chapter 10

Alexa had cried bitterly , her face had nearly turned red , , she had wept her mascara on her eyes and the tears had washed the eyeliner on her face , " alexa is everything alright" , " do I look okay" , alexa said , Jennifer's friends them came to look for her they found her quarreling with alexa , " is everything okay here" tom said , " tom I think everything is fine we can settle this on our own" , they then went back and left Jennifer and alexa alone , Jennifer and alexa entered the locker room and locked . Alexa then sat on a chair , she looked closely into the mirror all she could see was her face messed up with her makeup and tears " is this the look of failure" , " come on alexa , this is normal don't be so carried away by your feeling , it happened to me the previous time , when lanna beat me , but she tried to cool me down and old me to try my best , winning is every one's wish , but success is random , another time you may win , when everything seems lost never give up" , " but how I just tried my best to win but it is still nothing after all" , " back when I was in rehearsal you made a big mistake , the audience saw it all , and you refused to hear my advice , they saw you that you were not fit to be prom queen , because of what you did , it made them hate you" , "Jennifer I'm sorry for sure I never like to say so , but I admit it , I was wrong and unkind , but how will I ever be successful , tell me what I'm supposed to do" , " I have only one option" , " then what is it that could help" said alexa , she wiped her eyes " just be yourself you can be a better person if you removed your bad attitude and bitterness" alexa started to smile as Jennifer said to her , " let's go outside I've got to address the audience but I want you to come with me" Jennifer went on stage but alexa stayed behind for a while , " hello everyone once again , hope you are enjoying the dance party , but before you proceed I want to say something before earlier this night I noticed something , it is meant for everyone who loses hope in time of failure ,but it's no one's choice to lose so I just want to say this on behalf of alexa , first of all she owes apologies to everyone who ran into problems with her , I talked to her earlier and there is really something good in her though she doesn't seem to shoe it so I want to call alexa on stage" Jennifer said and alexa came forward but no one booed her, they were all inspired by Jennifer's speech , " and I am doing this on purpose , today we are not having one prom queen but two , I chose to share my throne" , everyone was surprised by Jennifer's words , " what is she doing: Ritha said to the others , " alexa you can have the crown too" , alexa came forward , " really jennifer , I hope this isn't a prank" , " no I'm serious" , " Jennifer I don't know what to say it's like a dream come true" alexa said and hugged Jennifer and everyone clapped their hands " merry hill , this comes from the bottom of my heart , I'm so sorry for the bad tempered behavior I showed everyone , so I ask if it is possible , you may forgive me" , every one clapped hands for alexa and she smiled to them she felt the urge to do something more , " merry hill this song is yours" alexa said and started singing the whole hall cheered up and danced in the music , Jennifer returned to her friend and hugged them all , " Jennifer that was a nice thing you did back there , I think I would have done it before too" , " no lanna I don't blame you this was my suggestion you also did yours , anyway let's party" Jennifer said they all went on the dance floor and partied . Time to go home arrived and they all went back ritha , headed to her bed without even talking to her parents she was very tired and then dosed off . Ritha woke up late the next morning , she called bill , " hello" , " hello bill" , " oh hi ritha , doing well" , " yeah and you" , " oh I am great too" , " so what are you doing" , " I had to do some morning jog" , " wow so early like this" , " actually it's so late" , " yeah , I know anyway I just wanted to check on you , do you want to go surfing with me I miss those moments" , " yeah I think it would be nice , let's meet this afternoon" , " okay bill hope I'll see you go on with your jog" , " see yah ritha" , " bye" ritha said to bill and hang up . Ritha was not patient the whole day , she kept on picking her phone trying to call bill . The day was quite long , but finally time passed and the afternoon reached , she prepared t go to the barracuda club , she took her bag and went to the barracuda club . She arrived at the club , before she entered she saw bill's car come and parked next to her she then waited for him to get out . "Hey" bill said as he moved out of his car , " hey" , ritha responded , they proceeded to the locker rooms . After changing , they went to the beach , " bill I am so happy that we met again at the beach , I couldn't resist to it" , " yeah good thing the hard work paid off this last week" , " yeah but today I am winning today bill" , " oh come on you still want to play this game , I am ready to challenge you" , bill said and followed her into the water . They surfed the hole afternoon , until they started playing baby stuff of building sand castles , "ritha you won you beat me in surfing but I am better at building sand castles" , " okay surrender bill" ritha said and looked into bills eyes , she then kissed him . " I am really going to miss this time we had , you and I at the sea and no one else" ritha said to bill , " ritha , I really like to hear that and I suggest we can show every one we are lovers , right , I don't care what they will wonder , just you and me and the sea" , " I love you bill" , " I love you too ritha , any way it is getting cold , let's go inside" , bill said and they went into the locker room , and changed . After changing bill drove ritha home , on the way bill stopped to get some coffee , he bought some heart shaped cup cakes , ritha opened