Chapter 4: You're Making This Difficult...
Memo: GIMPY!!! "C'mon, join, you know you waaaant to." XD :3 He's sho shexy. OMG SHEXY! ^o^ I heart youuuuu! You too Sher, Shasta, Shanaynay! ^^ Merry Merry...*dies laughing*
One Week Later
Your pOv
You're up to 120! Whooo!!
And you don't just mean weight wise...although that's true, too.
One hundred and twenty times in a row you've kissed him and he's kissed you. You never thought making up for lost time could be so...enjoyable (X3).
The only thing ruining it is guilt. You feel extremely guilty for keeping your secrets for this long. Kairi hasn't leaked a word, but for once, you kinda wish she would. So you could get it out without saying it yourself and blame Kairi instead of yourself. But that's incredibly selfish and cruel.
No, you're going to have to do things the hard way.
A sudden noise interrupts you and Riku.
"What's that?" Riku asks, looking around.
"It sounds like music..."
Listening harder, you can barely make out the words to a song that's somewhat familiar to you.
"I love youuuu, ima dake wa kanashii uta..."
Then it hits you. You must've accidentally turned your cellphone on earlier when you were cleaning out your stuff. The ringtone is something Manders picked out a long time ago. You never got around to changing it...
"I wonder who's calling..." you murmur, standing and walking over to it. When you recognize the cell number, you immediately gasp and sit on your bed. Riku looks at you, confused. "It's my sister."
"You should probably pick it up, then," he says. You nod, hitting the tiny green button.
"Reina Marie Nichols, do you know how long I've been trying to get a hold of you?" your sister practically shouts.
"No," you admit, resting your chin on your pillow. Riku sits the horizontal way on your bed, your legs on top of his. You rhythmically hit your feet against the bed.
"One...month..." she growls. Makes sense...time travels faster there.
"By my time, only a week," you point out. Riku cocks his head curiously; you roll your eyes.
"STILL!"
You gasp a little. That was Manders. They must be three-waying you...
"Well, I bet you know everything now," you say bitterly.
"What's going on?" Riku mouths. You shake your head and hold up a finger impatiently.
"What do you mean by that?" Manders asks.
"I bet my parents told you everything you were wondering, didn't they?"
"Are you KIDDING?!" Tashie shouts. Riku shoves your legs off of his own and leans closer to the phone. You push his face away gently, but he only takes your hand and kisses it. You feel yourself blush. "When I asked about what happened, they said 'Rei? I don't think we know a Rei.'"
You gasp a little. They really DID disown you...
"So what did you say to that?" you ask, ignoring Riku, who reaches for the phone impatiently.
"Nothing. What CAN you say to that?" Tashie sighs. "Anyway, I moved out a couple weeks ago. With-"
"Her fiaaaaaaaaaaance, Deeeeeeeeeereeeeeeeeek," Manders gushes falsely. Tashie growls. You giggle a little.
"Anyway, Rei, I think since your own parents disowned you, you should tell us why," Tashie says.
You become silent. Riku stares at you as you put a hand over the mouthpiece part...or whatever it's called.
"What's going on?" he whispers.
"They're...just..."
Riku continues to stare at you, and you feel your hand slowly relax from the grip of the phone. It slides out of your hand and onto the floor.
Mander's pOv
You hear a loud thump from Rei's phone.
"Rei? You alright?" Natasha asks. No response.
"Reiiii?" you add, furrowing your eyebrows. "What's going on?"
Still no response.
"Rei, are you alright or what?"
You hear a faint groan. Did she pass out or something?!
"REI!!?" you and Natasha shout. You hear someone talking, and it sounds like Rei, but you can only hear bits and pieces of the conversation.
"...phone...on...isn't...oohhh..."
"Oh my GOSH!" Natasha screeches. You feel your eardrum throb in pain, but you know better than to bail now. You talked to Yihen.
"Reiiii-"
Suddenly you hear a beep, and then a dial tone. She just hung up on you. Doing...who...knows...what...
"Amanda, call her again," Natasha commands. "If she doesn't answer, just keep trying like before."
"Right," you reply, speed dialing her number again.
It takes you another fourteen tries to finally get an answer.
"Stop calling me," she says quietly.
"Rei, I saw Yihen moved." You don't want to give away yet that you've talked to him. "If I have to, I'll ask him what happened."
