a step closer to him and says firmly, "Then fight for her. Don't be a coward and change the rules. You guys ain't doing any crime,"
Nicholas' eyes get bigger because Caleb just took him by surprise. He thought that Caleb would punch him in the nose from putting Beca in that situation.
Caleb's support feels like a salvation for him. A smile appears on NIcholas' face as if the drought is coming to an end.
The crisis of their relation may not be coming to and end for now, but at least he is determined to try again.
Nicholas looks into Caleb's eyes and says, "Thank you"
He walks toward the door with firm and determined steps. He is at the door and he takes a look at Caleb for a second.
Caleb smiles at him and Nicholas nods at him. He turns away and his feet are bringing him to her, to the person that he wants to fight for.
Their struggle may seem stupid and cliche, but at the moment, they feel it and it's real. When will their struggle come to an end? When will they can actually hold hands in the hallway?
It may not be now, tonight, or tomorrow.
However, there's one thing for sure:
Someday.
That day will come because they believe it will.