I couldn't sleep again.
It had been two weeks since I've had this urge to stay awake until dawn and it had drove me crazy. No matter what I did, I just couldn't go back to sleep. The first time this happened, it was at two in the morning and I'd sit on the three panel built-in window seat and stared at the moonlight that shone its way through my window.1110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgMcfQ7noo
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This time, I had the urge to get out and breathe in the night air. You would probably think that I was crazy for wanting to go out in the middle of the night just to get some fresh air but I only went to the park near my house, which was only around the corner.
Also, we had a night watch that came by and patrol around at least every hour. I walked over to the window pane and leaned against the frame as I looked out the window. The houses across mine were dark and quiet whereas the street were almost empty leaving only a car or two parked beside a curb. The only thing that gave it away was the light illuminating from the tall lamp posts located every five houses. The moonlight seemed to shine brighter as each seconds go by. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand then put on a hoodie as I started for the door.1110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQck1fRRIBa
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Since both my parents were asleep, I tried not to make much noise as I closed the creaking front door quietly. That door was in need of a fixing, really. Its creaking noise reminded me of a scene in an eerie abandoned mansion whenever something was about to happen.
Houses and parks.
That was literally what the neighbourhood that I live in consist of because I live in this close-knit community where everyone knew each other although it was not to the point where they'd harass you with extreme kindness and shower you with home-baked pies and muffins.
No, I imagine that wouldn't be pleasant and just plain weird, for me at least.
It was quite a sight actually, with its cut lawns, modern built houses, green scenery and clean roads. But it was also quiet - too quiet for my liking, sometimes. There weren't any malls, coffee shops or boutiques around here - those things could only be found in the town by a mile and city, two miles from the town. The first week we moved here, I took some time strolling around the place starting from the main entrance of Milton Gates and noted that the entrance was a huge iron built gate with tall green trees around it that never seem to end. When my parents said that we'd be moving to a pretty remote area, I didn't think it'll be this remote. Still, I wasn't exactly complaining because that was the day where I found the park near my house.
Situated on a hill, which was more like an average bumpy hill, it only had iron balustrades around it, a big oak tree, a tall lamp post and a bench. It was almost dusk and I didn't feel like going home so I walked a little bit and stopped there. I wasn't prepared for the scene unfolding before me. The view of the sun almost setting, a sky bruised with purple, red and orange and a horizon of buildings lined across the ocean, I thought it looked magnificent. So I sat there on the bench and watched for who knows how long until the sun goes to sleep and its companion takes its shift.
Okay so I got home at seven past thirty, where the last glimmer of the sunset began to fade. That also happened to be the time my mum called my phone, yelling about how irresponsible I was for not informing my whereabouts. Yeah, my bad.
But that was six months ago.
I turned around the corner and made my way towards the hill. It was always empty even during daylight and I was glad, really because I felt like it was my secret place that only I knew despite it being public. I sat on the bench accompanied by nothing but light from the lamp post and moon, and stared into the distance, noting that I could see the lights from the city as it glimmered brightly. The wind whistled as the trees swayed to the flow of it and I really thought this spell of a moment couldn't be broken.
That was, until I heard a rustle.
Alarmed, I got up from the bench and looked around frantically. "Who's there?"
Silence.
And then some rustling.
By this time, I was already in my fight-mode stance. There was some movement in the bushes and I was really, really hoping it would be some harmless animal - oh, it was just a cat.
Still stricken, I watched as the furry little thing leaped into the light and scurried away into the darkness before heaving a sigh of relief.
"It scared you, huh?"
I screamed.
I turned around, about to give an earful of blister to the person who scared the hell out of me when I was met with my least favourite person.
"Sebastien." I blankly said.
Sebastien Reagan, a tall guy with green-eyes and dark blond messy hair was probably my number one mortal enemy in the entire universe. He was the most annoying, arrogant, know-it all jerk I had ever encountered in my eighteen years of existence and it all started when we were ten years old in elementary. I was playing hopscotch with the other kids when this douche appeared out of nowhere and pushed me to the ground. He told me it was an accident and I would have probably bought it if weren't for the fact that he laughed it off and high-fived his friends when he thought I looked away. A couple years later, he started to mess with me by shoving me to the lockers, tripped me in the hallways and had gotten me into numerous situations that involved several trips to the principal's office. I disliked the guy with a passion.
