Ni-Na sat back after a few minutes of dancing. She looked at her bright bracelets on her arms, making sure they were in place...they concealed her scars. She saw that they were and leaned back...alone...again...
Izam looked at Ni-Na. She was alone again. Half of him wanted to talk to her; the other half wanted to stay back and glare. He thought to himself quietly. "Yeah she did play on me, but it's not like we can't still be friends...right?" Ignoring the tug of self-pride, he walked over to Ni-Na.
"Hey." Izam's voice boomed. Startled, Ni-Na looked up. "H-hey." She said shakily. "What's up?"
"Nothing." Ni-Na said. She turned away, her face burning with shame. "Why is he talking to me?" She thought. "Is he trying to make me feel worse?"
"Umm, Ni-Na, I'll just get to the point. The thing is umm, well if you want to, umm, well, is there any reason we can't be friends?" Izam said slowly.
"Is this some kind of joke?" She asked.
"Umm...no. I mean, unless you don't want to or anything." Izam said.
"Izam...Even if I wanted to, I mean, wouldn't it hurt you?" Ni-Na asked.
"Ummm...no." Izam said. There was a second of silence. Then suddenly, Izam had Ni-Na's arms around him and tears streaming onto his shirt.
"Thanks." She sniffled. He smiled.
"Your welcome." Gradually, she stopped crying. She eventually released her grip on Izam.
"So..." Izam began. They soon began talking.
"What about your parents?" Izam suddenly asked. Ni-Na paused. She fidgeted around with her bracelets.
"What's this?" Izam asked. Ni-Na hadn't noticed that Izam was holding her wrist. One of her scars was visible. She remained silent.
"Ni-Na, what is this?" Izam asked while pointing to one of her scars. He moved around the bracelets. Cut marks, about 4 or 5 of them.
"Ni-Na, you can tell me. I know this sound corny but, we are...friends right?"
"Izam...umm, I'm, I'm suicidal." Ni-Na said.
"Well yeah, I understand that but, what happened?"
Ni-Na took a deep breath, then she began to speak, "When I was 10, my mom died."
"Oh...I'm really sorry Ni-Na-" Izam began but Ni-Na interrupted him.
"Wait, you, you don't understand. She used to...she used to beat me."
With enormous shock Izam asked, "What?"
"A-after she died, I was sad, but...but I thought I was free from her. But then...but then daddy started to...he started beating me too." Ni-Na drew another breath and continued. "He blamed me for mom's death. He said I always stressed her. Said she couldn't handle me anymore...said HE couldn't tolerate me anymore. Said...said..." Ni-Na was struggling to hold back the tears.
"Why haven't you TOLD anyone?!" Izam asked.
"NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE ME!!!" She sputtered. "No...one." She started crying again.
"I believe you." Izam said.
"And so do I ." Another voice said. They looked up and saw Emi standing over them.
"E-Emi..." Ni-Na stuttered.
"Ni-Na...you should've told someone. You've been housing in so many emotions...so many feelings."
"I don't...I don't deserve to talk to you Emi. I've treated you like trash. And you Izam, I don't deserve to talk to anyone."
"Ni-Na..." Izam said.
"You're right Ni-Na, you don't. But you know what? You can." Emi said. Ni-Na looked at them both and sobbed a bit more.
"Th-thanks." She said. The three walked back to the others.
Tracy downed herself in the delirious pleasure that often comes with whiskey. "You're just to good to be truuuuu." She sang drunkenly.
"Can someone PLEASE stop her?" Astro said.
"Haha...that's impossible. She's dependent on alcohol." Boldo said.
"Shaddup! I could get off this jus' like dat!" Tracy said snapping her fingers lopsided.
Everyone roared with laughter.
"That's one helluva funny joke!" Rage laughed. Everyone else continued laughing.
"Hey guys!" Emi's voice said. Izam and Ni-Na were with her.
"Emi, have you been drinking some of Tracy's stuff?" Rage asked.
"Uh, no why?" Emi asked.
"Um, you're like, HANGING OUT with Ni-Na." Rage said.
"Yeah, I am, why?" Emi asked innocently. Then she giggled. "We sorta put an end to our enmity."
"Yup! She's DEFINITELY drunk!" Astro joked sarcastically. Everyone, including Ni-Na laughed. And once again, everyone united.