Misunderstandings (by Cagla)
Some days after the summer vacation at Scotland, Candy and her friends were back at Saint-Paul's College in London. The nuns explained that the first month the lessons would be harder so that the students could be used to work after the holidays. Of course, the students were not very happy about it.
After the lessons Candy went to the "Second Pony Hill". She was alone with Krin sitting on a tree and writing something in a notebook. She was still angry at Terry because of his unexpected kiss but she couldn't get him out of her mind. She got out of her thoughts by someone calling her.
"Candy! We have finally found you", Annie said coming near the tree where she was sitting.
"We were looking for you since the end of the last lesson", Patty added.
"Sorry, girls, I didn't want you to worry", Candy said hiding the notebook, putting it in the small hole on the tree next to Krin.
"Candy, no!" the two girls shouted as Candy jumped from the tree next to her friends.
But as usual Candy landed safely.
"Don't worry, girls. You know that I'm an expert on climbing up and down the trees", she said with a big smile on her face.
"And you know that we are afraid that you're going to fall but you still do it" Annie reproched her.
"I guess you're right" Candy answered still smiling.
"Candy, is there something wrong ?" Patty asked changing the subject.
"What do you mean ?" Candy asked surprised.
"Well, since we've come here you act... strange" Patty answered.
"You're always lost in your thoughts, you don't pay a lot of attention even while we're speaking... Has Terry done something ?"
"What...? No, he hasn't done anything, I'm ok. I'm sorry if I made you worried. Everything is fine, don't worry" Candy lied.
She hadn't told them about the kiss and her fight with Terry. She didn't want them to worry about her. Besides her friends have just begun to like and trust Terry, including Archie, and she didn't want to ruin the efforts they all made to reconcile them...
"Are you sure, Candy ? You know that you can tell us everything, don't you ?" Patty said.
"Of course. Thanks for worrying about me. But nothing's wrong. I'm just stressed for being back to this prison after the freedom we had during the summer vacation in Scotland, that's all..." Candy answered smiling again.
"If you say so... it's ok then" Annie said not really convinced by her friend's answer.
"Well, it's being late, we must go back to our rooms. Come on, let's go" Candy said walking towards the dorm and her friends followed her understanding she wanted to change the subject.
Later in the evening everybody was back in their own room. Candy put on her night dress. Before going to bed she opened her balcony door and took a deep breath. Then she saw that there was no light in Terry's room.
"I wonder where he is now. I hope he isn't drinking again. I haven't seen him since we are back to London", she thought. "Ahh, why do I always think about him, he's just an idiot", she said aloud.
Her monologue was interrupted by a knock on her door.
"Miss Audrey, are you alright ?" a nun asked opening the door.
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I was just thinking..."
"Please, be quiet while thinking and you should go to bed in thirty minutes."
"Yes, Sister. Sorry..." Candy apologized as the nun left the room.
Then she went to bed to sleep and dreamt about nothing but Terry...
******************************
Meantime Terry was awake. He wasn't used to sleep when he was supposed to sleep following the school rules and decided to go to the Pony's Hill.
Since they were back to London, he often went to class like other students. At first, the teachers had been surprised to see him and just thought that he had come to disturb the other students but then they had seen that he had come to study. Of course, he didn't go to classes he didn't like but he liked the Literature class as he loved reading books, especially pieces of theater and the nuns were surprised that he was really interested in them. So, even if he didn't pay attention to some lessons like Mathematics and he didn't do all of his homeworks, the teachers were happy that he had changed. He didn't cause them trouble since they were back and they noticed that he became more social too.
But of course, none of them knew the reason of his sudden change and of his will to stay at the College. Since Candy came to school, she affected him. First, he stopped smoking because of her. Then he began to drink alcohol less and less. Since his childhood he was angry at his father because of his indifferent behaviour towards him and his mother, and then he was angry at his mother as she rejected him when he had gone to America to see her. But thanks to Candy, he reconciled with her and even if he was still angry at his father, he was trying to understand him.
Candy... She was such a nice person. Since the first time he had met her, he liked her. The days he had passed with her were the best days of his life. During the summer vacation he had understood his real feelings for her and wanted to confess to see if she felt the same. So he kissed her but she slapped him. He was hurt so he slapped her back. And since then, they haven't seen each other again.