With a smirk on his stupid face, he drawled out lazily, "What are you doing here in the middle of the night, Faye?"
"I could ask you the same, Sebastien." I scowled.
He shrugged. "I was at a party, it was lame so I left."
"And you just happen to walk by this park?" I was already facing him with my arms crossed as I raised an eyebrow.
"Well yeah, considering it's public not to mention the only park in this neighbourhood, to my knowledge, that is." He said in a 'duh' tone.
I rolled my eyes at him. "I guess you should broaden your knowledge then. There are two parks in this neighbourhood." I counted off two fingers to his face. "One, is near the gates of the entrance and two, is the one we're standing on right now. Seriously, do you even live here?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked.
To my satisfaction, he looked quite displeased with the information.
"One, I do live here, and its five houses down to yours, in case you didn't know that and two, well forgive me princess if I didn't notice this place before since I just fucking moved here."
Unfortunately, that bit was true. Even though we went to the same school, Sebastien and his family had just moved here from the city a month ago and I knew this because his parents and mine turned out to be long lost besties or some shit during their college days or so I heard from them. And the worst part of it all that worsened this was the fact that our parents were trying to get us to hook up! I mean, what the actual fuck? There were occasions where we were having guests over (no surprise really because the guests happened to be Sebastien and his family - although I've got nothing against them just their devil of a son), my mum and his mum would try to get us to spend some time together... except I do not want to do that because fact number one, he was not my friend and two, we didn't belong in the same pack. And our dads! Trying to get us to hang with both our friends while dropping hints that we should go to the same college? It just doesn't happen. They really weren't good with being subtle, I'd tell you that.
I laughed and cast a casual wave at him. "Whatever you say, Reagan."
He took two steps forward and towered over me with a scowl on his face. "Watch it, Olivier. I could make your life a living hell."
Completely unabashed, I gave him a blank stare. "Yeah, of course that would be the first thing you'd say. And as if you haven't already."
He started to become smug. "Good to know that I'm affecting you-"
"Sebastien, you hardly had any effect on me. So go and boast elsewhere." I shook my head and faked a yawn which led me to really yawn a little.
He look momentarily surprised before it took a complete different turn. A slow smirk started forming onto his face and I have to admit, it made me feel uneasy because, well - normally bad things happened whenever someone had an evil expression on their face. And I certainly had some unfortunate incidents that involved Sebastien in it.
"What the hell are you up to now?" I warily asked.
He feigned innocence, the smirk still playing on his lips. "Nothing."
"Bullshit. I know that look, Sebastien and let me tell you something, you better not do anything-"
He cackled. "Relax, will you? Why are you so easily frightened? Man, I just love messing with you! " Well, this guy had gone mad.
And he wanted me to relax.
Still feeling uneasy, I looked at him gingerly as I made my way towards the neighbourhood. "Yeah, okay I'm gonna go back now. See you never."
I turned around and walked in hasty steps towards the direction that I was heading. I don't get that guy at all, I truly don't. As I was nearing my house, I could still hear his laughter, despite it being faint.
Yup, definitely mad.
"Lacey, my love!" I all but yelled when I spotted my target.
Said target snapped her attention to my direction before her eyes widened and a smile graced her features. "Faye!"
And now's the cue of two high school senior girls running towards and embraced each other before one of them gets hit on the arm.
"Ow!" Lacey moaned.
"Oh, shut up, I didn't even hit you that hard. What happened to your phone, hm?"
Standing at five foot five with me towering over her at least two inches, a pair of hazel-green eyes and raven-coloured hair in contrast with my dyed light blue hair and brown eyes, Lacey-Claire Jones had been my bestfriend since we could both talk. I haven't seen her since our school break two weeks ago even though we live like half an hour from each other. She knew about my hatred towards the school's resident jerk (which was pretty useless when I was the only one who came up with it because he's on good terms with almost everyone in school ugh), Sebastien because she had heard me complained about him far too many times. It's kinda hard to convince your best friend to take on your side when he and his friends were nice to her hence why it puzzled her whenever I complained about his atrocious behaviour towards me. That green eyed devil. He's even had my best friend believing his innocent façade!