the box and smiled , " bill I love them" , " they are not any type , my mom used to buy them for me , and they are a special treat for me , and I hope you'll love them too , but I won't be like my mom ritha , I will always love you I won't leave you" , ritha smiled to bill as he said , they went on to ritha's home . Bill stopped by when he reached ritha's home , and dropped her by , " ritha before I go , I want to let you know that dad has done all the arrangements , I will come to merry hill this coming week" , " I am so happy to hear that bill I am not worried any more" , " so , good bye ritha" , " see yah" bill said an went , ritha entered the gate . The following day was very long for both of them , ritha couldn't wait to meet bill at school , the day seemed to be endless , she had nothing to do but wait . In the afternoon she remembered all about the surfing competition in two weeks while she was trapped in her thoughts , so she decided to go for a jog , in order to keep fit , she was quiet the kind of surfer that her coach thought could win because of her hard work , she had to practice hard in order to impress her coach . After all the practice she had a shower and watched her favorite movie until dinner . Ritha went to bed after diner in order to wake up early , she played her smooth jazz songs , romantic moments with bill are all that came to her mind , until she dosed off .

Early in the morning ritha woke up , it was the same boring routine of waking up and prepared to go to school , but all seemed to change that day because bill would come to merry hill , she had breakfast and her dad drove her to school as usual . " So ritha any news about miley" , her dad said , " she is doing fine , and about to help me become a champ , we are having a surfing tournament in three weeks to come" , " I'll be happy to see my daughter become a champ , but in fact you are a real champ" , "thanks dad" she said to her dad as they arrived at the school , she entered the gates of the school , she went to her class room , she told her friends that bill is going to come to merry hill that day and her friends were happy that ritha and bill would stay in touch as long as they want to , hour after hour she waited , the break time reached she was still waiting , until they returned to class , she still waited . The end of the day came , bill had still not showed up , ritha headed home in shame she didn't talk to any of her friends not even her best friend Jennifer , Jennifer knew what made ritha upset , but she didn't bother her , they normally went home together but that day things were different , the day was like a misery she thought that she would have fun but it changed to be a terrible day she didn't even call bill she spent her time in the afternoon watching movies and went to sleep straight after dinner . The first day of the week was a bad day for ritha because bill didn't show up , the following day , she went to school and waited in her class , she was more determined to her studies more than any other day she didn't want to tell more about bill to her friends in order to not be ashamed again , but she wondered why bill didn't come , or even call her to explain to her why he didn't come , ritha started thinking about it and thought to text bill , the school principal entered as soon , as she took her phone , she had some announcements to tell , " good morning students , I have some announcements , today we have a new student and he is coming to your class hope you will give him a warm welcome" , ritha started smiling she became happy to know that bill would show up finally . After the first lesson , someone knocked again , ritha was eager to see bill , and so was Jennifer , to their surprise someone else stepped in the class it wasn't bill , ritha's face changed she returned to her mood , " oh I thought he'll show up finally , I won't bother texting him we'll talk about this after" she said to herself , and continued with her studies , the bell rang and they went out for break , Jennifer approached ritha , " hey" she said , " hey Jennifer" , " but ritha you don't look happy , is it because bill didn't show up" , " Jennifer actually it's the second time he was supposed to come yesterday" , " oh I get it , but ritha , you should try talking to him and remember take it easy on him he may have been nervous and didn't show up " , " yeah , I thought about it , I'll try this afternoon after school" ritha said , they continued until the bell rang and they returned to class .After class all the students went to the diner hall to have lunch , someone patted ritha's back , she looked behind it was pete and he was with bill , she was surprised she never knew bill would come that day , " hey ritha" , " hey" ritha said as she smiled , " sorry I couldn't keep my promise to come yesterday , look I really had to say bye to my former class mates that's why" , " yeah I get i just didn't expect you would come today but never mind good thing you are here now" , " so could we have lunch together" , " oh come on , why not" , ritha sais to bill and went to get lunch , Jennifer smiled to pete as ritha and bill departed , after they had served themselves pete and Jennifer joined them and had lunch together . After lunch , all were about to return to their classes , ritha held bill's hand , " so bill which class are you in" , " unfortunately I'm next to your class we aren't in the same class , but we shall stay in touch" bill said ,the bell rang ritha and bill parted to their classes to studied until the afternoon . Ritha and bill could now talk after school whenever they wanted , the school day came to an end , the friends gathered , they started departing from school , bill held ritha's hand and they went home , tom was not happy about bill coming to merry hill but he pretended to like it , they agreed to meet every afternoon at the barracuda club to practice ,every day except that day ,they then parted and headed to their home .

