See You Again

XIV

I rolled my eyes and headed upstairs, knocking softly on the dark wooden door of her room. There was no sound on the other side, so I knocked again. At the answering silence, I dared open the door and enter the white room and slowly approach the bed.

I knelt beside her and debated in either shake her or call for her. I called her first, and it's funny how I was whispering, though the idea was waking her up.

"Vanessa," I said softly and shook her arm. She shuddered and pushed my arm away before slowly removing her mask. She looked beautiful, even with messy hair and no makeup.

"Happy birthday, beautiful," I mused, and she looked up, surprised. I had never seen her so vulnerable, but I kind of liked it, without the superiority mask.

"Thank you. " She smiled and sat up, looking at me.

"Can I lead you downstairs?" I asked, extending my hand.

"You may await me outside so I can get dressed properly," she said, and I backed away, leaving her in her own space.

Leaning against the wall just outside, I saw Ezra and Leah leaving his room to join everyone downstairs. After what seemed like hours, she finally left the room in a winter velvet, dark green dress and hair perfectly styled falling down her back. She looked like heaven on Earth.

"You're stunning," I said, and she smiled, that smile that told the world she knew how much she was worth.

"I know."

She took my arm, and we walked down the stairs to meet everyone else at the table. I was happy to see her smile.

After everybody had breakfast, we shared our gifts. I took the box from my pocket and opened it to her, the shiny bracelet tucked neatly in it. I grabbed it and placed it around her wrist.

"It's so pretty," she said and kissed my cheek in a matter of thank you.

I stepped back to let others reach her and joined McKenzie, who was delighted with her croissant.

"You're going to take her out for lunch?" she asked.

"We had planned we would all go."

She nodded. "That's nice. I hope you have fun."

I frowned at her, not understanding what she meant by it. "Will you not come? 'What could you possibly be doing all alone in this house?"

"My flight is in a few hours, William," she said dryly. "Peter is taking me to the airport later."

Only then did it hit me she was not going back to London with us, that she did not belong to our school and that I did not know when was I going to see her again and I think that I'll miss her more than I'm willing to admit.

"When will you come back?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know... I don't even know if I'm coming back."

"Of course, you are," I said before I could control myself. "For the summer holiday! You need to be here."

Summer seemed too far away, but I remember clearly Vanessa saying we should come back here in summer.

She thought about it and then nodded. "Summer it is. And as you don't need me right now, excuse me, but I have to go pack my bags."

I watched as she left and then Ezra was next to me again.

"She's hot," he noted.

"I hadn't even noticed, " I answered. It wasn't true. Occasionally, I had seen how beautiful she was, but I didn't let myself think about it, not when I could look at Vanessa all day long.

"Maybe if I had hit on her instead, Leah would have broken up with me," he continued.

I wanted to smack him in the face. If he doesn't like her, just break up at once! She can't be that scary!

"Does she have dirt on you?" I asked, "Is she blackmailing you?"

"Who? Leah? No, but she always says no when I try to put an end to things."

I frowned. "But you told her you guys were done, right?" he nodded. "Okay then, you're not her boyfriend anymore. I don't care what she says. You're free, mate."

"I don't think it works like that"

"It does now. You're single. Go live your life."

Leah looked at us as if hearing and he shuddered under her glare and then straighten and marched to her as if to confirm what I had just said.

The morning passed quickly, and we were gathering to leave for lunch, but Kenzie said her goodbyes first. She hugged Vanessa and Peter tightly and told Leah lovingly to stop being a bitch.

"You better not eat my After Eights next time," she warned Ezra and moved to Walt. "I look forward to meeting you since we never actually spoke, but I know what you were doing while missing." That made him blush.

When she moved to me, she grabbed a chair and hopped on it right in front of me, making me laugh. Looking down at me, she rested her hands on my shoulders.

"You, Willy, you better stand up for yourself too, because you and Ezra are more alike than you think with girls. Anyway, we're still not friends. I'll soon forget you. Have a nice day."

And she got off the chair, leaving me looking at air dumbfounded. Rude! I hope she doesn't mean any of those things. She's a great friend since she listens to my midnight musings and answers always so vaguely. I'll miss her.

She left with Peter to the airport and we went straight to the restaurant, awaiting him there. Unfortunately, I sat far away from Vanessa as Leah needed to be near her and Peter had a spot kept beside her. Everybody wanted to sit near the birthday girl and not all got the chance.

I spent the meal trying to talk to her unsuccessfully and resumed chatting with Walt about tomorrow.

At home, we just packed stuff quickly, ready to leave anytime, but as we locked the house and loaded cars with bags, Cami and Phoebe showed up to say goodbye.

"I'm going to miss you, Willy Boo," Cami said, hugging me tightly while Phoebe and Ezra exchanged phone numbers under Leah's dark glare. She would have to get used to it. "Promise you'll come back."

"I probably won't," I lied and got out of her grip, sliding into the passenger seat of Ezra's car.

I looked at the house one last time before losing its sight and prepared myself for a long ride.

It was already dark when they dropped me at home and I dragged my bags to the backdoor and walked without noise.

I found mum and Sadie watching a rather violent film on TV and dropped them on the sofa where they were without ceremony. They yelled as I fell in their laps.

"Oh dear, I did not know you would get so happy to see me."

"Idiot," Sadie flickered my forehead. "Could you not be an arse all the time?"

"Ah, language!" I said before mum had the chance, "That's not how you talk to your dear older brother."

"Why did you take so long?" Mother asked. "I was getting worried."

"Ah, you know, Vanessa and I had a slight detour..." I trailed.

"As if," Sadie snorted. "She's most likely keeping herself for marriage"

"And you could find many better girls to date," my mum complained, as always.

I shrugged and sat up. "Whatever. I'm tired. Good night!"

They both looked at me in shock, as if the thought of me going to sleep was crazy, and it was because I didn't.