Chapter 6




“Melanie, wait!” In a flash, Chris quickly caught up to her, grabbed her hand and slipped her a piece of paper.

“Wh--?” Melanie choked, tears were streaming down her face. She felt embarrassed to be caught crying, especially in his presence. Especially after what had almost happened.

“It’s my cell phone number, Melanie.” Chris said quietly. “I always have it on me and I’ll always answer. I meant what I said about wanting to be your friend, I do. I care for you so much and I know that something…[i]something[/i] other than what happened back there is hurting you. I want you to call me when you need to talk.”

Melanie stared at him stunned. No one had ever done that for her before. No one had ever cared. “I don…”

“It doesn’t matter how late it is or what time it is.” Chris continued. “Nothing even has to be wrong okay? You can call me anytime for anything.”

Melanie wiped away her tears. “Anything?”

“Anything.” Chris confirmed. “If you’re stuck some place you don’t wanna be or you need a way out…call me and I’ll come get you.”

Melanie took a step back in disbelief. “Mr K, this has to go way beyond…teachers [i]don’t[/i] do this type of thing. Teachers don’t give their students their cell phone number and pretty much offer themselves as a taxi service. Why are you doing this for me?”

“I told you, Melanie.” Chris said softly. “I care about you and this is what friends do. They look out for each other.” He sighs. “Look, I know that none of this is conventional. From a technical stand point, I should have let you go. I should’ve never told you to call me Chris, I should’ve never kissed you back and I shouldn’t be giving you my number, but I did and I am. I don’t regret any of what’s happened with you. My only regret is that I didn’t meet you sooner.”

Melanie chuckled and Chris noticed that it was a sad one.

“What is it, Melanie?”

“It’s just…are you for real?” Melanie asked, running a hand through her hair. “Seriously, are you for real cause the last time I checked knights and good guys died off a long time ago.”

“I’m no knight.” Chris replied with a shake of his head. “I’m just a man, Melanie. I’m just a man.”

“It’s nice of you all the same.” Melanie said. “I have to go.” She turned away and turned back around. “I um…I care too.” She looked up into his warm and caring eyes. “Way more than I should.” She turned back around and left.

Chris felt himself smile as he watched her walk away, her blonde hair bouncing against her shoulders.

[i]She cares about me too[/i], Chris thought and felt his heart flutter.

Flutter…

Chris’s smile dropped as he realized what was happening, what had already happened.

It was in this moment that he realized that he had fallen hard for Melanie Chasez.

Chris backed into his classroom, shutting the door and sliding down against it.

“Oh, shit.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Hey, Melanie!”

Melanie sat in the desk as she pulled out her history book. “Oh, hey Brit.” She forced a fake smile. She was still hurt from their last encounter.

Britney grinned back, completely oblivious. “So, me and the girls were talking….and you know what I think is the [i]perfect[/i] solution to your downness?”

Melanie sighed. [i]No[/i], she thought to herself slightly annoyed. [i]But I’m sure you’re gonna tell me[/i]. “What’s that, Brit?”

“A party!” Britney chirped full of bubbliness.

[i]Oh God[/i]. Melanie thought to herself semi horrified. She hated parties. It was just another function she had to fake more happiness at. She was so tired of pretending all the time to everybody that she was happy when in fact she was fucking miserable.

“No offense, Brit but I’m really not in the party mood…”

“You’re coming, Mel!” Britney stated authoratively . “Quit being such a stick in the mud. This is our senior year!” She grinned. “Senior! You know how long we’ve waited for this year, it’s the perfect time to have a party.”

Melanie ran a hand through her hair as she fought to search for some way to get out of this thing. “It’s like only our second week, Brit.”

Britney frowned. “So?”

“So, as [i]awesome[/i] as this party sounds….” Starr put all her enthusiasm into sounding like she cared. “Don’t you think it would be even more awesome if you had this at the end of this year?”

Britney appeared thoughtful and Starr had a smidge of hope that her friend was listening to her for once. “Oh my God, Melanie!” Britney had the hugest grin on her face and it terrified Melanie. Melanie knew that grin. What had she just put into her head? “You are like a genius!”

“Oh God,” Melanie muttered under her breath in disdain.

“We’ll have two parties!” Britney gushed. “We’ll have a party tomorrow night to celebrate how amazing this year is gonna be and on graduation we’ll have a graduation party! Oh my God, you so rock Mel!” Britney leaned across the isle to squeeze her friend tightly before letting go to pull her books out.

“Yay me.” Melanie muttered dryly.

Just then the teacher came in, and the class quieted down.

Melanie spent the rest of that class and the next for that matter wondering what in the hell she was gonna do now.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


It was about four thirty when Melanie pulled into the driveway of her mansion.

