Chapter 14: Questions

The sound of tourists rush by on a warm Tuesday afternoon. Spring Break is slowly approaching. Everyone has been warned about the flock of people visiting from every other direction. Jorge could barely eat his cheeseburger at The Shack without people bumping into his table. The lack of space bothers Jorge. All he can think about is how to get away from everything, yet the people overflowing everywhere prevented that from happening anytime soon. It's clear he is not happy. As he continues to stare at all the people, a familiar sound hits his ear. A skateboard comes whizzing down the street. It stops abruptly and people begin to look over. Jorge tries to see from the crowd what is happening. Just then, he can hear a voice.

"I'm iight. I'm fine. Sorry about that."

It was Rick. He's apologizing to a tourist in a Hawaiian shirt and Kakhi Shorts. From what Jorge saw, he ran into him while skating down the street. Rick weaves his way through people to reach Jorge's table. Rick is apparently unaware of the long, deep cut on his forehead. He seems phased out of his surroundings. As he sees Jorge, he nods his head in acknowledgment and begins to sit down. Jorge points out his injury.

"You do realize you sliced your forehead, right?"

Rick puts his hand on his forehead, then looks at it to see the blood drip off his finger. His eyes widen.

"Oh...that's interesting."

Rick laughs for a bit before he takes a napkin and covers his wound up. As Rick looks up, he sees Jorge with a very baffled look to his face. Rick assures him.

"I'm used to it."

Jorge still seems skeptical of Rick's treatment, but trusts his judgment. Rick had injured himself quite a bit since Jorge had met him. It surprised Jorge just how injury-prone Rick really was. As Jorge finishes up his burger, he looks over at Rick, who is curiously staring at all the people passing by. Jorge was used to the amount of people, however that wasn't the case for Rick. He came from a small town. The vast amount of people threw him for a loop. Once Jorge finishes his burger, he begins to converse with Rick.

"So, what's being in a relationship like?"

Rick shrugs his shoulders,

"I don't know. It's okay."

Jorge still looks completely baffled. He's been in a few relationships and he's never felt that uninspired by it after just a few days. From what he's seen from Rick, however, he never seemed inspired by the idea. His attitude the day Reggie told them was odd. Jorge wasn't sure what was going on...and wasn't afraid to try and figure out.

"Just okay? Come on Rick. How is it really going?"

Rick continues to look at the tourists passing by. The situation he found himself in was quite uncomfortable. His mind wandered back and forth towards his true feelings towards the relationship, however he didn't make them public. While in the mental trance, he answers Jorge in a monotone reply.

"It's good."

Jorge internally understands he won't get an answer more revealing from Rick there. He veers to another subject.

"You miss home?"

Rick instantly looks to Jorge. The subject of his home is something Rick is still not happy to hear. His answer is swift and confident.

"No. You?"

Jorge looks up to the sky. He seems unsteady in his emotions.

"Kind of. Don't you want to see your family again? Your friends? Your..."

Just as he is about to go on, Rick interrupts him in the same tone of voice.

"Nope. It's in the past. I can't go back."

Jorge grows quiet. Rick notices and quickly tries to remedy the situation in a much calmer voice.

"Sorry man. Don't mean to be rude. Just, my past is dark. I don't miss it. At all."

Jorge nods his head, showing a smirk on his face as he accepts Rick's apology.

"It's okay, Rick."

They both go back to eating their food in front of them, studying the tourists as they pass...

It's around 4 PM at the Dullard house. The weather outside is sunny and beautiful. Twister sees himself looking out the window constantly until a voice of reality hits him.

"Twist! Pay attention!"

Sam has to keep retaining Twister's attention. In Twister's mind, Sam was much more forceful today than he usually is. Sam has been helping Twister with his homework for the past few months, to help him get his grades up. The past few weeks have been tough on him, and his grades had suffered. Sam, being the helpful friend he always had been, told him he would help out. Today was Math, which made Twister's attention span less than usual. His stress is clear when he speaks.

"I'm trying Squid. I can't figure out how to do this "long division" garbage. It's too hard."

Sam's patience is lower than usual today. He seems much more irritated and angrier than Twister had ever seen him before. Sam tries to de-stress things for Twister.