"He...doesn't know the half of it," she murmurs.
"Then why don't you tell us?" Natasha says softly.
Your pOv
You knew it would come to something like this. You, your sister, and your best friend... ...Who are you trying to kid? They both deserve to know! Why is it that you're pushing away the people you should hold closer?
"Hold on just a second," you say in a half-whisper. Putting Tashie and Manders on hold, you look up at Riku, who looks completely confused. "I've got to talk to them," you admit.
"...And you can't talk to me about it," he finishes. You nod, feeling more guilty than ever.
"I'm so-"
"No, just go," he says quickly. Without another word, he leaves your room quickly. You feel the lump in your throat grow larger.
Still clutching the phone in your hand, you walk out of your room, downstairs, and towards the place with probably the most meaning to you on this whole island: the shack.
Once inside, you resume your conversation with your friend and sister.
"How is Yihen?" you ask, starting a fire and beginning to burn the inscense sticks.
"He's fine," Manders says happily.
"You're the one we're worried about," Tashie adds. You plop down in the sand, your hand absentmindedly picking out a stick from the small pile next to you.
"I'm sorry," you whisper, tears choking your throat. "I really didn't want things to be this way."
"Neither did we. We just want to know what happened," Manders says.
"I know...I...okay." You inhale deeply. Time for round two. "When my mom called you guys, she was calling to say I was home. You know that now, right?"
"Uh-huh," they say in unison.
"And..." You snap the stick in your hand in two. "I..." It's not any easier to say it a second time. You manage to stall by going over and locking the door to the shack. Inhaling deeply, you sit back down. "...Please don't hate me," you whisper, tears rolling down your cheeks.
"Rei, we won't ever hate you for anything you've done. You should know that by now," Tashie says. You wish she was here! You wish you could hug her and Manders and just tell them; it would be a lot easier that way. But, unfortunately, your life tends to come at you with the most difficult situations possible.
"Why WOULD we ever hate you?" Manders adds.
"...Because...I...got pregnant..."
To your surprise, both your sister and friend sigh, sounding relieved.
"We know," they say.
"Wha...?"
"I told you I talked to Yihen," Manders says, the playfulness back in her voice. "He told me. You got suspended, too! I wish I could've seen that in person..."
"We just wanted to hear you say it in person," Tashie explains.
"...B-but, but Yihen doesn't know everything!" you blurt out.
Both Manders and Tashie become completely silent.
"What? Yihen said you probably gave the baby up for adoption-"
"Probably! He wasn't there, he moved before..."
"Before what, Rei?" Manders asks.
"You mean there's more to this?!" Tashie adds, sounding frustrated. "I'm so confused!"
"..." You shouldn't have said anything! You could've gotten away with it! But...they would've found out eventually...
"Rei..."
"...Yihen moved before...I..."
"...You didn't have an abortion, did you?!" Tashie gasps.
"N-no! I...had...I had a miscarriage," you say, beginning to sob.
"You what!?"
"Don't make me say it again!" you cry, picking up a handful of sticks and chucking them into the fire. It roars, satisfied. You wish you could just as easily throw yourself into it.
"Rei, why didn't you tell us?" Tashie says. You can tell she's crying.
"Are you kidding? The only person who knows is Kairi! I haven't even told Riku, and it was his kid!"
You hear someone burst into tears, and you figure it must be Manders.
"You haven't even told Riku!?" she shouts, sobbing. "Why not?!"
"The same reasons I didn't tell you and more! It was HIS KID! And because I didn't take care of myself, it DIED! Because of ME! He's probably going to hate me for this!"
"He'll hate you more the longer you keep it a secret, though!" Tashie says, also sobbing.
"I..."
Impulsively, you end the conversation and turn off your phone. You grab another handful of sticks when something sharp stabs into your palm. Letting out a cry of surprise and pain, you look down to see your hand is bleeding. Seconds after, you see a knife used to cut wood that had been haphazardly stuck in the pile.
...
Riku's pOv
You glance at the clock hanging on your wall. It's after eleven...where could Rei be? Turning off the tv, you walk upstairs to your room. Aha.
Out your large window, you see a swirl of smoke. She's in the shack. Why didn't you guess that before...?
She's been in there all this time? Hmph. She's more like you than you thought.