Melanie sat in her car for a few more moments, her head still spinning from her conversation with Britney.

“A party.” She spoke aloud. “I have to go to not one, but two fucking parties?!” She groaned and than her eyes lit up a bit as a thought struck her. “What are the odds she’ll believe I’m sick?”

Melanie shook her head, she’d figure something out. She always did.

She grabbed her bag and got out of the car, walking up the driveway and inside her house.

“Melanie!”

Melanie was taken aback by her parents cheeriness.
“Hello.”

“How was school?” Sonny asked.

Melanie dropped her bag in shock. “You never ask me that.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What do you want me to do?”

“Oh, Melanie must you always be so paranoid?” Kate asked in dismay.

Melanie shrugged, she’d never figure those two out. “Oh, well it was good. History was----”

“We just got off the phone with Britney’s mother.” Kate interrupted.

Melanie just smirked. Of course. She knew there was no way in hell they actually gave a damn about her day at school. They always wanted something from her. “Yeah, about that….I think I’m coming down with somet--”

“Melanie Chasez, you’re going to that party.” Sonny interrupted her firmly. “It’s time you do something for this family other than for yourself.”

Melanie just looked at them agape. When had she EVER done something for herself?! It was always ‘we need this, we need that.’ There was never any TIME for her to be selfish.

Sonny and Kate got up. “We have a ballet to go to. I do expect for you to go shopping tonight or tomorrow and get yourself something suitable.” Kate told her as she eyed her appearance critically. “You have a name to uphold.”

With that they left, shutting the door behind them.

Melanie picked up her bag and walked up the stairs, to her room. She shut the door and slung her bag on her chair.

“I’m so sick of living for everybody but myself!” Melanie shouted angrily.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out Chris’s cell phone number. He had told her she could call him for anything at anytime. She really did need someone to talk to.

[i]It wasn’t just that[/i], she thought to herself. She wanted to hear his voice, needed to hear his voice. It always brought a calmness to her.

She grabbed her cell phone and began to dial.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Chris Kirkpatrick had just gotten inside the door of his house, when he heard his cell going off.

He placed the groceries on the counter, as he grabbed his cell and noticed that it said “Chasez, Melanie”

He tried to ignore the small excitement he felt at the prospect of talking to her.

He pressed talk. “Hello?”

“Um, hey.” Melanie’s voice sounded slightly unsure. “It’s Melanie. You said that I could call you…”

“Of course.” Chris quickly said. “You can call me. Is….Is something wrong?”

“Kind of…sort of…” Chris could hear the trouble in Melanie’s voice.

“What’s going on?” Chris asked concerned.

“You’re not a teacher right now, right?” Melanie asked timidly. “I mean, anything that I say…you’re not gonna…”

“Anything that you choose to tell me, strictly stays between the two of us.” Chris assured her. “What’s wrong?”

“Everything.” Melanie admitted. “My friends and my parents they want me to do something. They want me to go to something, but I don’t wanna go, Chris. If I go, than I have to pretend I’m happy and I think you and I both know that I am [i]not[/i]…”

“Where do they want you to go?” Chris asked. “I mean, if you want to tell me. You don’t have to if…”

“No, it’s fine.” Melanie replied. “Britney is having this party…to celebrate senior year. I thought I’d talked her out of it,” She chuckled bitterly. “but what I wound up doing was giving her the astounding idea of having two f--” She broke off. “Sorry. Two parties.”

Chris laughed softly. “It’s alright. We’re not in class, you can speak freely.”

“Okay,” Melanie replied. “If I can speak freely, than I fucking hate this! My friends…my parents….they all want me to be something I’m not! And the worst part is…I don’t think they care! I know my parents don’t.”

“Melanie,” Chris had a very hard time believing that her parents were really as heartless as Melanie made them out to be. “of course your parents care. Did you try talking to them?”

“Yes!” Melanie shouted. “I tried and they told me that I needed to stop being selfish and think of the family. They said I have a name to uphold.”

Chris frowned. “Wow, that’s…I’m really sorry, Melanie. So, you have ‘those’ parents, huh?”

“What do you mean?” Melanie asked confused.

“I mean, you obviously…I mean, it sounds like you have socialite type parents. You know, the kind that care more about what people will think of them and their status, then they do….” Chris trailed off, not wanting to say it.

“It’s okay, Chris.” Melanie replied. “You can say it. They care more about their status than they do me. It’s cool.”

Chris frowned. “It’s not okay and how can you be cool with that? They’re your parents, Melanie. I don’t care that they were born with a silver spoon up their ass or not…it’s their job to take care of you, to put you first. And they are not.”

Melanie lightly chuckled at the silver spoon part, and than her tone came out in sadness. A sadness that broke his heart. “Chris…I made my peace with my parents not loving me a long time ago.”