A/N: Okay so it's been like forever since I've updated I know, and I apologize! Extremely busy in RL, all that jazz. A couple things. Phoebe next and then for the 'Flashback' it's going to be one chapter divided up in to sections - one for each of them. Then the Epilogue will also be one chapter, also divded in to sections!
Helga and I had a long talk when we decided to just break things off. It would be healthier for both of us, and I hope one day we can try to at least be friends-all this was a few days after our anniversary. Phoebe surprised me, and not in a good way. She just up and vanished and all my calls to her went straight to voice mail. I thought I loved her but apparently she didn't love me enough to even say she was leaving. When Gerald came over-the day before Helga and I had our talk- I wasn't sure I was going to make it out of that alive, even though I did deserve it. He used to be my best friend, and for me to do what I did to him for so long and with the girl he loved so much, I just took the beating.
I still kept in touch with Lila every now and again. She was my first love but it was never the right time for us. Would you believe that even through high school she still pined over my cousin even though they had split sometime in middle school? I still don't understand how in the world she even found him attractive in the first place. Anyways, a few years or so ago she called me up out of the blue to see how things were going. I told her the truth –they were hell. Lila said she was running a local newspaper now out in California and that if I ever needed a new start she was ever so sure she could find an opening for me somewhere.
I called her the day after Helga and I broke it off and asked her if the offer was still on the table, and it was. My last order of business before I left was to set things right with Gerald. I was somewhat afraid of getting beaten to a pulp again but this was something that needed to be done. Thankfully he didn't beat me up again. Instead we had a long talk about everything; about how our friendship dissipated, about Phoebe, and I apologized about a million times I think. He told me that she wasn't picking up or returning his calls either.
We don't know what her deal is but oh well, I still have no idea. I was in Cali for less than a week before I got a call from Helga. What in the world could she want from me so soon? When she told me Brainy was gone and not to come to the funeral part of me was kind of annoyed that she didn't want me there, but then I also understood. We never got along too well, I've had enough black eyes from him to prove that; and it would just hurt her more by me being there. I did send my condolences though. It's hard to believe he's gone. He was always there and then to just not be…well it's strange.
California isn't too bad. I'm staying with Lila and her kids right now until I have enough money to be able to move in to a place of my own and pay a few months' rent in advance. Her kids are Jake, 5, and Lydia, 10, and both are very active. Lila says they take after their father. He was in the military and died in action five years ago-before Jake was born.
The job is nice too; I get along alright with my co-workers. Right now I'm just writing a column on interesting things I see around town. I've gone cold turkey on the pot seeing as how there are drug tests at this place and I would rather not fail one, and I can't do that stuff at Lila's she would kill me. I think things are really starting to look up and I hope that they get better for Helga and Rhonda too. That's another thing. Harold. I can't believe he's gone either. He was a really nice guy even if he got a temper sometimes. Neither of them deserved to go. Lila's calling me, dinner is just about ready. Yeah, things really are looking up.