He sighed as he saw his favorite tree at the Hill. He climbed up the tree and sit next the hole where Krin was sitting. The racoon was happy to see his friend and went to lick his face to show his happiness.
"Stop, Krin", Terry said chuckling.
He took out of his pocket the sweets he bought for his animal friend who loved them. Krin rushed to eat them as Terry chuckled seeing his eagerness. As Krin moved to eat, he could see a small but thick notebook with pink cover.
"A notebook ? It must belong to Candy", he thought opening the first page.
As it was dark, it was a little difficult to read but he still managed to see.
"Dear Diary", he read the first line.
"A diary ?" he thought.
For a moment he just stood there with the diary in his hands. He knew he shouldn't read it and put it where he found it. But he got a little excited and he was curious.
"Well, nothing bad will happen if I read some pages, right?" he thought with a grin on his face. He opened a random page and read some lines:
"June 9th, 1913
Dear Diary,
Today I spent the whole day with Anthony. We wanted to find a place for the little cow he won from the rodeo contest. We saw Tom's father who bought it. Then we tried to spend the money he gave for the cow. We ate sandwiches, went to the amusement park, then to somewhere very high. I'm so happy that I could pass such excellent moments with Anthony. I love him so much. He 's such a kind, handsome ..."
"Agh! Anthony, Anthony, always Anthony!" Terry thought with a slight jealousy and changed the page. He stopped on a page where he thought he saw his name.
"... I hate him! He's such an arrogant guy! I've just wanted to thank him as he saved me from Neil and his friends but as usual he said stupid things to make me angry and he still doesn't say my name. Idiot!..." he read.
"Well, not a very flattering beginning" he thought chuckling as he remembered that day.
So while Krin was still savouring the sweets, he continued his reading from this page. In general, she had just written her daily life at school and the things they have done with Terry or her friends. But sometimes she had written about her feelings or thoughts about people too:
"... I think that Terry is a good person but he became a rebel because of his separation from his mother and so on. He is an interesting person. I don't know what to expect from him. One minute he can be very rude and one minute later he is kind. He always surprises me by his attitude. He always teases me and sometimes I hate it because I can't understand if he 's serious or not..."
Finally he opened the last page she had written on:
"That idiot! He kissed me. I hate him so much. I thought that he was a good person but he's just a delinquent. That was my first kiss and it was supposed to be with love but that idiot stole it for his own sick pleasure..."
Then Terry realised why Candy was so angry at him.
"So she didn't understand that I did it to show her my feelings. She had just thought I was playing with her", he thought.
And he understood that she was right to think like that because he always teased her. Of course, he didn't have bad intentions and didn't think that Candy would be hurt because of that...
******************************
The next days after the lessons, Candy was in her room searching for her diary.
"Where did I put it? I always hide it behind my pillow... Ah, I don't remember!" she said in frustration.
"Ah, but of course! I put it in 'Krin's Home' yesterday", she thought remembering that she had put it in the big hole on the tree where Krin usually stayed.
So she went to the Second Pony Hill. She climbed up the tree but she couldn't find it there.
"Maybe it had fallen on the ground", she thought and climbed down the tree and looked everywhere.
"Were you looking for this?" a voice said.
Candy turned back and saw Terry with her diary on his right hand.
"What are you doing with my notebook? Give it back to me" she said approaching him to take the diary.
"Here, take it back, I have finished reading it anyway", Terry said giving the notebook.
"You have what?" Candy asked and she was angry again. "How dare you? How can you read someone's diary, you..." she couldn't complete her sentence as Terry pushed her towards the tree holding her arms.
"I know that I shouldn't read it but I don't regret it. I know that you're still angry because of that kiss and I finally understand why. Candy... I really love you and this is why I kissed you", he confessed.
"What?"
Candy was shocked by his sudden declaration. Was he serious?
"You're kidding... right?" she said.
"Of course not. I have never been so serious in my life. I love you since the first time I saw you. I thought that you'd understand that when I kissed you but by reading your diary I saw that you misunderstood. I guess I should have confessed directly..."
"He loves me" Candy thought seeing how serious he was.
Then she understood why she always thought about him too. She was scared to admit that she liked him even to herself as she always thought he'd laugh at her but now that he confessed she understood her own feelings too.
"Terry... I like you too", she said and hugged him.
That was the beginning of happy days for this couple during the College days and ever after...
The End