Lacey smiled cheekily at me before she slung an arm over my shoulder. We made our way to the school's hallway.
"Sorry, I lost my phone. I've already got a new one though so you can be damn sure that I'll text you."
I pursed my lips at her. "You better."
We stopped at our lockers to grab the necessary books for our first class all the while talking about what went over during our short break. I didn't get to tell her about my accidental rendezvous with Sebastien as she seemed to be absorbed with her story. I figured I would just tell her later, and since Lacey and I had different classes in the first to the third period, we both agreed on meeting each other during lunch.
I walked to my first period, English and sat in the back of the class. It was ten minutes before the class started and since I didn't really know anyone with the exception of Sebastien who were fraternizing with his friends at the front, I decided to do some doodling. I was halfway doodling a random unidentified object when I felt someone's presence or rather a shadow looming over me. On an instinctive act, I looked up.
I wished I hadn't though.
"Wow, that's a shitty looking thing. What is that anyway, a face?" Sebastien said in a matter-of fact tone.
Well, he just had to comment on everything, huh?
"Is that right? I actually tried to draw you and honestly I'm surprised you would even comment about it but then again it's you we're talking about so of course you'd recognize yourself." I smiled sweetly.
There were some faint snickers behind him, two of them being the unidentical twins best known as the resident jokesters in his group, Jasper and Kasper Caruso and some other people in the class who heard us.
Sebastien looked greatly offended and just as he was about to open his mouth, our teacher, Ms. Evers came bustling in with her beaming smile.
"Morning, everyone! Alright, I'd like everyone to take their seats now because today we're going to watch a movie and since we have three hours to spend, we'll be having some quiz later. I'll be randomly pairing who with who and the first one to be paired is…."
I couldn't comprehend how she just said all that in one breath and I was honestly quite in awe because-
"….Sebastien Reagan and Faye Olivier!"
What. The. Fuck.
"You again?" Sebastien and I both asked. The former, a bit surprised while mine in annoyance.
I couldn't sleep again so I thought I'd just go outside and take a fresh air when I bumped into him on the sidewalk.
"Honestly, I keep seeing you a lot these days. Are you stalking me or something?" I crossed my arms and gave him a skeptical look.
He scoffed and sneered. " That's the last thing I'll ever do to you, believe me. The question is though, are you stalking me?"
I scrunched my nose in disgust. "No!"
We stood on the sidewalk glaring at one another until I sighed.
"Look, I just want to take some breather, alright? So can you just go away?"
Sebastien stared at me before he uttered a syllable. "No."
I quirked and eyebrow up and asked him, "Um, why?"
He paused his steps and turned to look at me, his green eyes piercing through my brown ones. "Because I needed to take some fresh air too." before resumed walking.
Huh.
I watched as he strode casually towards the park on the average bumpy hill with his hands in his pocket and catched up with him.
We didn't talk while walking and even as we reached the park, he kept his distance by leaning against the iron balustrade as I sat on the bench. It was actually quite a pleasant night. But it was too quiet...and me being someone who sometimes couldn't stand the silence when with a company tried to make a small talk.
"What are you thinking?" I asked aloud.
Sebastien, looking as though he was in a deep trance earlier was startled as he didn't seemed to expect that I was going to say anything. Well bud, we were going to have to talk to each other sooner or later anyway.
He turned his gaze to me. "Nothing. What are you thinking?" He grinned.
I stared at him and shrugged before gazing at the horizon ahead of me. I was such an expert in keeping the flow at conversations, right? Not. Yet I try though so I guess I deserved some points there.
While I was racking my brain to come up with something else, Sebastien made his way towards and sat down beside me.
Noticing that he was sitting too close for my comfort, I moved a little bit farther from him.
"I'm affecting you that bad, huh?"
Looking up, I saw that he had a smirk on his face. That made me snapped, "Negatively, yes."
He sighed. "Lighten up, will you? Seriously, why do you hate me so much?"