Wednesday was supposed to be a very fun day because they would go surfing in the afternoon at school , they formed groups in the break pause and in the dinner hall , tom was not with them for lunch he preferred hanging up with the cool guys in school but they were jerks , " hey lets go check the new guy in school" said zack , he was one of the guys who tom hanged out with , " seems fine to me" tom said , he knew that the guys would make fun of bill . "So bill these are my guys , Nixon , ronie , zack and jack , they recently said you can't play basketball and if they are wrong you've got to prove them wrong by winning over me , so if you've got the guts let's meet in the basketball court" tom said , " deal" zack said as he brought his hand to shake bill's hand , " bill don't do this" , ritha said , " come on bill you can't trust a girl right you are a man" , tom said to bill to make him ignore ritha , " deal" bill said and brought his hand too , about to shake zack's hand but zack pranked him , and they all laughed at him , and left , all that were in the dinner hall laughed at bill , and he was embarrassed , " come on bill I told you not to accept the deal there's no good in those guys" , " I didn't listen to you ritha and I am sorry , but they leave me no choice I think I have to do it or it gets worse , everyone in merry hill will know about me" , " bill I don't think that's a game changer" lanna said , " lanna I guess what we tried was useless , tom still couldn't become any better" Jennifer said , " what did you try to change him" , " pete I think that's a long story" , " okay guys back to the point , I have to make them pay for making fun of me" , " okay bill it's your choice but be careful don't make it worse" , " yes Jennifer is right I trust you bill go for it" ritha said to bill .

Bill followed tom and the others to the basketball court and the other students followed them , and so did bill's friends , " you ready bill this is a one man match you lose and the whole school gets to know about it" ronie said and threw the ball , tom jumped and caught first , he then made his first two points , ritha looked at bill she looked sad , she looked very worried , tom made his second attempt but bill blocked him , and made a three points throw , bill seemed to be better than tom at basketball . The match ended and it was a draw , they went for free throws to see who wins , bill was ahead of tom and managed to win over him , tom became furious and went away with his crew , " I knew you could make it bill , but how didn't you tell me you were a good player" , " ritha , there's more to know about me" bill said to ritha and they all laughed , the crowd were impressed with bill's moves , the bell rang and everyone went back to their classes . At the end of the day tom was even more mad at bill than before tom approached ritha just after she got out of class , " ritha , I want to talk to you" , " tom , It really has to be something serious this time , I am tired with your silly games" , " ritha I don't know what has got into you but you seem to avoid me these days , but anyway what I wanted to say is that , ritha I wanted to say this before but I didn't get the chance ritha I love you and I hope you do too" , ritha was shocked and wanted to go but tom held his hand , " no tom , you can't be serious" , " but ritha I mean it" , " tom lanna is gonna be mad at you couldn't you just let go off me" , " I won't until you tell me you do too" , " no tom I cannot" , " but why it's so easy" , " because bill is my boyfriend" , the others came in search for ritha and were shocked to see her with tom ,lanna saw it and was shocked , tom stepped aside when he saw lanna .