Chapter 33 Revelations (1/2)

Ali hurried on. The short altercation took a bit of his time, and he had a promise to keep.

Sophia was waiting nervously at the Blues Corner. It was called as such due to the blue table and chairs, which were littered around at the corner of the building. This part of the school was normally used for discussions during class sessions, but after classes, it was practically deserted. Everyone would be having their lunch right now, then would be heading either to the library for their study session, or at their club activities. Who would want to waste time hanging out here? Which was why Sophia felt it was the best place to meet up to talk.

She looked at her watch worriedly, scared that Ali would not be coming. It already had taken all of her courage to approach him, and if he didn't turn up, she doubted that she ever would be able to do it again. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard some footsteps approaching, and saw that it was Ali.

Sophia got up from the chair she had been sitting on, and he walked over. Before she could say anything though, he handed her an chicken sandwich and a bottle of orange juice before sitting down. He took out another from his bag and began munching while she looked at him in a daze.

”You have club activities after this, right? So you should eat. You can tell me while you eat, no problem,” Ali commented, patting the seat that she had vacated.

Sophia sat down, and unwrapped the sandwich. She took a bite, and thanked him. They ate in silence for a while, Ali not pushing her for anything and waiting for her to begin herself. He could tell that she was nervous, so he thought it would be easier for her to gather her thoughts as they ate. About a minute later, Sophia began to tell him what she had overheard at the cafeteria. Hesitant at first, then slowly gathering more courage as she went on.

Ali listened, and nodded slowly as he continued eating. Taking a swig of his orange juice, he crumpled the empty sandwich wrapper and said, ”You should tell Kyle this yourself.”

Horror entered her eyes and she shook her head.

”No no no, please,” Sophia pleaded, ”I can't. Please, you tell him. Warn him.”

”Why are you so scared to tell him? He won't bite,” Ali assured her.

Sophia put down her half-finished sandwich, and bit her lips, while thinking hard. Ali was curious, but didn't press the issue. Lunch time was almost up, so Ali got up to go. However, just as he stood up, Sophia took a deep breath and told him, ”Please tell Kyle I'm sorry,”

”Huh?”

Sophia closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She mentally psyched herself up, telling herself that she could do this. She had vowed to change, and change she did but she would need to face this demon first. She motioned for Ali to sit back down again.

”And I am sorry to you as well, Ali,” Sophia said, nervously biting her lips again. She always did this, when she was thinking hard, when she was nervous, when she was scared.

”For..?”

”4 years ago ... with Kay ... that ... was ... my fault,” Sophia said slowly, finding each word hard to say, ”I'm so sorry, Ali. I know it'll hardly make up for what I had done, but I truly am sorry.”

She looked up and saw that he was shocked, and not saying anything. Gathering her stuff and the unfinished sandwich, she said to him as she got up, ”I understand that you'd not want to be friends with me because of it.”

Just as she was about to leave, Ali grabbed her arm, stopping her.

”That's in the past,” Ali told her, ”I admit, I was shocked but now I realise why you looked so familiar. You were from my old school.”

Letting her go, he then told her, ”Kyle never told us that you were the one behind it all. He simply told us that he found out who it was, but it was all settled. So you see, to him, it's history. Thus, to the rest of us, it never was an issue.”

Sophia's tears flowed freely then, and Ali couldn't help but hug her. She stiffened at first, but then relaxed and continued crying for a while. It was as if the knot in her chest finally came undone and she felt free. She still felt she would need to apologize to everyone personally, but with Ali's words, there was a huge sense of relief.

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