Chapter Four

                                    

                                          
Chapter Four.
                          
Noel. 
                          
It had been about a week since I had met the Fire Girl, and we had been getting closer and closer But I wanted to be closer. And I had yet to find out her name. The more I saw her the more I fell in love with her. On her collar bones, swirling lettering read "Once upon a time..." "... The end". She even admitted to loving fairy tales. How I wanted to be her Prince Charming. But that was all I knew about her. She still remained a mystery; a fairy tale ghost.
                          
We sat on the edge of my bed, Wii steering wheels in hand. She was looking partially beautiful; her dreadlocks pulled half up, dark tie dye harem pants and a tight black rib vest, a pale pink lip gloss on her otherwise bare face. A smile was on her lips as her King Boo voomed past my Yoshi; hitting it with a lightening power.
                          
"You're cheating!" I accused, grinning ear to ear. Her eyes barely left the screen as she quickly glanced my way.
                          
"How the heck am I cheating?!" She half yelled back, in a defensive manner. She pressed her boost and passed the finish line, leaving me and the other racers behind. She threw her remote on my dark Star Wars bed sheets and punched the air with her closed fists, in a sort of celebratory dance. "I beat you! I beat you!" She chanted, grinning at me. I didn't even cross the finish line, I just threw my remote down and crossed my arms childishly. Her 100 watt smile didn't falter at all. It was a smile that may my heart sing.
                          
I brushed my finger up her spine causing her to squeal. "No! Noel! Don't!" I just smiled. I drew my fingers up her ribs causing her to squirm and giggle.
                          
"Someone's ticklish," I reported to her, and she blushed. The giggling and blushing seriously made me want to kiss her more than ever.
                          
"Please don't..." She pleaded me as I went to pressure her sides.
                          
I took a moment just to admire her. The pale pink smirk that she wore; her beautiful violet eyes; her long eyelashes; the stud above and the stud below her lip; the ring on her nose; the tattoo just below her chin that said 'Just Breathing' with a coffin beside it; the sugar skulls on her arm; the lettering on her knuckles; the dark trees and birds on the other arm. She was beautiful. Her smirk had faded and she was biting her lip as our eyes locked. I edged closer to her, our foreheads touching
                          
"Arabella..." She whispered, just stopping our lips from meeting. I looked blankly at her. I didn't even know if I was hearing right. "My name is Arabella."
                          
I sat up straighter, a little taken a back. She was shaking as she stood up, grabbing her phone. She took one look back at me, before whispering:
                          
"I was never faithful
                          
 And I was never one to trust
                          
 Borderlining schizo
                          
 And guaranteed to cause a fuss
                          
 I was never loyal
                          
That's why I spend my days alone
                          
 I'm forever black-eyed
                          
 A product of a broken home"
                          
I knew the song she was quoting from, and it sent shivers down my spine. The lyrics made me think. Was this her way of telling me what and who she was?
                          
"Wait! Arabella! Don't leave!" I raced down the stairs towards the front door. She was just closing the door when I reached it. She stopped and sat on my front step, and I sat beside her. "What did you mean by that? And why did you leave?"
                          
A tear tumbled down her bronze skin. "It's who I am, Noel. I have issues that you don't know about. In case you haven't noticed, unfortunately life is no fairy tale. There's no happy ending. No Prince saving a Princess. No love. It's all pretend, fake. I've seen families break and tear due to this. Mine. My father isn't my real father. My real father accepted who I was. And Mother divorced him, for that reason. She sent him away, having nothing to do with his daughter. When she remarried and had Primrose, it broke me." Tears were now flowing down her face. "It sent me crazy. I had spent three years in a special hospital. The walls creating monsters. Voices in my head, telling me to die. I'm no longer living, I'm just breathing."
                          
This was the most she had ever told me of herself. I took her hand in mine; our fingers lacing together. She looked down at our intertwined hands.
                          
"What are you doing?" She whimpered.
                          
"Don't question it. Did the Princess ever question the Prince? No. They fell in love. No questions. No doubt." I whispered, inching closer to her.  "Did Cinderella ever hesitate in falling in love? What about Snow White?"
                          
Arabella swallowed nervously. Our lips were barely touching, I could feel the start of sparks; fireworks. But she pulled away before I could actually kiss her, and ripped her hand from mine. She sat there for a few seconds, looking lost, before running away from me. I hung my head in my hands, I felt empty without her. Why did she do this to me? I looked down at the place she was once sitting; her phone sat in her place. Her phone; Cinderella's slipper. I pocketed it and went back into the house feeling giddy. My mother stood before me, her brown hair tied in one plait.
                          
"What's wrong, dear?" She asked, in her sugary sweet voice.
                          
I smiled. "For with each dawn, I found new hope that someday, my dreams of happiness would come true."
                          
"You, boy, " She pointed her wiry thin finger at me. "Have been reading fairy tales too much."
                          
I couldn't help but smile even more. What I had said was true. Someday my dream of happiness would come true. I would have her; Arabella.
                          
---
                          
Picture on the side this the tattoo of trees and birds, and the video is Black-eyed by Placebo, which is the song Arabella quoted for. And the quote he said is slightly paraphrased and from Cinderella. So, this was dramatic :P what did you think..? x