"Seriously? You're asking me that?"
His eyebrow twitched a little. "I wouldn't be asking that if I knew what your problem is."
I laughed bitterly. "Well then, let me enlighten you."
Taking a deep breath, I looked him in the eye and said, "You were a jerk to me. Ever since elementary. Also, you kinda made my life hell."
He grinned triumphantly. "Aha! So I did have an effect on you-"
"-which is something that you shouldn't be proud of!" I seethed and that seemed to shut him up.
I continued. "There's also the part where you tripped and shoved me in class and hallways whenever we crossed paths like what the hell are you even trying to accomplish?" I was already standing up when I said this, yelling at him in the middle of the night. I looked back and saw that his head was hung low. Good, I needed to say this and I wasn't even close to finishing it.
"Did you think I would just accept that and let you bully me around? You were fine with the other girls, jocks or not yet I was the one you picked on. I just don't get it. What is it exactly that you want from me, Sebastien? 'Cause honestly, I'm so tired of this." I ended my rant with a huff as the night became colder. Rubbing my arms repeatedly to keep some heat on, I glance at Sebastien only to find him sitting still on the bench, head still hung low. I quirked an eyebrow. After all that pent up frustration I let out, he hasn't got anything to say?
Cautiously, I moved towards him and poked his shoulder lightly. "Hey, say something."
Few seconds passed before I saw that his shoulders started shaking. My anger started to flare as I thought he was laughing silently because…well, because it's Sebastien and he'd normally made fun of me for pretty much everything that I say or do. I was also prepared to fight in case he gets angry but then something else happened.
He started sniffling.
I blinked a couple of times as I stood there right in front of him. Confused, I crouched down and leaned closer. "Sebastien…?"
He looked up to my face sharply with glassy eyes. There were tears pooling in his eyes which made me widened mine.
"What…what the fuck? Sebastien, are you crying?" I asked, astonished. There's nothing wrong with guys crying but considering I've never seen him like this and this was Sebastien I was talking about, the guy whom I've known to play pranks on me since elementary, the guy who'd picked on me for literally no reason, I just didn't know what to make of this.
He sniffled again, looking away from me as he wiped the tears. "N-no. It's a bit misty here." He mumbled.
I had to chuckle at that. "The air is as clear as the water in Bahamas, Sebastien."
He hadn't stop sniffling and I was starting to feel bad. Which kinda pissed me off a bit.
"Y'know," I started. "You're starting to make me feel and look like a bully here." I crossed my arms before adding an afterthought. "Which I'm not."
He glared at me for a bit before calming himself. Running his fingers through his hair, Sebastien took a deep breath before exhaling a puff of cold air. "I'm not used to getting yelled at…like that. In fact, I'm not used to that at all." He shrugged. At the look of my disbelief that was etched across my features, he looked at me blankly.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking. 'He's such a brat.' or 'No wonder he's a jerk!'" Chuckling without humour, he looked at me pointedly. " I know, alright?"
"It doesn't excuse what you did to me though." I said slowly as I sat beside him.
"I know that too." He sighed and leaned against the bench.
We were both quiet as he looked around our surroundings while I played with the hem of my hoodie. The sound of wind whistling cut through the cold air and cars were heard wheezing through outside the community of Milton Gates. As well as the sound of someone cursing loudly at a barking dog.
Must be Mr. Grant. He was the only neighbour that I knew who was kinda grumpy most times.
As if we had a mental agreement about the matter, Sebastien and I chuckled softly before staring at each other, resuming what we were doing before, ignoring one another. Then, I heard him sighed.
"I'm sorry," He started. "I know I was being a jerk to you. I guess, it was just an opportunity that was too good to pass up. You know, you'd always get so angry easily, it's funny." He chuckled.
"Glad I amused you, Sebastien." I sarcastically said.
He muttered softly, "And sensitive too."
I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you trying to apologize?"
He looked at me, putting his hands up defensively. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry, okay? For every bad thing I've done to you. It was a shitty move on my part. I just didn't really-"
He stopped mid-sentence. As I looked at him, he met my gaze and said softly as he lowered his gaze elsewhere, "I just didn't really know how to approach you."