"Let's just take a 5-minute break, okay?"

Twister sighs in relief.

"Awesome!"

Twister and Sam go to grab their sodas beside them and relax. Both had been uncomfortable. While Sam was much more aggressive, Twister's attitude showed more worry and confusion than usual. He seems unsure of anything he said or did. They both were having crisis' of their own, just like everyone else in the group. After a minute of silence, Sam spurts out a question to Twister.

"Have you ever felt ignored?"

Twister thinks for a split second before responding.

"Yeah. Actually I've felt that pretty recently."

Sam looks at Twister, ready to say exactly what he's thinking.

"With Otto?"

Twister looks up at Sam.

"Yeah. You feeling that way too?"

The both look at each other, realizing the true understanding of each other's troubling position. Twister didn't think Sam had caught on to how Otto had been acting, but he knew Sam was smart. He wasn't surprised he caught on. He envied that about Sam. He still didn't know what Sam was stressing over, but he was happy he didn't have to keep one thing quiet with his friend.

"I don't know what's up with Otto lately, man. He's my best friend. Why is he acting this way?"

Sam wants to help Twister. He sees his friend upset and frustrated over how Otto is acting. However, Sam had his own problems with Reggie. And he had no idea why Otto was being so whacky of late. He tried to give his best answer to Twister.

"I'm not sure. Maybe you should talk to him about it."

Twister tries to absorb what Sam says. He wants to talk to Otto. He felt shy about it for some reason. Otto is his best friend. His brother. Why is he struggling to talk to him? Is it his attitude? Twister wasn't even sure. He just wanted to know what was wrong. How he could help. His response to Sam is slow to come from his mouth.

"I guess."

Twister then tries to change the subject

"Anyway. What are you feeling ignored by?"

Sam quickly realizes the awkwardness of the situation he put on himself. While Twister was his friend, he didn't want to discuss his internal feelings about Reggie right now. He was already so upset by it. He looked at the clock, and respectfully deterred the question.

"Nothing. We gotta get back to work."

Twister looks up at the clock and sighs disappointingly.

"Aw man..."

Twister rests his head on his hand as Sam picks up the homework and goes over the next question...

The sky is growing dark. Anna wished she was home with Lars, since Twister was still at Sam's house and Lars' parents were on a date. However, Otto and Harmony asked her to come help them with something at Otto's place. Anna knew she became distant from the group and perhaps maybe this could temper any worries they had. She wants to tell everyone about Lars. She just doesn't know how. Everything got so complicated so fast. One day Lars makes moves on her and she just couldn't resist. After Twister's rejection, she needed someone to fall on. Lars was that. She didn't expect anyone to understand. She didn't really care. She felt happy. As she walks towards the house, she sees Otto and Harmony working on the ramp behind Otto's house. It had taken a beating over the years, and Raymundo wanted to get it back to working shape again. As she walks up to them, Otto and Harmony look quite serious to her. She wasn't expecting that. After a fair amount of silence, Anna speaks.

"What are you guys doing?"

Otto continues to work diligently as Harmony responds firmly to Anna's question.

"Fixing up the ramp. Can you help me hold this end up so Otto can fix it?"

Anna nods her head and joins Harmony in lifting the ramp. Otto slides under and starts working on fixing the hole on the bottom. Otto seems completely focused on what he was doing, rarely making eye contact with anyone. Harmony was much less subtle. Her eyes continue to wander to Anna, giving the brunette worry. Anna didn't know what Harmony kept glancing at her for, but she knew it wasn't normal. She finally brings up her quarry.

"Everything okay, Harm? You keep staring at me..."

Harmony attempts to think about how to skate around the issue, yet comes to the conclusion in little time that she had to be straight up with her friend. She was never a person to hold back what she wanted to say. Honesty is her key in life, whether people want to hear it or not. She sighed before she spoke.

"I have to be honest with you Anna. I...We...saw you and Lars together."

Anna nearly lets go of the ramp she is holding, quickly getting her grip back before the ramp falls on Otto. He panics and rolls his way out from under. Everyone tries to catch themselves before carefully putting the ramp back down and facing each other. Anna speaks in pure shock.

