T A Y L O R ' S P.O.V

"Hey, Taylor. Can I talk to you for a second?" a voice asked me. I glanced up from my piano and saw Owen standing there. He awkwardly held his guitar at his side, while he clutched a small yellow piece of paper in the other.

"Uhm," I felt my lips say, lifting a brow. "Sure?"

"Cool. Come out to the hall with me."

I left my piano, confused, and followed him out into the school's hallway. What's he doing? He never talks to me in music. 

He turned to face me. "Look, you were meant to find this note earlier this morning, but you never did. I think I hid it too well."

He handed me the folded sheet of paper. I lifted a brow at him. 

"What's this?"

"It's something good. Hopefully. I need to show you that because... he can't. Ignore the last half of it, that stuff was only relevant because I thought you'd find it, and the stains. I'm terrible at calligraphy."

I opened the piece of paper.

My eyes widened. They flicked at Owen before they cast back down onto the sheet of paper.

The porcelain piano and the love letter? That... that was all Darko?

Owen coughed. "I couldn't say that out loud, for obvious reasons. Bella may have some of her underlings lurking around the place. You can never be too careful."

I barely nodded at Owen. I was too busy remembering what was written in the note. Bella wasn't confessing her love to me, it was Darko. It all makes sense.

All these weeks, its all been my personal speculation that Darko's crushing over me. But this? this was proof. Physical proof of his feelings. 

"He... he definitely feels something for me?" I managed to say through my grin. Owen nodded. 

"He sure damn does. And you..?"

I looked up at Owen. "What do you think?"

He considered me for a moment. I felt his eyes scan my blushing face, my happy tears streaking down my cheeks, and the wide grin that's probably permanently there now. He nodded.

"This is surreal. Am I dreaming?" I asked. Much to my relief, he shook his head.

"No, you're not. This is all real." 

"Woah."

Owen looked back into the classroom. "I think Miss Lauriana is looking for us. I'll head inside; I'll be by your piano. I think you need a moment out here to calm down. There's a lot we need to talk about. Just, message Darko."

Owen flashed me a quick smile, before heading back into the room. I glanced down at the note, re-reading it. 

'Darko meant it all.'

I pulled out my phone and went through my camera roll. I remember taking a photo of the letter - god knows why. I'm glad I did. 

It makes so much more sense now that I'm reading it from Darko's perspective. Holy crap.

"Dear Mr birthday boy,

I'm not going to bore you with the gritty, cheesy nonsense that I've blessed you with every year prior to this one. Actually, this card has a much deeper meaning to it.

Why didn't I notice that sooner? Bella has NEVER made me a cheesy birthday card. All she does is get me a bottle of cologne and aftershave.

I... I've been meaning to tell you something important.

Even this makes more sense! I'd have expected this from Bella after the party incident happened. It's much more surprising from Darko. 

Why am I so stupid!?

I know, we're best friends, we should tell each other everything, blah blah blah - I didn't feel comfortable sharing this with you, mainly because I never knew how you'd react to it. I should have come clean about who I was and about who I am. I figured you'd hate me, or you'd just stop talking to me, or something like that. I just needed to tell you, my feelings were beginning to get in the way of my academic life, as well as my social life.

Now I know why I saw a K there before - it's fucking Darko's name, erased. 