I stared at him as my mind processed those words.
"Why would you even…I mean, people like you are not supposed to have problems like th-"
He was taken aback. "What do you mean people like me? Everyone have their own problems even if it seemed like a petty matter, Faye."
I stuttered. "W-Well, you could just approach me like you did with everyone else!"
His eyebrow began to twitch again. "I just said I didn't know how to do that-"
"Why?" I countered back.
"Because I heard your conversation with your friend telling her that you hated me! And I didn't even know why back then." He paused as he ran a hand through his hair again. "And I just..I don't know, it kinda pissed me off so I guess that's where this all sort of started, huh?" He then chuckle humourlessly.
I processed all of that. The only person who knew about my issue with Sebastien was Lacey and I remembered telling her about it when it all first started. But that was almost eight years ago.
I sighed a bit before casting a blank look. "You're an idiot, you know that?"
He returned my blank stare of his own. I got up and stood in front of him. "But, I guess I'm partially to blame for this too. I mean, hell, we could have avoid all of this if only we had confronted each other about it." I plastered a grin to my face.
Looking up, Sebastien stared at me before letting out a chuckle. "Yeah."
Then, in a blink of an eye, his expression changed into something of a confusion. "Wait, I never really knew why you hated me though."
I blinked at that. Right. With a shrug, I said, "You pushed me onto the ground in fourth grade. It was completely out of the blue and I didn't even know you."
He looked surprised. "I did that?"
I nodded. "Mhm. You apologized but I figured it wasn't sincere because then you high-fived your friends afterwards."
He mulled them over and with an indifferent look, said, "Wow, I really was a jerk, wasn't I?"
"Finally, something you and I can agree on." I grinned. He rolled his eyes but there was some mirth in them. "I already said I'm sorry. And I meant that."
I smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah."
I walked to the iron balustrade and leaned against it as Sebastien strolled towards and did the same beside me. My mind wandered to those times when we had fights -some were even silly ones because of this and now that I had thought about it, we could have solve this years ago. Then again, who knew what we could have been. I glanced at him and saw that he, too, seemed to have been lost in his own thoughts. As if noticing that I was looking at him, he caught and held my gaze.
"You know, I've wanted to do this for quite sometime now, Faye." He said quietly.
My eyes widened slightly. Um..what does he mean by that?
Suddenly, Sebastien smiled and held his hand out. "Let's not do this mortal enemy thing anymore. Truce?"
Oh. He scared me there for a second, really. I chuckled at that mentally.
I looked at him, searching for any mischievous glint in his eyes but found none. I never thought we'd come to this day where Sebastien Reagan was holding his hand out for me to shake on a truce. Heck, I was surprised we'd even come this far in a conversation slash argument. But I was also getting tired of this little feud. And who would have thought that he could actually be a decent being after all? Guess I was too blinded by my aversion to see that. Perhaps we could get along and maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. I noticed he's starting to get a bit nervous because apparently I took quite a while in giving an answer. I've made up my mind but I pretended to mull it over again.
I glanced at his extended hand and looked to his expecting face. "Hmm, what will it mean if I do accept this truce, though?"
There was a bit of relief on his face before he grinned slowly. "Well, for a start, it'll mean we'd have a friendship."
I tilted my head a bit as I pondered on that and nodded. "Ah, interesting. What else?"
Sebastien seemed to get where I was going with this because he chuckled and played along. "I'd try to be less of a jerk to you."
"Hmm, that sounds really good, actually. Is there more?" I asked, a grin played on my lips.
He paused and looked at me before grinning widely. "Imagine our friends' reactions. Especially the twins."
I had to laugh. "It would be priceless, I hope. And Lacey's too."
"I think we've covered the basics for now. Do you wanna add anything else?" he asked.
I looked at him. Somehow the idea of forming a friendship with him seemed appealing to me now. Maybe something great would bloom out of this. High school was going to be over in a few more months and I honestly thought I'd leave this place without even thinking about our dispute. But now I was glad we were trying to make some amends. Who knows? Maybe Sebastien and I could be close friends.
With a grin of my own, I shook his hand and said, "Truce."
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