"We were so careful though. How could..."

Before she could finish, Harmony explains.

"We were looking for Sam last Saturday. We heard the bushes and followed you to the Stimpletons."

Anna shook. She was scared to face what she couldn't hide any longer. She tried so hard to make sure no one found out and by dumb luck, they caught her red handed. She walks over to the picnic table, plenty of emotions pouring out. Tears. Fists clenched. Head shaking vigorously. Petrified look on her face. Harmony follows her, ready to catch her in case she falls or passes out due to shock. Harmony tries to console her.

"It's okay girl. You're going to be okay."

Otto walks along with them slowly. He's not very good in these situations, but knows it's important to do whatever he can to help. He tries to bring his own words of wisdom.

"You didn't do anything wrong, A. We just wondered. It's surprising...but if you're happy, then that's what matters, right?"

Harmony looks up to Otto and smiles, showing her pleasure for his response. Anna smiles at Otto as well. She didn't expect them to be as understanding as they were. She was not sure about the others in the group, especially one...

"I'm scared. What if Twister finds out? Or his parents? They'll throw me out..."

Harmony continues to console her. She can see Anna is in a fragile state, all due to Harmony's lack of subtly. She couldn't help it. That's who she is. As she tries to think of what to say, Otto beats her to the punch.

"Look A, no matter what Twist or his parents think of the situation, we have your back. You won't go anywhere. No body is going to hurt you. But trying to hide it from everyone isn't going to do you any good."

Anna looks up to him as he speaks. Her face turns much calmer with each word Otto says. It was odd to hear it from him. She had not been prepared for him to understand in any way the situation she had fallen into. She was still grateful for the advice.

"You're right. I just have to tell everyone. I'll talk to him tonight about it. We'll figure it out."

Harmony's face blossoms with a great white smile, as she goes to hug Anna. Afterwards, Anna gets up and hugs Otto. It seemed odd to both her and Harmony at the attitude change Otto had. He wasn't someone to showcase any emotion before. Something had changed, yet neither were going to try and pry. They were happy with it. All three of them laughed before getting back to working on the ramp once again. Harmony and Anna held it up, and Otto nudged his way under again to work. As they hold up the ramp, they begin to converse. Talking about school and what not. After a minute or so, Anna brings up the timing of what was to come.

"It just seems weird to be doing this right after Reg and Rick. Like, I just worry people will think I'm just being stupid compared to those two."

Harmony gives an less than convinced look to her friend before responding.

"This is not about them. This is about you and Lars. You'll be fine. You just gotta believe in your friends, girl."

Anna nods in agreement. Harmony quickly follows her answer with a quizzical thought.

"I'm still not buying Reggie and Rick one-hundred percent anyway..."

Anna looks surprised at Harmony's words. The honesty she possessed didn't take her for surprise, but her feelings towards that relationship did. Anna always thought Reggie and Rick seem like a "perfect couple" situation. They seemed to push each other to be better. They seemed to support each other. Her reply shows she didn't understand the worry.

"They'll work out. They compliment each other so well."

Harmony's answer is packed with doubt.

"I'm not so sure Anna, but we'll see..."

As they continue to talk to each other, Otto appears from under the ramp.

"I gotta get some tape from inside. I'll be back."

Otto takes off inside the house. He goes into the garage to get the tape. Before he goes back outside, he sits down on the gravel in the basement. He rubs his face as he whispers to himself.

"You really listen to your advice, don't you Otto..."

He knew the words of wisdom her gave to Anna were hypocritical. He only knew what to say because of what was happening with Twister. He just couldn't follow his own advice. It bothers him. He sat quietly and thought for a few minutes before getting back up. He whispers to himself again.

"Maybe I should ask Twi..."

He stops himself from speaking before shaking his head and walking back outside to work on the ramp again. He knew he couldn't hold everything in for much longer. His mental state was fragile, as was everyone's in the group. Emotions take their tole on even the strongest souls. Their youth gave them false hope they could hide their pain and struggles for the better of each other. What they didn't realize at that moment was the strength they needed to pass through those struggles would be found in each other. They would only pass through the tough times together. It was something they would realize. In time, that is...