I creased my brows. What other shit has Bella done?

~~~~~

"Okay, so put simply, you need to stay as far away from Bella as possible."

I played a few notes as Owen talked to me. "Yeah, no shit. I can't believe she's done that to him!"

I joined Owen back at the piano. He explained to me everything that's been going on - the outing to Stefan, the blackmail, the break-in. Everything makes sense. 

Bella's been plotting behind me this entire time. I should have known to keep an eye on her after the party, and to not be so lenient when she apologised on my birthday. She's cunning, ruthless, and manipulative. 

No wonder Darko hated her this whole time. Bella needs to leave him the fuck alone. 

"She's obsessed with you. She wants to keep you all to herself. If only there was a way to take her down a few pegs, and to get with Darko. She seems to be one step ahead of all of us-"

Miss Lauriana began to shout, cutting Owen off mid-sentence. "For those that are playing on Friday - you better have your songs perfect by tomorrow - otherwise, you aren't performing!"

I furrowed my brows. That gives me an idea.

I got out of my seat and walked towards the bookshelf, prying out my booklet. Flicking through it, I noticed Owen poke his head over my shoulder. 

"Dude, what are you doing?"

I caught myself poking my tongue out slightly as I flipped over the plastic covered sheets. "Trying to find a song I wrote- ah, there we go!"

I have all my other performances ready - all except one. I was going to spend this afternoon figuring it out with Miss Lauriana, but with everything that's happened within the past hour, this song needs to be for Darko.

What better way to tell someone you love them on Valentine's day?

Plus, this is the perfect opportunity to have a dig at Bella. It's probably not a good idea to poke the bear... but this is too good of an opportunity. Bella won't suspect a thing.

I fished out the paper and showed Owen. "I have an idea. Tomorrow, I'll perform this. Bella would never suspect me to sing this, and it'll show Darko exactly how I feel."

Owen skimmed over the sheet. "This requires two performers though - a pianist and a guitarist."

I lifted a brow, smirking. "That's where you come in. You think you can learn this by tomorrow night? Afterschool, I'll be here, practising. Maybe you can join me? I just need to re-work some lyrics, but the chords will be the same."

Owen smiled. "Of course I can learn this. This is going to be one hell of a performance, I can already tell."

I smiled. No wonder Darko trusts Owen so much - he's lovely. 

"From now until tomorrow evening, pretend nothing's happened. Tell Darko that you've gotten no news of me seeing the note, and I'll pretend to like Bella for the time being. It's the only way this is going to work perfectly."

We walked back to our station. Owen practised a few chords, while I tried to think of new lyrics. After a few attempts, Miss Lauriana came walking over, a small smile on her lips. 

"What are you two practising?"

I showed her the sheet music. Her eyes lit up, then narrowed.

"Why is Darko's name written on the top?"

We glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. She lifted a brow, before leaning in closer to us.

"So, you two are performing your love song for Darko, aren't you? Which one of you is asking him out, hm?" She said softly, making sure nobody else but us heard her. Her tone was rhetorical. Owen looked at me straight away. I sighed. 

"You took your damn time, Taylor."

I lifted a brow. "What? You knew?"

She scoffed. "You're kidding? That kid's the only one that shows up to hear you play every Thursday afternoon. I've seen the sparks fly when you two are in this class together - especially when you taught him Fur Elise. It was pretty obvious."

I didn't know what to say. Owen looked at me and Lauriana, before getting up. 

"I'll go uh... get a drink. Be right back." He said, quickly walking off. Miss Lauriana sat in his seat, her expression curious. 

"What are you thinking, Taylor? Come on, say something. I'm getting worried." She said, her tone concerned. I side glanced her, unable to keep eye contact. 

"I don't know what I'm thinking, to be honest. I think so highly of you, and I consider you a part of my family - I didn't want to disappoint you or change the way you thought of me-"

She shook her head. I stopped talking at her gesture. She glanced around the room, before leaning in, so only I could hear her.

"Taylor honey, don't you dare believe for one second that I think any less of you. You are an amazing person, and your sexual preference isn't ever going to change how I perceive you. I know I'm not your mother or anybody that's directly related to you, but I'm the best goddamn godmother in the world - I just want you happy." 

Without thinking, I leaned in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around me, tenderly patting the top of my head. After a few moments, she lightly pushed me away from her and grabbed both of my shoulders.

"This performance is going to be the best damn thing this school has ever seen. You and Owen are going to do absolutely amazing, I can already feel it. If you ever need to talk or help, you know I am here for you Taylor."

She stood up and smiled at me. "Now, I gotta go back to being a teacher. Keep your chin up, all right?"

She walked off. A short moment later, Owen returned. 

"Everything okay?" He asked. I smiled. 

"Better than okay."

Owen grinned. "All right, great. Now, back to the matter at hand - we have practically less than a day to learn this. Let's get a move on."

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A/N: Much like this chapter, I'm gonna keep this a/n short.

How great does it feel? TAYLOR FINALLY KNOWS FOR SURE HOW DARKO FEELS! AHHH!! *screams excitedly*. Owen is also the best wingman in the world and nobody can tell me otherwise.

Next four chapters are going to be the final four. Four parts. One glorious ending. ;) Stay tuned. 

Was meant to do a double chapter post, but I'm not really happy with how things are for the 25th chapter. Gonna do some major re-writes, and it should be out very very soon ((:

QOTC: have you ever been a wingman/wingwoman? How did it turn out?

AOTC: Yep. Wingman'd for my best friend. The girl accidentally fell for me. Oops. #sorrygirlbutimgay

Don't forget to vote/comment/share!

Much love, Tyler <3